NODA Layout (SP 05)


5Spring 2005  •  Volume 12, Number 2

SPRING 2005

Editor’s Perspective
Denise L. Rode

As my staff and I put the finishing touches on this issue of the Journal of College
Orientation and Transition, I have new-found respect for the work my predecessors did
to lay the foundation for this publication.

Very few current members of the National Orientation Directors Association will
remember Volume 1, No. 1 of the NODA Journal, which was published in Fall 1982.
Editor Victor S. Zarzycki of the Philadelphia College of Art introduced the journal as
containing “articles written for the higher education professional who is responsible for
the development, implementation, and assessment of programs directed toward the 
orientation of students to the college/university environment” (p. 1).  

Types of submissions considered at that time were dialogues, poems, and full-length
and “in the field” articles.  A sampling of titles from that journal include “Student
Leaders—Key to Success” and “Perry’s Theory:  A Model for Paraprofessional
Selection and Training”—an indication that even in the early days of the profession,
there was a keen interest in the development of student orientation leaders.

According to Jacobs (1997), “NODA’s journal. . .had a sporadic history with 
varying levels of support for the endeavor.  With a shaky financial structure and a lack of
submissions, it was logical to put. . .publication efforts on hold in 1986” (p. 5).

It was not until 1996 that the Association saw fit to relaunch the Journal under new
leadership and a new title.  Under the able editorship of Bonita C. Jacobs of the
University of North Texas, and a team of respected associate editors with strong 
experience in the field of Orientation, the Journal of College Orientation and Transition
was revitalized and has been continuously published since Fall 1997.  Jacobs wrote at 
the time, “It was obvious that we [NODA] had both the need for scholarship and the
membership capable of producing state-of-the-art professional articles” (p. 5).  

Indeed, the reestablishment of the Journal was “a hallmark of the growth, struggles,
and success of the National Orientation Directors Association” (Jacobs, 1997, p. 5).  Has
the Journal made a difference for NODA and its members?  Most certainly, yes!  With
the guidance of Jacobs and her successor, Michael T. Miller of the University of
Arkansas, the Journal has flourished and consistently has published scholarly work.  
As our Association has matured, so has the Journal in its size, scope, and standards.

As the landscape of orientation programs, transition services, and the first-year
experience movement continues to evolve and expand, so too will the Journal.  As the
incoming editor of this publication, I am committed to building on the solid foundation
laid by my predecessors, with the help of six capable associate editors.



6 The Journal of College Orientation and Transition

Former editor Jacobs described the process of editing a journal as being “like 
nurturing a child.  Those. . .who are parents understand the joys, frustrations, worries,
care, relief, doubt, anxieties, and thrills of watching a personality emerge and a child
become its own being. . .” (p. 5).  And so it is with that same mix of emotions that this
editor begins her course with The Journal of College Orientation and Transition.  I 
invite you, as a NODA member, to be part of the Journal—to read and react, to write
and contribute, to provide your thoughts of future directions for this growing “child.”

References

Jacobs, B. C. (1997). The case for scholarship. The Journal of College Orientation and 
Transistion, 5(1), 5-6.

Zarzycki, V. S. (Ed.) (1982). NODA Journal 1(1).