2020 Annual Conference FAQs
In the absence of the Annual Conference (see FAQ’s below) and General Business Meeting, WACAC is happy to declare May – “I Am WACAC” month. The Conference Committee will celebrate our members throughout the month of May in our bi-weekly e-blasts, email messages and social media. The festivities will conclude with our first ever WACAC Virtual Meeting.
REGISTER now for the event to be held on “I Am WACAC” Day – Thursday, May 28, 2020 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Join President Lauren Cook, Keynote Speaker and newly named NACAC CEO Angel Perez and more – to recap the year, celebrate our members and hear the results of this year’s election.
Learn more about our featured speakers below and stay tuned to your inbox and social media to stay connected to your fellow WACAC colleagues!
Keynote Speaker, Angel Perez, Vice President for Enrollment and Student Success at Trinity College and beginning July 15th NACAC’s newly named CEO
A recognized innovator in admission practices, Pérez transformed Trinity’s enrollment and campus culture by adopting values-based, student-centered strategies, including a test-optional policy and the use of character in the holistic evaluation of applicants. To reduce the financial and administrative burden on the lowest income students, he eliminated the application fee for first-generation students and created a four-year financial aid award system. Pérez also created the Center for Student Success and Career Development, whose mission is to ensure that every student receives the support and guidance necessary to make their journey a success.
Pérez is the author of many articles in mainstream and academic publications, including NACAC’s textbooks and The Journal of College Admission (JCA). In 2009, he was honored with the association’s John B. Muir Award for his JCA article, Struggling Between Two Worlds: How College Affects Identity Construction. Pérez is a frequent speaker at major education conferences in the US and abroad and is interviewed regularly by members of the print and electronic news media.
Pérez holds a B.S. from Skidmore College (NY), an M.A. from Columbia University (NY), a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University (CA), and a Teaching Certification in Higher Education Pedagogy from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University (MA).
NACAC Board of Director, Ffiona Rees, Senior Associate Director, Evaluation and International Admission at UCLA
Ffiona Rees has served in the college admission profession for over 20 years. Her responsibilities include managing the undergraduate international admission and transfer evaluation process. Prior to moving to California and UCLA in 2012, she worked at The George Washington University in Washington, DC for fifteen years.
Ffiona is a Board Director for the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), an organization of nearly 15,000 members dedicated to serving students as they make choices about pursuing postsecondary education. She is also the former President of the International Association for College Admission Counseling, the largest global Association focused on facilitating the interaction among counselors, students and higher education institutions.
Ffiona has two degrees from The George Washington University: a BA in Geography, and an MBA. She lived in Oxford, England for seven years; so you’ll notice she pronounces some words differently. She’s been lucky enough to travel throughout the United States and the world to recruit students. Highlights include riding elephants in Thailand and India, visiting the Great Wall and the Taj Mahal, and having lots of frequent flier miles!
Lastly, no, that’s not a typo – she does in fact spell her name with two F’s.
2020 WACAC Annual Conference
In light of the ongoing pandemic, we are sad to announce that the 2020 WACAC Annual Conference that was to be held at the Long Beach Convention Center, May 27 – 29th, has been cancelled. No doubt you have questions and therefore, we have prepared this FAQ in order to answer many of them.
Has the conference been cancelled? Will it be rescheduled?
Will my registration fees be refunded?
How will I receive my refund?
How can I help WACAC? Can I donate my registration fees?
Due to the volume of registrants, we must refund all fees. However, in light of members asking to help, we have created a link for members to donate their registration fee or any amount to support our mission. As a registered 501(c3), all donations are tax deductible. We sincerely appreciate your interest in supporting WACAC, and our mission to support and advance the work of counseling and enrollment professionals from California and Nevada as they help students realize their full potential.
Do I need to cancel my hotel reservation? Will I receive a refund?
For those participants who booked via the hotel links sent in the registration confirmation and on the WACAC Conference page, you will not need to cancel your reservations. Both the Hyatt Regency Long Beach and Renaissance Long Beach will cancel all booked rooms without charge. Due to limited staff, both properties have requested that you do not contact the hotel directly at this time. You will receive an automatic cancellation email to the address you provided at the time of booking, sometime by mid-April.
If you booked outside of the WACAC hotel links, you will need to cancel on your own.
What about other lodging or travel arrangements?
I received a scholarship to attend the WACAC Conference. Is it valid for next year?
I submitted a session proposal and was confirmed or placed on the waitlist. Can I present it next year?
How will WACAC conduct our annual elections and business meetings?
Will you still award the annual WACAC recognition awards?
At this time, no decision has been made and while there have been some submissions, we always encourage nominations. They can be submitted here.
I have a question that was not answered here.
While we have thought of the many questions you may have, in light of these circumstances, we may have missed something. Therefore, we encourage you to contact the Conference Committee at wacacconference@wacac.org and appreciate your patience as we process refunds over the coming weeks
Phil Moreno, President-Elect
Keith Sanpei, Conference Committee Chairperson