Our relationship with our supervisors is one of the most important relationships that we have in our career, but it times it can also feel the most complicated. As three admissions professionals who have been in the field for a while, here are some things that we have learned over the years that can help you establish a great relationship with your supervisor.

As 2021 begins to unfold, the lessons of 2020 are still fresh in our minds. We know it’s important to be connected, not to take anything for granted, and to have flexibility. However, one reminder helps me find daily perspective about how to handle each situation that gets thrown our way.

In light of everything happening in our society today, you might think that professional development has been put on the backburner, but it is actually quite the opposite. Each type of company, association, and higher education news website is trying so hard to provide guidance and assistance to all of us in higher education as we navigate these unprecedented times. While we have continued to stay busy, it is a different type of busy that might offer more flexibility in our daily schedules, allowing us to catch some of these webinars and professional development experiences.

Last month I had the opportunity to attend the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) conference in San Diego, CA. The theme of the conference was “crossing borders and bridging communities”. There was one particular session I attended during my time at the conference that stuck out to me and it was a session about generational diversity.

The postsecondary search and application process is meant to be reserved as a time for reflection, growth, maturity, and self-discovery for our students. Unfortunately, many of our teenagers face unrealistic expectations and experience extreme stress, anxiety, and depression. Having open and honest dialogue with students about the battles has become a core part of school counseling and admissions/orientation/advising programs around the world. As our students face barriers, we as secondary and postsecondary leaders do everything we can to stand alongside them through the trenches. We offer support and guidance in times of need, and often shelter them from the pain they fear. But sometimes, we forget the burden that takes on us and our colleagues.

We’re recruiters. Our titles may differ, but our jobs have the same goal: to recruit students to our College/University. Personally, I was offended when someone first told me this with such a blatant disregard for my personal style of work. I don’t like to think of myself as a “salesperson” but at the end of the day we are working to “sell” our school to people.

The 2020 NACAC National Conference is September 24-26, 2020...and it's in our backyard! 

Colleges to Counselors (C2C) is a more recent addition to the Iowa ACAC event lineup, and one that we are so excited about! We kicked off this event in 2018 at Drake University and had a wonderful time. For the second year, we will be hosting C2C in September. This year, it will be at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, on Thursday, September 26. 

I have a co-worker who enjoys saying “So, now what happens?” at times when it is crystal clear what is about to happen. (My kind of humor). This expression took on new meaning to me recently, as I found myself officially passing the gavel to Tom Paulsen of The University of Iowa. In the blink of an eye, I was no longer the President of Iowa ACAC. This marked the first time I seriously asked myself, “So, now what happens?”

The first year of our Iowa ACAC Cares Campaign has been a success and we're topping it off with a FINAL collection drive at our FINAL college fair at NIACC in Mason City.

Having a baby, whether it’s your first or third, can be a very exciting, and stressful, time in your life. For me, I am anticipating my third, and final, pregnancy in mid-January 2019. While this pregnancy was planned, pregnancy in itself doesn’t always come with perfect timelines. I was fortunate that for my first two pregnancies, they both hit in what admissions professionals would call the golden time of year to have a kid…the month of May! Wahoo! However, kid number three didn’t get the memo, and while January isn’t the worst time to have a kid in our profession, I will say guilt was one of my first emotions.

Now that admissions staff and students are back from winter break, many admissions offices are conducting their winter all-staff training. Although there are many similarities in how we all train and refresh staff on important topics, there’s a lot we can learn from each other about the best way to learn more about our campuses and improve in the work that we do to support students. To learn more about how different offices handle all-staff training, I spoke with Marcus Phillips from the University of Iowa, Tom Heiar from the University of Northern Iowa, and Drew Shradel from Cornell College.

We’re barely into 2019 and I’m already tired of the expression “New Year, New You.” According to U.S. News & World Report, 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February. Upon hearing this, my initial reaction was ”I wonder how realistic those resolutions were…”

The theme for the 2019 conference is “Change is Necessary for Growth” as the landscape for college admissions continues to evolve. 

I was fortunate enough to attend my first NACAC conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was easily one of the best professional development opportunities I have had. As a new attendee, I wanted to provide others, who may potentially have an opportunity to attend NACAC in the future, with some tips to make the most of your experience.

As an undergraduate I, like many students, had various interests, but was unsure of my career path. In a Personnel Psychology course one of my best college instructors, David Whitsett (now an Emeritus Faculty Professor at UNI), continually encouraged our class to find a career in which we had a passion. Financial security was important, but job satisfaction was critical to being happy and having a meaningful life.

Iowa ACAC is excited to announce the first ever Colleges to Counselors (C2C) Events coming for the 2018-2019 school year!

The 2018 R.I.D.E. is in the books, and what a successful experience it was! Thirty-one professional school counselors from every corner of Iowa, and even a special guest from Minnesota, took some time for some “college knowledge” by participating in Iowa ACAC’s 15th annual three-day learning trek.

A school counselor’s perspective...