We invite you to join us in Pittsburgh for this year’s Region 2 conference! Our theme “The Advising-Teaching Connection” considers the role advisors play as educators of college students and the affinities between academic advising and college teaching. Both practices are critical in helping students to achieve their educational goals in related ways. Many of the qualities we associate with teaching are qualities that are equally characteristic of advising, such as helping students develop problem-solving and decision-making skills, and imparting knowledge. Both teachers and advisors need to rely on an understanding of the way students learn. When done well, advising is teaching, and teaching is advising.

Both faculty advisors, full-time advisors, and others who serve students are invited to present sessions on topics related to this intersection of advising and teaching. Such welcome topics include student learning and development, teaching strategies, and advisors' perceptions of their roles as educators.

Addressing our theme will be keynote speaker Gary L. Kramer. Dr. Kramer is Associate Dean of Student Academic and Advisement Services and Professor in the Counseling Psychology department at Brigham Young University. In addition to serving as the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) president, Dr. Kramer is the recipient of numerous national and institutional awards including Researcher of the Year, Distinguished Service, and Excellence in the Field from NACADA. For his work with first-year programs and students, Kramer received the Outstanding Freshman Advocate award from the University of South Carolina at its First Year Experience Conference. He has been involved with IBM’s Division of Best Practices in Higher Education from the inception, where BYU was recognized as a Best Practice Partner for its contributions to the field of student services, particularly innovative practices in student planning and registration services. We are glad to have him join us!

Co-sponsoring the conference this year are three institutions: Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Slippery Rock University.

We are excited about returning to the Station Square riverfront, the site of the region’s 1997 conference. Both the Sheraton Hotel and the Station Square complex (a restored railway center) have expanded greatly since then, now with more than 30 shops, restaurants, and clubs.

The anticipated conference registration fee is $99.00. Pre-conference workshops will be offered for an additional fee of $15.00. Rooms at the Sheraton have been reserved at $119.00 for a single room and $134 for a double room.

Proposals for conference presentations may NOW be submitted online through the link to the left. Proposals are due November 15, 2002.

If you have any questions, please contact the conference chair,
Steve Pajewski, at pajewski@cmu.edu or (412) 268-9592.