NACADA Commission & Interest Group Division -- Chair Leadership Report Form
2010 Post-Conference Report
Name of Chair: Amanda Neuber
Name of Commission or Interest Group: Advising High Achieving Students Commission
Section 1: Identify the volunteers serving within your unit (on steering committees, other committees, as webmaster, proposal readers, etc.).
Name of Committee/Activity
(steering, award, proposals, etc.)
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Name of Committee Member
Institution of Committee Member
E-mail of Committee Member (if available)
Tiffany Schmier
Jessica Cassleman
Elly Brenner
Stacie Edington
Beth Shuster
Elena Galinova
Tracyann Baker
Carolann Popovich
Kelly Bailey
Sheryl Mayuski
Deanna Merino-Coutino
Jermaine Jackson
Janet Veal
Amy Chester
Kiana Shiroma
Jackie Besoner
Jonathan Kotinek
Marion Schwartz
Kathie Sindt
Jose Rodriguez
Alisha Jordan
Glenn Kepic
Jennifer Rubin
David Stout
Rex Roberts
U. of Nevada: Las Vegas
Washington State University
U. of Notre Dame
U. of Michigan
UNC: Chapel Hill
Penn State University
U. of Texas: Arlington
Florida Gulf Coast University
U. of Florida
Northeastern University
CSU: Fullerton
U. of Mississippi
Texas Tech University (Honors)
Western Kentucky University
U. of Hawaii: Manoa
Florida International University
Texas A&M University
Penn State University
Johns Hopkins University
Florida International University
U. of Florida
U. of Florida
Drexel University
Texas Christian University
University of Central Florida
tiffany.schmier@univ.edu
casslema@wsu.edu
ellybrenner@nd.edu
sjed@umich.edu
eshuster@email.unc.edu
galinova@psu.edu
tkbaker@uta.edu
caopovic@fgcu.edu
kbailey@advising.ufl.edu
s.mayuski@neu.edu
dmerino@fullerton.edu
jermaine@olemiss.edu
janet.veal@ttu.edu
amy.chester@wku.edu
kianak@hawaii.edu
jbesoner@fiv.edu
jkotinek@tamu.edu
mxs5@PSU.EDU
ksindt@jhu.edu
rodrigej@fiu.edu
ajordan@ufl.edu
gkepic@advising.ufl.edu
jrubin@drexel.edu
david.stout@tcu.edu
rsroberts@mail.ucf.edu
Section 2: Outline your annual activities as they relate to the NACADA missions and strategies.
Post-Conference Report (due in November): Indicate the primary activities and/or goals on which your commission will focus for the next year as
they relate to the NACADA Strategic Plan. Remember — you do not need to list an activity for every mission statement listed below. Be sure to
describe the assessment criteria that will be used to determine if these goals are met.
 If you plan to offer the Service to Commission Award next year, be sure to list this in the “Activity” column as an additional goal where applicable and
include the $50 budget request with that activity statement.
 If you are an Interest Group planning to seek Commission status next year, be sure to list that goal in the “Activity” column.
 The “Date Completed” and “Progress Made and Assessment” columns should be left blank in the post-conference report — these columns will be
completed when your annual report is submitted in the summer.
Annual Report (due in August): Update the “Date Completed” and “Progress Made and Assessment” columns to report on the progress made towards
the goals outlined in the post-conference report. If additional activities were completed that were not in the post-conference report, add these at this time.
Strategic Goal 1: Address the academic advising needs of higher education globally.
1-A — Identify, prioritize, and address critical issues facing academic advising.
Date
Submitted
Activity or Goal Planned
Person/committee
responsible for activity
Target
Date
Assessment Criteria to be used
Date
Completed
Progress Made and Assessment of
Strategies/Actions Taken
1-B — Collect, analyze, and act upon information about the environments in which academic advising operates.
Date
Submitted
Activity or Goal Planned
Person/committee
responsible for activity
Target
Date
Assessment Criteria to be used
Date
Completed
Progress Made and Assessment of
Strategies/Actions Taken
Date
Completed
Progress Made and Assessment of
Strategies/Actions Taken
1-C — Provide comprehensive professional development opportunities.
Date
Submitted
Activity or Goal Planned
Person/committee
responsible for activity
Target
Date
Assessment Criteria to be used
Listserv, target emails to
specific individuals with
interest, create database of
presentations that happen
across country (Region,
State drive-ins, etc)
Pilot survey data to
administrators
11/15/10
Encourage/solicit annual and
regional conference presentations
Amanda Neuber
Sept/11
11/15/10
Assist doctoral students in
dissertations related to high
achieving students
Jeanne Takeda
Sept /11
Strategic Goal 2: Advance the body of knowledge of academic advising.
2-A — Promote and support research related to the enhancement of academic advising through further understanding of the student, the
campus environment, advising processes, or other related areas.
Date
Submitted
11/15/10
Person/committee
responsible for activity
Target
Date
Assessment Criteria to be used
Activity or Goal Planned
Continue defining the differences and
similarities between Gifted, HighAchieving, and “Honors”
Kathie Sindt,
Amanda Neuber,
Jon Kotinek
Sept/11
Research the emerging issue of
“underachieving” Honors students
Jennifer Rubin,
Jermaine Jackson,
Elizabeth Cox
Sept/11
Congruence with literature,
survey to higher-education
professionals and current
students.
Congruence with literature,
continue previous studies at
own institutions,
comprehensive merge of
research across populations
if possible
Date
Completed
Progress Made and Assessment of
Strategies/Actions Taken
Date
Completed
Progress Made and Assessment of
Strategies/Actions Taken
2-B — Disseminate the knowledge acquired from the research.
Date
Submitted
11/15/10
11/15/10
11/15/10
Person/committee
responsible for activity
Target
Date
Assessment Criteria to be used
Develop an annotated bibliography
of the work on high-achieving
students
Create a list of effective co-curricular
programming activities and ideas
specific for the needs of High
Achieving students
Jon Kotinek
Kathi Hume
Sept/11
Gather at least 20 sources
Kelly Bailey
Karen Reedy
Dana Ann Gessler
Sheri Robertson
July/11
Gather at least 20 ideas with
detailed “how-to” and
learning outcomes.
Encourage members of the
committee to share their own data
and research from their institutions
and programs that center on highachieving issues. (What’s already
been done, what commonalities do
we all share, how can we synthesize
our findings)
Amanda Neuber
July/11
Create a database of “best
practice” surveys, analysis,
final reports, etc – in
addition to the
clearinghouse. (less formal,
not publicized on major site)
Activity or Goal Planned
Strategic Goal 3: Champion the educational role of academic advising to enhance student learning and development in a diverse world.
3-A — Identify and develop strategies for fostering collaboration and education among various advising external constituencies both
nationally and internationally.
Date
Submitted
11/15/10
Activity or Goal Planned
Person/committee
responsible for activity
Continue to foster our relationship
with NCHC, and other “HighAchieving” related groups.
Jon Kotinek,
Carolyn Allen, Elly
Brenner
Target
Date
Assessment Criteria to be used
Date
Completed
Progress Made and Assessment of
Strategies/Actions Taken
Strategic Goal 4: Educate university and college decision makers about the role of quality academic advising in higher education.
4-A — Identify and develop practical strategies and materials for use by college and university leadership.
Date
Submitted
Activity or Goal Planned
Person/committee
responsible for activity
Target
Date
Assessment Criteria to be used
Date
Completed
Progress Made and Assessment of
Strategies/Actions Taken
Strategic Goal 5: Ensure the effectiveness of the NACADA organization
5-A — Promote diversity within the association.

5A(i) — Create environments and processes that promote and sustain inclusion and involvement in the association.
Date
Submitted
11/15/10

Activity or Goal Planned
Utilize more social networking and
online-collaboration tools to develop
the committee and create a dynamic
community.
Person/committee
responsible for activity
Target
Date
Assessment Criteria to be used
Amanda Neuber
Aug/11
After creating outlets, keep
track of how many individuals
utilize, how often they are
updated/information is shared.
Date
Completed
Progress Made and Assessment of
Strategies/Actions Taken
5A(ii) — Increase diversity within NACADA leadership at all levels.
Date
Submitted
Activity or Goal Planned
Person/committee
responsible for activity
Target
Date
Assessment Criteria to be used
Date
Completed
Progress Made and Assessment of
Strategies/Actions Taken
5-B — Enhance NACADA's global visibility and credibility as the resource for concerns and needs involving academic advising.
Date
Submitted
Activity or Goal Planned
Person/committee
responsible for activity
Target
Date
Assessment Criteria to be used
Date
Completed
Progress Made and Assessment of
Strategies/Actions Taken
Section 3: Issues/Items for consideration by the Division.
-
As Kathie Sindt, Amanda Neuber, and Jon Kotinek continue to develop their research regarding the similarities and most notably the
differences between High-Achieving and Gifted students, we may wish to entertain the idea of adding “gifted” to the commission title:
“Advising High-Achieving and Gifted Students”
Section 4: Describe how you have incorporated diversity and inclusiveness of membership into the planning of
your unit’s goals and activities. What criteria were used to accomplish this (such as institutional type, ethnicity, new
professionals, experienced professionals, role—faculty, administrator, advisor; region, etc.)?
-
-
The steering committee and commission members represent a variety of race, gender, ethnicity, public and private institutions, and
geographic locations. One area that was increased at this year’s commission meeting in Florida was the addition of more new, young
professionals into the group.
One way to encourage more inclusiveness into the commission is to focus our research and topics of interest in a wide variety of areas.
Section 5: Summary of Unit Communications and Meetings
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Name/type of Group Meeting: Annual Commission Group Meeting
Date and Location: October 3, 2010 in Orlando, FL
Number of Members Attending/participating: about 40.
Summary of Meeting: The meeting began by Amanda introducing herself as the new chair and then we celebrated award winners and
the three commission-sponsored presentations. After, we moved into introductions of everyone present. Each individual shared their
name, school, title, if there were any aspects or issues related to High-Achieving students that they are particularly interested in.
o Those topics included:
 Defining High Achieving vs Gifted
 Honors global citizenship
 Underrepresented Honors students
 Faculty of color
 Underachieving Honors Students
 Getting dean/faculty support for Smaller interesting classes for Honors students
 How to do group advising effectively for High-Achievers who typically need more individualized attention
 Honors Thesis
 Helping High-Achievers make decisions
 Strategies to keep them engaged
 Co-Curricular programming specifically for high-achievers
 Multiple Majors / Minors Advising
After everyone went around, the group chose the 4 areas they felt were most important to discuss and use are our focus for the next
year’s work. The team separated into 4 breakout groups and each discussed one of these issues at greater length.

4 Topics Discussed:
1. Emotional / Social Challenges relevant to High Achievers
a. Pressure, stress, expectations, anxiety
b. Psychological issues: Suicide, depression, failing
2. High Achievers who Underachiever
 High achieving students having too much fun outside of the classroom. First time they experience true freedom
from parents.
 Students who don’t know how to pay attention well or follow directions.
 Sense of entitlement bases on past achievements.
 Students who have taken advantage of the perks of honors, but then decide that they don’t want to continue with
the honors program.
 Overbearing parents who continue to try to do everything for the student, not allowing them to learn to do things
for themselves.
 How to make students want to strive once they make 1 lower grade.
o (as discussed by Elizabeth Cox, Mycla Palmer, Jermaine Jackson, Sherry Winkle)
3. Co-curricular programming
 Faculty Dinners at their homes (segway for research).
 How to mandate outside classroom.
 With so many options, are they becoming too fragmented, or not fully connecting and developing in long-term
development?
 Service component (some connected to honors, some not).
 Living learning community themes (too comfortable, too dependent). (As discussed by Karen Reedy, Dana Ann
Gessler, Johnathan Kotinek, Sheri Robertson.)
4. Education vs Vocation
a. encouraging high-achievers to get experiences outside the classroom.
b. Students who come in with so many credits and want to graduate extremely early
 When was the shift from educational breadth to getting out quickly and getting a job?
 Required courses outside of their major can open their eyes to new majors and ideas (more interdisciplinary
courses).
 Will it look good on my resume? (Important question for current students)
 How to coach students into thinking about whether coursework and activities are good for them educationally and
developmentally?
 Companies that recruit students early and dissolve the idea of graduate work. (As discussed by Stacy Edington,
Jessica Kassleman, Janet Veal, Kelly Bailey, Liz Hicks, Michelle Paswaters, Bill Irby, Tracy Baker, Kiana
Shiroma, Jackie Besoner, Alisha Jordan.)