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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Dawn Huckelberry, senior academic advisor in the Office of Academic Advising, has been elected to serve as vice president/president-elect of the Illinois Academic Advising Association (ILACADA), an affiliate of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA).

Huckelberry brings 20 years of academic advising experience to the position and has served on the organization’s executive board for the past five years. She will serve one year as vice president, before assuming the role of president for the 21-22 academic year, and then serve a third year as past president.

“Dawn is an amazing colleague and skilled advising practitioner, an asset to our University and the advising community at-large,” said Kelly Atkins, assistant director for transition services in SIUE’s Office of Academic Advising and Huckelberry’s supervisor.

“My goals include implementing the plan to offer monthly online brown-bag lunch sessions, increasing awareness of available scholarships, awards and grant programs, and growing membership throughout the state,” Huckelberry said.

SIUE Senior Academic Advisor Elizabeth Sanders fully anticipated Huckelberry’s election. “I have had the distinct privilege of working with Dawn for 12 years in SIUE’s Office of Academic Advising, and I have been consistently amazed at her myriad professional accomplishments,” Sanders said. “Not only does she mentor and train advisors within our own unit, but she also receives requests to participate on search committees, training initiatives, presentations and campus-wide programming. It is reflective of her immense expertise and advising prowess. We all benefit from her willingness to share her wisdom.”

The ILACADA’s purpose is to raise awareness and advocate for the academic advising profession. ILACADA represents academic advisors and advising administrators at more than 40 Illinois colleges and universities. It is the largest state association in NACADA’s Region 5, which includes Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Ontario and Nunavut.

This year, when NACADA elected to postpone its regional conferences, ILACADA creatively moved its conferences to a virtual format. “Our organization is wholly committed to offering professional development, and our host institutions were equipped with the technology, so we did it—and that put ILACADA in the spotlight,” Huckelberry said..”When NACADA Executive Director Charlie Nutt learned we were holding our May Drive-in virtually, he asked us if he could give the welcome address, because it was the first virtual academic advising conference in the nation.”

To support professional development activities among academic advisors, ILACADA offers an annual conference in the fall and a drive-in conference during the spring. ILACADA’s annual conference held last month was also virtual.

In 2019, SIUE hosted the regional conference with Huckelberry as chair. In working alongside Huckelberry as part of the conference committee, SIUE Lead Academic Advisor Danita Mumphard said, “I witnessed her diligence, creativity, and commitment to ILACADA’s mission of providing excellent professional development for advising colleagues across the state.” 

SIUE will gain additional representation as Crystal Bryson, academic advisor II in the School of Nursing, has joined the ILACADA executive board as professional development chair.

Photo: SIUE Senior Academic Advisor Dawn Huckelberry.