California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) has been recognized twice this summer as a leader in student-athlete academic advising by the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA).
In July CSULB was one of only 11 universities chosen to participate and lend expertise at the first NACADA/NCAA Institute for student-athletes. Sandra Shirley and Rebecca Groff, from the Bickerstaff Student-Athlete Center, along with Cindy Masner, senior women’s administrator and associate director of athletics, and Brenda Vogel, associate professor of criminal justice and faculty athletic representative, were invited to participate in the institute, designed to ensure that “best practices” for student-athlete academic counseling and support were identified, developed and shared. Now Vogel and staff from the Bickerstaff Student-Athlete Center are developing an outreach presentation to improve faculty perceptions of student-athletes. The presentation will be delivered to the CSULB Committee on Athletics and faculty and staff in the academic departments.
In addition, out of 326 NCAA, Division I institutions, the Bickerstaff Center was one of only five included in the exemplary practices section of NACADA’s inaugural publication, Advising Student-Athletes: A Collaborative Approach to Success.
NACADA, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and supporting quality academic advising in higher education institutions, has 10,000 members representing all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and several other international countries.
