About the Institute
The NODA Mid-Managers Institute (MMI) was created for the post-graduate professional with 5-8 years of professional orientation, transition or retention programming experience and responsibilities for professional supervision, budget, and autonomous decision making. The Institute provides most of the educational programming track at NODAC 2009 for interested mid-level managers who choose to register.

Mid-Level Managers Institute Class of 2008

Institute Features
Learning outcomes include an increased knowledge of your position and how your position functions within the broader administrative functions on your campus; a deeper understanding of trends and issues in higher education; and pursuit of your own educational and personal goals. Participants will establish a cohort with other mid-level managers and progress through six of the eight conference educational programming blocks together working in small peer groups with renowned faculty. We will discuss hot topics, address relevant case studies, and explore challenges and opportunities in higher education.

Topics

• Effectively Managing Institutional and Organizational Change
• Trends in Higher Education and Their Impact on Mid-Level Managers
• Career = the Intersection between Planning and Serendipity
• Crisis Management in Higher Education - What do you do when the Unthinkable Happens?
• Multicultural Competencies
• Effective Supervision: an Art Form, not a Science
• Program Assessment and Evaluation
• Strategic Planning
• Budget Challenges in Today's Economy

Faculty

Diane M. Austin
Dean of Student Affairs at Lasell College

Diane M. Austin has been the Dean of Student Affairs at Lasell College in Newton, MA for fourteen years. In that capacity, she serves on the Senior Management Team of the College, and oversees the functional areas of: Athletics; Career Services; the Center for Spiritual Life; the Counseling Center; Health Services; Judicial Affairs; Residential Life; and Student Activities and Orientation. She has also served as the Associate Dean of Student Affairs/Director of New Student Programs at Bentley College, where she worked for eighteen years. While at Bentley, she designed and implemented all the orientation programs; hired and supervised the undergraduate Orientation Leader staff; and inaugurated, designed and implemented their Freshman Seminar course.

In her 36 years as a student development professional, she has made in excess of 125 professional presentations, including over 45 presentations at both national and regional conferences of the National Orientation Directors Association and the First-Year Experience. Diane's other NODA activities include serving as historian (1988-1996), national conference program chair (1990), vice-president (1984-86), national membership chair (1981-84), and a member of the NODA Board of Directors (1980-83). An area of particular interest to Diane is the separation process between college students and their parents, and she has written and done numerous presentations about this topic. She is the author of the chapter entitled, "The Role of Family Influence on Student Success" in the 2nd edition of Designing Successful Transitions: A Guide for Orienting Students to College; and of the chapter entitled, "Orientation Activities for the Families of New Students" in the 1st edition of the same publication. This will be Diane's second year to serve as a faculty member at the NODA Mid-Managers Institute.

Diane received both her B.A. in English (1973) and her M.S. in Counseling (1976) from SUNY Plattsburgh. She is an Overseer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Board of Directors of the Plattsburgh State University Alumni Association.

Cindy Payne
Associate Director of Enrollment Services at Northern Arizona University

Cindy serves the division of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs at Northern Arizona University as Associate Director with oversight responsibilities for Undergraduate Admissions, Registrar, Financial Aid and New Student Programs. Her 20 year tenure at NAU includes 12 years in orientation, transition and retention programs as the founding director of the Office of Orientation, Transition and Retention Services. She designed and implemented the First Year Experience Academic Course at NAU and created the Office of NAU Parent Services. Cindy directs the training and development efforts for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs personnel as one of her responsibilities and facilitates orientation programs for new staff.

Cindy works with colleges, universities and associations across the country as a trainer and facilitator. She served as a facilitator for the LeaderShape Institute, as well as a faculty member for the NODA Orientation Professionals Institute (OPI) for 5 years at the regional and national level. Other NODA activities include serving on the NODA Board of Directors (1995-1998), NODA Vice-President (1998-2000), and NODA President (2000-2002). In 2006 she was the recipient of the NODA Outstanding Contributions to the Orientation Profession award. This will be Cindy's second year to serve as the coordinator for the NODA Mid-Managers Institute.

Cindy received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of North Texas and her M.Ed. in Counseling from Northern Arizona University. She is sending her oldest son off to college this year and will have two high schools sophomores at home. Cindy serves on the School Governing Board in her community.

Jack Rhodes
Associate Vice-Provost for Enrollment Management at Indiana University

Jack currently serves as an Associate Vice-Provost for Enrollment Management at Indiana University's Bloomington campus. In this role, he directly oversees both the Office of First Year Experience Programs and the Hoosier Link Guaranteed Transfer Admission Program. He also serves as a member of Enrollment Management's leadership team for a unit that has over 250 full-time appointed staff members. Throughout his twenty year tenure at Indiana University, Jack has provided leadership for the areas of Admissions, Orientation and Transition Programs, Scholarship Outreach, and Community College Outreach. Jack has held the position of Director of Orientation at both the Bloomington and IUPUI campuses of Indiana University.

As a member of NODA since 1987, he has been intrinsically involved in the association. Jack has served the Association as a State Coordinator, Board Member, and Executive Committee Member. Jack was NODA's Director of Membership Services from 1996 through 1999, during which he was responsible for the oversight of the Home Office. Jack has been a three-time member of the faculty for NODA's Orientation Professionals Institute, and he is a returning faculty member to the Mid-Managers Institute.

Jack pursued his undergraduate studies at Marquette University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. He later earned his Masters of Arts degree in Higher Education - Student Affairs from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He has participated in professional leadership workshops for aspiring enrollment management leaders conducted by both the College Board and the American Association for College Registrars and Admissions Officers.

Denise L. Rode
Director of Orientation & First-Year Experience at Northern Illinois University

Denise L. Rode, Director of Orientation & First-Year Experience, has directed Northern Illinois University's new student and family orientation programs since 1987. She has worked in financial aid and admissions at Northern, and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the College of Education. She was a member of the NIU President's Strategic Planning Task Force in 2007-2008. Currently, she is leading the Foundations of Excellence® in the First Year of College self-study and improvement initiative on her campus.

Denise has received an Outstanding Faculty Adviser Award for her work with the NIU chapter of Lambda Sigma Sophomore Honor Society and was honored with a Presidential Supportive Professional Award for Excellence in 1999. She also has been named a semi-finalist for the Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate Award, cosponsored by the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Houghton Mifflin Publishing. She was named NODA's Outstanding Orientation Professional in 2002 and received the award for Outstanding Contributions to the Orientation Profession in 2007. This will be Denise's second year to serve as a faculty member at the NODA Mid-Managers Institute.

Denise's scholarly interests include the application of student development/learning theory to the field of orientation and transition, and preparing new professionals for service in higher education.

An avid writer and editor, Dr. Rode has authored or coauthored 15 journal articles and several manuals and monograph chapters. She also has co-edited the textbooks used by more than 1,800 first-year students annually at Northern Illinois University. She is a frequent presenter at NODA, NASPA, and first-year conferences. Under Denise's guidance, NIU--in partnership with other Midwest institutions--has developed an annual one-day regional conference on the first college year.

Beyond the campus, Denise has served Mortar Board senior honor society as national president, is editor of The Journal of College Orientation and Transition for NODA, and teaches graduate student affairs courses at DePaul University in Chicago. She is a Trustee of the Mortar Board National Foundation and an officer of the Lambda Sigma National Sophomore Honor Society.

Dr. Rode is a three-time alumna of NIU, earning a B.A. degree in English and journalism, a master's degree in counselor education, and a doctorate of education with an emphasis in college student development. One of her most significant recent learning experiences is being the mother of a student who recently completed her first college year.

Aurélio Manuel Valente
Assistant Dean for Student Development at Philadelphia University

Aurélio currently serves as Assistant Dean for Student Development at Philadelphia University and is a doctoral candidate in higher education at Florida State University. At Philadelphia University, Aurélio coordinates new student programs, first-year experience and serves as the divisional liaison for academic affairs. Additionally, he supervises the offices of International Programs, Community Service and Spiritual Development. As a doctoral student, Aurélio's research interests include student development in the first year of college and institutional efforts to promote student success and engagement. He has published several articles regarding service-learning, first-year experience and ethics in higher education in the Journal of College and Character and served as a contributing chapter author for the third edition of The Handbook for Student Affairs Administration.

Aurélio has been working in higher education at five different institutions in locations ranging from New England, Mid-Atlantic and the South, and brings sixteen years of experience in a variety of student affairs areas including residence life, student leadership, service-learning, orientation, and first-year experience, along with five years of adjunct faculty appointments in varying programs of academic study. This will be Aurélio's second year to serve as a faculty member at the NODA Mid-Managers Institute.

His belief in the value of well delivered comprehensive student centered programs and the vital role of service and leadership is derived from the role they played in his own life as a first generation college student. Born and raised in Portugal, Aurélio has a deeply held commitment and appreciation for diversity and the impact which access to higher education has on uplifting lives in all communities.

Aurélio earned his B.S. from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth in 1993, his M.Ed. from Suffolk University in 1999, and his MBA from University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth in 2000 and anticipates the completion of his doctorate in Higher Education from Florida State University in 2009. Aurélio recently served on the 2008 NODAC Boston planning committee and in 2007 won the prestigious Norman K. Russell Scholarship from NODA. In 2006 he was presented with the Outstanding Service to Massachusetts College Personal Association Award from ACPA and the Sherrill W. Ragans' Leadership & Service Award from the College of Education at Florida State University in 2008.

For Additional Information Please Contact
Cindy Payne, Mid-Managers Institute Coordinator
Associate Director, Enrollment Services
PO Box 4084
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-4084
928-523-0440
Cindy.payne@nau.edu