Higher Education Institutions especially in the USA and us as advisors have the privilege to enroll “Global Citizens" as students in our campuses.
In order to provide them with fair treatment we have to become advisors with “Global Perspectives”, that means being able to communicate with students that English is not their first language, to find ways to  understand their cultural –educational- psychological- language , learning barriers and needs.  When working with them, we have to be more patient, more analytical, more descriptive and as informed as we can about cultures, perspectives, values and customs. The ideal meaning of Globalization is one world with citizens that act as single society, and even though it sounds difficult it is not impossible. We as advisors have to possess all these qualities when talking with students but we have to use them even more with International Students because their needs are beyond the needs of a traditional first year student.
Serving in... Display More...

Higher Education Institutions especially in the USA and us as advisors have the privilege to enroll “Global Citizens" as students in our campuses.
In order to provide them with fair treatment we have to become advisors with “Global Perspectives”, that means being able to communicate with students that English is not their first language, to find ways to  understand their cultural –educational- psychological- language , learning barriers and needs.  When working with them, we have to be more patient, more analytical, more descriptive and as informed as we can about cultures, perspectives, values and customs. The ideal meaning of Globalization is one world with citizens that act as single society, and even though it sounds difficult it is not impossible. We as advisors have to possess all these qualities when talking with students but we have to use them even more with International Students because their needs are beyond the needs of a traditional first year student.
Serving in the Global Engagement Commission is going to be a privilege and an opportunity for me to share my experiences as an International student, an ESL teacher and an Academic Advisor.  Our job is to assure students success, in order to achieve that, we need to be able to recognize the problem and have the knowledge to find the best solution for our students.  
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In 2010 I started working as an Academic Advisor in the American College of Greece, it is the largest and oldest American University in Europe. However, Greece belongs to the European Union, and due to a European Law the American college of Greece needed to enter a degree validation agreement with the Open University of England. Under this agreement students are able to graduate with a dual degree, one American and one European under the same curriculum. It sounds ideal but it was not an easy process. Trying to combine two educational systems, the American Liberal one with the British more structured and with limited course options.
There were changes in everything,all students on campus were affected, the frontline office to deal with the entire student body was Academic Advising.
Organizational changes are not easy and take a long time to be implemented and accepted. Apart from advising students I had to justify the changes..I took initiative and with my boss created new audit forms... Display More...

In 2010 I started working as an Academic Advisor in the American College of Greece, it is the largest and oldest American University in Europe. However, Greece belongs to the European Union, and due to a European Law the American college of Greece needed to enter a degree validation agreement with the Open University of England. Under this agreement students are able to graduate with a dual degree, one American and one European under the same curriculum. It sounds ideal but it was not an easy process. Trying to combine two educational systems, the American Liberal one with the British more structured and with limited course options.
There were changes in everything,all students on campus were affected, the frontline office to deal with the entire student body was Academic Advising.
Organizational changes are not easy and take a long time to be implemented and accepted. Apart from advising students I had to justify the changes..I took initiative and with my boss created new audit forms with the combined curriculum. I learned how to build Academic Advising Trees in order to have a Degree Audit Evaluation for every major and try to make the changes visual for students.
I am very proud that I have experienced and played an important role during this huge organizational change. It was a valuable lesson on how to deal with difficult situations and leadership decisions, while at the same time you have to find the best ways to help students.
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I want to be honest! I received an e-mail form NACADA a few weeks ago that I was nominated for the chair position of the Global Engagement Commission. I was surprised and happy at the same time!  
My first thought was to find out more about the position.  After carefully reading the description, I realized that I am passionate about all of the things the commission is working on. I truly believe I can contribute to the commission. I was an International student myself and I have been working as an ESL teacher and advisor for a long time. My philosophy is that in order to play an important role in students’ lives you need to be informed and be able to transfer your knowledge to others. According to Aristotle “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”.  
I have been a member of the Global Initiatives Committee and I value the things and lessons we can learn from each other.
I want to serve the Global Engagement Commission because it emphasizes problems... Display More...

I want to be honest! I received an e-mail form NACADA a few weeks ago that I was nominated for the chair position of the Global Engagement Commission. I was surprised and happy at the same time!  
My first thought was to find out more about the position.  After carefully reading the description, I realized that I am passionate about all of the things the commission is working on. I truly believe I can contribute to the commission. I was an International student myself and I have been working as an ESL teacher and advisor for a long time. My philosophy is that in order to play an important role in students’ lives you need to be informed and be able to transfer your knowledge to others. According to Aristotle “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”.  
I have been a member of the Global Initiatives Committee and I value the things and lessons we can learn from each other.
I want to serve the Global Engagement Commission because it emphasizes problems of International ESL Students & Advising .I admire the NACADA community and the relationships build through the NACADA network, I believe that I am able to share my ideas, visions and experiences with other colleagues and of course take advantage of the valuable experiences and lessons that they are going to teach me. In order to make excellence a habit and serve our students, we need to learn from each other. The only thing that is consistent in life is change!!
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As a person I value personal contacts, effective intercultural skills, mutual respect and genuine appreciation of each other and that are characteristics that I am going to promote in the commission.
Some examples are, to establish an introduction system welcome & meet , we can gain information about  cultural backgrounds , diverse experiences and to encourage interaction between the members of the commission. It is important to rejoice similarities as well as learning from our differences, in this way we can promote and discover common interests and build cohesiveness in the commission.  Also, each semester commission members can provide the commission group with information about advising techniques for International and ESL students to build a cross cultural NACADA resource library. In addition, Information Technology does magical things nowadays, and it is an easy and accessible method for commission members to use and interact. We can use electronic bulletin boards to exchange ideas... Display More...

As a person I value personal contacts, effective intercultural skills, mutual respect and genuine appreciation of each other and that are characteristics that I am going to promote in the commission.
Some examples are, to establish an introduction system welcome & meet , we can gain information about  cultural backgrounds , diverse experiences and to encourage interaction between the members of the commission. It is important to rejoice similarities as well as learning from our differences, in this way we can promote and discover common interests and build cohesiveness in the commission.  Also, each semester commission members can provide the commission group with information about advising techniques for International and ESL students to build a cross cultural NACADA resource library. In addition, Information Technology does magical things nowadays, and it is an easy and accessible method for commission members to use and interact. We can use electronic bulletin boards to exchange ideas and also upload online tutorials. In order to be inclusive we have to be open to learn something unique and challenging every day. We need to include every opinion, experience, challenge, or mistake in order to develop as “Advisors with Global Perspectives” and help students become Global Citizens! In order to have openness-mutuality and active involvement which are part of our global vision it is important to communicate.  
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I became a member of NACADA in 2014, and I attended the 38th Annual Conference in Minneapolis. It was an amazing experience because I had the privileged to meet many colleagues from around the world. During the conference I was invited to become a member of the Global Initiatives Committee.  Of course I accepted and worked with Karen Sullivan-Vance who was the chair of the committee and other members from different countries of the world. We have been working on a Global Glossary of Academic Advising, we read proposals for the International conferences and we believe in “ Global Advising” .
I also attended the Annual Conference in Atlanta and  was part of a panel session “ Global Issues in Academic Advising” organized by Karen Sullivan –Vance, Penny Robinson from the United Kingdom and Oscar van den Wijngaard University College Maastricht. It was a panel from Academic Advisors from around the world,  we tried to engage the audience and discuss major issues impacting the Academic... Display More...

I became a member of NACADA in 2014, and I attended the 38th Annual Conference in Minneapolis. It was an amazing experience because I had the privileged to meet many colleagues from around the world. During the conference I was invited to become a member of the Global Initiatives Committee.  Of course I accepted and worked with Karen Sullivan-Vance who was the chair of the committee and other members from different countries of the world. We have been working on a Global Glossary of Academic Advising, we read proposals for the International conferences and we believe in “ Global Advising” .
I also attended the Annual Conference in Atlanta and  was part of a panel session “ Global Issues in Academic Advising” organized by Karen Sullivan –Vance, Penny Robinson from the United Kingdom and Oscar van den Wijngaard University College Maastricht. It was a panel from Academic Advisors from around the world,  we tried to engage the audience and discuss major issues impacting the Academic Advising Globally.
Now in coordination with the new chair of the GIC Oscar van den Wijngaard and an amazing colleague from the United Arab Emirates Mehvash Ali along with the guidance of the Tech Committee we are working on a project of how to make the new NACADA site more user friendly and approachable to International members  from all around the world.
I am also a member of the Global Engagement commission. Display Less...