Looking for member-endorsed educational sessions to attend at the 2017 NIRSA Annual Conference & Campus Rec and Wellness Expo taking place from February 21–24 in National Harbor, MD? Make plans to attend up to four sessions—each highly-rated and originally presented at one of last fall’s regional conferences or state workshops—at NIRSA 2017! These sessions are being offered as part of a partnership between the Member Network and the Conference Program Committee.
Each of NIRSA’s six regions could nominate up to two sessions from its fall educational events. Member Network representatives in each region determined the qualifying workshops or conferences based on the region’s slate of educational events and coordinated the review process for the region’s nominees. From the collection of up to 12 nominated sessions, the Annual Conference Program Committee selected four sessions for inclusion in the Annual Conference program.
“Work Hard, Play Hard: Gamification of the Work Place” will be presented by Chett Miller, Instructional Programs Coordinator at UCLA and member of Region VI, on Wednesday, February 22 at 8:00am. “Do Your Staff Meetings Suck?” by Jonecia Mahan, Member Services Supervisor at San Diego State University and Region VI member, will be presented on Wednesday, February 22 at 1:00pm. Attendees will find “Increasing Participation and Involvement of International Students at Campus Recreation Centers” by Swaran Nandini of the University of Central Florida in Region II on Thursday, February 23 at 3:45pm. And “Pursuing a Terminal Degree: How Do You Get There from Here and Is It the Right Road to Travel?” presented by Jason Foster, Assistant Director for Sport Clubs at Colorado State University in Region V, takes place on Friday, February 24 at 9:45am. Each session is highlighted in the program as a “featured regional conference ed session.”
Sessions by Brooke Dragon, Fitness and Wellness Intern at the University of Connecticut in Region I; Michael Potter, Club Sports Coordinator at Penn State University in Region I; Jennifer Pecoraro, Member Services Coordinator at Georgia Tech in Region II; Takeshi Fuji, a wellness lecturer at Southern Methodist University in Region IV; and Alison Fisher, Intramural Sports, Children’s Program & Sport Club Coordinator at the University of Regina in Region V were among other nominated top sessions from fall events.
Launched in Fall 2015, this Member Network initiative allows NIRSA members to benefit from fellow members’ presentations in a more-timely manner. With a summer deadline for Annual Conference presentation proposals, educational sessions from NIRSA’s fall regional events would not have been eligible for that academic year’s Annual Conference. Now, through this initiative, member favorites from the fall have the opportunity to be presented again to a wider audience at the Annual Conference.
The Annual Conference Program Committee holds four slots for fall presentations and utilizes nominated regional sessions in an effort to provide more educational content for any underrepresented session types in the overall conference program. So get excited, NIRSA 2017 attendees—there are going to be some fantastic sessions in National Harbor!
- For more information, check out the entire NIRSA 2017 schedule of ed sessions.
David Peters is currently the Associate Director of Campus Recreation at Florida State University. He currently serves as the chair of the NIRSA Conference Program Committee.
