Debra Thornton-Fitzpatrick

Debra Thornton-Fitzpatrick is the Associate Director of University Advising at MSU. She began her work at MSU as a student advisor/learning specialist, responsible for overseeing a certain amount of varsity sports teams, and providing one-on-one supplemental instruction to specific student-athletes that had additional challenges and needed more support. She then expanded her professional work to all MSU students, working in the University Undergraduate Division (UUD). Throughout her 24 years as an administrator/leader, she has contributed toward student success at Michigan State University through the following: Academic Standing of Undergraduate Students (ASUS); teachings, such as BUS 101 and freshman seminar; outreach to Pre-College program, Integrative Studies, and Early alert systems (such as EASE reports, MAPWorks, and EAB). In addition, she has been actively involved with academic coaching initiatives; parallel planning, training of new advisors; and national projects such as UIA First in The World Grant.