2012 PRECONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

Saturday, March 10, 2012

R4 SM01
Region IV Social Media Workshop
"Facebook as a Means of Student Outreach"    This session is closed
Social Media Workshop schedule and information
Brian Buckwald, Georgia State University

Join us for this 6 hour workshop and stay for the Region IV Conference.
Enrollment is limited.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

R4PC03
"Developing a Comprehensive Professional Development Program - for Professional and Faculty Advisors"
Charlie Nutt, NACADA Executive Office
Sunday -- 2:30 - 4:15 p.m.

With the growing recognition and focus on the integral role that academic advising plays in student success, retention, and persistence, most campuses continue to limited professional development opportunities in place for the growth of the skills, knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes needed for quality academic advisors, both professional and faculty. In this session,

Charlie will focus on several key areas:
• Conducting need assessments for professional development programs
• Utilizing a team approach to professional development planning and implementation
• Developing a comprehensive program or calendar for professional development
• Utilization of variety of delivery means for quality professional development programs
• Utilizing a variety of NACADA resources of comprehensive professional development

R4PC01
"Beyond Scheduling: Advising as Teaching and Learning”
Nancy King, Kennesaw State University
Sunday -- 12:30 - 2:15 p.m.

Two NACADA documents, the Concept of Academic Advising (2006) and the Core Values of Academic Advising (2005) have encouraged us to adopt the concept that academic advising should be considered as primarily a teaching and learning activity. This workshop will deal with ways we can make our advising more learning-centered.

Topics to be explored include:
• Constructing and communicating learning objectives for advising
• Strategies for helping students understand the nature and purpose of higher education and advising’s role in that education
• Supporting students in identifying realistic academic and career goals
• Methods for encouraging students to integrate their learning and to see its relevance to their lives
By the conclusion of the workshop, we should have a clearer understanding of the role of an advisor-as-teacher and a renewed appreciation of the importance of advising to student development and success. We will also leave with some learning-based approaches to incorporate into our day-to-day advising practices.

R4PC02

"Universal Tracking:  Improving Retention and Graduation Rates through Better Advising and Enrollment Management"
Glenn Kepic, University of Florida

 Sunday -- 12:30 - 2:15 p.m

UF has been able to substantially increase retention and graduation rates through the implementation of the Universal Tracking progress monitoring system along with other academic policies and monitoring systems.  UF’s freshman retention rate is among the highest of all public universities at 95%.  Furthermore, our 6 year graduation rate has increased from 77% in 2004 to 82% in 2009.  We attribute much of this success to the programs we will share during this presentation. 

The history and development of the Universal Tracking system will be explained along with additional initiatives designed to retain and graduate our students in a timely fashion.  Policies such as our “two attempt rule” and “Congratulations, You Graduate” initiative will be discussed along with policies on changing majors, allowing double majors and dual degrees, and admission and monitoring of transfer students.  The role academic advisor’s play in these monitoring systems will be explored.  Examples of each of these programs will be shared to demonstrate their effectiveness.  Tips on how to implement some or all of these initiatives on your campus will be offered, followed by a question/answer period.  

R4PC04
"Where in the WORLD can our students go? Challenges and Best Practices on Advising Students of Diverse Backgrounds"
Magnolia Hernandez, Florida International University
Sunday -- 2:30 - 4:15 p.m.

Universities and colleges throughout the US have made a concerted effort to respond to what has become a globalized world by shifting their institutional strategic plans, quality enhancement programs, and institutional missions to focus on internationalization efforts geared towards transforming US students into citizens of the world. These efforts have revamped academic programs and co-curricular activities at institutions across the nation. One particular area of international education that has grown exponentially has been study abroad, where in the last decade the numbers have nearly doubled to over a quarter of a million US students studying abroad each year. To further cement these efforts, US institutions have come together in support of the Paul Simon Bill, which aims at sending abroad one million US students a year within the next decade.

If one million US students abroad is a challenge, students of diverse backgrounds, representing only a fraction of our study abroad student population, present an even greater challenge that merits further study and collaboration.

OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this workshop is to identify common barriers that students of diverse backgrounds face in study abroad, and to share and develop best practices and strategies that can be implemented in a variety of institutional models for advising our students and increasing their access to study abroad and their successful participation in these programs.

GOALS/OUTCOMES: Upon completing the workshop, participants will:
• Have a better understanding of students of diverse backgrounds and their place in study abroad
• Identify common challenges and barriers that students of diverse backgrounds face (personal and institutional challenges)
• Developing best practices on how to decrease the institutional challenges that keep students from participating in the study abroad programs.
• Implement specific advising tools for addressing the individual challenges that students face in study abroad.

HOW to Register for pre-conferences if you are already registered for the conference!

Log in to MyNACADA

1. Choose General Shopping which takes you to the on-line store
2. Under Shop For: choose "Session" and hit GO
3. Scroll down to 2012 Region 4 Conference sessions (there are several pages of these)
4. Choose which "sessions" (pre-conferences) you want to attend, add them to your shopping cart and check out.
5. This will not stop you from choosing overlapping sessions, so be sure you know which ones you want to choose before you get into it.

By phone: If you are already registered for the conference: Call our office with a credit card number and tell whoever answers to please add you to specific pre-conferences. - call 785-532-5717

By fax: fill out the paper form and fax it to 785-532-7732 and put "adding precons " with credit card information.