NASAP Conference - 2008

The annual meeting of the National Association of Student Affairs Professionals (NASAP), was held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. NASAP is one of our national professional associations in the field of higher education and student affairs. While its historical beginnings can be traced to a time when African Americans were not permitted to participate in its "sister" organization, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA); today, NASAP's membership includes senior-, mid-, and entry-level professionals across all major functional areas (e.g., student affairs, academic advising, etc.) and the NASAP Journal is one of the leading student affairs journals in the nation. For more information, go to: www.nasap.net.

During this year's conference, The University of Tennessee (or affiliated faculty/students) received three national awards. UT is happy to announce that one of our doctoral students in higher education, Mr. James "DJ" Baker, III, was selected to receive the 2008 Outstanding Graduate Student Award.

Secondly, for the first time in the history of the 54-year old organization, the 2008 Outstanding Graduate College Student Personnel and Higher Education Program Award for African Americans was given to a predominantly White institution--The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. As many of you know, we have enrolled a significant number of promising Black graduate students over the last few years and several have graduated and assumed responsible administrative positions at reputable institutions. This is an important achievement and underscores the program's commitment to pursuing diversity while simultaneously maintaining excellence! Given the momentary nature of this achievement, we might share this news with others through our college magazine and/or website.

Third, Dr. Terrell L. Strayhorn and his graduate students received the 2008 Outstanding General Session Award. They presented a session that highlighted findings from the AAIG and AAA research that they conducted last year. There has been a great deal of interest in this project and its relevance to other academic support programs such as federal TRIO programs, academic advising, and tutoring.