ADVANCE YOUR EXPERTISE WITH AD ASTRA CERTIFICATIONS

Ad Astra’s certification program prepares you to turn strategy into execution—advancing student progress while improving operational efficiency. Through focused, expert-led training across our products and solutions, you’ll build the skills that drive measurable results. Participants who complete a certification earn a digital badge to showcase their expertise. And in 2026, we’re introducing six new certifications, expanding your opportunities to level up. Discover the full certification lineup below.

NEW FOR 2026 | ESSENTIAL SCHEDULING: ADVANCED EVENTS 

Created for Events users, this certification deepens expertise in advanced platform functionality—equipping participants to support more efficient, scalable, and strategic events operations. Attendees will gain applied experience with complex workflows, strengthen their approach to real-world scheduling scenarios, and explore peer-informed strategies institutions use to maximize the value of the Events software.

Learning Objectives

  • Learn how to use Ad Astra’s event registrations and invoicing tools 

  • Learn how to setup the internal and external calendar, maintain space data, and grant user permissions 

  • Learn how other institutions use the Events software to support their customers and tackle everyday challenges 

Who Should Participate 

  • Event Schedule Managers or Coordinators

  • Student Affairs and Auxiliary Services Managers  

  • Academic staff and leaders responsible for event scheduling 

ESSENTIAL SCHEDULING: ADMIN 

A MUST for campus power users, this certification provides the know-how required to effectively maintain and optimize the Ad Astra platform. Participants will develop a deep understanding of how system settings influence academic, room, and event scheduling processes in order to become their institution’s go-to resource for ensuring seamless system support and performance. 

Learning Objectives

  • Navigate and maintain Ad Astra settings 

  • Create, edit, and maintain sections  

  • Create and maintain events, including creating registrations and invoices  

  • Learn best practices for maintaining the Ad Astra software

Who Should Participate 

  • Academic Schedulers  

  • Event Schedulers  

  • Astra Schedule System Administrators

NEW FOR 2026 | ROOM OPTIMIZATION

Designed for academic administrators, this certification builds practical expertise in strategically and efficiently assigning rooms at scale. Participants will gain applied experience setting optimization parameters, running the optimizer, and interpreting results within Ad Astra. Through guided exercises and best practices, attendees will develop room optimization strategies that improve space utilization and strengthen institutional scheduling outcomes.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand how to configure scheduling preferences 

  • Learn how to run optimization and interpret results 

  • Become equipped with strategies for how to navigate change and produce the best work in regards to the optimizer 

Who Should Participate 

  • Academic Schedulers

NEW FOR 2026 | SMART ACADEMIC SCHEDULING: HANDS-ON SCHEDULING & ANALYSIS 

This certification is designed to build practical, hands-on skills for creating efficient, student-centered academic schedules. Participants will work directly in Ad Astra to analyze scheduling data, identify opportunities, and implement informed, data-driven decisions. Through applied exercises and real-world scenarios, attendees will optimize course offerings, classroom utilization, and faculty assignments to better support student success and institutional performance. 

Learning Objectives

  • Articulate the impact of smart scheduling on student success  

  • Learn how to utilize student success and scheduling data to influence change on campus, including focusing on data metrics and building a change management team

  • Understand how to build a data-informed & student-centered schedule using Ad Astra’s tools 

  • Learn how to utilize Ad Astra’s annual scheduling, workflow, and room optimization tools

Who Should Participate 

  • Academic Schedulers 

NEW FOR 2026 | SMART ACADEMIC SCHEDULING: INSTITUTIONAL ENABLEMENT & LEADERSHIP

Built for institutional leaders, this certification equips participants with the frameworks and insight needed to strategically guide academic scheduling across the institution. Participants will learn to align policy, process, and data-informed decision-making with institutional priorities, optimize program and course performance, and lead cross-functional teams to implement sustainable scheduling practices that strengthen student success and institutional effectiveness.

Learning Objectives

  • Apply policies and procedures to ensure course offerings support enrollment, retention, and program goals

  • Interpret analytics and dashboards to inform strategic scheduling decisions and optimize program performance

  • Guide cross-functional teams and stakeholders in implementing sustainable scheduling practices

  • Establish and communicate policies and procedures that balance institutional priorities, faculty needs, and student success

  • Evaluate how scheduling decisions affect academic outcomes, resource utilization, and overall institutional effectiveness

Who Should Participate  

  • Provosts, Vice Provosts, and Academic Deans 

  • Registrars and Associate Registrars

  • Directors of Academic Planning or Institutional Research 

  • Department Chairs and Program Directors 

  • Enrollment management and strategic planning professionals 

  • Institutional leaders involved in policy and procedure 

NEW FOR 2026 | SMART REPORTING FOR SCHEDULERS

The Smart Reporting for Schedulers certification equips schedulers with the expertise to leverage reporting and analytics for informed, tactical scheduling decisions. Participants will build fluency in interpreting demand, fill rate, and capacity data; identifying inefficiencies; and applying historical and predictive insights to optimize course offerings. Attendees will also strengthen their ability to communicate data-driven tradeoffs and recommendations effectively with academic departments.

Learning Objectives

  • Interpret demand, fill rate, and capacity reports to align course offerings with demonstrated student need

  • Identify scheduling inefficiencies that contribute to underutilized sections, excess capacity, or unmet demand

  • Use historical and predictive reporting to inform term-over-term scheduling decisions and anticipate enrollment patterns

  • Evaluate tradeoffs in scheduling decisions, including section counts, modalities, and timing, using data to support recommendations

  • Communicate scheduling insights effectively with academic departments and leadership to support collaborative, data-informed decisions

Who Should Participate 

  • Academic Schedulers or Scheduling Coordinators 

  • Registrar’s office staff involved in scheduling 

  • Scheduling Analysts or Planning Analysts 

  • Associate or Assistant Registrars

NEW FOR 2026 | SMART REPORTING FOR ACADEMIC LEADERS

This certification equips academic leaders with the framework and skills needed to leverage reporting and analytics for strategic decision-making. Participants will learn to interpret complex data, connect findings to institutional priorities, and engage faculty and stakeholders to drive actionable outcomes across course scheduling, program performance, and enrollment management.

Learning Objectives

  • Analyze reporting metrics and dashboards to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities for program and course optimization

  • Connect data findings to institutional goals, enrollment management, and academic performance improvement

  • Communicate reporting insights to faculty, departments, and institutional clients in ways that drive collaboration and informed decision-making

  • Use dashboards and analytics frameworks to forecast trends and support leadership-level decision-making

  • Integrate feedback from operational users and stakeholders to refine reporting approaches and align actions with institutional priorities

Who Should Participate 

  • Provosts, Vice Provosts, and Academic Deans 

  • Registrars and Associate Registrars 

  • Directors of Academic Planning or Institutional Research 

  • Department Chairs and Program Directors 

  • Enrollment management and strategic planning professionals 

  • Institutional leaders involved in policy and procedure 

CERTIFICATION SESSION CHECKLISTS

Use the checklists below to track sessions required for each certification. Whether you’re planning ahead or checking your progress on-site, this resource will keep you on track towards earning your certification!

Essential Scheduling: Advanced Events

  • Leveraging Events and Bookings for Institutional Needs
  • Building the Best Event Workflow
  • Ad Astra Tools in Real-Time: Vermont State University
  • Ad Astra Tools in Real-Time: Radford University
  • Registration & Invoicing

 

Essential Scheduling: Admin

  • Super User Admin Guide to Essential Scheduling
  • Managing Your Spaces in Essential Scheduling 
  • Managing Events and Event Requests
  • Course Scheduling and Analytics
  • Reporting for Essential Scheduling

 

Room Optimization

  • Scheduling Rules for Optimization
  • Setting Up Your Optimization Sandboxes 
  • Optimization Results and Publishing
  • Ad Astra Tools in Real-Time: Hagerstown Community College

 

Smart Reporting for Schedulers

  • Reports for Academic Scheduling (offered twice) 
  • Using Data to Optimize the Schedule
  • Countdown: The Top 10 Reports Clients Run Most

 

Smart Reporting for Academic Leaders

  • Data-Driven Leadership in Scheduling (offered twice) 
  • Advanced Reporting & Analytics for Academic Leaders 
  • Client & Stakeholder Engagement: Turning Data into Action 

 

Smart Academic Scheduling: Hands-On Scheduling & Analysis

  • Annual Scheduling with Historical Analytics

  • Strengthen Processes with Ad Astra Workflow 
  • Building Your Schedule in Ad Astra
  • Annual Scheduling: Collaboration and Change Management
  • Reports for Academic Scheduling (offered twice)
  • Understanding Student Demand Forecasting

 

Smart Academic Scheduling: Institutional Enablement & Leadership

  • Strategic Academic Planning & Scheduling

  • Program Vitality and Optimization
  • Policy & Leadership in Academic Scheduling
  • Data-driven Leadership in Scheduling (offered twice)

  • Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration

 

CERTIFICATION FAQ

Can certifications be completed outside of ASPIRE?

Unfortunately, listed certifications are not available to be completed outside of ASPIRE at this time. Ad Astra is excited to offer these certifications as an included benefit of attending ASPIRE26 based on prior requests for additional training. 

 

Do I need to bring my own laptop?

Yes. Participants must bring their own devices to follow along with instructions, guides, and demonstrate expertise in a demo software environment. Laptops are highly recommended, as the experience may be limited and participants may be unable to complete certifications on smaller devices (e.g. tablets).

 

Is there an additional cost for pursuing certifications at ASPIRE26?

Certifications are free for all ASPIRE attendees.

 

What do I receive upon completion of my certification?

You will receive both a certificate and a corresponding LinkedIn badge for each certification.

 

I received a certification at a previous ASPIRE. Do I have to renew it? 

Nope! Moreover, you can explore our certifications for ASPIRE26 to add to your skill set!

 

Ready to join us?