Alesia Brennan

Alesia Brennan is the Director of Student Success Persistence Programs & Advising Support at UMass Amherst. Alesia’s work focuses on retention and persistence initiatives, including: academic advising and training, professional development, and support for the advising community. Before moving to her current role, Alesia spent almost a decade working as an academic advisor at UMass Amherst. She was a recipient of the 2021 College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Outstanding Advising Award. Throughout her career she has stayed active in the professional advising community; presenting at conferences on student development theory, advising and management in periods of institutional change; and incorporating faculty, professional advisors, and peers into an advising model. Alesia earned her M.Ed. in Higher Education from UMass Amherst and her B.A. in Media Studies from the University of Southern Maine.