Kep’s Korner

by Glenn Kepic

In Making the Most of College, Richard Light wrote "Good advising may be the single most underestimated characteristic of a successful college experience." As professional advisors, it’s not just our job to develop and deliver advising programs to help our students succeed, but also to contribute to the field of advising and be visible to the entire campus community. I hope the activities highlighted below serve as an important reminder of the meaningful and successful work we are doing on campus and in the field of academic advising. All members of the UF advising community should be proud of the national reputation we have earned as one of the premier advising operations in the country. I encourage each of you to continue your important work with students and to get involved with our national association, NACADA.
 
• For the third time since 2002, academic advisors from UF were awarded the coveted “Best of Region” award for the very best presentation given at the Region 4 NACADA conference held at Georgia Tech in late March. This is quite an accomplishment considering no other school in our region has won the award more than once since it was created. Lindsey Dedow and Robbie Shields presented on the School of Business Peer Mentoring Program “Get Ready To Work! The Development and Implementation of a Career Focused Peer Mentor Program.” In recognition of their outstanding presentation, Lindsey and Robbie will receive financial assistance to attend and present their session at the Annual Conference in the fall. Congratulations Lindsey and Robbie!

Previous UF recipients of the Best of Region award were Glenn Kepic and Brian Cullaty (CLAS) for “Parents – Friend of Foe?” in 2005 and Megan Silbert, Joe Rojo, Christine Richmond (CBA) for “Demographic Defenses: The Need for Quantitative Data Collection and Evaluation in an Economy of Limited Resources” in 2002.

• Congratulations are also in order for AAC Graduate Assistant, Kelly Bailey who was awarded a Graduate Student Scholarship to attend the regional conference.

• Associate Dean of CLAS, Albert Matheny, reports that Dean Paul D’Anieri just returned from an SEC Deans of Arts and Sciences meeting, and the consensus at that meeting was that UF has the best advising system in the SEC.

Remember, an easy way to stay connected and involved in the campus advising community is to attend the UAC and their professional development events. Keep up the great work!