Education Conferences A-Plenty
This week, key NBC leaders joined fellow college and university faculty and leaders at vital higher education conferences. These conferences facilitate NBC's success in Christian undergraduate education. They provide school networking opportunities, enhance our visibility for the military, campus, and online education communities, and feature exceptional presentations.
At the beginning of the week, Dr. David Phillips, VP of Online Academic Services and Institutional Technology, travelled to Nashville to host a booth at the Council of College and Military Educators (CCME) Symposium. This high-visibility, postsecondary-information gathering for interested military personnel is significant for NBC. With military scholarships available for military members, their spouses, and their children, NBC offers excellent educational opportunities for military families.
Without missing a beat, Dr. Phillips then flew to Orlando for the 63rd Annual Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) Conference. This conference is always an outstanding place to network and exchange ideas. Dr. Phillips was a presenter for some advanced workshops. Afterwards, he was networking, perusing other booths, and, as always, just being friendly. Passerby stopped him for his expertise, and he graciously obliged.
At the ABHE Conference, Dr. Phillips was joined by Dr. Harold Graves, President, Dr. Don Stelting, retired Dean, in a special role at ABHE, Dr. Jay Ott, Vice President for Campus Academic Services, and Angela Wetmore, dCourseWeb Manager. Dr. Graves was busily shaking hands as well as visiting with other presidents. He brought his standard friendliness and spirituality wherever he went. Angela reported that "Dr. Ott is going from seminar to seminar like a sponge collecting new ideas and information." With HLC reaffirmation of accredited status on the near horizon, he busily soaked up indispensible knowledge.
Dr. Stelting was there as a representative of NBC to the review board, which awards Applicant Status, Candidate Status, and Accredited Status to educational institutions. This tremendous honor is a credit to Dr. Stelting and to how highly NBC is viewed.
Angela Wetmore was our ABHE Conference booth manager. She said the conference this year had strong turnout with a steady flow through the NBC booth. Many schools, early in their accreditation process, may be strong candidates for our dCourseWeb program because "80% of all colleges are anticipated to be running some type of online education by 2015."
Angela also reported that fun stuff is flying off booth tables all over the conference, like "chocolate, mints, pens, carry bags, little fish key chains, hand sanitizer (sign of the times?), iPod giveaways, gift certificate giveaways, travel coffee mugs...oh, and did I mention toothbrushes?" After all the treats, I suppose you've got to brush, maybe twice. One booth apparently had a Wii setup to entice visitors. Angela said she might bring popcorn next year. There's probably not a better way to attract people than the delicious aroma of popcorn, and then we can show attendees our sweet educational programs.
Shirley Cadle, Director of Financial Services, also travelled to Orlando. She attended the Association of Business Administrators of Christian Colleges (ABACC) Conference. ABACC's charter is to provide tailored resources for success for evangelical schools of Christian higher education. The ABACC Conference provided proven information and excellent networking. Amazingly, it was even held in the same hotel as the ABHE Conference, so she was able to travel and stay with the rest of the team.
Overall, it was a busy week for everyone, and a tremendous opportunity for NBC to actively participate in some incredible conferences. While the "cat was away," the mice did not play, but rather kept on working hard for our students. The best part is that it's always fun doing that.
Published: 02/19/2010
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