05/05/15 pg/kb
Four student affairs professionals from Fort Hays State University made a presentations at the recent Region 7 conference of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) in Baton Rouge, La.

The four were Nikki Brown, coordinator of exploratory advisement and career exploration; Dr. Patricia Griffin, director of the Academic Advising and Career Exploration Center and an assistant professor of communication studies; Alma Hidalgo, Perryton, Texas, graduate student in higher education student affairs and an admissions counselor, and Sara Ouimet, a Budd Lake, N.J., graduate student in higher education student affairs and residence hall director of Tiger Place.

All four presented "ACCESS Adventure for Advising Freshmen," which covered FHSU's ACCESS to Student Success Program, started in the fall 2013 semester. Hidalgo and Ouimet selected academic advising and career explorations as one of the two practicums required in their HESA studies.

Griffin also presented "Lagniappe: Finding 'A Little Something Extra' through NACADA's Emerging Leaders Program" with Autumn Parker, University of Arkansas, and Mary Honore Tucker, University of Memphis. Griffin is a current mentor in NACADA's Emerging Leaders Program. Parker and Tucker are emerging leaders.

NACADA Region 7 covers Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas and is part of NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising.