Jennifer L. Bloom, NACADA President
Happy New Year! 2007 was an important year in the history of NACADA – we hit the 10,000 member mark, our Executive Director, Bobbie Flaherty, began a phased retirement, and Charlie Nutt was promoted from Associate Director to Executive Director. I would argue, however, that 2008 is going to be an even more important year for NACADA and our members. Our institutions are suffering budget constraints, the economy is shaky, and the pace of change just gets faster every day. The one constant is that higher education remains the clearest and best avenue to achieving the American Dream. The student retention literature consistently maintains the importance of academic advising to student success. I want to assure you that the NACADA Board of Directors is working hard to move the field of academic advising as well as NACADA forward so that we are positioned to not only meet the needs of our members, but also of our country by ensuring that every student who steps on our campuses has the opportunity to succeed.
The NACADA Board of Directors is focused on implementing the five strategic goals for our organization. As those of you who have participated in the strategic planning process at your institution know, creating a strategic plan is not always an exciting assignment, but it is even more difficult to implement the strategic plan. We all know that many strategic plans just gather dust on our bookshelves. However, the Board is dedicated to breathing life into the Strategic Plan by partnering with the entire NACADA member leadership team and the Executive Office. To this end, we have assigned two Board members to each of the five strategic goals. At our monthly teleconference Board meetings, a team presents their ideas on how the organization might fulfill their assigned strategic goal. After getting feedback from the Board, each pair will oversee the implementation of their goal. I must say that I have been very impressed with the strategic goal presentations to date. I’ll keep you informed throughout the year on our progress.
In addition, there have been a number of Task Forces and subcommittees created to help us implement the Strategic Plan goals. Phil Christman is heading the Policy Subcommittee of the Board. Phil is continuing the work started last year by former Board member Jane Jacobson. We’re trying to establish a stable infrastructure for how the Board operates by putting down in writing the policies and procedures of the Board. Next, Past President Susan Campbell is chairing a Priority Partnerships Task Force that is actively seeking out ways for NACADA to partner with other higher education organizations so that we can spread the word about the importance of academic advising and raise the visibility of our field. Vice President Casey Self is chairing a Leadership Orientation Task Force that is devising new ways to orient new NACADA leaders to their positions. NACADA Council member Glenn Kepic is chairing a Task Force to explore how best to reflect our growing international members in the name of our organization.Josh Smith, Chair of the Research Committee, is chairing the Infusing Research Throughout NACADA Task Force. In order for academic advising to have the credibility that it deserves, we need to be able to demonstrate our impact through high quality research. To accomplish this will take a multi-pronged approach. Board member Rich Robbins is chairing the Performance Review Subcommittee of the Board to develop evaluation instruments to ensure the effectiveness of the Board and the Executive Office. Finally, Past President Eric White has reconvened the Sustainability Task Force that is examining the benefits of the relationship between Kansas State University and NACADA.
As you can see, we have a lot of people working on task forces and subcommittees. On behalf of the Board, I want to sincerely thank the chairs and members of each of these groups. They are doing incredibly important work that will help ensure the viability of NACADA and the field of academic advising. Most of these committees’ reports are not due until September, but I want to assure you that your Board of Directors, the Council, and the rest of the leadership team is working hard on your behalf.
Finally, the NACADA Regional Conference season is just about to begin. I am looking forward to attending six of the 10 Regional Conferences this spring. I will be at the Regional Conferences for Regions 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 and look forward to meeting many of you there. There will be at least one Board member at every Regional meeting. Please seek us out at these conferences and let us know how NACADA can serve you and your needs even better.
Jennifer L. Bloom, President National Academic Advising Association jenny.bloom@sc.edu
Cite this article using APA style as: Bloom, J. (2008, March).From the president: Board of directors update on strategic plan . Academic Advising Today, 31(1). Retrieved from [insert url here]
