By Katie Rendon, MA, Registrar, Hebrew Union College, Chair of the State & Regional Relations Committee, N&E Committee Member
The AACRAO “Best of the Best” Program recognizes outstanding sessions presented at State & Regional organizations’ annual meetings. Presenters of up to three selected sessions will receive complimentary registration to the 112th AACRAO Annual Meeting in Long Beach, CA, to present their outstanding sessions. This program helps to highlight the amazing work happening at our local and regional levels and elevate those voices nationally.
Several past AACRAO “Best of the Best” presenters shared their thoughts on why they developed their sessions, how presenting enhanced their professional development, and what it meant to them to be selected for Best of the Best. Part one of this two-part series includes responses from:
- Nicholas Geremia, Program Director, Student Affairs at Rutgers Health
- Allegra Fowler, Executive Director, Center for Prior Learning Recognition at Purdue Global
- Regina Middleton, Assistant Director of Transfer Pathways at Texas Christian University
- Kimberly Tate, Assistant Vice President and University Registrar at the University of Texas at Arlington
What motivated you to present a session at your state & regional conference?
Nicholas Geremia: My mentor and former supervisor, a long-time member of our regional organization, MSACROA, encouraged me to submit a presentation proposal. I had attended a regional conference the year prior, and I felt it would be a great place to share expertise and ‘scratch the itch’ of developing others professionally, since I really enjoy that work and don’t get to do it as often as I’d like in my role.
Allegra Fowler: Engagement with colleagues from other colleges and universities is a valuable way to gain insight and perspective. Higher ed can feel very limiting when we consider only the tools and practices at our own institutions. Connecting with colleagues at other institutions can validate some of the challenges we face and make them feel less daunting. We can also gain ideas and inspiration from our community. I presented at IACRAO because I was motivated by the great presentations I had seen in past years. The presenters at IACRAO made me feel like I had a story to tell—my own expertise and experiences to share.
Regina Middleton: I was assigned a new job responsibility that required me to research, develop, and build a program from the ground up. Once the program was established and producing positive results, I wanted to share what I had learned with others, which led me to present at a state conference.
Kimberly Tate: I have always valued the opportunity to share ideas, experiences, and practical solutions with colleagues who understand the unique challenges, opportunities, and evolving nature of our profession. State and regionals provide an especially valuable environment for learning from one another, and I was motivated to contribute to that conversation and hopefully provide something others could take back to their own institutions. Our winning session focused on The Registrar’s Role in Microcredentialing, an emerging area where registrars can bring valuable expertise and perspective. I was also especially excited to present alongside a dear and highly respected colleague, Dr. Brenda Schumann, which made the experience even more meaningful.
How did that experience of presenting at your state & regional conference enhance your professional development?
Geremia: Presenting at the regional MSACROA conference was a great entry point for becoming more comfortable in a conference setting. It felt relatively ‘low-risk,’ which freed me to create a presentation that I felt was engaging, broadly applicable across roles, and actionable for participants.
Fowler: Speaking in front of a group of valued colleagues is excellent professional development. It challenges us, as individual contributors, to consider the lens of our own institution and then STEP OUT of that. From a professional development standpoint, I learned so much about what is truly unique at my institution and what, despite feeling unique, is just part of the Registrar-ing world. The folks I have met while developing and giving presentations are so excellent. I feel lucky to count them as part of my network.
Middleton: Presenting at the conference was a rewarding experience. The feedback I received from participants in my workshop was encouraging and refreshing. It was gratifying to see others interested in my work and to know that the information I shared could be useful to their own institutions and professional responsibilities.
Tate: Presenting pushed me to reflect more intentionally on my own work and experiences and consider how they might be relevant to colleagues at other institutions. It also created opportunities for meaningful conversations, new perspectives, and professional connections, as well as learning from the questions and discussions that followed. Those interactions have been just as valuable to my professional development as the presentation itself.
What did it mean to you to win the Best of the Best award?
Geremia: It is difficult to describe the feeling fully. I was humbled to be nominated by my MSACROA peers, particularly as a relative newcomer to the organization. Winning the national award and traveling to present at the national conference in New Orleans felt like a “sliding doors” moment, especially as I was simultaneously completing my doctorate. The recognition was both meaningful and unexpected. It affirmed that the presentation provided real value to my peers at a time when professionals must continually adapt to emerging technologies, including AI, and evolving industry trends.
Fowler: Winning the Best of the Best award was validating and exciting. It was a reminder that every quiet corner of higher education has a captivating story to tell.
Middleton: I was truly shocked when I learned that I had won the award. It was an exciting and joyful moment that I had not expected. Receiving that recognition was both humbling and validating because it acknowledged the hard work and dedication that went into developing and presenting my session.
Tate: Winning the Best of the Best award was an incredible honor. It was especially meaningful to know that our session was meaningful and resonated with colleagues, and to share that recognition with my co-presenter. The award was a wonderful affirmation of the value of sharing ideas and experiences and contributing to conversations within our professional community.
How did winning Best of the Best enhance your AACRAO Annual Meeting experience?
Geremia: To be candid, I would likely not have been able to attend the Annual Meeting without the Best of the Best award. As a staff member at a flagship public university, funding for professional development is sometimes hard to come by. I was also honored to be invited to present my session twice at the Annual Meeting. I learned something from each group, made meaningful connections with colleagues I otherwise would not have met, and received encouraging feedback from peers at both the regional and national levels. Those experiences continue to build my confidence in developing and presenting future conference sessions and have prompted me to consider other ways I can contribute to the AACRAO community.
Fowler: Being a Best of the Best winner gave me the confidence to engage more actively at the AACRAO annual meeting. It is pretty easy to go to a large national conference and be exclusively in “receive” mode. There is so much to learn from so many respected and talented colleagues. After winning the Best of the Best, I felt like I could give in addition to taking from the AACRAO community. It really turned a corner for me professionally and connected me to colleagues and networks that have helped shape my work over the years.
Middleton: Winning the award gave me the opportunity to attend the AACRAO Annual Meeting for the first time. That experience opened the door to greater involvement with the organization. Since then, I have participated in virtual webinars, served on committees, and attended additional annual meetings. These opportunities have allowed me to expand my professional network and continue growing in my field.
Tate: Winning Best of the Best gave us the opportunity to present our session to a national audience at the AACRAO Annual Meeting. That experience allowed us to continue an important conversation with colleagues from across the country and hear how institutions of different sizes and structures were approaching microcredentials. It also gave me the opportunity to represent my state and regional association on a larger stage and further strengthened my connection to the AACRAO community.
Do you have any other thoughts about presenting a session or the Best of the Best award that you’d like to share?
Geremia: This was a really wonderful experience. Presenting felt like the most accessible way to get involved in the community, and I would encourage thinking about creating a session to go for it! Winning Best of the Best allowed me to experience a new place, meet new colleagues, learn from the sessions of others, and also internalize feedback and insights that emerged in my session(both in the session itself and through survey responses)
Fowler: I would heartily encourage folks to consider presenting at their state or regional conference at least once. Your local leaders will help you find a topic if you don’t have one. If there is any part of your work that sparks passion, chase that passion and share it will your community. You might just find your people! Thinking back to all I have learned at state and regional conferences, it was all coming from colleagues who were willing to step up and share their story. I think folks are often hesitant that a presentation has to be “technical”, wrong! Relationships, strategies, leadership, training, the list goes on and on. You can talk about what you do, but you can also talk about the people and interpersonal elements that make the work move forward. Finally, a presentation doesn’t have to come from some unique success, though that is fun! A presentation can also come from something that didn’t work well, so you went back to the drawing board. Or, a presentation can come from the little-noticed and less-celebrated work that your team is doing every day to keep the college or university humming.
Middleton: The AACRAO Annual Meeting provided a much larger platform than the TACRAO conference. It gave me the opportunity to connect with professionals from across the United States and learn about a variety of perspectives and practices. I appreciated the chance to share my work while also learning from others. The experience reinforced the value of professional engagement, collaboration, and the exchange of ideas within our field.
Tate: One of the things I value most about presenting is that it creates opportunities for conversation and shared learning. You do not have to have all the answers to present – you simply need an idea, challenge, perspective, lesson learned, or insight that may spark a meaningful conversation with others. I would encourage colleagues to consider presenting, especially alongside someone whose perspective and experience complements their own. Presenting The Registrar’s Role in Microcredentialing with Brenda reminded me that some of the most rewarding professional opportunities come through collaboration. The Best of the Best recognition was a tremendous honor, but the relationships, conversations, and learning that came from it are what I value most.
Please consider nominating a session from your most recent state & regional annual meeting.
Nominations for the “Best of the Best” Program are open now through Friday, December 11 at 5 p.m. ET. Your nominations help to grant access to the Annual Meeting, increase the diversity of sessions, and promote the professional development of leaders in your local area.
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