As I write this final article as president, I look back at a year that has proven fruitful in many ways. Following a record Annual Conference attendance of 3,380 in Las Vegas last October, February found us in Clearwater Beach, Florida for three outstanding professional development events: the Ethical/Legal Issues in Academic Advising Seminar, the 4th Annual Academic Advising Administrators' Institute, and the 2nd Annual Assessment of Academic Advising Institute.
Our spring Regional meetings concluded in late May with over 2,250 in attendance. From Hartford, CT to Honolulu, HI, academic advisors - be they faculty, professional staff, graduate students, or advising administrators - were actively engaged in exciting and highly successful professional development activities.
June professional development in Portsmouth, VA began with the Effectively Engaging Faculty in Academic Advising Seminar, during which 148 registrants pondered the history, training and assessment services for faculty on our campuses. All indications are it was extremely successful! Then, the 20th annual Academic Advising Summer Institute was held in the same locale with 145 registered. Special recognition of this anniversary was marked with a presentation of a plaque to Wes Habley, Summer Institute Advisory Board Chair and Summer Institute founder, by Peggy King, a charter faculty member. The culmination of this celebration was held in Madison, WI at the second Summer Institute, July 30-August 4th. A special scholarship named for Wes Habley was unveiled at this time. Wes' term as Chair of the Advisory Board ends in October 2006, and Rich Robbins of Cornell University will assume the role.
I am particularly delighted to be able to report that 45 of our members were published for the first time in one of our offerings (Academic Advising Today, the Clearinghouse, or one of our new monographs), and another dozen are serving for the first time on a Content Review Board for one of our publications. NACADA publication highlights from this past year include two on-time Journals and the tremendous success of the first CD in the Foundations of Academic Advising series: What is Academic Advising? (And it is my understanding that CD2: Models of Academic Advising, which is currently in the final production stage, may be available by the time you read this.) Virginia Gordon's new book, Career Advising: An Academic Advisor's Guide, a joint NACADA-Jossey-Bass venture, has also proven to be a big hit. Coming soon are the first in a new Pocket Guide series, first NACADA webinar, and New Advisor and Special Populations monographs. An Advisory Board, with Jayne Drake as Chair, has just begun work on the Advisor Training Video update.
A Concept of Academic Advising statement- a project that has been in process for several years - is now ready for Board approval. This year's Task Force was co-chaired by past presidents Eric White and Ruth Darling. The draft was presented in a special session at each Regional Conference this spring, with feedback channeled to the co-Chairs and their committee. It is my strong belief this will be a fait accompli after the fall Board meeting!
On the last day of the midyear Board meeting in Indianapolis, with Council leaders present as well, the two leadership groups met with a facilitator from IUPUI, Marilyn Bedford, to review the Strategic Plan and prioritize our needs. Work groups were formed to work on the top three items earmarked for emphasis this year.
A major initiative this year spearheaded by Jane Jacobson, Vice President, and myself was 'Building the Next Generation of Academic Advisors.' An Interest Group for new advising professionals was formed and was co-chaired by Ben Chamberlain (Iowa State University) and Nathan Vickers (The University of Texas at Austin). An active list serve with new names added after every Regional Conference led to productive chatter! Jane and I would like to publicly thank Ben and Nathan for taking on this worthwhile endeavor and so quickly making it productive!
We continued our quest to gain more recognition nationally by having NACADA representation at the ACE conference and FYE national conferences. Internationally, Charlie Nutt, NACADA Associate Director, was the keynote speaker at the Counseling Arabia's 4th annual conference on advising and counseling held in the United Emirates in May. This was followed by another keynote address by Charlie at the Higher Education Academy's 2nd annual conference on Personal Tutoring in York, England. Participants were from universities/colleges from across the United Kingdom. The reports I have received were stupendous and have led to discussions for future international collaborations for NACADA.
The 2006 Annual Conference is being planned for October 18-21 in Indianapolis, with Alan Welch from Purdue University chairing this event. The title, 'Diverse Advising for a Diverse World,' is especially appropriate this year as we build on the sound work done by Skip Crownhart of Metropolitan University and the Diversity Committee, which is presently detailing plans for an Emerging Leaders program to enhance the involvement of our diverse membership in our Association. Foundations CD3: Understanding Cultural Identity and Worldview Development, which is currently in the works, will also support our diversity initiatives.
Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep appreciation to our membership for entrusting the presidency to me. Special thanks to the Executive Office for their support and to my Vice President, Jane Jacobson, who has been phenomenal. Thanks also to all the members who have contributed to the many NACADA initiative this past year, and to all for providing me the opportunity to give back to NACADA for the many, many wonderful years I have had the opportunity to be involved.
Jo Anne Huber, President National Academic Advising Association
Cite this article using APA style as: Huber, J. (2006, September). From the president: What a year we've had! Academic Advising Today, 29(3). Retrieved from [insert url here]
