5 Questions with... Joanne Conlon

For today's 5 Questions, we head to the Region 2 Conference's host commonwealth to meet Dr. Joanne Conlon from West Chester University.

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

I have worked as a professional in Higher Education, public and private,  for 40 years.  I spent 25 years in Residence Life, moved on to Dean's positions, moved over to Assistant Dean in Academic Affairs all at different institutions, then became a tenured Associate Professor at West Chester University.  I created First Year Experience Programs at multiple institutions, taught first year seminar courses and oversaw Orientation and academic advising.  I was active in both NASPA and ACPA regionally and nationally for many years and presented often as well.   In my current position, my unit is responsible for advising 1700 Pre-Major (exploratory, undeclared) students with a faculty of 6.

2. What is your experience in academic advising, higher education, and NACADA?

I have officially been an academic advisor on some level since 1992. Naturally, at first, my load was fairly small, usually the size of my first year seminar class, but now I serve as the program director and advise 255 students.  I only became active in NACADA beginning in 2008 because my institution supported it and I had gained so much from previous professional association involvement.  I served as the Eastern PA State Liaison for two terms from 2009 until 2013.  In that role, I organized a number of drive-in conferences and attended many regional meetings.   Nationally, I served on the Webinar (now Advisor Connect) Advisory Board.  I currently serve as the Region 2 Liaison to the Faculty Advising Commission.  I have presented regionally and nationally every year since 2008.

3. Tell us about your session. What can attendees look forward to?

When we presented last year, we focused on one component of our Career Exploration course for our students, the True Colors Personality Model.  The evaluations for that session indicated that most of the audience wanted to know more about the entire course, components included, approval processes, etc.

4. What do you hope attendees gain from going to your presentation?

This presentation does just that -- explain the process on our campus start to finish, theoretical basis, linkages between the different career assessments we use, and what data we have about the success of the course since it's first offering in the fall of 2010.

5. What do you hope to personally gain from presenting in Lancaster?

I am continually energized by the thoughtful questions of my colleagues.  While I certainly like to champion the good work we do, I welcome those questions so that we can improve and do even better for our students.  Those questions often cause me to think about what we have been doing in a new way.

Thanks Joanne! We look forward to learning more in Lancaster!