Leigh Cunningham, A.S., B.S., M.Ed., M.S.

Coordinator of Educational Programming 

  (Listen to this Introduction)

Leigh Cunningham earned an Associate degree from Cloud County Community College and a Bachelors in Human Services / Interdisciplinary Social Science from Upper Iowa University. She began her career in education working with pre-schoolers, but in the early 1990s decided to make the leap to Higher Ed, and thus that decade found her completing graduate degrees in Higher Education Administration (Fort Hays State University) and Educational Psychology (Capella University).

In the mid-'90s, Leigh joined Barton County Community College as a social/behavioral science faculty member. Worldview perspective (aka "multicultural awareness") and the emerging topic of "anytime, anyplace" learning were Leigh's primary focal points in her graduate programs, and these interests manifested further in her work at the community college. During her five years with BCCC, Leigh developed a classroom course in Cultural Awareness, which she eventually modified for the needs of distance learning students in BCCC's fledgling BARTONline program. In her final full-time year at Barton, Leigh served as BARTONline Coordinator. She also served as lead academic advisor for BCCC's distance learning students, as well as advisor for on-campus learners. Leigh continues to teach the Cultural Awareness course to BARTONline learners.

Leigh found that she was better-suited to the one-to-one interaction of her advising duties than to the larger classroom setting, and thus when a full-time Academic Advisor position opened up in the College of Arts & Sciences at Kansas State University in the summer of 2000, she applied for that position. She tremendously enjoyed her work there with undeclared students and interdisciplinary social science majors. During her five years with K-State A&S, she also served as Chair of the Interdisciplinary Social Science Advisors Committee and member of the "Learning Anytime, Anyplace Partnership" (LAAP) Project Advisors Consultation Group, the Majors Fair committee, and the K-State Online Advisory Council.

Leigh has presented at NACADA Annual Conferences in the areas of advisor team-building, online advising, cultural worldview and identity development, and communication style. Her interest in worldview perspective remains high, and her thoughts on multicultural issues in advising have been given voice in a NACADA Clearinghouse article.

Leigh joined the NACADA Executive Office in the spring of 2005 as Coordinator of Educational Programming. Her primary responsibility is the development and implementation of educational programming and materials for NACADA members, including Webinars, CDs and Pocket Guides. She also serves as managing editor for the Association's quarterly e-Publication, Academic Advising Today, as well as Executive Office Liaison to the Professional Development Committee, Diversity Committee, and Emerging Leaders Program.

Contact Leigh at Leigh@ksu.edu.