I have served on the Distance Education Advising Steering Committee since 2007. I have worked hard on outlining our commission goals and have contributed to our annual reporting. I was also an integral part of our three member team that helped guide the Distance Education Interest Group to Commission status. I have secured resources from my institution to provide the platform for the monthly DEA webinars. Given that these webinars are hosted through our institution and are password protected I have also taken on the additional responsibility of hosting these sessions.  

What do you believe are the most important goals and initiatives for this unit in meeting the strategic plan for both the unit and the Association?

We need to expand our communication among members. In order to do this we will need to engage the membership in collaboration both among colleagues and institutions. A key part of this expanded communication will rely on our monthly webinars. This includes securing appropriate guests as well as proper notification and planning. These meetings have proven to be valuable in providing information to other commission member in a concise format as well as giving the membership "take-away" practices that they can use in their day to day operations. By making these connections possible it broadens real-time information about Distance Education Advising practices and helps us to delve deeper into how common advising practices impact distance learners differently. This allows the membership to continue to build a base of knowledge to draw from. Ultimately these goals provide tools to our membership that they can modify to better serve the populations they advise (NACADA core value! 1) as well as to develop themselves professionally (NACADA core value 6).

Why are you interested in serving in this leadership position or what influenced you to run for this leadership position? 

I have been working specifically in distance education for the past five years. NACADA is an organization whose membership is open to collaboration and committed to supporting student success. In this position I will be able to create opportunities to foster this sharing of information and growth in the practice of advisement for distance learners. I welcome the challenge of creatively and strategically planning ways in which to foster advisor growth within our commission and collaborative research opportunities among our members.    

Provide any additional comments or information (either personal or leadership-related) that you want potential voters to know about you that is not covered elsewhere in your platform information. 

It has been my privilege to actively participate in this commission within the past four years. In that time it has been my goal to not be just another member of an organization that only "talks". With the implementation of the monthly webinars we are on our way to building an even more active membership that is not limited to an email list-serve but that engages each month in communications and community building and actively improve upon or advising skills. Thank you for your consideration!

Past Involvement in NACADA:

Years in NACADA: 4 years

National Offices Held and Accomplishments Achieved While in Office:

Regional Activities/Offices Held, including accomplishments achieved while in office:

• Co-Presenter, NACADA Region 7 Conference "Advising in a Tekkie Age: Audience Driven Communications" -- won the best of conference award for this same presentation at our state level (MACADA).

Committee/Task Force/Advisory Board Activities and Accomplishments:

Commission/Interest Group Activities and Accomplishments:

• Member of Steering Committee - Distance Education Advising Commission (formerly Interest Group), 2007-Present
  
  • Provided support to our Chair Bobbi Thomas.
  • Complied goals and objectives and aided in writing the report to move to commission status.
  • Since our move to commission status, have aided in commission organization and have worked with my institution to provide a online platform for the DEA commission to host monthly webinars for our members.
    
• Current Member: Distance Education Advising Commission, Advising Graduate & Professional Students Commission, Technology in Advising Commission, Assessment of Advising Commission

Other:

• Serve as the Senior Academic Advisor at Webster University.
  • In the past three years I have worked with our Online Learning center to create a online training module for all undergraduate advisors. I am currently in the development phase with plans to launch a similar course for graduate advising at my institution within the next two years. The undergraduate training course has proved to be of great value given that it can be completed by a Webster University advisor at any of our 108 locations. Have worked to streamline our advising process for online graduate students given our rolling admissions systems and incorporated webinar workshops for our distance students on topics such as registration, program selection, academic policy, etc. Have also given presentations to our staff professional development seminars as well as to our local college professionals conference on developing a professional portfolio.
  • Have served as director for the Webster University Collegiate Outreach Recruitment and Exposure program (CORE) for 2005 and 2006.
• Volunteer locally at Notre Dame High School - presenting information on search strategies for students who are embarking on their college search. The presentations are sponsored by Webster but are designed to help students find the best fit for them. We work very hard to insure that we are not focused on recruitment but instead are committed to providing accurate information and guidance to students who are struggling through the process.