Charlie Nutt, NACADA Executive Director
As President Joslin says in her column, this has been an exciting year for the association in so many ways. Personally, for me, this has been an exciting year as it marks my 10-year anniversary at the NACADA Executive Office. Being a part of the best Executive Office team in all of higher education, having the chance to work with and learn from Executive Director Emeritus Bobbie Flaherty, and working with a wonderful group of NACADA Leaders have all been the best part of my professional career!
In the past 10 years, NACADA has grown to close to 12, 000 members internationally and has dramatically expanded the professional development events and resources offered to our members and to the profession. Through the work of outstanding Presidents and Boards of Directors, the association has made research in the field of academic advising a priority and has expanded the opportunity for professionals in the field to be published and become a part of the field of study. NACADA has in a short time expanded its reach beyond North America to all parts of the globe, resulting in our new tag line NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, and in June 2013 we will co-host the first fully NACADA-sponsored international conference in the Netherlands, co-hosted by Maastricht University. Our reach to advisors across North America has increased through the outstanding work of the Regions, with annual regional conferences reaching over 3,000 professionals each year and being held in nearly every one of the 50 states and many of the Canadian provinces. NACADA has also expanded its reach through a variety of technology initiatives, including Web Events as well as multiple connections through all forms of social media.
But NACADA is far from slowing down! Through the support of the NACADA Board of Directos and the NACADA Finance Committee, the association will be migrating this year to a new association management system and content management system, which will dramatically enhance the services we provide to our members as well as significantly enhance our web site and resources offered through technology to the profession. We have increased significantly the amount of funding we offer for research grants and will continue to make research in the field a priority for the association. And, as always, NACADA will continue to expand our leadership opportunities through very successful initiatives such as the Emerging Leaders Program and strong steering committees at all levels of the association.
This year’s Annual Conference in Nashville is just one more example of the outstanding work that NACADA does for the profession and for our members. Over 3,000 professionals from across the globe will gather to network and learn from each other, to recognize excellence in the field through our NACADA Awards program, and to move NACADA further with the hard work conducted by our leadership in various divisions, committees, advisory boards, and leadership levels. But the most exciting aspect is that NACADA of 2012 continues to grow and expand because of its rich tradition of leadership since our very inception. A clear sign of the success of our association is that each year we continue to see, network with, and learn from some of our very first leaders in the association. Very few other higher education associations in the world can say that they honor their history while marching forward to the future!
I look forward to seeing many of you in Nashville – please continue to let me, the Board of Directors, and the Executive Office staff know what we can do to grow even more over the next decade!
I can’t close without, as President Joslin did, acknowledging the hard work, support, and resources that NACADA has had through our agreement with Kansas State University and the vision, leadership, and support of Dean Michael Holen. I personally thank him for his support and the association is so fortunate to continue with this level of support from our new Dean, Dr. Debbie Mercer. Both Dr. Holen and Dr. Mercer will be in Nashville, and I hope many of you will take the opportunity to thank them personally for what Kansas State University has meant to our association.
See you in Nashville!
Charlie Nutt, Executive Director NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising (785) 532-5717 cnutt@ksu.edu
Cite this article using APA style as: Nutt, C. (2012, September). From the executive director: Time flies….as NACADA prospers. Academic Advising Today, 35(3). Retrieved from [insert url here]
