Michael T. Dial, M.Ed.
Advising Technology · Implementation · Assessment
mtdial@gmail.com
(803) 351-2710
mikedial.com · linkedin.com/in/mtdial
(803) 351-2710
mikedial.com · linkedin.com/in/mtdial
Twelve years inside a flagship public research university, four of them leading enterprise advising technology. Program owner for Ellucian CRM Advise across 140+ advisors and 11 colleges. Responsible for implementation, integration architecture, governance, and the assessment program, with several of the supporting tools built in-house.
140+
advisors on platforms I lead
51
custom builds on CRM Advise
103k
paper forms retired
16%
higher retention, students reached by early alert
Selected work
Ellucian CRM Advise, pilot to full institutional adoption
Implementation lead. 51 custom processes, entities, forms, and views past delivered functionality; Ethos/Banner integration architecture, vendor escalation, and change management for the whole advising organization. Migrated continuing students off EAB Navigate by August 2025 and scheduled the entire incoming class in CRM Advise that summer.
Multi-tenant advising kiosk and queue system, built rather than bought
Architected and developed the full stack in-house: QR and on-screen self-service check-in, advisor push and audio alerting, live wait-time visibility, role-based administration extensible across colleges. 1,500+ check-ins in the first 24 active days, adoption spreading.
Advising assessment and reporting
Multi-wave advising census using linear mixed models and lag regression in SPSS, surfaced through Power BI. Findings inform institutional budget conversations. Earlier longitudinal work drove USC's adoption of four-year advising and grounded the USC Model of Comprehensive Academic Advising.
Experience · University of South Carolina
Senior Program Manager, Advising Technology Innovation and Assessment
Dec 2024 – present
Associate Director of Undergraduate Academic Advising
Mar 2019 – Dec 2024 · 200% unit expansion
Assistant Director for Peer Leadership, University 101
Aug 2016 – Mar 2019 · 230+ peer leaders, 4,500+ students
Coordinator of Early Intervention, Student Success Center
Dec 2014 – Jul 2016 · early adopter, EAB Navigate 360
Authority in the field
Advising technology, implementation, and assessment in higher education.
Systems should serve the people using them; data should describe students rather than reduce them.