Charlie Nutt, NACADA Executive Director

It is human nature to reach a goal and to sit back and say "Whew!!! Thank goodness we can sit back now and just relax for a while before we start again!" But that is definitely not the NACADA Way! Following our very successful annual conference in Salt Lake, we hosted three successful winter events in New Mexico, and have been very busy hosting 10 region conferences this spring to be followed by our summer institutes, and then our annual conference in Minneapolis! Whew!!!

In addition to these events, we have produced another series of webinars, added new pocket guides to our series, produced in partnership with Jossey-Bass a new and exciting textbook on approaches to academic advising, produced two more issues of the renowned NACADA Journal, and currently are working on several other publications... Whew!!!

Our global initiatives continue with our international conference in the Netherlands last year and in Australia in 2015 as well as possibly co-hosting events in the UK and in the Gulf Region, with NACADA consultants visiting colleges and universities across the globe, and with a newly appointed committee on global initiatives to ensure we are constantly look at ways we can all learn from each other!  Whew!!!

Last, we have implemented a totally new association management system and website, added a mobile app to our annual conference and winter institutes to enhance the participants' experience, and are in the infancy stages of our planning to provide online professional development activities across the world. Whew!!!

Those of  us who are children of the ‘60s and ‘70s either loved, hated, or made fun of a singing brother-and-sister group, The Carpenters, but no matter where we fit on the spectrum we could not have lived in those times without hearing their music and of course one of their big hits was “We’ve Only Just Begun.”  While NACADA has made huge strides in our nearly 40 years as an association, it is important that we all know “we’ve only just begun” to make the significant impacts on higher education globally that our mission and goals demand we make.

So what would we look like in 10 years in Nutt’s Crystal Ball or wildest dreams?  Building on the theme of “we’ve only just begun,” here’s where we will be in 2024:

• We will have members AND leaders from every continent on the globe.
• NACADA will be providing professional development in a variety of new and seasoned ways face to face, and also through technology and a hybrid of both methods.
• NACADA will sponsor a “Research and Exemplary Practices Center” that brings together key leaders in higher education on the topic of academic advising and supports research in areas where there are gaps in the field.
• NACADA will provide support to Kansas State University to award a doctorate online degree in academic advising.
• NACADA will be leading the way (not just keeping up) in the use of technology for our members in higher education.
• NACADA will have very strong partnerships with other higher educations across the globe with whom we collaborate to provide high-quality professional development, research, and publications in the field.
• NACADA will have dedicated positions for research and for global initiatives to ensure we are moving forward at all times.
• NACADA will have intentional, proactive, and successful programs to bring new members into the association, to prepare new leaders in the association, and to ensure continued support for all academic advisors regardless of the number of years in academic advising.

While the Nutt crystal ball certainly has some major predications for 2024, what is the clearest in those visions is that NACADA will reach these visions while maintaining the association’s warmth, family-like culture, and essential networking opportunities that build professional and personal friends for life.

Can we reach these goals from my crystal ball? Absolutely we can with hard work, committed members, strong and determined leaders, and an Executive Office recognized as the best in higher education.

And I plan to be right there working in any way the association needs me to achieve these goals!

Charlie Nutt, Executive Director
NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising
(785) 532-5717
[email protected]

Cite this article using APA style as: Nutt, C. (2014, March). Article title. Academic Advising Today, 37(1). Retrieved from [insert url here]