Our commission seeks not only to promote STEM programs through outreach and engagement activities but also to improve the educational experience of our students within their institutions.

As W.E.B. DuBois said, education is not about making people into doctors and engineers but about helping doctors and engineers become complete people.

Advising attracts people with a curious combination of temperaments -- both the caring heart of those in the helping professions and the intellectual mindset of teachers and academics. We need to nurture and support all of the complex components that come together in both ourselves, our colleagues, and the students in our charge.

If elected, I pledge a combination of continuity and change--strengthening and stretching--in the coming years. While the spotlight is still shining on STEM, we need to bring together the collective wisdom (born from the experience) of our membership to produce an up-to-date handbook/clearinghouse section that lays out... Display More...

Our commission seeks not only to promote STEM programs through outreach and engagement activities but also to improve the educational experience of our students within their institutions.

As W.E.B. DuBois said, education is not about making people into doctors and engineers but about helping doctors and engineers become complete people.

Advising attracts people with a curious combination of temperaments -- both the caring heart of those in the helping professions and the intellectual mindset of teachers and academics. We need to nurture and support all of the complex components that come together in both ourselves, our colleagues, and the students in our charge.

If elected, I pledge a combination of continuity and change--strengthening and stretching--in the coming years. While the spotlight is still shining on STEM, we need to bring together the collective wisdom (born from the experience) of our membership to produce an up-to-date handbook/clearinghouse section that lays out the distinctive needs and responses of everyone involved in STEM. We need to evolve the tech to the next level into a medium that is fair and sustainable going forward.

We need to strengthen our ties to other CIGs within NACADA, embracing the energy and innovation of multicultural engagement, engaging the insights and strengths of those who work with high-achievers, and nurturing the student-centered temperament that excels in our special populations advisors. Display Less...

America embraces everyone's individuality, and brings us together as one corporate body. I love it when NACADA does the same, and want to boost the Assoc along that road so it aligns with our modern ideals.

This lofty idea was on my mind when we planned the 1st regional conference hosted by UC Berkeley. We had a down-to-earth problem to solve - how to fit the attendees and sessions into one location when our campus had nothing big enough available. Should we use a conference center or hotel? We looked at off-campus possibilities, and weighed their pluses and minuses. The biggest minus, I insisted, was that none of those choices were going to give attendees the experience of UC Berkeley! We had to give our NACADA event the Berkeley vibe while still keeping it a NACADA event.
We figured out ways to make the available campus spaces work. We went further, by encouraging attendees to use locally owned and character-filled lodging and dining options.
The regional was a great success, not... Display More...

America embraces everyone's individuality, and brings us together as one corporate body. I love it when NACADA does the same, and want to boost the Assoc along that road so it aligns with our modern ideals.

This lofty idea was on my mind when we planned the 1st regional conference hosted by UC Berkeley. We had a down-to-earth problem to solve - how to fit the attendees and sessions into one location when our campus had nothing big enough available. Should we use a conference center or hotel? We looked at off-campus possibilities, and weighed their pluses and minuses. The biggest minus, I insisted, was that none of those choices were going to give attendees the experience of UC Berkeley! We had to give our NACADA event the Berkeley vibe while still keeping it a NACADA event.
We figured out ways to make the available campus spaces work. We went further, by encouraging attendees to use locally owned and character-filled lodging and dining options.
The regional was a great success, not least because it was simultaneously fully NACADA and fully Berkeley.
That's the kind of tossed salad and melting pot menu that I will travel out of my way to find, and it's what will continue to make our Association so appealing.
Most recently, I organized a tour of the historic downtown of St. Louis at the 2017 national conference with their Landmarks Association, so that our membership could gain some background and context for the city we were visiting. That tour enriched our experience. Display Less...

Those of you who have met me already know that I'm not a total introvert, but on the other hand I'm not naturally a song-and-dance man. I want to continue to serve the membership, the Association, and the discipline, and think that a commission chair position would be a healthy stretch for me. My temperament leans toward the academic head-in-the-clouds end of the spectrum, so I think a topical commission is better suited to the kind of service I can thrive under than a geography/region-based position.

My service on the steering committee bears out the old adage that two heads are better than one: the perspectives each committee member brings to a particular topic or situation add up to a better resolution than any single idea, no matter how bright it might be. We help each other shine!

And oh, btw, my job for the past decade has been as the advisor for Nanoscale Science & Engineering, preparing students for unprecedented careers in nanotechnology, so I have three out of the four letters... Display More...

Those of you who have met me already know that I'm not a total introvert, but on the other hand I'm not naturally a song-and-dance man. I want to continue to serve the membership, the Association, and the discipline, and think that a commission chair position would be a healthy stretch for me. My temperament leans toward the academic head-in-the-clouds end of the spectrum, so I think a topical commission is better suited to the kind of service I can thrive under than a geography/region-based position.

My service on the steering committee bears out the old adage that two heads are better than one: the perspectives each committee member brings to a particular topic or situation add up to a better resolution than any single idea, no matter how bright it might be. We help each other shine!

And oh, btw, my job for the past decade has been as the advisor for Nanoscale Science & Engineering, preparing students for unprecedented careers in nanotechnology, so I have three out of the four letters in STEM built right into my title already :-) Display Less...

See my above answers, and know that I think it's crazy for any body that represents a larger pool not to look like that larger pool.
One of my engineering students, who co-founded a program that tutors Oakland youth in math and science,
pointed out that when former SCOTUS justice Antonin Scalia questioned the value of having a diverse body of physicists,
that several STEM activists had responded to him with an open letter asking him to explain what the advantage is of having a homogeneous body of physicists. Isn't that the condition that should strike us as abnormal and in need of justification?

We need to start living our lives, both personal and professional, as though the scripts had already been flipped!

I have co-presented at previous conferences on social justice and mindset topics, and I am convinced that we must acknowledge, study, and take responsibility for the systemic inequities that underlie too many of our institutions so that we can move forward. I am not interested... Display More...

See my above answers, and know that I think it's crazy for any body that represents a larger pool not to look like that larger pool.
One of my engineering students, who co-founded a program that tutors Oakland youth in math and science,
pointed out that when former SCOTUS justice Antonin Scalia questioned the value of having a diverse body of physicists,
that several STEM activists had responded to him with an open letter asking him to explain what the advantage is of having a homogeneous body of physicists. Isn't that the condition that should strike us as abnormal and in need of justification?

We need to start living our lives, both personal and professional, as though the scripts had already been flipped!

I have co-presented at previous conferences on social justice and mindset topics, and I am convinced that we must acknowledge, study, and take responsibility for the systemic inequities that underlie too many of our institutions so that we can move forward. I am not interested in shaming and fingerpointing, but neither can we go on in denial of the injustices that still impede us from living up to the ideals we profess. Display Less...