 Hi everybody and welcome along to another episode of you cat conference TV I'm column cronin from the adventures in advising podcast and today look I am thrilled Delighted to be joined with certainly one of my inspirations that I know an inspiration for many people involved in Not a just advising but higher ed. Dr. Charlie not executive director of Nakata. Welcome. Thank you so much This is such an honor and joy to be a part of this and to also be a part of the you cat LVSA conference, so welcome everyone I know you've enjoyed the conference and we'll look forward to the rest of the day. So Just really appreciate the opportunity to be with you well Delighted that I suppose we will come to the award ceremony Later on but I Think the opportunity to chat to Charlie not is always a great one One of the things that that's interesting is Here we are. I'm I'm in Ireland. You're in the the US You cat the UK organization LVSA the Netherlands This is this is properly global and and a lot of that is down to Charlie not I know there are lots of other people involved But you know as the executive director as the one with the vision You know you were one of the people and who really wanted to to make Nakata truly global So I want to take you back to to what's part like was that an idea that you always had like even prior to becoming an executive director Or how did that come about Charlie? You know really it really was just kind of a flute in reality 2006 Joanne Hugh were from University of Texas Austin was president and She got an email asking her to come to England to Leeds. No York to York To talk to the personal tutoring Association And it was the same exact time as her Daughter who was graduating high school was graduating So Joanne said it to me like she would normally do and I just wrote the person back and said thank you so very much I'm so pleased Nakata does it do personal tutor we do advice Wrote it back and said I'll send you some names of groups that I know because I've been an education to personal tutors Totally different venue for us in the US. So there's very nice email back from this person that said no Those those are the same things and so We'd love for you to come and speak so I thought okay, so I went and met Penny Leeds first person I met was Penny Sheffield and this was and we started talking and it became so clear after about the first probably 15 minutes in the conversation that Everything we talked about in the US is exactly the same across the world Students are students student success is student success. It may look differently. It might be called something different. It might be organized differently But it's all talking about student success and that really is how it all began is because what I realized that I thought we need to be really looking across the globe at academic advising I think working with with Penny with Oscar with the board. I think we we Made a really good decision and that is that there's some other associations that have opened, you know a blank association the UK and a and a blank association and wherever and we really made decision We were not in the business of opening the cotta sites We were the business of beginning to expand the vision of academic advising for the for the city for the country for the Continent wherever it may be to help them move forward So it was never a goal of opening the cotta sites. It was really to expand the advising profession and to focus us to its success and So that's really how it all began and then took about four or five years later and you can't began We then got Oscar to chair the the Netherlands conference and Let's see. That was 15 maybe I don't remember the year But Oscar never even heard of LVSA and he was in the Netherlands So he would never even heard about them had it not been for this He got connected. But the nice thing is we've now begin to see it blossom. You know, we have two associations now in South Africa We have Association of Japan that just began we have two in China there's a couple of Associations that are non English speaking that are advising one in Italy and one in South America We've made some connections with those But but the real beauty is how do we just reach out to advisors and talk about student success? If an association grows Wonderful, but if we just begin to connect people and connect them to each other and connect them to students That's what this is all about. So it's really not about taking a card or global as much It is taking the profession and suit success globally Mm-hmm And I'm gonna detour a little bit But I'm really interested in something that you said and it strikes me because it's a testament to you You you got the email you you right reply back and then the person writes back say, I'm no, sorry You you've misunderstood there the same but you listened and I think that's the testament to you But can you and I I was fortunate when I interviewed you when Matt and I talked to you for the adventures in a vise-en-pike Let's talk a little bit about leadership, but you know I Think it would be interesting to delve into that talk to me about like your willingness to To be open to ideas and to push back. I suppose a little bit Well, you know probably the best day and I ever had was someone that that She was my advisor in in college and then she hired me at the first University college I taught at and she was one of those who said Don't come to the problem come with me with with an idea and then just go with it And so I kind of learned from her and so there's been very little in my career But particularly very little in the car that someone's brought me that I've said no to You know, I might say let's go back and we treat it Why don't you go back to work on a different way? But if someone cares enough to make this come forward and move the association forward It's not my job to say no. It's my job to figure out how to make it work Within that and to make it be clear that it's about the association. It's about the profession. It's about the members It's not about me. It's not about the executive office. It's about moving the association forward And so I think my goal is just to listen to good people and hear what they say then find every way I can to make their ideas happen Well, you're very good at that and I think everybody has a story about you know Some idea that that began with a conversation with Charlie that grew into to something else because of your support and because of your belief in The individual to make it happen I mean you're you're the type of manager that says right you're you're gonna drive this What can I do to take obstacles out of the way? And I suppose that leads us into the UCAT LVSA award ceremony which took place earlier today and they I suppose unveiled and a new award which is the Charlie not award and Can can you talk to me a little bit about like when when you discovered that this was that Going to come about Probably been a month and a half maybe two months ago I got a message from Oscar and and David on what's that that said yeah a few minutes We can talk about something and I thought okay. What are they up to you know? What can we do where can we move so I'm so back that's sure let's have a talk and so I was really looking to see What new idea they had where they wanted to go and they started talk about this award and and it's kind of like I said today It takes a lot to make me mute it's it's um It's one of the greatest honors I've ever had within that was very shocked about it It's very touching it's very it's very means a whole lot to me It was really a great opportunity to first begin to even think more about how to recognize people who don't always Put themselves out there to be recognized. That's what I see this word about a word about Gavin is a perfect example me Gavin is Hardworking he's low-key But it's never been about Gavin It's always been about the professors always been about people and so when they bought the award to me said they were Do this and we have the first recipient Gavin I really did say that that was Gavin done because I wrote and they went Charlie and they started listing everything and I went That's Gavin because that's Gavin has never said a word to me about that He's never said oh look what I'm doing. He's never put that on our own facebook He's never he's just doing those and I think that's why he's such a perfect Perfect person with this first award and a great way to really talk about that. It's not about you It's not about you cat. It's not about LVSA. It's about students and Gavin said it so clearly today Advising connecting students with how to be successful And what we do in the car and and you cat and LVSA is connecting each other To then expand I mean the fact that they've got swingy advisors in Melbourne There are no part of this mentoring process That's happened quietly kind of under the radar. Nobody's I just am so impressed by that so impressed by Gavin if we're doing it But then really just so honored that that oscar and David really wanted to see this move forward in my name made a great deal to me Well, uh, a lovely and a fitting honor and uh, you also of course have a a new charlie nut pin So, uh, put courtesy of matt mark just to get off by the jacket outside. Yes That's matt mark and and kevin thomas this this retirement tour You might you might keep it going for another while yet charlie. Who knows what else you you might collect it Maybe I could be sure right you just go do this for Did more years or something Ha ha ha I think that would be fantastic and I suppose just I'm interested like You know, I I know when and it's slightly different But I have obviously changed institutions and I know when you're Coming towards the end of your time at any institution you reflect back think on your your time For you as as you come to you know the end of the full, you know being full-time executive director Just interested in your thoughts about, you know, how Advising has, you know, um developed and you know, what you're what you're thinking is as as we move in Uh, you know to hopefully a post pandemic world um you know, I'm I look at this a little differently than maybe some folks think I do in some ways. Um I have what I call what I think about it as as career segments I taught high school for the first 12 years out of the education um, then I was a High school administrator um I then went and talked it taught at a community college and there was a vice president at a community college for 20 years And they'll be at the counter for 20 years So as I'm looking at retirement I find myself not just look at the past 20 years with Nakata. I'm looking at the last 44 years. Um because You know, there's lots of things that facebook is good or bad What things I've enjoyed is is connecting with all those suits I taught way back in the 70s And so, you know An exciting bit about this october for the first time ever is the class of 1978 79 and 80 By having their Joint reunion to get about again. It's the first time I've been able to attend So it's it's looking back at all of those folks Within that but as far as with Nakata You know, I got into advising Totally because I went to college to teach and then the the deeds said, oh, you're gonna advise I had no idea what that was and then tried to figure it out and I was like most faculty To me it was was registration And all I was concerned about was do I know the catalog? Do I know the database? Can I check students off? Can I be sure they get what you know? That was all I really cared about Um until I had a young lady come in that that wanted to be a nurse. She was having lots of problems And after about an hour of talking to her and her crying and me crying It really began that she had she came in to drop math But math was not at all why she came to see me It was really about she needed somebody to talk to She needed somebody to build a relationship with she needed to know there was somebody on that campus that It didn't matter what it was I was approached as she could come to that was so much more than registration. That was so much more than scheduling um When I got involved with Nakata quite frankly, I didn't know there was such a thing as an advisor because I was a faculty member so when I went to my first Nakata conference, which was 1980 something in Atlanta, Georgia And I met these people that said they were advisors. I thought well, what else do you teach? I went no, we're just advisors. I thought people do this full time because I had no idea because in Georgia They're all faculty or back then they were um, so it really helped me begin to see that that it's not just a teaching process But it's a teaching and learning process that advising is a part of as well as faculty and how do we merge those together So I think the beauty I've seen is that at least in my Understanding of what I've seen and then what I've seen in association Is we really have moved past the concept of advising being a service And advising being clearly a part of the institutional mission And part of the teaching and learning of an institution That's a big shift for advising to make It also is taken advising. I think out of the realm of It's got to be either academic affairs or student affairs. We all have to be involved And so it's the one piece of the campus that I think touches every other As well as the student and so It's just a part of me that just You're a teacher your advisor your administrator doesn't matter who you are you're there for the students and I think advising has really come to a Place where it's not just seeing this registration It's not just seeing the scheduling But it's seen as the teaching and learning environment and what do we want students to learn we decide that How do we teach it? We decide that and then how the students learn it. We help them figure out how to learn that and then grow with it It's also the way that I think we can continue to get students to understand the value of advising Because it's no more just about getting a schedule They're having to learn something they're having to to show you they know it And then they're having to demonstrate they know it by moving forward and getting way past you Because they're ready to move forward. So I think that's why I've seen advising go Well, you you have had a big impact. I was talking to One of the LVSA members the the other day and he he describes himself fantastically He says he's a teaching animal and he had never thought about advising and then he went along at and He saw charlie nut do a presentation and charlie nut talked about advising as teaching and it changed his worldview and Now he is a part of LVSA. So you you've definitely sown seeds charlie you and they are they are sprouting and I suppose then just maybe as As as you move the you know into another segment. I think as you you said any You know, I'm sure there will be a ton of them But I'm always interested, you know, I love I love stories I I'm I'm wondering about some some of your maybe some I obviously can't pick a favorite But just some of your your favorite memories from your time as executive director Oh gosh, um You know, I don't remember who it was at the award ceremony and I can't remember who particularly said it You know, I think the beauty of ucat and and LVSA and nicotta Is moving advising forward It is moving students forward But so much of what we do is relationship with each other And so, you know, I have most stories that I can probably say in public or on the screen about the joys of of institutes and conferences and and you know visiting these places like codder and and Australia and those types of experiences that have been just amazing within that But it's all about the people. It's all about the The connections that I've made It's all about the the friends I've got, you know, the friends I have I think You know, I I came from a situation where I was the youngest of three I had a very severe hearing deficit as a child had a very severe Speech impediment until I was probably in Middle school, maybe And so It was How do you keep them getting picked on because you talk front of your kid here? So you just use you just use jokes and become the class clown And so in some ways I just enjoy people and I enjoy those I think the thing that that folks don't always understand is that I don't see you as an advisor I don't see you as Someone that is in Ireland or UK. I see you as a friend I see you as a colleague. I see you as someone that you know I may be gone in June, but you're not through with me. You know, you're still gonna hear from me I'm still gonna be emailing you saying how things going or I'm ready to come back to Dublin You ready to show me around? I mean I've made I made such wonderful friends. So I think Every story I have with friends in the association is always going to be important Um, you know, we have we have lots of funny stories. We we have what's in the executive office We have called the yellow book and that's a yellow notepad where every time we do something wrong You you make a note. We all go back and laugh at it Um, and and so we have all of these stories working the members and the wars and all of those But I think it really comes down to Every time you go to an Akata event You're not just meeting new people. You're seeing Friends you're seeing colleagues. You're seeing People that are very important in your life that I don't think other I know other associations Or either even others of us don't always see that My sister who recently passed away Um Lots of people in Akata knew because Pam came to lots of conference with me She would do lots of institutes with me and she used to always say these people are your friends I would go yeah And she'd go but I always thought they were just people you work with I wouldn't know these are my friends and so A lot of people that knew Pam because of me They had conversations they they texted with Pam. I never knew they had Within that because it was just that friendship that bond Within those so I think that's the real beauty is is Any story I tell us go be around a person. It's gonna be around a friendship. It's gonna be around a It's gonna be around the day that I put you and Matt together in Belgium I looked across through with Those two need to get together and pull something I will always remember that that remember being in that reception to see the two of you and thinking Oh, we need to pull them. Those are the things I'll remember those are the things I'll never forget because it's just seen people Grow and expand but really just become such wonderful professionals because of the work Well, does that mean then um, you know that we are going to see a charlie north world tour and uh, you know Could this be on the cards? I've got lots of places I need to go back and visit people and now I got people to go and stay with so I'm so yeah I think you know, I like I need to come back to Dublin You know, I used to always laugh Rhonda Baker and a few others who would go to a conference And then they would stay two or three days after just to get location of that type of thing And I never really understood it because the conference will I'd get back to work and go Um, I know wish I'd done more that Because I would always leave go right back to work. So I got a lot more to do at Dublin So let's get ready. I'm gonna be coming back and and you know, I want to go back to Carter I'd love to go. I'd love to go back to australia. So yeah, I've got lots of people I need to go visit They don't know I'm coming yet, but I'm gonna come You will be welcomed with open arms. I have no doubt but what what I think is we need You know that when bands go on tour and they have the tour t-shirts that has all the dates at the back I think we need a chair charlie charlie goes on tour t-shirt And actually do you know what we might get um, you might you might well get a show out of that. Uh, I don't know I think so what we could do is you could help get the the sites lined up for the places that we could put on the t-shirt I think I think we could do that because it's funny At the moment, there's a new there's a new season of last chance you out and I see that one of the I think it was region seven had One of the advisors from one of the previous seasons I think they could just do last chance you forget like leave the football leave the basketball and just last chance you advising I think that would be its own show and would be fantastic to watch It'd be great to do the major things just to see the folks again I think that's I think that's what we'll do charlie charlie dot you are an absolute superstar I want to thank you for taking the time to chat to me uh today I know that the the ucat members the lbsa members would be delighted and uh, look Don't be a stranger keep in touch You're not and please everyone with ucat lbsa. Thank you so much for this amazing conference this week. It's been fantastic david gray I don't know how you all you do what you do But we just so value what you do and ask for the lbsa board and then once again. Thank you for the The the award it means a great deal to me and I know it means a great deal to To gavin and and column i'm gonna have to just get with you and matt We just may have to make a visit around the world to see what people are All right, I think there's a I think that genuinely think there's a show in that charlie Okay, thank you so much and take care of yourself. Thanks charlie