Region Chair Report of Activities

Annual Report, Fall 2008

Name of Chair : Sandra Waters          Date Submitted: September 26, 2008

Region: Mid-Atlantic Region 2

Section 1: Report of Annual Goals – Progress and Assessment

Describe the activities associated with your region’s goals. Please identify which NACADA Strategic Goal each activity fulfills. Report the status of each goal even if it has not yet been completed or is in progress. If new activities were completed beyond those initially projected, make a new entry and complete all the columns for that entry. You most likely will not have a goal for each strategy.

For your reference – here are the NACADA Strategic Goals:

Strategic Goal 1 : Address the academic advising needs of higher education globally.

1-A — Identify, prioritize, and address critical issues facing academic advising.

1-B — Collect, analyze, and act upon information about the environments in which academic advising operates.

1-C — Provide comprehensive professional development opportunities.

Strategic Goal 2: Advance the body of knowledge of academic advising.

2-A — Promote and support research related to the enhancement of academic advising through further understanding of the student, the campus environment, advising processes, or other related areas.

2-B — Disseminate the knowledge acquired from the research.

Strategic Goal 3: Champion the educational role of acad. advising to enhance student learning & development in a diverse world.

3-A — Identify and develop strategies for fostering collaboration and education among various advising external constituencies both nationally and internationally.

Strategic Goal 4 : Educate university and college decision makers about the role of quality academic advising in higher education .

4-A — Identify and develop practical strategies and materials for use by college and university leadership.

Strategic Goal 5: Ensure the effectiveness of the NACADA organization

5-A — Promote diversity within the association.

•  5A(i) — Create environments and processes that promote and sustain inclusion and involvement in the association.

•  5A(ii) — Increase diversity within NACADA leadership at all levels. (See section 2)

5-B — Enhance NACADA's global visibility and credibility as the resource for concerns and needs involving academic advising.

Section 2. Describe how you have incorporated diversity and inclusiveness of membership into the planning of your unit’s goals and activities. What criteria were used to accomplish this (such as institutional type, ethnicity, new professionals, experienced professionals, role—faculty, administrator, advisor; region, etc.) ? Add comments or observations you would like to share based on your plans to incorporate diversity and inclusiveness of membership into your unit’s goals and activities

  This year we tested our new steering committee selection process by holding elections for vacancies.

The goal was to open the process to more members who would otherwise be unable to express interest in becoming involved in the leadership of the region.

The mentoring program, launched three years ago, continues to develop and expand. New members to the profession have been partnered with seasoned advisors to help new members feel welcomed.

Section 3: Issues/Items for consideration by the Division.

Section 4: Identify volunteers serving within your Region (Region Steering Committee, Conference Steering Committee, others)

Section 5: Summary of Unit Communications and Meetings

Report any meetings or teleconferences held among unit members since the annual conference last (including specific group meeting, date, location, number of members attending, and brief summary of the meeting.

The Region 2 Steering Committee met during the regional conference in November 2007 to prepare for the April 2008 conference. We spent two days reviewing state events, membership initiatives, and discussing processes for the selection of award winners. We also spent time preparing and finalizing plans for the Regional Conference.

The committee met again just before the regional conference in April 2008 to ensure that all areas were covered and prepare for any last minute issues.

A telephone conference was conducted on June 6, 2008 with all steering committee members to review the outcomes of the various drive-in events, establish a theme for the next region conference in March, 2009, and discuss the budget crisis experienced because of overages incurred by the April region conference.