30 for 30 Member Spotlight: Nathan Vickers

Swiped from the ACA Facebook page.  Nathan is the one on the left.

Spotlight on Nathan Vickers

Hometown: Born in Tulsa, OK but raised in Borger, TX

College(s) attended:
Frank Phillips College in Borger, TX

BA, major in English from The University of Texas at Austin

MS in Academic Advising from Kansas State University

Job title(s) and department(s) past and present: Currently a Senior Academic Advisor for the Department of Government and have been for ten years

How did you end up at UT in the first place?  I was an Orientation Advisor for three summers, and then took a job right out of college as a Cashier for Parking and Transportation.  I did that for nine-months, then worked in the Admissions Office for the Texas Culinary Academy of a year before ending up in the Department of Government.

What is your favorite part or being a part of ACA?:  The camaraderie and friendships, as well as the opportunity to continually network with other advisors, administrators, and student affairs professionals from across campus.  

Here's where we'd like an anecdote about a favorite ACA memory or a memory that includes another ACA member.  This is a tough one.  I've had some awesome times, but I would have to say that my favorite memory is my most recent:  being able to serve ACA as President.  It was such an honor to be able to do this, and I am so incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity.

What advice would you give to new advisors or new staff members at UT?  Get involved in ACA or with your college/department.  Also, don't be afraid to ask questions of folks who have been around awhile.

What legacy would you like to leave behind at UT?  Another tough one to answer, but I would like to think that the legacy I leave behind at UT is that of someone who truly enjoyed working with students.  I love what I do, and working with students is an absolute passion of mine.  That is what I'd hope to be remembered for.

Anything else you want to tell us?  I will openly admit that I am a great big nerd.  :-)

ACA FUNdraising Pot Luck

On Wednesday, November 20th, 2013 a group of ACAers gathered in GDC 2.104 to eat, visit, and share stories about what we are thankful for.

Here are a bunch of pictures of the group eating and chatting.

There was a lot of eating and talking. 

Sharing news and swapping stories

More eating and talking

Mostly about the food--it was so good!

And the food!  I ate and then remembered to take pictures so the deviled egg plate is already bare.  

Emily, one of the FUNdraising committee co-chairs, encouraged members to share what they are thankful for and to talk about holiday plans.  

A lot of laugher resulted from our stories

And some hugs

A great time was had by all!  

ACA November 2013 General Meeting

The meeting was held on a blustery morning in the Santa Rita Room in the Texas Union.  The meeting was sponsored by ACA.

As always, full meeting minutes can be found on the ACA website:  http://www.utexas.edu/staff/aca/minutes/2013/11/13


Note from the Historian: The light in the room was lovely and soothing during the meeting but the pictures turned out a bit on the shadowy and blurry side.  Please excuse my lack of photography skills!

Coffee and danishes to help ward off the chill.

Fruit!

Smiling ACAers are happy to be out of the cold

Catching up with coworkers

Rob welcomed us and this time I took a picture of it!

Matthew introducing our first speaker

Erika Frahm talked to us about Staff Council 

Emily Watson and Erin Thomas provided us with great information about Bridging Disciplines Program

More great info about BDP

Dr. James Henson provided us with a sneak peak of what the online GOV 310L courses look like.

Justin Brady, Alanna Bitzel, and Beth Andre from the PDD committee telling us about the call for proposals.

Committee Chair Spotlight: Professional Development Day Co-Chairs Justin Brady and Alanna Bitzel

       Professional Development Day Co-Chairs
           Justin Brady and Alanna Bitzel

Name/Role/Department:

Alanna Bitzel, Academic Counselor – Reading and Writing Programs, Intercollegiate Athletics – Football

Justin Matthew Brady, Senior Academic Advisor, School of Nursing

What committee are you chairing? 

A: I am co-chairing Professional Development Day with the wonderful and well-coiffed Justin Brady from ACA, and from APSA, the lovely Beth Andre and Melissa Wommack.

J: I serve as the co-chair for the Professional Development Day committee, along with the fabulous Alanna Bitzel! We plan the annual ACA/APSA Professional Development Day conference, along with two wonderful co-chairs from APSA.

Why did you want to chair this particular committee?

A: I began working as an Academic Counselor for Football in 2011.  As a new advisor, I have greatly benefited from my involvement in ACA and my interactions with fellow advisors on campus. I wanted to help facilitate a positive learning experience for ACA and APSA members and create an opportunity for members to network with each other.

Justin: I believe that engaging in professional development is crucial to the work and advancement of staff, and I believe that staff at UT-Austin are doing fantastic things! Serving as the co-chair provides me with an opportunity to help encourage and foster professional development among our colleagues. I had the opportunity to serve as the co-chair for the 2011 PDD as a representative from APSA. Being new to ACA, this provides a fun and meaningful way for me to plug in to the advising community.

Why do you think this committee is important to ACA and/or the university?

A: Professional development is important for new and veteran advising professionals. We can always learn something from each other, and PDD creates a supportive time and space for exchanging ideas and best practices and connecting with professionals on campus and beyond.

J: We can certainly learn a lot from what our colleagues in academic advising and student affairs are doing around campus, and Professional Development Day provides an opportunity for us to share with each other, and network with each other. With the high costs associated with attending national and regional conferences and the budget challenges that each unit faces, PDD provides a unique and cost-efficient way for staff to engage in professional development.

What is one thing that you would like the membership to do to support your mission this year? 

A: I want to encourage members to submit proposals to present at PDD and to, of course, attend PDD in February!

J: If by one thing, you mean two, here are my TWO things I'd like the membership to do to support our mission.

1. Submit a proposal to present at PDD! Think about the fantastic things you are doing in your office, and/or things that you've learned through other conferences, and consider writing a proposal. We have so much to learn from each other!
2. Network with and get to know the colleagues in ACA and APSA during the conference! There are really remarkable people who work at UT-Austin, and PDD provides you with the opportunity to branch out of your C/S/U. The more we get to know each other, the better we can collaborate and help make this campus even more wonderful!

Is there anything else you want us to know? 

A: In addition to serving as an academic advisor for student athletes, I oversee the in-house writing center for Football.

J: I transitioned into my Advising role a little over six months ago, after spending 3 1/2 wonderful years with the UT Leadership and Ethics Institute (LEI) in the Office of the Dean of Students. Having been on the Student Affairs side, I've had the privilege to work with truly fantastic colleagues all over this campus, and I've been so pleased with the warm welcome I've received in the Advising community.

30 for 30 Member Spotlight: Lovelys Powell

From Advising Expo 1995

I know that Lovelys has inspired me in the past year that I've been an advisor and an ACA member not only as a friendly face but also as one of the organizers of the ACA Mentors program and a fellow committee member.  I really enjoyed is responses so I hope that all of you out in the membership do, too!  

Hometown: 

El Paso, TX (but I was born in Nürnberg, Germany and have actually lived in Austin longer than I lived in El Paso). 

College(s) attended: 

The University of Texas at Austin (BA in Government & Sociology);  Texas State University (MA in Sociology)

Job title(s) and department(s) past and present:

• Admissions Counselor I in the UT Office of Admissions
• Student Development Specialist II in the UT Undergraduate Advising Center
• Student Affairs Administrator (Gateway Program and ACE Program) in the Office of the Dean of Students
• Academic Advisor II in the College of Education
• Academic Advising Coordinator in the McCombs BBA Program Office  

How did you end up at UT in the first place?

I came to UT as a freshman (started in Engineering, but quickly switched to Liberal Arts at Summer Orientation). After my junior year I was hired as a Summer Orientation Advisor and that experience completely changed my life.  I got hired on at the Office of the Dean of Students to be a FIRST Base (Freshman Issues and Resource Service Team) student coordinator and being surrounded by all the staff in DOS made me sure I belonged in higher education.

What is your favorite part or being a part of ACA?

Being in an organization of professionals who share similar experiences and have a common motivation to elevate the knowledge and skills of its members is critical to improving the experience of students on our campus. Ultimately, everything we do has the potential of positively impacting our student body.  We provide support for each other in a way that the university as a whole cannot.  Plus, at any moment we have the opportunity to greet a new member into our professional, which feels a lot like when we advise students at summer orientation…everything is still possible.   That offers an amazing sense of optimism and motivation to continuously strive to do better.

Here's where we'd like an anecdote about a favorite ACA memory or a memory that includes another ACA member.

I have three favorite memories (and a picture of one of them is attached). 

The first is when I was co-program chair/vice president with Ann Gleason, Liz Hasting, Luci San Miguel Latimer, Susan Smith and Renee LoPilato back in 1994-1995.  It was my first time being an officer in a professional organization, and I was with the best time as a group of advisors to learn from.

The second ACA memory is all of our officer meetings in 2011-2012 when Theresa Thomas was President, along with Yesenia Sanchez, Kristin Tommey, Jennifer Jordan, Jay Guevara, Valeri Nichols-Keller, and Nathan Vickers.  We laughed so much that year and I feel like we worked hard too.

The third ACA memory that stands out was back in 2008 when Patty Micks, Yesenia Sanchez and I were in charge of the philanthropy project for the ACA FUNdraising Committee during the holidays.  The 3 of us got to deliver all the wonderful donations to the Austin Children’s Shelter and to Caritas and the whole time we were laughing (to the point of tears) and doing some good at the same time.

I guess the common theme is laughing your way through the good times and challenging times.   

What advice would you give to new advisors or new staff members at UT?

You should give back as much as you take.  It is easy to go through our careers without understanding the hard work of people who have created opportunities that we just take for granted. Learning our history and then figuring out how each of us can honor our history by giving back is one of the best ways to honor the past while moving forward towards a better future.

Additionally, we are in a profession where we will make mistakes.  Our ever changing systems are too complex to have a career where we haven’t made mistakes.  The true key for success is figuring out how we will react and take action once a mistake has been made.

What legacy would you like to leave behind at UT? 

That the people who invested time and energy to nurture me both as a student and a professional feel that they made a good investment.  And that random people in the world who I had the opportunity to work with as their advisor, peer, supervisor, student, or colleague know that during their time at UT someone cared about their experience. 

Anything else you want to tell us?  

I love movies (no horror or violence please; A Room With A View, Cinema Paradiso, The Color Purple, and Like Water For Chocolate are my favorites), Beyonce, TV (Scandal, Modern Family, The Good Wife, The Talk, & Fashion Police),  good food (as long as there are no traces that what I’m eating was ever an animal), and my co-workers (from all my jobs).

30 for 30 Member Spotlight: Cynthia Gladstone

Member Spotlight: Cynthia Gladstone

I know Cynthia because she was the ACA historian who handed over the blog and the files to me this year.  She has been a delight to work with and is part of the inspiration for the 30 for 30 project so it is only fitting that she is one of the first members featured.  Enjoy! 

Hometown: El Paso, Texas.

College(s) attended: I have three degrees from UT Austin (B.A. in Government and M.A. and Ph.D. In History), so I bleed orange, but I have also taken course work at UTEP in El Paso, and I did study abroad at the University of London, as it was called then.

Job title(s) and department(s) past and present:

I am a Senior Academic Advisor.  I currently advise for Latin American Studies, Jewish Studies, and Linguistics, and I have also advised in the past for European Studies and History.

How did you end up at UT in the first place? 

I came to college here and pretty much never left.  Well, I left for a while, but came back and THEN never left again.  

What is your favorite part of being a part of ACA?  I

t's a predictable answer, I'm sure, but it's wonderful getting to know advisors from other parts of campus.  It's easy to stay in my little major/college cocoon, and ACA gives me the opportunity to break out of that and form different kinds of connections.  I just finished a year as ACA Historian, and I'm currently on the Awards and Recognition Committee, and I just love the people I have gotten to know in both capacities.  

Here's where we'd like an anecdote about a favorite ACA memory or a memory that includes another ACA member.  Hanging with the awesome Exec Committee last year.  Super fun, smart, accomplished people!

What advice would you give to new advisors or new staff members at UT?  

Be patient with and kind to yourself.  There is a lot to know here, and no one can learn it all in a day.  It'll come, and it never stops coming.  I'm always learning something new.

What legacy would you like to leave behind at UT?  

Good question.  I guess I'd like to feel like I made a difference in my students' lives.  Sounds kind of grandiose, but isn't that what we strive for?

Anything else you want to tell us?  Sure.  Hook 'Em Horns!  (We just beat OU!)  

ACA October 2013 General Meeting

The October meeting took place on Wednesday, 10/16/2013 in the SAC Ballroom and was sponsored by McCombs School of Business.

To read the official minutes from this or other ACA meetings, please visit the ACA website: http://www.utexas.edu/staff/aca/minutes

Mary Lou Poloskey from the Business Foundations Program setting up before the meeting. 

ACA Officers preparing before the meeting.  Look, there's Rob! 

Meeting prep

ACA Members enjoying the delicious spread of breakfast goodies. 

Incoming ACA President Rob Poynor gave his welcome which was so moving that I forgot to take pictures of him speaking.  He looked fantastic though!

McCombs has a great new website to help direct students who are not business majors but are looking for opportunities to take business courses.  www.mccombs.utexas.edu/nonbusinessmajors

Next up was Katie Stephens who spoke to us about the Master of Science in Finance.  Students pursuing this degree are primarily non-business majors that are "pretty good at math."

Katie doesn't look like the wet weather is affecting her at all! 

Kari Ledezma spoke about the Masters in Professional Accounting (Not Public Accounting!) The MPA Degree does not require amy work experience and about half of their students have non-accounting undergraduate degrees.  Students who do not come from business backgrounds typically have to take some prerequisite coursework before beginning the program. 

Kari helping to dispel misconceptions about the MPA degree. 

Next up was Hillary Patterson providing information about the new MSIROM: Business Analytics program.  The program is STEM certified and is ideal for students with excellent quantitative skills. Information sessions are being held and custom information sessions are available.

Hillary Patterson

Scott Good spoke about the Masters of Science in Technology Commercialization.  His talk was also so captivating that I forgot to take a picture.  His student population is widely varied and the program is appealing to those students who have an entrepreneurial spirit.


Next up were Dr. JJ Riekenberg and Mary Lou Poloskey who touched briefly on the Business Foundations Program.  New this year is a health focus to two of the four summer intensive workshop cohorts.

Rachel Allen spoke about the undergraduate Real Estate certificate program and reviewed the coursework including prerequisites and recommended prerequisites to apply to the program.

Rachel Allen speaking about the undergraduate Real Estate Certificate program.  

Last but not least, John Bulter from the undergraduate Energy Management Program gave an overview of the program including a bit of history.  

John Butler "2"