Over the past five years I have become increasingly involved in NACADA and am looking forward to contributing more to this amazing organization. As soon as my professional life led me to advising I found NACADA and instantly recognized the value of the organization to advisors in general and my own professional development. I have been involved in other organizations such as NASPA, NACAC, AACRO, and ASHE but I have found my home with NACADA.

I am excited to give more of my time and energy to increasing the awareness of this organization in our large and diverse region. Although the focus of NACADA is professional development of advisors, the true goal of the organization is access of higher education to our increasingly diverse student body through training advisors to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.

I have been an active member of NACADA since 2005. I have attended the University of Idaho Symposium for four years and have made connections with advisors in my region there. I attended my first regional conference this year and am enthusiastic about getting more involved at the regional level. I am very excited to help out with the 2010 NACADA Region 8 Conference in Seattle.

My experience with leading my institutions allied organization has provided me with valuable experience that I can bring to this position.

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?

As a region chair I would like to lead and support the goals of NACADA. Specifically I believe that advancing the body of knowledge of academic advising and educating university and college decision makers about the role of quality academic advising in higher education.

I believe strongly in the initiatives and goals that have been set forth by the Region 8 Steering Committee. As region chair I would like to continue the amazing work that has been set out by the current and past chairs and steering committee members.

A few goals I would like to achieve as region chair are to:

• Host a region conference in Alaska
  
• Continue to get more community college involvement in the region
  
• Continue to grow the membership and increase communication among members of Region 8
  
• Have more representation from Region 8 members in contributing to the body of knowledge about the importance of academic advising
  
• Encourage more participation and creation of allied organizations

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

As I mentioned earlier, my passion for advising continues to grow. At my second national conference at the opening session the NACADA Emerging Leaders were recognized and I instantly said "I want to do that!" This past year I was accepted as a NACADA Emerging Leader and am extremely grateful for the opportunity. At the regional conference this year I had a wonderful conversation with the current Region 8 Chair, Brett McFarlane. I expressed my interest in getting more involved at the regional level. I believe this is a great way to advance the goals of the larger organization.

I have also been encouraged by my current boss Sarah Ann Hones and my ELP mentor Kazi Mamun to get more involved.

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. 

Here is little bit about my advising background.

I have played an integral role in changing the advising culture at WSU. During my first year in the Center for Advising and Career Development (CACD) I attended three NACADA institutes in San Antonio with a team of WSU participants. During our work at these institutes, and when we returned to WSU, I led this group to finalize our advising strategic plan, as well as the mapping and assessment strategy. Before we began our work WSU did not have a definition of advising. I continue to work closely with the advising leadership at WSU on how to institutionalize this strategic plan.

In addition to my work with the advising strategic plan and assessment process, I played a role in starting the first campus-wide professional organization. I am the first president of WSU ACADA, an allied member of NACADA, established in the fall of 2007. Under my leadership, WSU ACADA has moved forward with advising training and certification programs, an advisor award program, monthly roundtables, a web site, a bi-annual newsletter, and has grown to over 70 members - and growing. I recently presented a poster on advising at our selective Faculty Showcase event.

My positions at WSU have become increasingly more complex, each of which was created and developed during my tenure in the position. I began my professional career as a regional admissions counselor and grew in that role for almost six years. While working in this position I began work on my master's degree in Higher Education Administration. As I was working with incoming students, I decided a more rewarding position for me would be to become an academic advisor. I then moved into the newly created position of pre-pharmacy advisor in the College of Sciences. After developing this program, I was recruited to work in the central advising office, the CACD, and have been here for almost three years.

Throughout my professional career, volunteer work, and internships, my positions have required high energy, attention to detail, organization, flexibility and working in a team environment.  All of these opportunities have given me the chance to progress and grow in a higher education setting.

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:

• Member, Region 8 Conference Planning Committee, 2010 -- Proposal Review committee & pre-conference workshop committee 

Committee/Task Force/Advisory Board Activities and Accomplishments:

• Selected as member of 2009-2011 Class of the NACADA Emerging Leaders

Commission/Interest Group Activities and Accomplishments:

• Current Member: Commission on Undecided & Exploratory Students, LGBTA Concerns Commission, Advisor Training & Development Commission, Probation/Dismissal/Reinstatement Issues Interest Group

Other:

• Founding member and current president of WSU ACADA, an allied organization of NACADA. I work with a wonderful executive committee and committee chairs to help move this 80+ member organization forward. There has been little organization or communication amongst advisors at WSU. Informal groups have been created in the past, but the need for an organized group was becoming apparent.  The impetus for creating this group was having a NACADA consultant come to campus as well as sending a team of advisors to three NACADA institutes.
  
  In the past two years this organization has started an advising award program, an advising certification process, monthly roundtables, pushed our institution to provide advising training, strongly supports and assists with the University of Idaho Symposium, and a publishes a bi-annual newsletter.

• Presenter, "Leading the Way: Guiding a Large Research Institution's Advising System into New Territory", NACADA Annual Conference, 2007 - sponsored by Advising Administration Commission. Also presented this topic at the University of Idaho Symposium and the WAAC Conference in 2007.
  
• Presenter, "Moving Effective Advising Forward in Challenging Times", 2009 University of Idaho Symposium.
  
• Proposal reviewer for 2007 National NACADA Conference.
• Attendee at three National NACDA Conferences, one regional conference, and three NACDA Institutes in 200 (Gathering & Utilizing Data for Effective Decision Making, Assessment of Academic Advising Institute, and Academic Advising Administrators Institute)