{"id":13234,"date":"2015-09-25T15:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T19:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=13234"},"modified":"2016-12-20T12:23:51","modified_gmt":"2016-12-20T17:23:51","slug":"nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/","title":{"rendered":"NSC Senior Adviser Receives Well-Deserved Promotion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RebeccaShe remembers it like it was yesterday. It was 2009, her first day at work, and she was six months pregnant. That day,\u00a0Rebecca Morales <\/a>was charged with the mammoth task of transforming an abandoned darkroom and photo lab into a student advising center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I arrived, the ceiling and walls were black, the floor was gray concrete,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThere were piles of old dorm furniture and broken cabinets strewn all over the room, and my office was a storage closet with an old oversized desk, a phone and an unplugged computer.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she was far from daunted. Armed with a single undergraduate catalog and the determination to succeed, Morales immediately got to work, creating the Nicholson Academic Student Services Center<\/a> (NASSC), what is now a one-stop resource for undergraduate and graduate students.<\/p>\n

Morales was recently promoted to Assistant Director \u2013 \u00a0Academic Advising Services, a testament of her hard work over the years to build the NASSC from bare bones to what it is today. Earlier this year, she received a national Outstanding Advising Award <\/a>from the National Academic Advising Association <\/a>(NACADA) for her work at NSC. But the journey to here was not without its challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn my very first day, I opened the doors and began advising,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cI knew that I was going out on maternity leave in three months, so I had to work hard to get the center up and running to a more professional standard. I worked tirelessly to create everything, from forms, processes, policies, training manuals and even overseeing contractors as they installed carpet, painted walls and pondered whether or not the old ventilation system and eye wash station that was used in the darkroom could be removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The advising center has grown over the years to be an essential resource for undergraduate and graduate students.\u00a0The space has been completely revamped, and now hosts a conference room, and work spaces for graduate students and teaching assistants. Morales now supervises trains, manages, mentors a growing team of NASSC employees, including two coordinators of academic advising services, an admission specialist, peer mentors and other assigned employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI joke that in 2009, I gave birth to an advising center and a 6-pound baby boy,\u201d says Morales who gave birth to her first son in July 2009. \u201cAnd, it\u2019s amazing to see how both my son, who is also now 6\u00a0years old, and the advising center have grown.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Morales says she is honored to have received the promotion to assistant director, and looking forward to working toward her long and short-term goals that include increasing student enrollment, success and retention, increasing student participation in study abroad and undergraduate research and creating a student\/alumni tracking system.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What do you like the most about your job?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I like helping students realize and meet their academic and professional goals. I love that I get to work with students from their first year to their graduating semester.\u00a0 I get to share in their failures and successes.\u00a0 We have wonderfully, connected students in the Nicholson School, who love interacting with the advising staff each day.\u00a0 Each day is different and I know that there is a solution to every problem.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. How do you plan to cope with the added responsibilities of the post? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I have a great advising team and we are all cross-trained to support one another in all aspects of our jobs.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got their backs and they have mine.\u00a0 Any new initiatives that come our way are easily tackled, because we are a team.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. What motivates you?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        I am motivated when others succeed.\u00a0 Especially those who didn\u2019t think they could.\u00a0 When they succeed and report back that they did something that they didn\u2019t think they could; that is the best reward.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. What is the best advice you have ever received?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Let your children (and students) lose sometimes.\u00a0 They can\u2019t always win. They can\u2019t always be the best.\u00a0 The most valuable lessons in life are learned when we stumble, get back up and learn from our mistakes.\u00a0 Learning how to lose will teach you how to succeed.<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. How do you unwind? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            I love to spend time with my husband, children (Reignen, 6 and Kingston 3) and new puppy, Bella. We like to go to the beach and spend time outdoors. I am addicted to coffee and have a Keurig at home and in my office.\u00a0 I drink coffee several times a day to ease stress.\u00a0 At night, I enjoy homemade sangria while watching reality TV.\u00a0 My favorite show is \u201cThe Amazing Race.\u201d \u00a0Someday, I would love to run the race with my oldest son, Reignen. He has a great sense of direction (while I\u2019m directionally challenged) and I think we would make a great team!<\/p>\n

            To read original story click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            She remembers it like it was yesterday. It was 2009, her first day at work, and she was six months pregnant. That day,\u00a0Rebecca Morales was charged with the mammoth task of transforming an abandoned darkroom and photo lab into a student advising center. \u201cWhen I arrived, the ceiling and walls were black, the floor was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":13356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,38,39,13,37,25],"tags":[2392,2430,2476,2479,2832,3457,3593,3723],"class_list":["post-13234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awards","category-breaking-news","category-faculty-news","category-news","category-communication","category-staff-news","tag-national-academic-advising-association","tag-national-outstanding-advising-award","tag-nicholson-academic-student-services-center","tag-nicholson-school-of-communication","tag-rebecca-morales","tag-ucf","tag-ucf-nicholson-school-of-communication","tag-university-of-central-florida"],"yoast_head":"\nNSC Senior Adviser Receives Well-Deserved Promotion - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NSC Senior Adviser Receives Well-Deserved Promotion - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"She remembers it like it was yesterday. It was 2009, her first day at work, and she was six months pregnant. That day,\u00a0Rebecca Morales was charged with the mammoth task of transforming an abandoned darkroom and photo lab into a student advising center. \u201cWhen I arrived, the ceiling and walls were black, the floor was […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-25T19:00:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-20T17:23:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/09\/Rebecca-Morales-Pic.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"226\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"377\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cosmarketing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cosmarketing\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cosmarketing\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\"},\"headline\":\"NSC Senior Adviser Receives Well-Deserved Promotion\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-25T19:00:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-20T17:23:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":803,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/Rebecca-Morales-Pic.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"National Academic Advising Association\",\"national Outstanding Advising Award\",\"Nicholson Academic Student Services Center\",\"Nicholson School of Communication\",\"Rebecca Morales\",\"UCF\",\"ucf nicholson school of communication\",\"University of Central Florida\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Awards\",\"COS News\",\"Faculty News\",\"News\",\"Nicholson School of Communication and Media\",\"Staff News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\\\/\",\"name\":\"NSC Senior Adviser Receives Well-Deserved Promotion - College of Sciences News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/Rebecca-Morales-Pic.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-25T19:00:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-20T17:23:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/Rebecca-Morales-Pic.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/Rebecca-Morales-Pic.jpg\",\"width\":226,\"height\":377,\"caption\":\"A professional woman with dark hair wearing a blue necklace and a dark blazer over a white top, smiling outdoors.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Sciences News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\",\"name\":\"cosmarketing\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cosmarketing\"},\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NSC Senior Adviser Receives Well-Deserved Promotion - College of Sciences News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NSC Senior Adviser Receives Well-Deserved Promotion - College of Sciences News","og_description":"She remembers it like it was yesterday. It was 2009, her first day at work, and she was six months pregnant. That day,\u00a0Rebecca Morales was charged with the mammoth task of transforming an abandoned darkroom and photo lab into a student advising center. \u201cWhen I arrived, the ceiling and walls were black, the floor was […]","og_url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/","og_site_name":"College of Sciences News","article_published_time":"2015-09-25T19:00:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-12-20T17:23:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":226,"height":377,"url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/09\/Rebecca-Morales-Pic.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cosmarketing","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cosmarketing","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/"},"author":{"name":"cosmarketing","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d"},"headline":"NSC Senior Adviser Receives Well-Deserved Promotion","datePublished":"2015-09-25T19:00:19+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-20T17:23:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/"},"wordCount":803,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/09\/Rebecca-Morales-Pic.jpg","keywords":["National Academic Advising Association","national Outstanding Advising Award","Nicholson Academic Student Services Center","Nicholson School of Communication","Rebecca Morales","UCF","ucf nicholson school of communication","University of Central Florida"],"articleSection":["Awards","COS News","Faculty News","News","Nicholson School of Communication and Media","Staff News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/","name":"NSC Senior Adviser Receives Well-Deserved Promotion - College of Sciences News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/09\/Rebecca-Morales-Pic.jpg","datePublished":"2015-09-25T19:00:19+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-20T17:23:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/nsc-senior-adviser-receives-well-deserved-promotion\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/09\/Rebecca-Morales-Pic.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/09\/Rebecca-Morales-Pic.jpg","width":226,"height":377,"caption":"A professional woman with dark hair wearing a blue necklace and a dark blazer over a white top, smiling outdoors."},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"College of Sciences News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d","name":"cosmarketing","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cosmarketing"},"url":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}