The conference is less than a month away, and we are excited to report that we received a record number of proposals this year. Although it was tough for the committee to decide which proposals to select, the competition made for some very dynamic concurrent sessions this year, the result is a full slate of dynamic presentations. If you haven't signed up for the conference yet, please be sure to register as soon as possible. To keep the costs of the conference down and provide funds for future projects, we are offering a limited number of advertisements in the conference brochure. If you know an institution, business, etc… that might be interested in advertising please visit the following page..
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by Dr. John Sauter, Jr. Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Niagara University Whether your institution was open or closed today, it is a good opportunity to reflect on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. His legacy includes the civil rights movement which influenced the women’s movement, Title IX, the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA), and higher education in many ways. Martin Luther King Jr. was an important and inspiring figure in American history. It is possible that by reading his quotes, writings, and speeches, many of which can be found online at the King Center, it may offer insight into your own professional practices. As advising and higher education professionals, today is a good time to reflect upon issues that you may or may not have not considered in a while. Did you ever have a course which focused on cultural diversity? Have you ever been to an ally or safe-space training? Have you ever reflected on privilege, intercultural competency, racial identity, multicultural competency, identity development, social justice? These are relatively common terms used in higher education research. When was the last time that you considered how these might influence your practices? It is also important to consider your surroundings. How accessible are your institutions, programs, or office to your students? Are there any policies or barriers that appear to affect some students differently? Is there anything you can do to further support student voices on campus? Many of these are complicated questions, and there are no simple answers. However, there are a great many lessons from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. which may help. I will leave you with one to consider. "Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.” - Martin Luther King, Jr. by Dr. John Sauter, Jr. Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Niagara University I don't know how many higher education administrators in the Western New York would have had the opportunity to get to know Jackie Gribbons, but she was a pioneer in higher education administration and a champion of women in higher education. Although Jackie passed away today, her impact on higher education will be felt for generations and I encourage everyone to learn from her example. Here is a article that describes her legacy better than I ever could: (Click Here) When I was a master's student at the University of Vermont, I learned a lot from her. She supervised my three practicums, and the lessons I took from them have shaped the professional that I am today. I also remember how helpful her resume workshops were when I was just starting to look for professional jobs. That resume helped me to land a job at Niagara University. 13 years later I now have a Ph.D., but I am walking my own students through resume workshops, in which I am saying many of the same things that I learned from her. In fact I still use the same resume styles that I designed with her as examples when meeting individually with students. Thank you Jackie. by Dalene Aylward
Sr. Academic Advisor/Prehealth, University At Buffalo Technology and its usage is growing at an exponential rate. As individual advisors and as an advising community, we need to be aware of the latest technological tools and resources available to us so that we may advise our students in a way that is not only relevant to their attention, but efficient for us in our day to day endeavors. If we can utilize new technology to reach our students in a manner that they will enjoy while simultaneously providing them with important information, guidance, and sound advice, then we excel in resourcefulness. Jon Bonebrake, UB Sr. Academic Advisor/Pre-Law, has spent a good amount of time using YouTube to learn the ins and outs of recording screencasts and is using his newly acquired skills to create videos students can view online. Our office, Student Advising Services at the University at Buffalo, is embedding the videos on our websites, linking to them on our Facebook and Twitter pages, sending out to student and staff listservs, and adding buttons to our email signatures to promote these informative videos. Since prehealth & pre-law students can choose any major to complete their degree, and because students transfer between our institutions, we want to share these screencasts with all of you in the WNY Advising community. Most recently, Jon has done a fantastic job of editing & animating our prehealth committee series of screencasts I recorded. They range from about 2.5 -7.5 minutes each. If you meet with any prehealth students, feel free to share these with them, & perhaps even forward on to your student listserv if you are inclined. The first link below in particular is a series about the UB Prehealth Committee process of application & attaining letters of recommendation. We have recorded other prehealth screencasts as well that will be published at a later time. In addition, we are writing scripts for more general academic topics that will be of use to all students, so stay tuned! You can subscribe to our UB Academic Advising YouTube channel on the second link below. Technological developments and learning how to properly utilize them is a facet of professional development that isn’t always explored, but can become a worthy use of our time. I encourage you to use the annual UAC Conference on February 26, 2014 and other opportunities for professional development to fully explore the technological resources available to you and your students. Enjoy! by Dr. John Sauter, Jr.
Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Niagara University This week Apple's Free App of the Week for iphone/ipad is Scanner Pro. It can scan single or multiple page files to PDFs which can be added to or edited. This can be particularly useful for advisors or professionals who need to send documents to students quickly, are out of the office, or don't have a copier handy when doing research. The interface takes a bit getting used too, but once you have figured it out (and the editing feature is helpful here) it can be quite helpful. by Dr. John Sauter, Jr.
Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Niagara University Welcome. This site is designed to foster collaboration and networking among advisers and higher education professionals in the Western New York (WNY) area. WNY Advising can be found on:
It is also supportive of the annual Uniting Across Campuses Advising Conference, which is put together by a group of dedicated advising professionals from many institutions in the WNY area.
Sincerely, Dr. John P. Sauter, Jr. Site Coordinator |
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