George D. Kuh
George D. Kuh is adjunct research professor of education policy at the University of Illinois and Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education Emeritus at Indiana University Bloomington. He directs the National Institute of Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA). Founding director of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and several other national surveys, George has written extensively about student engagement, assessment, institutional improvement, and college and university cultures. His recent books include Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education (2015), Ensuring Quality and Taking High-Impact Practices to Scale (2013), High Impact Practices (2008), Piecing Together the Student Success Puzzle (2007), and Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter (2005, 2010). Recipient of nine honorary degrees and numerous awards from professional societies, in 2014 he received the President’s Medal for Academic Excellence, the highest honor the Indiana University president can bestow. George earned the B.A. at Luther College, M.S. at the St. Cloud State University, and Ph.D. at the University of Iowa.
Liz Thomas
Liz Thomas is an independent researcher and consultant for higher education and Professor of Higher Education at Edge Hill University. She is visiting professor of Academic Development at Staffordshire University. Liz has nearly twenty years’ experience of undertaking and managing research about widening participation, student retention and success and institutional approaches to improving the student experience and student outcomes. Much of this research points to the importance of academic advisers and personal tutors – and how they can most effectively contribute to improving the student experience and outcomes. Liz is committed to using research to inform national and institutional policy and practice, and has developed and led change programmes to facilitate this. Liz is leading the second phase of the What works? Student retention and success change programme. She is a member of the research team examining higher education drop-out and completion in Europe looking at comparative conceptualisations of and policy interventions to improve study success in 36 European countries. Liz Thomas Associates is currently working with the National Union of Students to examine student perspectives and experiences of independent learning, building on earlier work on directed independent learning. Liz is author and editor of ten books on widening participation and enhancing the student experience, including Institutional transformation to engage a diverse student body (2011, Emerald Publications, with Malcolm Tight) and Improving student retention in higher education: The role of teaching and learning (2007, RoutledgeFalmer, with Glenda Crosling and Margaret Heagney).
Charlie L. Nutt
Charlie L. Nutt was appointed as the Executive Director of NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising in October 2007. Prior to this he served as the Associate Director of the Association for five years. Additionally, he was also Vice President for Student Development Services at Coastal Georgia Community College for nine years and Assistant Professor of English/Director of Advisement and Orientation for six years. He received his A.A. from Brunswick College, B.S.Ed. from the University of Georgia, M.Ed. and Ed.D. in Higher Educational Leadership from Georgia Southern University.
Nutt has had vast experience in education. In addition to his fifteen years as a teacher and administrator at Coastal Georgia Community College, where he originated the college advisement center and orientation program that was awarded a Certificate of Merit by NACADA in 1995, he has taught English in grades 9-12, served as a department chair and assistant principal in a high school, served as Director of Development and Admission at a private K-12 institution. Presently, he teaches graduate courses in the College of Education in the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology. He has also been instrumental in the development of the NACADA/K-State graduate certificate in academic advising and several other NACADA professional development initiatives.