April Belback

Key Areas

mentoring and advising • student success • student success hub • undergraduate student resources • academic intervention • academic technology • advising professional development • belongingness interventions

Associate Vice Provost Role

As the Associate Vice Provost of Student Success and Advising, Dr. Belback leads the University of Pittsburgh’s collaborative vision for holistic advising, mentoring and student success by connecting campus innovators, advisors, faculty, and students. She spearheads the implementation of the Undergraduate Academic Advising Coordination, as Pitt moves from a decentralized to a shared advising model in an effort to streamline the student experience and boost student success measures.

Dr. Belback also developed Pitt’s first institutional framework for student success and leads a team dedicated to the mission of “advocating and creating opportunities for undergraduate students by providing a system of academic support to boost retention, persistence, and graduation.” With a focus on the University’s strategic Plan for Pitt 2028, the team’s work aligns with the first pillar where “we will cultivate student success” with key objectives, goals, and performance assessment measures.

A transformational leader, Dr. Belback shaped the inaugural Office of the Provost Student Success Team and our guiding principles where, through collaboration with colleges, schools, and campus partners, we intentionally coordinate purposeful programming and holistic advising interventions through three initiatives aligned with the priorities of the Office of the Provost:

1. Through the shared advising model and nationally, the Advisors, Mentors, and Coaches workstream coordinates professional development, training opportunities, and resources such as the Mentoring and Advising Summit, EAB Pathways Student Success platform, and the Pitt ACT onboarding program.
2. We coordinate programs to support Students such as the Student Success Hub, University Undergraduate Advising, Pitt PRSSIM Project, the Student Success Newsletter, SASS (Student Academic Success Series), and Undergraduate Research for all students at Pitt.
3. Through the Researchers and Practitioners workstream, we lead the implementation of research-informed strategies to drive innovation and academic success, including projects such as the Pitt Transition Study and Ecological In-Class Belonging Interventions.

Belback and team offer consultation services internally to the Pitt community and externally to institutions who are interested in learning about our work or collaborating with us.

Professional Biography

A proud first-generation college student herself, Dr. Belback has a long history of educating and working with at-promise student populations. Prior to joining Pitt, she served as the Director of Advising and Division of Undergraduate Studies Coordinator at The Pennsylvania State University, Greater Allegheny Campus, where the first-generation and limited-income student population is over 50%. Belback also served the campus as the Program Director for TRIO Student Support Services. Earlier in her career, Belback’s focus was on rural education, where she taught high school English, was a cooperative lead for pre-service teachers, and a temporary faculty member for secondary education at California University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Belback leads the steering committee for the AACoP (Advising Administration Community of Practice) for the Association of Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU). She is also on NACADA’s leadership as the chair of the Advising Administrator Advising Community.