NATIONAL CONFERENCE - Are you ready for Las Vegas?

Check the Registration Brochure you recently received in the mail (also available online) for an overview of the Conference schedule and highlights of the official events. There's also information on discounted airline and car rental fees.

Our reserved rooms at Bally's Las Vegas hotel are going fast. Our allocation may sell out before the September 12 release date. Call Bally's at (800) 634-3434 and mention NACADA to receive our $123 rate.

Are you looking for a roommate to defray hotel costs? You can sign up or look for others here. Individuals contact each other directly; NACADA simply maintains the list.

Conference presentations represent over forty advising "tracks" or topics. A few titles:

•  Wise Choices in Academic Advising: A Six-Step Approach to Decision-Making

•  The Perfect Advisor is a Myth: Training and Information Sharing for Real Advisors

•  Advising Millennials: The Good, The Bad, and The Parents

•  Instant Advising: A Technological Jackpot for Success in Advising Large Caseloads

•  Managing Life's Transitions..Your Students' and Your Own

Two potential Interest Groups will be meeting at the National Conference in Las Vegas to determine their viability and level of interest among NACADA members — New Advising Professionals and Advising Urban Affairs Majors. The focus of the potential New Advising Professionals Interest Group will be to enhance professional development opportunities and provide a network for individuals new to academic advising. The potential Advising Urban Affairs Majors Interest Group will be of interest to academic advisors of students in disciplines such as Public Administration, Social Work, Criminal Justice, Environmental Studies, and other areas that affect public policy and professional practices in our communities. 

If you are interested in either of these special interest areas, please plan to attend the initial meeting for that group to show your support:

New Advising Professionals—Friday, October 7, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
Advising Urban Affairs Majors—Friday, October 7, 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

NACADA members interested in these potential interest groups but NOT planning to attend the Las Vegas Conference are encouraged to send an e-mail indicating their interest prior to the Conference to the contact person listed below.

New Advising Professionals—Ben Chamberlain (Iowa State University) or Nathan Vickers (University of Texas at Austin)

Advising Urban Affairs Majors—Adam Sikula (University of Nevada-Las Vegas)

 

NACADA members may win NACADA event registration, hotel accommodations, and/or airfare by recruiting new members through participation in the 2005 Membership Drive.

We've added a NEW PRIZE to the membership drive - tickets to see an ELTON JOHN performance in Las Vegas on Friday, October 7, at 7:30 p.m.  If you know that you will be attending the National Conference in Las Vegas and can recruit a new NACADA member (or members) by September 30, you will be eligible for the drawing for two tickets on October 1.

Click here for information about the drive, drawing dates, and the new member form. If you have questions, contact the Executive Office.

NACADA will host three Professional Development opportunities at the beach in February 2006! 

First, a special seminar on Ethical/Legal Issues in Academic Advising will be held February 2-3.

Next, the 4th Annual Academic Advising Administrators' Institute will be held February 5-7.

Finally, the 2nd Annual Assessment of Academic Advising Institute will be held February 8-10. 

All three of these events will be held at the Hilton Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida. Watch the web and your mail for more information!

Does your curriculum guide read like a foreign language to your advisees? This month the Clearinghouse features an article by Kim Uhlik, Kent State University Assistant Professor of Exercise, Leisure, and Sport, "If Advising is Teaching, Then Learning Style Matters". Learn what you can do to help advisees make sense of institutional documents and why 'one size fits all' may not be the answer.

Do your advisees look overly tired? Do they frequently miss class? The issue may not be what readily comes to mind. Gamer Addiction is an increasing problem on our campuses. Lee Kem (Murray State University) shares important information on this timely issue that you won't want to miss!

"Faculty Based Advising: An Important Factor in Community College Retention," results of a study completed at Atlantic Cape Community College, was featured in the Spring 2005 issue of Community College Review. The study discusses the difference intrusive advising can make on any campus.  Community College Review can be found through the e-journals section of many college and university library Web sites.

You may recommend (spotlight) articles recently published in national, regional or statewide non-advising publications for listing here by submitting information to the NACADA Executive Office via this form.

The Spring issue of the NACADA Journal (issue 25(1) was mailed to all members on May 1. We understand that there have been some postal delivery problems in Southern California; Journals will be reshipped to members with zip codes between 91330 and 92515. Members outside these zip codes who did not receive a spring 2005 issue are encouraged to contact us.

The September edition of Academic Advising Today is in the final stages of publication and should be available for you by the time you return from the Labor Day holiday.  Watch your boxes!  You won't want to miss:

• Susan Campbell addresses "Why Do Assessment of Academic Advising?"
• Maura Ivanick and Kathie Simon Frank discuss recent updates to the NACADA Statement of Core Values
• Cornelius Gilbert looks at "Improving Academic Advisor Preparation Through Cultural Self-Awareness"
• and much, much more!

Information is available about the 2006 NACADA Leadership elections, including a list of positions to be elected, eligibility criteria, and an online nomination recommendation form. Election information and printed nomination forms will also be available in the NACADA booth in the Exhibits area at the National Conference in Las Vegas and in the back of the conference program. Nomination forms can be submitted either online, at the Conference, or by fax or mail. All nominations are due to the Executive Office by Monday, October 31, 2005. 

More information can be found here regarding NACADA Leadership positions. If you have any questions, or would like to inquire as to your eligibility for a particular position or the eligibility of a colleague whom you wish to nominate for a position, please contact the NACADA Executive Office at (785) 532-5717 or e-mail us.

The following learners will be awarded the KSU Graduate Certificate in Academic Advising in August 2005:   Heather Adams (Kent State University), Jodi Bernstein (Excelsior College), Deborah Bitzer (University of Michigan-Ann Arbor), Pamela Bridgeforth (Alabama A&M University), Stanley Burdette (Tri-County Technical College), Pamela Comstock (Creative Concepts, Inc.), Darren Francis (University College of the Fraser Valley), Jo Kolkay (North Central College), Danielle Letendre (George Mason University), Mary Tipton (Bryant & Stratton College-Rochester), and Patricia Walsh (Iowa State University).

Recipients will be recognized in a special reception at the national NACADA Conference in Las Vegas in October, with Kansas State University College of Education Dean Michael Holen present to honor their accomplishment. A complete list of program graduates may be found here.

Classes begin August 22nd!  Click here to learn more about EDCEP 851 Multicultural Advising and EDCEP 863 Trends in Career Development, as well as information on the program, including application and registration information.

Congratulations to the 2005 NACADA National Award recipients. All award recipients will be formally honored during the NACADA National Conference in Las Vegas this fall. Click here for complete listings of these award recipients.

Renewal forms were mailed in mid-July to those NACADA memberships having an expiration date of September 1, 2005.  Due to a personnel change in our campus mailing facility, address and contact information fields were inadvertently omitted from the renewal form.  In the event that you did not receive your renewal form due to incomplete address information, an email (with a link to an on-line form specifically for September 1 renewals) will be sent on August 2.  Please complete this form to submit your membership renewal.  Your patience and cooperation is appreciated!

The Highlights is a monthly summary of NACADA news and events designed to inform members via one consolidated e-mail.