Casey Self, NACADA President
Excitement is brewing as NACADA prepares for our Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas, September 30-October 3, and I encourage you to visit the Conference homepage for more details regarding this upcoming event. I want to thank the NACADA Executive Office staff and the Conference planning committee, led by Past President Jo Anne Huber of the University of Texas at Austin. It takes hard work by many to pull together a successful Conference of this magnitude, and I know this year will be no exception. This San Antonio Conference will be a special event for two reasons: NACADA is celebrating our 30th Anniversary as an association, and NACADA will officially unveil a new tag line for our name that clearly acknowledges and communicates our global membership.
In 1979, a group of academic advising professionals successfully chartered a new association in higher education, the National Academic Advising Association. Thirty years later, we celebrate an organization that has become one of higher education’s premier educational associations. Those of us who benefit from the numerous NACADA resources and events pay tribute to the many individuals over the past 30 years who have made NACADA the successful association it is today. On behalf of all of us, I acknowledge and thank the many individuals, including past presidents and Board members, Executive Office staff, and the numerous volunteers and members who have contributed to growth of NACADA.
If the past 30 years are any indication, we have many successes in our future. As we honor the accomplishments of our predecessors, we thank them for the insight they displayed in creating our Association. I know that they are very proud of our profession and are even more excited about the potential for our future.
As NACADA celebrates our 30th Anniversary, it is also an appropriate time to officially expand our Association’s reach beyond our North American borders. NACADA membership has expanded over the past few years to include individuals from more than 26 countries across the globe. NACADA has co-sponsored events in the United Kingdom and also sent representatives to numerous other countries, including Japan and Dubai, to consult with members at their institutions of higher education. After two years of discussion among various NACADA members on task forces and in leadership meetings, the NACADA Board of Directors voted in June to officially adopt a tag line to be displayed with the NACADA acronym. Our Association will be referred to as “NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising.” I am extremely proud to have been a part of the NACADA leadership team at this significant time in the Association’s history. My experiences with colleagues from Canada and my recent participation in the Third Annual International Conference on Personal Tutoring and Academic Advising in Liverpool, England confirm that NACADA has done the right thing in expanding our name.
I look forward to seeing many of you in San Antonio in late September as NACADA members converge, once again, for our Annual Conference. This 30th Anniversary Conference will be a special event as we celebrate our past and look forward to our promising future.
On a personal note, since this is my last column as NACADA President, I want to thank the many, many individuals who have made this year so special. There are too many names to mention here, but I truly appreciate those who have made my year as NACADA President so memorable. Some are brand new friends and many are NACADA members I have known for years. I specifically want to thank the Executive Office staff, under the wonderful direction of Charlie Nutt, and my fellow Board of Director members over the past three years for their wonderful support. Many thanks to Arizona State University and my colleagues in University College who have been extremely supportive of this adventure!
Casey Self, President NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising [email protected]
Cite this article using APA style as: Self, C. (2009, September). From the president: NACADA, the global community for academic advising. Academic Advising Today, 32(3). Retrieved from [insert url here]
