Advising technology · Data · Columbia, SC

Student success runs on software. Software runs on people.

I lead advising technology at a flagship public university: the platforms, the data behind them, and the 140+ advisors who use them every day.

Twelve years at the University of South Carolina, starting with a single early-alert caseload and ending up responsible for the platforms, governance, and assessment used by 140+ advisors across 11 colleges. I have worked most of the rungs of the system I now govern.

Get in touch Full CV

Mike T. Dial speaking at a podium at the University of South Carolina

140+

advisors on the platforms I lead

custom processes, forms and views built on CRM Advise

103k

paper forms retired through one student success database

Platform experience Ellucian CRM Advise · Banner · EAB Navigate 360 · DegreeWorks · Power BI · Tableau · SPSS · Cloudflare Pages

Capabilities

What I work on.

I have worked the institution side of the full platform lifecycle in student success: procurement, implementation, escalation, renewal, and migration, including translating advising practice into requirements and configuration.

An advisor may move through six or more platforms in a single 30-minute appointment. That is the real design constraint, and most of this work follows from it. The rest follows from standing in the gap between the people doing that work and the people who own the systems.

The phrase I use for myself is funky tech data humanist. Systems should serve the people using them, and data is a lantern rather than a verdict. More on that →

Product and platform strategy

Requirements drawn from advising workflows, configuration beyond delivered functionality, and build-versus-buy analysis.

Analytics and assessment

Mixed models and lag regression in SPSS, Power BI and Tableau dashboards, and outcomes reporting for institutional decision-making.

Writing and speaking

Co-editor of the field's leading volume on advising administration, NACADA and NASPA presenter, and convener of a national institute drawing leaders from 19 institutions.

Scholarship

Published in the field.

Two edited volumes, thirteen book chapters, three refereed articles, and a steady trade column. The Substack is where the unfinished thinking goes.

All publications and talks →

Academic Advising Administration: Essential Knowledge and Skills for the 21st Century, 2nd ed.

Co-editor, with S. Campbell and C. Stevens Taylor · Routledge, 2023

Academic Recovery: Supporting Students on Academic Probation

Editor · National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience, 2022

Invisible translators: what funky techs do for higher ed

eCampusNews, 2026

Recognition and reach

2025

Inaugural Institute on Advising Leadership and Innovation, leaders from 19 institutions

University of South Carolina · originated and convened

2020

Certificate of Merit, Outstanding Advising Programs

NACADA

2018

Gold Award, Student Union, Leadership and Related Excellence

NASPA

2015

Model of Excellence, Success Connect early alert

University Business