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What to Expect at the 40th AD&D Annual Meeting 

"Student Success and All that Jazz"

April 6–10, 2027 | New Orleans, Louisiana

Bring your perspective. Find your colleagues. Move student success forward.

Join the Association of Deans and Directors for Undergraduate Education and Student Success (AD&D) in New Orleans for a meeting centered on the work you do—and the connections that help you do it well.

Our 40th Annual Meeting brings higher education professionals together to exchange practical approaches, explore emerging challenges, and strengthen the partnerships that support undergraduate students from entry through completion.

Come with questions you want to explore, experiences you can share, and a willingness to learn alongside colleagues who understand your work.

Explore the Meeting Schedule
Ask About Attending

A New Name and a Broader Invitation

AD&D is now the Association of Deans and Directors for Undergraduate Education and Student Success.

Our new name reflects the breadth of our members’ responsibilities and the many ways institutions organize their work. University colleges and undergraduate studies divisions remain central to our community, alongside leaders advancing advising, student transitions, academic support, retention, and completion.

This meeting is an invitation to connect across those responsibilities. Whether you have attended for years or are discovering AD&D for the first time, we welcome your perspective.

If your work advances undergraduate education and student success, this conversation is for you.

Why Attend?

Bring Useful Ideas Back to Campus

Explore approaches to the questions shaping your work: How can we improve student transitions? Identify barriers earlier? Strengthen belonging? Help more students return, persist, and complete their degrees?

Consider what colleagues are trying, what they are learning, and what could apply within your institution.

Build Relationships Beyond Your Campus

Meet professionals whose responsibilities intersect with yours. Exchange perspectives across institutional structures and develop connections you can turn to after the meeting.

Make Room for Meaningful Conversation

AD&D’s personal, collegial meeting experience encourages participation. Bring your questions into the discussion, share lessons from your campus, and learn through conversation with peers.

Connect Strategy with Everyday Practice

Examine how leadership, technology, academic programs, and student support work together. Consider how to turn shared priorities into coordinated action across your institution.

Who Should Attend?

The Annual Meeting welcomes professionals who lead, design, deliver, or partner in undergraduate education and student success, including:

  • Deans, directors, and associate and assistant leaders

  • University college and undergraduate studies professionals

  • Academic advising and academic support leaders

  • First-year experience, orientation, and transition professionals

  • Retention, persistence, and completion leaders

  • General education and learning community leaders

  • Faculty and student affairs colleagues engaged in undergraduate success

  • Institutional teams working across academic and student support functions

Attend with colleagues to explore shared priorities—or come independently and build new connections.

Explore the Issues Shaping Student Success

Our theme draws inspiration from jazz: listening closely, responding thoughtfully, and bringing different perspectives together to create something stronger.

Four areas frame the conversation:

Setting the Stage: Readiness & Engagement

Explore student transitions, collaborative retention approaches, faculty and advising development, and accessible learning environments that support engagement from the beginning.

Finding the Groove: Real-Time Support & Innovation

Consider how analytics, advising technology, artificial intelligence, proactive outreach, and support for student well-being can inform timely, effective assistance.

The Encore: Returners, Resilience & Nontraditional Paths

Examine approaches that support returning and adult learners, strengthen belonging, and connect education with career opportunities.

Jamming Together: Institutional Collaboration & Leadership

Explore partnerships across divisions, institutions, and external organizations. Consider how leaders build shared accountability and coordinate efforts around student success.

Make New Orleans Part of Your Next Chapter

New Orleans offers a fitting setting for a meeting inspired by creativity, connection, and collaboration.

Step away from daily demands to think with colleagues, encounter different perspectives, and reconnect with the purpose behind your work. Make time for the city’s culture and conversation as you build relationships with fellow attendees.

Join us in New Orleans and help shape the conversation about undergraduate education and student success.

Plan Your Participation

Save April 6–10, 2027, and begin planning your participation.

Review the meeting schedule as you consider travel and professional development plans. Contact the AD&D Office for the latest registration and hotel information.

View the Meeting Schedule
Contact the AD&D Office

Connect Your Organization with AD&D

Does your organization help institutions strengthen undergraduate education or student success?

Explore sponsorship opportunities to introduce your work and connect with higher education leaders attending the Annual Meeting.

Explore Sponsorship Opportunities

Keep the Connection Going

The Annual Meeting is one opportunity to become part of the AD&D community. Membership offers connections and professional learning that extend throughout the year.

Explore individual and institutional membership options and find your place among colleagues committed to undergraduate education and student success.

Join AD&D

Questions? Let’s Connect.

We welcome questions from prospective attendees, returning members, institutional teams, and potential sponsors.

Email: [email protected]
Phone: (844) 705-3293