Beginning Friday evening, SMU hosted the Region IV NODA (National Orientation Directors Association) Conference, which included university representatives from Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.
According to Bethany Naser, Coordinator of the Office of New Student Programs, the purpose of the conference was to, “bring together professionals and students who work in their university’s orientation office and help the transition of first-years and transfers.”
Naser went on to explain that each NODA conference represents an opportunity to share ideas and suggestions with fellow orientation directors from across the region.“There were 30 educational sessions put on,” she said, “and each university shared their best practices and biggest challenges.
“Nationally,” Naser continued, “NODA believes strongly that we should use one another as resources.”
This year’s theme was “Building Better Beginnings” with the hope that, “everyone could go back [to their university] and improve their program,” said Naser.
In addition to hosting the conference, SMU was honored when two of its students went home with awards for their work as orientation directors.
Samantha Needham, a senior marketing major, was graced with the NODA Student Leadership Award, given annually to just one student director from a four-year institution such as SMU.
After serving as a Week of Welcome director and peer advisor, Needham was the first student to be in charge of technology for the Office of New Student Programs. Since 2003, she re-landscaped the office’s Web site, transferred each of the orientation tracks into the online world and introduced video steam, multimedia and digital formatting to new Mustangs’ orientation.
“Sam excels at thinking outside the box,” said Naser, who nominated Needham for the award. “[She] has remained active throughout the SMU community, studied abroad, always held a job and received internships in addition to carrying a full and challenging academic course load.”
In addition, transfer mathematics and art major Eula Dillon was recognized for her problem-solving skills during a case study Saturday morning.
The case study exercise consisted of 10 teams of three students who don’t know each other. On Friday, the teams were presented with cases and given time to put together and outline their presentations.
A panel of four judges named Dillon and her teammates the best problem solvers based on the students’ thought processing skills.
For SMU, the awards were a great finishing touch on a successful weekend conference.
“Not only did we host [NODA Regional],” Naser said, “but we hosted it well. We gave people a great insight into SMU.”
