Roane State’s Keeling earns national recognition

Roane State’s Amy Keeling has won a national award from an 11,000-member academic advising organization for doing what she loves: helping students chart their paths.

Keeling, the college’s director of Curriculum, Program Planning and Advising, is the only community college official in the United States to receive the recognition.

She was awarded the Outstanding Advising Administrator Certificate of Merit from the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA), also known as the Global Community for Academic Advising.

“This award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated qualities associated with outstanding academic advising administration,” according to a NACADA news release.

Keeling received her recognition during the association’s annual conference in Atlanta in early October.

She said she was “quite honored to be recognized among academic advising professionals.”

She and her staff of three full-time advisors and several part-time staff have between 900 and 1,100 contacts each month with Roane State students “to help them map out a plan to graduation.”

“I love helping students and seeing them when they achieve their goals, or when the light bulb goes on and a student says ‘That’s the career for me,’” Keeling said.

“We sit down with students and talk about their likes and dislikes,” she said, “and one conversation often isn’t enough. We also encourage them to talk to faculty members.” As part of their work, Keeling and her staff travel to most of Roane State’s nine campuses and work closely with all site directors.

Keeling’s second stint with Roane State has spanned a decade. She said she was nominated for the NACADA award by Laurie Roberson, a colleague who formerly worked at University of Tennessee –Knoxville and is now with Lincoln Memorial University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.