The following people have applied for the position of Region 4.  Voting will begin on January 23rd and conclude on February 1. 

Florida Representative Candidates 2009-2011

Jose Rodriguez, Florida Intl.

Kathleen Smith, Florida State

Joyce Ellenwood, Bethune Cookman

Jose Rodriguez

How long have you been a member in NACADA?

I have been an active member of NACADA since 2005. I had participated in a Summer Institute in 2002.

What leadership or committee experiences have your participated in NACADA?

I am part of the first class of the Emerging Leaders Program. I have been actively involved in the Webinar Advisory Board, Training Video Advisory Board, and Advising High Achieving Students Interest Group.

What are your leadership Strengths?

According to the StrengthsQuest finder, my five signature strengths are Learning, Context, Input, and Connectedness. These strengths help do describe my leadership style in that I always like to get as much info as possible before making a decision. I tend to look at things from an historical context and try to see how things have changes or stayed the same. I feel that I am a consensus builder, but I also like to see results and get things done. I like for everyone to have a say in the decision-making process; however, I also like to see action take place, not just discussion.

What are your goals for your two year term in NACADA?

My main goal would be to help facilitate better communication among the state universities and colleges. We are a big state with limited resources, I would try to encourage and facilitate collaboration and information sharing, provide opportunities for professional development, and help to build a stronger sense of community among the advising community in the state of Florida.

Kathleen Shea Smith, Ph.D., Assistant Director,  Advising First Center for Exploratory StudentsHello! 

How long have you been a member in NACADA?

I have been a member of NACADA for 12 years.

What leadership or committee experiences have your participated in NACADA?

• Chair of the NACADA Commission for Undecided and Exploratory Students, October 2008-Present
• National Academic Advising Association Research Committee, 2005-Present
• Program Chair for the 2007 NACADA Region IV Conference, Tallahassee, Florida

What are your leadership Strengths?

As a nominee, I bring passion, experience and commitment to this position. My greatest strength is my dedication to the field of academic advising. Advising is more than my career, it is my calling! I have worked as an advisor since 1989, completed a doctoral dissertation on the link between academic advising and student retention, and served as an administrator since 2004. My involvement in NACADA dates back to 1996 when I attended my first Summer Institute and sought the advice of NACADA experts on how to strengthen our advising program. From that experience I realized that the field of advising is rich with information, research literature, and committed individuals who want to reach out and share their knowledge and wisdom. I want to now serve as one of these committed individuals and represent the Florida NACADA membership.

What are your goals for your two year term in NACADA?

As a nominee for the State of Florida Representative, my first goal is to serve as the point person for every NACADA member in our state. I want to meet and speak with Florida advisors and address their questions and concerns. As educators from Florida, we will be facing tough economic challenges in the months ahead. My second goal is to bring members together and exchange ideas. Important topics could range from how to meet the needs of our students with fewer resources, to better publicizing the value of the services we provide. These discussions can be facilitated at local and regional meetings or through telephone conference calls. In 2010 we will proudly host the NACADA national conference in Orlando. I believe the program will be greatly enhanced through strong participation from the Florida membership. My final goal is to help lead the effort by recruiting volunteers and coming together to create a memorable national conference experience for all NACADA members!

Joyce Ellenwood, Assistant Director of Academic Advisement/Sophomore Coordinato

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How long have you been a member in NACADA?

I have been a member in NACADA for a total of 3 years, 2002-2004, and 2008-2009.

What leadership or committee experiences have you participated in NACADA?

Most of my experience with leadership and committees within NACADA have been recent. I am a member of the 2008-2009 Emerging Leaders Program, serve as a member on the NACADA Diversity Committee, and serving a two-year term on the ELP Advisory Board.

What are your leadership Strengths?

My Myers Briggs personality type is ENTJ (Extraverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging)

 aka “The Executive”, bulls eye! The good and the bad are all rolled into one. I truly believe the best thing about tuning into this label is getting a good laugh about who I really am and having the platform of life to work on those elements in me that need altering. The portrait of an ENTJ explains that my primary mode of living is focused externally, where I deal with things rationally and logically. My secondary mode is internal, where I take things in primarily via intuition. As a lifelong learner, I live in a world of possibilities where I see all sorts of challenges to be surmounted.  This is true for the many roles I play on a daily basis, as a parent, spouse, sister, daughter, friend, colleague, and many more. A few more details of me as an ENTJ, I am outgoing, assertive, logical, systematic, analytical, decisive, and objective; I inspire others, set goals, see the “big picture”, and provide a conceptual structure. As everyone knows the breakdown of the MBTI can go on forever; hopefully this preview serves its purpose.

The VIA (Values in Action) Survey is designed to reveal individual character strengths.  My top five strengths are spirituality, honesty, citizenship, leadership, and gratitude. The overall picture of me can definitely be summed up in the definitions of these words. My spirituality gives me a sense a purpose and faith. I strive to live my life with true honesty in a genuine and authentic way. As a former student-athlete my citizenship is rolled into a loyal and dedicated teammate, I enjoy working hard for the success of the group. In leadership I take pleasure in encouraging others to accomplish the goals that they set, while also preserving harmony within a group. Finally, with gratitude I am especially grateful for my life as it is, and I’m always looking for interesting ways to say thank you.

What are your goals for your two year term in NACADA?

My goals for a two year term in NACADA would be to increase Florida’s involvement in the organization at all levels, motivate institutions to pursue the opportunities and the wealth of information that NACADA has to offer, mobilize intrastate communication between member institutions, and to exceed the expectations of a State Representative.

See Bio below….

Joyce Ellenwood is the Assistant Director of Academic Advisement at Bethune-Cookman University. In this position she assists in developing new programs and methodologies, which interface with learning assistance services and academic advising. She advises freshman on academic/career goals, guides students in the decision making process to better manage the first year experience, monitors progress and builds intervention strategies for students on probation, coordinates Freshman C.A.M.P, teaches Freshman Seminar and serves as the SGA Freshman Class Advisor.

In the spring of 2008 under the vision of the Freshman College Dean, Joyce was instrumental in devising an extensive pilot mentoring program to service freshman students having academic difficulties. Freshman C.A.M.P. (Consortium Academic Mentoring Program) saw significant student success in its first semester. Joyce has presented the program to the Florida Developmental Education Association board members and participated in a round table discussion about the program at the Florida Connections Conference: Using Evidence-Based Culture to Accelerate Student Success.

In the past ten years, Joyce has served diverse student populations, all in the capacity of motivating students to succeed. She began her career as a graduate assistant track & field coach in 1998 with primary responsibilities in tracking academic eligibility of student athletes, recruiting and coaching at James Madison University. After completing her Master’s degree in Athletic Administration, she became the assistant track & field coach at the University of Tulsa. With three years of coaching and administration duties, Joyce transitioned her career from coaching and was offered the Fellows BIG East Conference position where she worked extensively with senior staff in all areas of Conference management in one of the largest and most diverse sport conferences in the country. Joyce continued on to Rutgers University where she was an Academic Advisor and Life Skills Coordinator. She had academic oversight for football, softball, women’s track & field, and women’s lacrosse. This included tracking and determining NCAA academic eligibility, advising progress towards degree, and developing programs for each component of the CHAMPS Life Skills program (Personal, Career, and Service Development).

During a three year hiatus from the university setting Joyce continued her involvement in student success. With a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Psychology from Seton Hall University she was a third/forth grade teacher and the Director of Education at Sylvan Learning Center during this time. Her dedication to seeing her students succeed is endless.

Joyce became a member of NACADA 2002 when she became an Academic Advisor at Rutgers University and attended regional conferences for Region 2. She is currently an active member of Region 4.