COMPASS Earns USG Award for Excellence in Advising

The College of Coastal Georgia’s COMPASS Career and Academic Advising office earned the 2025 Regents’ Momentum Award for Excellence in Advising and Student Success from the University System of Georgia. This award honors institutional advising that creates trajectory toward student success and completion.

In January 2020, the College merged academic and career advising into one unit, establishing COMPASS Career and Academic Advising. This merger provided a more holistic approach to student growth and development, where students are guided to start with the end in mind, and are supported throughout their college experience. The College of Coastal Georgia is a pioneer in adopting this approach. Many institutions keep both types of advising separate, while the College has been able to successfully integrate career planning into its academic advising model.

The criteria for the Momentum Award for Excellence in Advising included fostering the development of a productive mindset among students, engaging students in a program of study that provides a clear path to graduation, and helping students make purposeful choices that align with their goals, interests, aptitudes, and potential success.

The award committee shared the following remarks about the College’s nomination:

“The College of Coastal Georgia’s COMPASS Center and Academic Advising is an innovative way to connect careers and academics. Their focus on developing essential career competencies, along with fostering connections within and across the curriculum, demonstrates a deep commitment to their students’ academic growth and future career opportunities. The project demonstrates thoughtful inventiveness, a commitment to a coherent focus on the skills and abilities students need to develop as they advance through their college careers, and a remarkable investment by an institution to help their students get on, and stay on, a path to academic and career success. It is clear that the College took a risk in consolidating career and academic advising, and their institutional commitment is strong, from student focused activities to connections within (and across) the curriculum, Coastal’s pioneering approach is exemplary.”

Coastal Georgia’s Director of Career and Academic Advising Pat Morris credits winning the award to the COMPASS advisors.

“It’s due to the hard work of the staff. They help each other and work together as a team,” Morris said. “Our advisors are trained in both areas of advising, and are constantly reaching out to students.”

COMPASS advisors assist freshmen in applying their interests and abilities towards developing educational and career goals. Then as sophomores, students are assigned a faculty advisor for the rest of their collegiate career at Coastal, while COMPASS advisors continue to provide them with personalized career planning support. Morris shared that the entire campus community embraced the integration of career and academic advising—especially the faculty advisors. COMPASS advisors collaborate with faculty advisors and faculty members to develop relevant programming for students.

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. German Vargas said that being selected for the award was a result of years of strategic work and years of one-on-one dedication, and guidance to students.

(Photo by Rob Felt)

“The work by COMPASS has been showcased at regional and national conferences, and I have personally witnessed how others react with interest of implementing something similar at their institution,” Vargas said. “This team is relentlessly innovative, with a clear purpose of supporting students as they progress towards graduation and their careers.”

COMPASS advisors host workshops focused on resume, cover letter writing, and career-oriented topics; have individualized academic improvement meetings; do in-classroom presentations to assist students in aligning their courses with future career goals; host career fairs; and more. Programs are designed to bridge the gap between academic and career advising, making COMPASS a one-stop advising center for students.

Morris and Vargas received the award on behalf of COMPASS at the USG’s Board of Regents meeting in May.