John Paul Regalado, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

Past Involvement in NACADA:

Years in NACADA: 10 years

National Offices Held and Accomplishments Achieved While in Office:

• Recipient, 2006 National Academic Advising Association Outstanding Advising-Primary Role Award  

Regional Activities/Offices Held, including accomplishments achieved while in office:

• Co-Chair, NACADA 2007 Region 7 Conference
• Member, NACADA Region 7 Advisory Board, 2005-Present
• Presented at Region 7 Regional Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1999

Committee/Task Force/Advisory Board Activities and Accomplishments:

• Member, NACADA Diversity Committee, 2006-Present
• Member, NACADA National Conference Advisory Board, 2003-2005

Commission/Interest Group Activities and Accomplishments:

• Current Member — Multicultural Concerns Commission, Assessment of Advising Commission, Undecided & Exploratory Students Commission, First-Generation College Student Advising Interest Group
• Past Member — Theory and Philosophy of Advising Interest Group

Other:

• Academic Counselor's Association (ACA) activities, The University of Texas at Austin:
  • Member, Academic Counselor's Association (ACA), 1996-Present
  • President, 2002-2003
  • President-Elect, 2001-2002
  • Chair, ACA Advisory Council, 2001-2002
  • Co-Chair, ACA Advisory Council, 2000-2001
  • Member, ACA Advisory Council, 2000-2005
  • Member, ACA Nominations Committee, 2005
• Activities at The University of Texas at Austin:
  • Member, President's Honor Code Implementation Committee, 2004
  • Member, President's Ad Hoc Committee on Campus Community, 2004
  • Member, Executive Vice President and Provost's Council on Academic Advising, 2001-2004
  • Consultant, General Faculty Educational Policy Committee, 2002-2003
  • Member, University Retention Issues Committee, 2002-2003
• Advisor, Gamma Beta Phi National Service Honor Society, 2004-Present
• Participant, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges Commission on Human Resources and Social Change Summer Meeting, 2005
• Attended National Council for Community and Education Partnerships National Conference, 2004

Platform Statement:

• Highlight your previous involvement within this unit that will help you in leading this unit. What roles have you played within this particular unit as a member thus far?  

First of all, I have attended every NACADA National Conference since 1998 with the exception of 2004 and thus, have benefited greatly both personally and professionally from this organization. Two years ago, I learned that it was our state's turn to host the Regional conference and I volunteered to co-chair the conference with my colleague from Texas A&M. As part of my responsibilities as a co-chair of the conference, I also became a member of the Region 7 Advisory Board. As a result of this, I have gotten to know our present and past Region Chairs, as well as members/leaders of the state organizations.

I feel these experiences of co-chairing this conference and serving on this committee has helped me to get to know many of the members of Region 7 and in particular, understand what they want from both our region and national association.

• What do you believe are the most important goals and initiatives for this unit in meeting the strategic plan for both the unit and the Association?

I think the Association must continue to work to find a balance in providing a welcoming and comfortable place for new advisors or professionals new to our profession/organization while maintaining worthwhile and cost effective programs for our more experienced members. The two groups are not mutually exclusive. It is a challenge for my home institution and I know a challenge for NACADA as a whole. For our region in particular, because we are so large, I think anything we can do to help bring people together to network and learn from each other would help. I think many people in our region still struggle to get the support from their home institutions to become or stay involved with NACADA, financial or otherwise and we must continue to work with our National office to provide opportunities like the Webinar series that is cost effective for our members.

I promise to do my best to work with NACADA on these issues as well as to continue to communicate with leaders from the state organizations as well as individual institutions—the more we can do to get the information to our members the better our region and association will be. Finally, I think we must continue to get more people involved on a state, regional, and national level and I think the new Emerging Leaders Program will be a big help with that.

• Why are you interested in serving in this leadership position or what influenced you to run for this leadership position? 

First of all, I have had the privilege of having many mentors in my life and several of those were/are advising colleagues of mine who have been heavily involved with NACADA and they have encouraged me for years to become more involved. Truth be told, the time is right for me to take on this next step and I think I am ready. I think academic advisors and anyone else who works with students or in education are doing important work and we should be proud of our profession. I have learned so much from NACADA and from my work with our university advising association that I want to give back to NACADA and our advising profession as a whole.

I want to run for this position because I think I have the experience, knowledge, and passion to help our region become better and as a result, help our national association take that next great step. We are already a strong group but imagine how much better we can become. One of the bits of advice that I give to students who are so grateful for what advisors do is that if they ever want to "repay" us, all they need to do is be there for someone else. NACADA and our region has helped me become a better advisor, professional, and person and I just want to give back what I have received.

• Provide any additional comments or information (either personal or leadership-related) that you want potential voters to know about you that is not covered elsewhere in your platform information. 

Of course, this is a cheap plug but for members of our region, please consider submitting a session proposal for our regional conference which will take place March 8-10, 2007 in Austin, Texas. Even if you don't submit a proposal, we hope to see you there. Thank you for your time and happy advising!