Ohio Academic Advising Association
Serving the needs of Ohio Advisors since 1996
An "allied" organization of NACADA
To Contact Us:
2009-10 OHAAA President
Dan Dakin
University College
Wright State University
Academic Advisor and Transfer Services
daniel.dakin@wright.edu
2009-10 Webmaster
Karyl Shirkey
Ohio State University
Department of Sociology
Coordinating Academic Counselor
shirkey.9@osu.edu
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2009 Conference Overview: "Ohio is Changing!"
Notes on the Conference from Dan Dakin, President
The Ohio Academic Advising Association (OHAAA) 2009 annual conference was a great success. With Chancellor Fingerhut’s Key note presentation to start off the day by addressing the state of Ohio’s economy and the Governor’s undying support of Higher Education. He mentioned that now is the time, when things are tough, that we all have to dig in and be as positive and supportive as possible to the students we serve. He also emphasized the need for more collaboration among learning institutions within the new University System of Ohio in order to bring about positive and needed change. Kelly Conkle, 4 yr Private Institution Representative, mentioned how Mr. Fingerhut’s presence at our conference at a time when he is at his busiest showed her that he views Academic Advisors as playing a key role in the goals he and the governor have for higher education in Ohio.
During the business meeting at lunch we introduced our new OHAAA Board for the up coming 2009-2010 season including Dan Dakin- president, Karyl Shirkey- president elect, Susan Spacht- treasurer, Dodie Munn- secretary, Shamon Milner-4yr public rep., Kelly Conkle- 4yr private rep., Dana Roof- community/Technical College rep., and Jennifer Wells- Member at large. We also received authorization for the membership to increase the dues to create new professional development opportunities for the OHAAA membership.
Our OHAAA membership provided many excellent presentations though out the day and your executive board took notes and have provided me with some of the highlights as follows:
Paula Compton, from the Board of Regents provided those in attendance with valuable transfer and articulation information that has been and will become an ever important piece of the new University System of Ohio. According to Susan Spacht, OHAAA’s new treasurer, Paula explained the new Advanced Placement Credit Policy and CTAG’s which are Transfer Assurance Guides for Career-Technical areas. These and many more transfer agreements are in the works.
George Steele, from The Learning Network, nearly overwhelmed the participants with tremendous amounts of new innovations in technology. He provided a wide variety of ways to help keep advisors and students connected. Kelly Conkle even got some new ideas for how to improve the college website she uses in her office to make it more user friendly.
Jan Tyler, the OHAAA past president, and James Badger, a Wright State University graduate student, provided a follow up to the Regional Seminar held at Akron University this past spring offering more information about how to work with displaced workers. They shared practical solutions and great campus and community resources to help this growing population of students.
Abby Trout and a colleague, both graduate students from Miami University, provided their participants with information about a program underway that is focused on improving sophomore retention by using peer mentoring in advising. Shamon Milner , OHAAA’s new 4 yr public representative, stated that this was a new concept that inspired her to find out how we as advisors can encourage peer mentoring. This presentation also encouraged collaboration between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs departments.
Libby King, from Lourdes College, focused on how to advise students in nursing programs that may not meet the program requirements. According to Susan , Libby provided several different program alternatives and even helpful websites to assist these students in need.
Dana Roof, from Owens Community College and OHAAA’s newest Community/ Technical College representative, covered the needs and goals to retaining female adult learners on our campus. She explored how the campus women’s center can be an excellent allay and resource for academic advisors. According to Kelly, Dana even provide many excellent suggestions for advisors that work on campuses without women centers.
Jen Hazel, from Owens Community College, provided some interesting information about an intrusive advising program that was developed by an experienced journalism instructor.
Jacey Parks, from Owens Community College, covered the ever growing needs of military veterans coming to college. This session helped academic advisors identify these students and the resources we have on and around campus to help support them as advisors.
Lastly, I, Dan Dakin from Wright State University, as the new OHAAA president, conducted a presentation geared towards the future of OHAAA. We had a great deal of interaction from everyone where I took more notes than anyone else in the room. I asked what can OHAAA do for you and the three main themes I got in response was 1) More open communication to and from OHAAA and it’s membership, 2) Identify ways and implement avenues for the OHAAA membership to collaborate with each other and other beneficial organizations, and lastly 3) identify and create more opportunities for professional development for the OHAAA membership. In closing I made a request to everyone that attended this session to be sure and share the information everyone received from this conference. I asked that every member take on some responsibility in building OHAAA at a grass roots level to make it the kind of organization you want it to be. In return we as the OHAAA board will commit to doing our best to respond to the needs of our membership.
Please don't hesitate to contact any members of the executive board for additional information from the conference. Shortly, our updated membership list will be posted on the membership page allowing you to contact other OHAAA members including our presenters from the 2009 conference.
Dan Dakin
What Did YOU learn at the 2009 Annual Conference??
Share your experience with the OHAAA membership! E-mail Karyl Shirkey with a fact, idea, brain-storm, etc...that you came away from the conference with. While not all Advisors in Ohio were able to attend the conference due to work conflict and economic difficulties, they should not miss out on the great information that was shared! Please consider this webpage as just one forum in which to share this rich information with your colleagues.
If you were able to attend the conference, please be sure to take the information back to your institution and share it! Be an ambassador for OHAAA and let your colleagues know what they are missing!
Conference Presentations
Click here for full abstracts of our Conference Presentations
- The Role of the Academic Advisor in Credit Transfer: The Cornerstone of The University System of Ohio
Paula Compton: Ohio Board of Regents, Associate Vice Chancellor of Articulations and Transfer - Advising During Tought Economic Times: A Follow-up to the Regional Seminar on Displaced Workers
Jan Tyler: Sinclair Community College, Director Academic Advising Center and James Badger: Wright State University, Graduate Student - Peer Mentorship: A Changed Approach to Academic Advising, Sophomore Retention and Freshmen Transfer
Abby Trout & Lindsay Morgan: Miami University, Graduate Students (Best viewed in Internet Explorer) - Using Web 2.0 Tools for Professional Development and Administrative Tasks
George E. Steele: The Learning Network, Director of Educational Access - Changing Careers
Libby King, Lourdes College, Academic Advisor - Joining Forces to Serve Veterans
Jacey Parks, Owens Community College - Student Success Mentors Free Press
Jen Hazel, Owens Community College - An Unexplored Ally: Working with Campus Women's Centers to Recruit and Retian Female Adult Learners
E. Dana Roof: Owens Community College-Findlay Campus
Advising Excellence Award
Congratulations to Bernadette Citano,the 2009 recipient of the Advising Excellence Award! Bernadette is an Academic Adviser in University College at The University of Akron. She has been with Akron since June 2005. Prior to The University of Akron, she spent 4 years at Kent State University in different advising experiences and continuing education and 12 years working in corporate enterprise in the Cleveland area. She earned a Bachelors Degree in Business and a Masters in Education from Kent State University. As an Academic Adviser, she assists students on a daily basis, and she also serves as a liaison to the Fashion Merchandising program, the School of Art, and the Dietetics program. She is a member of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) in addition to OHAAA.