Committee Members From This Past Year

• Mackenzie Prins (Chair)
• Brian Eikenhout (Member)
• Jennifer Jameslyn (Member)
• Brianne Perez (Member)
• Andrea Johnson (CSAL Graduate Student Member)

Vacancies for F21/W22

CSAL Graduate Student Position (1 year term)

As the inaugural committee, what things did you learn as a group?

Our committee learned that staying organized and planning ahead were integral to our success. Initially, we had to do a lot of information gathering with staff around campus to gain an understanding of the expectations surrounding the award nominations and professional development sessions.
For the awards nominations to run smoothly, we had to make sure we were connected with other key members around campus such as Mary Albrecht and Linda Stratton. We also collected information about past nominations/winners, awards criteria rating information, the award guidelines, and the nominee packet checklist. To make sure we adequately promoted the opportunity across multiple mediums and provided ourselves with enough time to review the awards and submit the appropriate materials by the deadline, we created an award timeline. The timeline also helps remind us of follow-up that needs to occur including emailing all non-winning nominations and nominators, and submitting introduction and program content of wining nominations to the appropriate departments.
While coordinating the award nominations, we learned that the task of nominating someone was very extensive and something that we wanted to look into further. We did not receive any new faculty nominations, only roll-over nominations from the previous year. This encouraged us to want to take another look at the award nomination process.
Organization was also key as we began to brainstorm and coordinate the professional development sessions. We wanted to make sure we had everything confirmed in order to send out an invitation to the session at least 5-6 weeks in advance. For sessions to run smoothly we created a Sprout event, a follow-up survey, promoted the event through the LAAN email and coordinated the logistics of the Zoom session in advance.
Furthermore, we learned how Zoom could be used as an effective way to hold professional development sessions. This allowed attendees to get together at their convenience and still allowed us to facilitate large and small group discussions.

What accomplishments did your committee achieve during this past academic year? Projects and initiatives worked on?

The training and development committee offered a two-part series for professional development opportunities around the topic of trauma-informed advising. This included coordinating and confirming the virtual meeting date and time, creating and promoting the registration of the event on sprout and through the LAAN email. The first session was in collaboration with Meg Marshall, Breean Ghorman, and Jen Jameslyn and shared resources from the developing field of trauma-informed advising, including practical methods to develop relationships, defuse tension and slow down impulsive decisions, while also offering realistic solutions and connecting students to resources. Participants were given a chance to talk in small groups about challenges they have been facing as well as strategies that have worked well with students. After event one, a survey was conducted to gather feedback and help guide the direction of the second event.
Our second-professional development session was in collaboration with the Student Academic Success Center. Michael Messner, Gabe Pena, and Liz Chase assisted in facilitating conversations around advising and supporting students through the COVID pandemic. This session was built to give concrete tips on helping students find success within the trauma-advising framework. Specific tips for helping students create goals and techniques or approaches on how to keep students connected to campus were shared. Participants had a chance to talk in small groups about challenges they've been facing as well as strategies that have worked well with students.
We also initiated and promoted the Outstanding Academic Advising and Student Service awards through collaboration with Mary Albrecht, Matt Boelkins, advising center directors and the LAAN member list. Reviewed advising (3) and faculty (2) nominations to select two winners; Alexis Schewe and Tara Knewshaw. Contacted all nominators and nominations about award decisions and submitted program and presentation content for the Faculty Awards Convocation and Administration Professional Luncheon. Other tasks we performed this year included brainstorming, researching, and collecting conference opportunities for other LAAN members including information about conference dates, registration fees, and time/location of the event and updating and reviewing the training and development subcommittee page on the LAAN website.

What work will you carry over that was unfinished to the next academic year?

We are going to continue to look at the requirements and awards criteria for the Outstanding Academic Advising and Student Services award to confirm that we are gathering the appropriate information for each nomination. We are also currently reviewing material, documents, and information that will be posted on the LAAN website, and will continue to review professional development needs of LAAN members for future sessions.
 

How did COVID-19 impact your committee work this year?

COVID-19 has impacted how our committee has coordinated the professional development sessions. Traditionally, these sessions would have been held in-person but to meet social distancing guidelines we held each session over Zoom. This has actually made coordinating the professional development sessions much easier without having to worry about room reservations, catering, etc.
COVID has also changed how we gather and share information. All of our committee meetings are over Zoom and it has been very convenient to schedule a quick Zoom meeting rather than attempt to find a common meeting ground. Email communication has been our primary source for document sharing and quick updates as well.