NISTS honors efforts of transfer professionals

The National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS) hosted its annual conference in-person Feb. 2-4 in St. Louis, with a virtual option Feb. 23-24, with 928 in attendance between the two events.

This was the first time in recent years the conference was held outside of Atlanta.

It also marked the 20th anniversary of the organization. University of North Georgia (UNG) President Bonita Jacobs founded the institute in response to a lack of professional development opportunities and research literature focused specifically on transfer students. The institute is based on UNG's Dahlonega Campus.

Themed "From Moment to Movement: Shaping the Future of Transfer," the conference highlighted presentations, networking opportunities and awards in both in-person and virtual formats.

"The theme resonated with our attendees. These professionals are living through national moments of the pandemic, calls for an end to systemic racism and the great resignation while engaging in meaningful individual moments with their students," Dr. Janet Marling, NISTS executive director and associate professor in UNG's College of Education said.

These professionals are living through national moments of the pandemic, calls for an end to systemic racism and the great resignation while engaging in meaningful individual moments with their students.

Dr. Janet Marling

NISTS executive director and associate professor in UNG's College of Education

The winners were:

• Nicholas DeFalco, director of transfer admission at North Central College
• Shelley Lemons, executive director of the office of student transitions at City Colleges of Chicago. 

Bonita C. Jacobs Transfer Champion-Rising Star Award recognizes individuals who make significant contributions in the early stages of their careers, creating or improving programming that is responsive to the specific transfer student population and shows evidence of success. The awardees were:

• Le Quanda Cole, director of the UNLV/CSN transfer program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• Megan Drangstveit, director of Project RAISE (Regional Alliance in STEM Education) at California State Fullerton
• Michael DuPont, senior program officer for Tulsa Grantmaking at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
• Jeffrey Mayo, assistant director of first-year experience at the University of Texas, Austin
• Keith Shaw, director of transfer, veteran and nontraditional student programs at Princeton University

NISTS Research Grants encourage transfer-related original research, creative and scholarly work. The awardees were:

• Dustin Grote (principal investigator), assistant professor of teacher education at Weber State University, and Dr. David Reeping (co-principal investigator), assistant professor in engineering education at the University of Cincinnati, for their project "Developing a Theory of Curricular Complexity for Transfer Students: Establishing Content and Construct Validity."
• Shannon Hayes Buenaflor (principal investigator), assistant director of transfer student advising and admissions in the A. James Clark School of engineering at the University of Maryland, and Dr. Alberto Cabrera (co-principal investigator), professor emeritus of higher education, University of Maryland, for their project "Transfer Efficacy and Goal Orientation among Potential Transfer Students: An Exploratory Study."

Transfer Student Ambassadors were selected through a national competition intended to recognize outstanding students who represent the heart of transfer work. All four demonstrated excellence in leadership, public speaking, and their potential for sharing meaningful information with higher education transfer professionals. They were:

• Jan Paolo Canteras, University of California, Irvine
• Herman Luis Chavez, University of California, Los Angeles
• Noelle Dana, University of Notre Dame
• Katherine Ibsen, University of California, Berkeley

The 2023 NISTS Conference will be held in Portland, Oregon, and the 2024 event will return to St. Louis.