Melinda Anderson is the New Leader of NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising

Melinda Anderson has been chosen to serve as the executive director of NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising. The 15,000-member organization is housed in the College of Education at Kansas State University.

NACADA evolved from the inaugural National Conference on Academic Advising in 1977, was chartered in 1979, and now has members representing all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, and several other countries. NACADA promotes and supports quality academic advising in institutions of higher education to enhance the educational development of students. NACADA provides a forum for discussion, debate, and the exchange of ideas pertaining to academic advising through numerous activities and publications.

“I am so honored and thrilled to be offered an opportunity to work with very talented colleagues at Kansas State University and in the association,” Dr. Anderson said. “I am looking forward to joining the executive office for NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising and continuing to raise the profile of our work focused on student success through excellence in academic advising.”

Dr. Anderson currently serves as the interim associate vice chancellor for student success at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina. She previously served as associate dean of undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, director of pre-health and pre-law advising at Virginia Commonwealth University, and associate director of academic advising at the College of William and Mary.

Dr. Anderson holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication and a master’s degree in adult education from Virginia Commonwealth University. She earned a doctorate in higher education from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.