Small Colleges & Universities Commission
Post-Conference Reports NACADA
Commission and Interest Group Division
2004
Post-Conference Unit Report
Commission:
Small Colleges and Universities Commission
Chair:
Bill Van Dusen
Section
1: Identify the leadership within your unit.
List
members of your steering committees, committee members, task force
members, conference chairs, etc. & their emails.
| Name of Committee |
Name of Committee Member
|
Email |
| Small Colleges and Universities |
William Van Dusen |
wvanduse@regis.edu |
| Awards Committee |
Maura Reynolds |
mreynolds@hope.edu |
| Awards Committee |
Jo Calhoun |
jocalhou@du.edu |
| Awards Committee |
Phil Christman |
pchristman@malone.edu |
| Awards Committee |
Gillian Batterman |
batterma@beloit.edu |
| Conference Proposal Readers |
William Van Dusen |
wvanduse@regis.edu |
| Conference Proposal Readers |
Jessica Williams |
jxwilliams@rollins.edu |
| Conference Proposal Readers |
Maura Reynolds |
mreynolds@hope.edu |
| Conference Proposal Readers |
David Verrier |
dverrier@fandm.edu |
Section
2: Outline your annual activities as they relate to the NACADA missions
and strategies.
Mission 1 :
Address the academic advising needs of higher education.
Strategies:
1-A
Identify, prioritize, and address critical issues facing academic
advising. Through surveys and needs assessments, identify the issues
facing academic advising in higher education and propose methods
for addressing these issues - from recognition of advising as a
critical component of student success to the recognition of advisors
as critical to the educational/developmental process.
| Task (Activities Planned) |
Person/committee assigned the task
|
Target Date |
Date Completed |
Assess progress or completion |
| We used part of our commission meeting
to identify topics of interest for conference presentations
and newsletter, Clearinghouse, and journal articles. When the
call for conference proposals is made in February, the chair
will send an e-mail reminder about the list to generate conference
presentations. A similar procedure could be used with articles.
|
William Van Dusen and steering committee
members |
2005-02-15 |
2005-03-01 |
Periodic updates for various activities
will need to be tracked as the need arises. |
1-B
Collect information about the environments in which academic advising
operates. Through surveys, focus groups or other means, determine
how academic advising best operates in higher education and determine
if success is determined by particular variables - delivery model
by institutional type, intrusiveness, processes for specific populations,
etc.
| Task (Activities Planned) |
Person/committee assigned the task
|
Target Date |
Date Completed |
Assess progress or completion |
| The Small Colleges and Universities
Commission steering committee from time to time will review
the specific needs of the small college and university as it
relates to academic advising. We will determine how these concerns
will best fit with the NACADA mission and we will advocate for
the inclusion of the issues and goals small colleges and universities
into the NACADA planning process. |
Commission chair and steering committee
|
2005-06-01 |
2005-06-01 |
|
1-C
Ensure effectiveness of NACADA organization. Activities or recommendations
for ensuring the growth and vitality of the organization - from
restructuring to operation &, policy development, to procedural
changes.
| Task (Activities Planned) |
Person/committee assigned the task
|
Target Date |
Date Completed |
Assess progress or completion |
| Maura talked with several people from
small colleges/universities who attended our HOT TOPICS session
on Saturday (but were not commission members and hadn't joined
us for the dinner excursions). They were surprised at how active
the group is and how much they enjoyed and profited from the
hot topic meeting. With some seed money ($200) from the CIDG
central fund, Maura volunteers to put together and photocopy
a simple brochure about the commission. These could be used
at regional and national conferences to let those at smaller
colleges and universities know that the commission may be helpful
to them. |
Maura Reynolds |
0000-00-00 |
0000-00-00 |
|
Mission 2
: Advance the body of knowledge of academic advising.
No
Activity entered
Mission 3 :
Champion the educational role of academic advising to enhance student
learning and development in a diverse world.
No
Activity entered
Mission 4
: Affirm the role of academic advising in supporting institutional
mission and vitality.
Strategies:
4-A
Influence leaders and decision-makers in higher education to support
quality academic advising. Impress upon institutional leaders that
quality academic advising is important to institutional success.
| Task (Activities Planned) |
Person/committee assigned the task
|
Target Date |
Date Completed |
Assess progress or completion |
Service
to Commission Award ($50 budget request).
This award helps
to promote services to the commission and shows NACADA's commitment
and appreciation for such service. |
Bill Van Dusen |
2005-01-05 |
2005-01-05 |
|
Mission 5
: Promote the involvement of diverse populations in the Association.
Strategies:
5-A
Assess member needs and talents. Identify representatives of diverse
groups and plan for ensuring their successful involvement in association
activities.
| Task (Activities Planned) |
Person/committee assigned the task
|
Target Date |
Date Completed |
Assess progress or completion |
| Solicit members to serve on the small
colleges and univesities commission steering committee for the
2005-2006 term. Throughout the term, these leaders will be an
integral part of achieving the goals set out by the commission.
|
Bill Van Dusen |
2005-01-15 |
0000-00-00 |
|
| We can build on the list of topics
of interest generated at the national conference through use
of the listserv. Small colleges were well-represented at the
Cincinnati conference by attending, by presenting, by chairing
regions and committees within NACADA. We hope to build on this
progress in Las Vegas. |
Bill Van Dusen and steering committee
members. |
0000-00-00 |
0000-00-00 |
Ongoing process. |
5-C
Expand growth opportunities. Identify and promote opportunities
for involvement by new members and leaders. Identify methods for
reaching new populations with advising professional development
opportunities.
| Task (Activities Planned) |
Person/committee assigned the task
|
Target Date |
Date Completed |
Assess progress or completion |
| Promote and enhance the steering committee
members involvement in targeting ways for the small colleges
and universities commission to provide input in NACADA at the
regional and national levels. |
Commission members. |
0000-00-00 |
0000-00-00 |
|
Section
3: Issues/Items for consideration by the Division, Council or Board
of Directors.
| Title |
Details |
| Budget Request for brochure. |
See 1-C herein regarding $200 to help
finance a commission brochure to be disseminated at various
NACADA functions and at colleges and universities to help promote
NACADA. |
Section
4: List Volunteer Opportunities Available in your Unit.
No Opportunities
listed.
Section
5: Summary of Annual Commission Meeting
Approximately
60 people attended the Small Colleges and Universities Commission
meeting; approximately 20 attended the hot topic session.
We were delighted to recognize MARTI HEMWALL's outstanding
contributions to our commission by presenting her with a Service
to Commission Award - "our first". Marti has moved us
from interest group to commission status, shepherded the production
of a NACADA monograph aimed at small colleges and universities,
mentored many a person new to advising, served as a consultant
at colleges and universities, encouraged all of us (regardless
of the size of our schools) to consider advising in a learning-centered
context, and suggested a new paradigm (and vocabulary) for
academic advising. Thanks, Marti, for all you've done and
all you are.
It was a JOY to
see the quality and quantity of conference sessions aimed
at small colleges and universities. Every time-slot had at
least one offering. Thanks to all who presented. We intend
to keep the ball rolling. Check below for topics of interest
those at the 2004 conference would like to see offered at
future conferences! I'm sure there are lots of others - keep
the ideas coming! The conference ran out of ribbons
for our commission - more small colleges and universities
attended than they had planned for. Let's plan to have that
"problem" again in Las Vegas! And I don't believe
it was an accident that our commission ribbons were green
- the same color as the ribbons for award winners. Folks from
small colleges and universities ARE winners.
Almost 30 commission
members met for dinner on Thursday and Friday evenings and
we even let a few wanna-bes tag along. Informal opportunities
to talk are an important part of the conference for us. KUDOS
to the Conference Planning Committee from the Small Colleges/Universities
Commission· THANKS for scheduling our commission meeting early
in the conference. We come to network with others and greatly
appreciate being able to find each other EARLY in the conference.
It's hard for us to connect without this early meeting time.
We're hoping we can continue to have an early slot. (In 2003
and 2002, our commission meeting was scheduled at the end
of the conference.) THANKS for letting us identify ourselves
as small colleges/universities by re-instituting the practice
of adding ribbons to our name-tags. That helped us find each
other - but not as much as that early time for our commission
meeting. THANKS for including so many of our proposals in
the conference program. We're committed to continuing to propose
exemplary sessions aimed at smaller colleges and universities.
Our sessions attracted our own commission members and others
as well - we can learn much from each other. Offerings in
Cincinnati attracted more small colleges and universities
than were expected. We're planning on the same for Las Vegas.
TOPICS OF
INTEREST TO SMALL COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES COMMISSION MEMBERS
Some suggestions
(in no particular order) generated at our meetings about possible
topics for sessions at future regional and national conferences:
- Needs of sophomore students
- Web registration at small colleges
- Seniors - especially, graduation anxiety and stress
- Resources for faculty advisors
- Research proposals -- appropriate for smaller schools
- Budgets at small schools
- Handling enrollment pressures
- Transitions
- Psychological counseling
- FERPA guidelines and judicial issues
- Advising in the fine arts - articulation between professional
and liberal arts schools
- Connections with admissions offices
- Resources for new directors/coordinators of advising
at small schools
- Consensus building at small schools
- Small town/small college: setting boundaries
- Faculty professional development options involving advising
- Students with disabilities at small colleges
- Increasing advising's clout at small colleges
- Liberal arts and advising
- Retention of diverse students
- Issues of politics and equity in advising at small schools
WOW! I hope this
list generates some thinking and some conference proposals.
Several commission members encouraged us to include "SMALL
COLLEGES" in the titles of our proposals. So many sessions
are offered, it can be hard to find the ones aimed at us without
some help. One member suggested we get involved in writing
book reviews for the NACADA Journal -- great suggestion!
I talked with three people from small colleges/universities
who attended our HOT TOPICS session on Saturday (but were
not commission members and hadn't joined us for the dinner
excursions). They were surprised at how active the group is
and how much they enjoyed and profited from the hot topic
meeting. Let's think about how we can get the word out about
why we exist and why folks may want to be part of the commission.
We're not trying to pull people away from other commissions-
we are trying to meet the needs of those from small colleges
and universities. As of 2006, Commissions will have a budget
allocation which the commission division will administer directly
(apart from normal budgeting process); I'll investigate the
possibility of tapping into those resources. My stint as commission
chair has ended; please join me in welcoming and supporting
Bill VanDusen from Regis University (wvanduse@regis.edu)
as he begins his service as chair. I'll continue to enjoy
being part of this wonderful commission and have begun serving
as the appointed commission representative to the NACADA Council
(don't you just LOVE organizational structures??J). Have a
great year -- and see you in Las Vegas.
Maura Reynolds
MReynolds@hope.edu Hope College
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