GLA’s Director of Academic Advising, Norihisa Shimada, won the prestigious world recognition.

GLA’s Director of Academic Advising, Norihisa Shimada, has been selected as a 2022 Outstanding Academic Advising Administrator Certificate of Merit recipient by NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, the world’s oldest and most prestigious authority on academic advising. Throughout the association’s long history, Shimada is the first winner ever as Japanese and as an individual working at a Japanese institution.

https://nacada.ksu.edu/Programs/Awards/Global-Awards/Award-Winners/2022-Global-Award-Winners.aspx

Established in 1983, the NACADA Global Awards Program for Academic Advising honors individuals and institutions significantly impacting academic advising. The Outstanding Academic Advising award has three categories: Primary Advising Role, Faculty Academic Advising, and Advising Administrator, which Shimada won.

Born and raised in Japan, Shimada started his professional career in higher education after he graduated from SUNY Potsdam School of Arts and Sciences. He started academic advising in 2005　as a full-time professional advisor at Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ), one of the global campuses of Temple University, PA, USA. He played an essential role as TUJ’s Director for Academic Advising until November 2019, led their professional advising center, and oversaw the entire campus advising operation to about 1200 undergraduate students for about ten years by collaborating with diverse workforces in Tokyo and Philadelphia. In 2012, Temple University’s Main Campus selected Shimada for the university’s Outstanding Advising Administrator award, the first instance ever for a Japan Campus advisor to receive university-wide recognition.

Shimada joined GLA in December 2019 and has overseen its advising operation since then. In addition to his advising administrator duties, he has served on various university-wide and GLA’s college committees to advocate for students’ success, enhancement of students’ intellectual experiences, and university administrators’ professional development.

Shimada’s full bio is available here.

GLA’s academic advising system by the professionally trained academic advising team is unparalleled within Ritsumeikan and Japan’s higher education. GLA will continue its effort to enrich students’ learning and enhance their academic, career, and personal success.