Approximately 50 people attended the Technology in Advising Commission meeting at the NACADA national conference in Ottawa. Chuck Haberle, outgoing commission chair, began the meeting by providing a brief overview of the commission as well as a progress report of the previous year's activities. Chuck introduced the members of the commission's steering committee (Mark Bellcourt, Tim Bond, Andrea Irby, Mike Leonard, Wes Lipschultz, and George Steele), who had met prior to the commission meeting to discuss the commission's progress to date, the status of current projects, and plans for the future. Chuck also acknowledged the presenters of the four commission-sponsored sessions and the winners of the 2001 Electronic Publication Awards. Chuck described the three main projects that are underway in the commission: SIS (Student Information Systems); ATECH (Advising Technology Education Center); and Commission Liaisons to Regions. Chuck referred those in attendance to the Tech Commission Web site for additional information about the commission in general and about these three projects specifically.

Chuck then introduced Mike Leonard, incoming chair of the Technology in Advising Commission, and turned the meeting over to him. Mike thanked Chuck for all of his help in the past eighteen months in making the transition to chair of the commission and for Chuck's dedication to and hard work for the commission, especially in Chuck's past four years (two terms) as chair.

The remainder of the meeting provided an open forum for the discussion of topics of interest to the participants. To begin the discussion, Mike posed three questions to the participants:

1. What is new in technology on your campus that is working well?
2. What aspects of technology on your campus are not working well?
3. How do you think the Tech Commission can help you and other members of NACADA?

The topics discussed in the forum included the use of handheld devices for taking important academic data and documents "on the road;" preregistering freshmen for their first semester's course before they participate in a summer advising program; using split-screen Web technology to compare, update, and edit Web pages; problems with commercial student information systems and degree audit programs; finding job applicants who are skilled in advising and technology; and the effective use of commonly-used software. Most of those in attendance were very eager to provide their own perspectives on these topics and in response to questions posed by others in attendance.

To wrap up the meeting, Mike asked that participants consider volunteering to work on one or more of projects that are currently underway in the commission or on new projects that might be of interest to the commission. Following the meeting, several attendees volunteered their services, and a number of discussions that had been started during the meeting continued after the formal close of the meeting.

Mike Leonard (Penn State), incoming chair of the Technology in Advising Commission, and Chuck Haberle (Providence College), outgoing chair, at the commission fair in Ottawa. The Tech Commission's display was designed and developed by Andrea Irby and Jackie Gottlieb (NC State). Photo by Jackie Gottlieb