12/01/2024

NCDA Awards x Strategic Plan: More than One Empowered Professional

In 2024, NCDA shared its updated strategic plan. One of the three main areas of focus over the next three years will be on Career Empowerment. some of the goals involving Career Empowerment include providing leadership development opportunities, support evidence-based competency, and promoting publications. One way Career Empowerment is exemplified is through the annual NCDA member awards.

Career Empowerment involves having the confidence to pursue career goals as well as the support and tools to get us there (Thomas, 2012). As career development professionals, we serve our students and clients that way. We work to empower them on a daily basis, by utilizing our toolbox and maintaining our competencies. Within NCDA, members also provide that support system to each other. In this article, a past NCDA award winner will be highlighted because she exemplifies what it means to empower on the day to day.

Merit Award - Contributing to the Field and to Future Practitioners

Diandra Prescod, was the 2023-2024 Merit Award winner. Dr. Prescod is an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of Counselor Education at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Prescod’s research focuses on effective career development interventions for STEM undergraduate students and underrepresented students in higher education. She has over 10 years of counseling experience, over 80 academic presentations, numerous publications in academic journals, and $3M in external funding.

Dr. Prescod also served as the NCDA Trustee for the Higher Education Constituency for the 2020 - 2023 term. During her term as Trustee, she created the Career Teaching Academy where practitioners who teach undergraduate career courses can come together to support and empower one another. By sharing their ideas and discussing challenges related to their curriculum, this group was able to learn from one another while at the 2022 NCDA Career Development Conference. They walked away empowered to continue their work in their own unique settings, which in turn empowers students pursuing their careers.

Dr. Prescod also served as a mentor for the Leadership Academy. On a personal level, she mentored and supported me with my Leadership Academy project from 2023 - 2024. She provided me the confidence to take my project beyond my original limitations and to really make it my own. She gave me the support that made me want to continue to make NCDA my professional home. Now, as the Awards Committee Co-Chair, I would like to pass that empowerment on and support NCDA members to nominate themselves or someone else deserving of an award. Watching Dr. Prescod receive her award during the 2024 Global Conference was nothing short of empowering, which is an amazing feeling any member can experience.

Empower Others and Nominate Now!

NCDA and the Awards Committee invite members to submit a nomination for a 2025 award. Nominations are due January 31, 2025 at midnight EST. Do note that all NCDA Awards are open to every member. Please start the process early as the nomination form, two references, and supporting documents are all due at the same time, in one submission. Although self-nomination is possible, please keep in mind that every nomination packet requires a nominator and two references. If you self-nominate, you have one less person speaking on your behalf. To ease the nomination process, we invite you to review our Sample Packets for Individual and Group Nominations.

Please note that all nominators and nominees for the following awards are required to be NCDA members except for the Legislative Award (local, state, and national legislators are eligible nominees for this award):

• Diversity Initiative
• Eminent Career (requires a separate nomination process)
• Exemplary Career Center (2 Awards): (1) Education, Government & Business; (2) Non-
• Profit or Community Organizations
• Graduate Student Research
• International Practitioner of the Year
• Legislative
• Merit
• NCDA Fellow
• Outstanding Career Practitioner
• Service to International Students

Questions may be addressed to the Award Committee Co-Chair, Delasia Rice, delasiarice342@gmail.com.

Supporting your professional home, the NCDA strategic plan, and your fellow members is empowering for everyone in our field.

References

Thomas, S. (2012). Career empowerment: connecting with others who can inspire you, teach you something new, or help promote your ideas. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2012—North America, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

Delasia Rice, CCSP, is currently the Graduate School Specialist and Career Counselor at Fordham University’s Career Center for Cura Personalis. Through this role she supports Graduate Students in their career journey, works with students in the process of applying for graduate school, and manages the graduate internship program for the office. Delasia serves as the Co-Chair for the Awards Committee as well as serves on the Membership Committee, Graduate Student Committee, and member of the Higher Education Constituency Advisory Board. She can be reached at drice13@fordham.edu