Introducing #SAYR1

September 27th, 2011 | Posted by Brian Gallagher in Announcements | Careers | Collaborative Learning | Creativity | Leadership Training | Professional Organizations | Social Networks | University | Work/Life Balance - (19 Comments)

What started as a question from Kelley McCarthy on Twitter asking if anyone would be interested in participating in her #52in52 project turned into a conversation about a lack of resources for new student affairs professionals. Student affairs graduate students have the support of their cohort, professors in their program, mentors through personal connections and programs like #saGROW, and special initiatives coordinated by professional associations. New professionals, though, are at a key transition point in their life and do not have a centralized support system. Our solution? #SAYR1 (Student Affairs Year One)!

The vision of #SAYR1 is to discuss the key issues facing new professionals in student affairs and provide avenues of support from the last year of graduate school through their third year as a professional. One of the ways we will be doing this is by creating support groups of approximately three individuals who will journey through these first few years together. With the small-sized groups, you will have the benefit of a consistent and tight-knit support system without the nearly impossible task of having to coordinate the schedules of a big group (we’ve all been there!). Groups can communicate in person, through phone calls, e-mails, Google + hangouts, Skype, on Twitter, or however your group decides works best for you! The #SAYR1 Core Team will be providing discussion questions, topics, and resources to get everyone started.

#SAYR1 will provide you with a group of people you can talk to about what’s going on without trying to explain (for the 4,534th time) what it is exactly that you do again. It will give you an avenue to discuss current issues and trends in the field and how they’re impacting your work. With #SAYR1, you will have a network that will support you in trying times, celebrate your successes with you, and continually encourage you to be the best version of you. If this sounds like something you’re interested in, please visit this link and complete the form. You can join a group that’s already been started or start your own. Groups can be by functional area, year, region, or just a pure hodge podge – it’s up to you! Please feel free to contact anyone from the Core Team should you have any questions. We are all excited to get this program started and hope you are too.

#SAYR1 Core Team:

Brian Gallagher (gallagb@gmail.com) Hall Director at Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Karen Schomaker (kschomaker@gmail.com) Coordinator for Community Service at California Lutheran University

Kelley McCarthy (kmccarthy1985@yahoo.com) 2nd Year Graduate Student and Graduate Assistant for Leadership Programs  in the Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement at Nova Southeastern University

Melissa L. Brown (melissabrown47@gmail.com) Residence Hall Director for Moore Hall, University of North Carolina School of the Arts

Tricia Cesarino (tr.cesarino@gmail.com) Program Coordinator for Sorority and Fraternity Affairs at the University of Florida

Tracey Walterbusch (twalterbusch@gmail.com) Residential Life Coordinator at Ohio Wesleyan University

Brian Gallagher is a hall director at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Your Strategic Network

September 19th, 2011 | Posted by Tom Krieglstein in Social Networks - (2 Comments)

Harvard Business Review writers Linda Hill & Kent Lineback recently wrote an article titled “The Three Networks You Need.” Here’s a quick overview of each network:

- Your Operational Network – People you lean on to complete your day-to-day work within your job role.

- Your Developmental Network – People you lean on for emotional support.

- Your Strategic Network – People who work on the outskirts of your profession who dabble in the worlds that surround your own.

The article argues that operational and developmental networks happen naturally, but strategic networks don’t but are equally as important because…

“the forces that drive change in your field will probably come from outside your current world.”

Education is known for its walled gardens, but with shifting times and increasing external pressures, the need for Educators to build up their strategic network is extremely important so they can better be prepared for the outside forces that are driving change in their field. This theme has been echoed at Student Affairs conferences I attend:

We agree H.Ed. fails to use outside expertise. I'd argue further: H.Ed. doesn't repect or value outside expertise. Thoughts? #heresy #sachat
March 29, 2011 4:40 pm via UberSocialReplyRetweetFavorite
@MelRoc7
Melissa Rocco

It’s an honor to have so many Educators include me in their strategic network and respect my opinion and thoughts even though I don’t work day-to-day at an institution. Instead, my time is spent working on identity development, technology, social media, and online engagement with hundreds of institutions and businesses. My view, and world, are different but often very relevant to the shift happening in Education. Some value my view, others refuse to listen.

I consider many within the #SAchat community to be a part of my strategic network because they DO work day-to-day at an institution. I lean on many educators almost daily for advice and suggestions. Some of my best ideas come from people who are totally outside the work I do.

What about you? If you were to map out your strategic network, what people from what worlds would you want to include?

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Is Engagement the Answer or the Question?

May 4th, 2011 | Posted by Nick Simonton in Marketing | Social Networks - (16 Comments)

As Student Affairs (or in my case Student Life) professionals, one of the key metrics by which we measure ourselves is the level of “engagement” with our students – how they engage with our programs, services and campus in general. We’re constantly trying to find ways to involve our students and encourage them to use our services and come to our events – to share knowledge and build community and, well, engage.

We’re constantly asking how we can engage with our students more. In fact, we ask it so routinely that when I hear it, part of me shudders a little.

As I look across the landscape of channels in which we push out to communicate and engage with our students (walk-in appointments, events, individual counseling sessions, workshops, infosessions, posters, TV screens, flyers, postcards, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, Foursquare check-ins, blogs, vlogs, text messages, websites and email – lots and lots of email) I’m often left wondering: in what way are we not engaging with them?

We communicate and engage with them through pretty much every imaginable pathway, yet we still believe we’re not engaging with students and they’re not engaging with us as they should.

This brings up the next question: in what way are we expecting engagement? At what point will we believe students have engaged? Is this possible?

What do you think?

Are we over communicating with our students? Are we asking them to be too engaged? At what point will we feel we have successfully met that engagement threshold or are we truly asking the wrong question?

Nick Simonton manages the marketing and communications for Student Life and the Career Center at the University of Washington.

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Twitter Audit

April 12th, 2011 | Posted by Brian Gallagher in Social Networks - (6 Comments)

I started using Twitter for professional uses in mid September 2010.  I have had a Twitter account since August 2008, but never posted (not once).  Once I was introduced to the #sachat twitter world, I quickly became very interested.  I realized this is a huge gold mine of opportunity for me to use as a networking tool.  Part of this process has been working to ensure that what I put out there is:
a) authentically me
b) professionally appropriate
c) material that empowers others.

To that end, I’m conducting a Twitter Audit.  I’ve used a free service called TweetCloud to ‘generate’ several ‘tweet-clouds.’ I’m going to share four clouds that I’ve generated.
First: The whole shebang: Sept 1, 2010 – March 29, 2011.

Positive: Love, Thanks, Awesome, Student, IUPUI (current institution)
Negative: Blog, Post
I say these two are negative because I feel like they are just advertising myself.  Which is not my intention.  However, the words do speak pretty loudly; I love what I do (on my twitter feed).

Next up: My first two months of using Twitter:

Positives: Balance, Love, Housing, Positive
Negatives: ?
I’m pretty happy with this cloud.

Third cloud: the one from The Placement Exchange (TPE) & the NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education Conference:
(for those of you loyal readers, you’ve seen this image before)

First, you’ll notice this image has a lot more words in it – I ran the cloud to pull more than the top 15 words.  However, I see lots of positive in this image!  Again, I notice the bit about ‘blog’ being the largest word – I know I was ‘self-promoting’ during NASPA just a bit…..
The conference experience for me was great.  Lots of time spent meeting new people, encouraging them, and connecting individuals.  I think my cloud demonstrates this.

So- first the reflective piece about myself.  I wish my biggest words were things like ‘student’ or ‘passion’ (RIP dead kitten ala @irmapelt).  I honestly should not beat myself up about the one word ‘blog.’  Instead, I should say “wow, I’ve used this thing for lots of good!” Which is how I actually feel.  I’m really positive about using Twitter, talking about how I use it, continuing to use it, and encouraging others to engage by using Twitter.  In fact, I was part of a presentation last week for my cohort introducing them to Twitter.  I know at least two people signed up – one of them was even caught live-tweeting the #ACPA11 conference just yesterday!

After writing about 3/4ths of this post, I ran one more cloud.  Two top words:

I think that’s pretty self-explanatory.

Now, the challenge to you: Go use TweetCloud & do your own audit.  See if what you put out there is what you want others to really be seeing! Does it really share who you are?

The famous interview question: “If we were to ask your students about you, what would their top 5-10 words be about you?”

Brian Gallagher is a graduate assistant in Residence Life at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis.

 

Building Our Social Media Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

April 11th, 2011 | Posted by Lisa Endersby in #sachat | Online Tools | Social Networks | Web/Tech - (11 Comments)

I was going to start this blog post on social media in student affairs with a full disclaimer about my admittedly self-perceived lack of technical know-how. After some thinking, reflecting and tweeting, however, I’ve begun to see that it is this seemingly innocent humour and language that may be one of the biggest stumbling blocks to integrating social media into our student affairs programming. Beyond building our technology IQ, perhaps it is time we also invest in nurturing our social media EQ-–identifying and confronting the underlying assumptions surrounding incorporating these tools into our professional practice. One of the many valuable lessons I’ve learnt in my time in student affairs has been the true power of words and language. Slang and other terms used in passing can distance us just as quickly as they can bring us together. In the case of social media, the way we talk about our tweets, Facebook posts or blogging can often do the same.

While facilitating presentations and engaging in discussions around social media at this year’s NASPA conference, one theme that came up rather frequently was the use of social media as a way to build community on campus, across institutions and throughout the student affairs profession. This desire for collaboration and unity is in stark contrast to the effect of several off-hand comments I heard during these discussions. For example, some colleagues I speak to about social media will laugh off their lack of knowledge around Twitter, claiming they’re ‘too old’ or ‘not hip enough’ to engage with this ‘new fangled technology’.

If we want to continue building and sustaining what we claim to be valuable relationships amongst our colleagues and peers, we need to start talking about social media as a piece of the larger community building puzzle. Rather than viewing social media as a separate space for engagement, I choose to view it as an extension of my local student affairs community. This blog post and my Twitter account, for example, do not replace the connections I made face to face at NASPA or even in my office, but they instead help me to sustain those relationships once the conference is over or after I’ve left the office for the day. Social media, to me, is another way to interact and share–it does not take the place of in-person interactions but rather encourages conversations to continue beyond the boundaries of geographic location and time zones.

I am beginning to see the need for a shift in the way we talk about social media from a tool that discourages interaction to a new way of encouraging and fostering connections. I will admit to sometimes being the one who complains about ‘those people who are always on their phones’, especially as an extrovert who craves and enjoys social interaction. However, even those complaints done in jest only serve to further the apparent divide between those who embrace social media and those who seem more reluctant to sign up. As with anything new, the language used to describe and discuss it can often further the fear and hesitation that comes with adopting a new way of doing things. In the case of social media, we often overhear complaints about students and colleagues so wrapped up in their phones that they don’t look up long enough to engage with those around them. These complaints, often voiced as jokes about the ‘digital divide’ between the generations, seem to only push us apart rather than bring us together. If we as student affairs professionals claim community building and engagement as important values, we must begin to reframe how we discuss social media as a tool for fulfilling these goals and examine how the language we use may limit, rather than encourage, connections. The way in which we talk about social media can have a far greater impact on building our technological competency than any online tutorial.

As Thomas Earnest Hulme so eloquently describes:

“Language is by its very nature a communal thing; that is, it expresses never the exact thing but a compromise – that which is common to you, me, and everybody. “

Lisa Endersby is a Student Experience Advisor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT).

 

What makes a good tweet up?

April 5th, 2011 | Posted by Pete Pereira in Social Networks - (1 Comments)

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend my first tweet up ever, a #SAchat SxSW tweet up in Austin held at one of Rudy’s BBQ’s locations. While I didn’t get the opportunity to have lengthy conversations with everyone there, I did have a lot of fun and enjoyed meeting people that I have connected with via Twitter.

While at the tweet up, Ed Cabellon asked me to say a couple of words about my experience. Being the introvert that I am, I reflected on that question more when I went back home and I came up with some variables as to why I thought it was a successful tweet up:

Good People + Good Food + Good Conversations + Good atmosphere = A Good Tweet Up

So there you have it. It’s really simple isn’t it? So, if you are ever try to plan a tweet up, I think those are the variables that you need to consider. The good people variable is easy. Making sure you’re at a place that can provide the other variables is easier said than done. What are some other variables to consider?

Pete Pereira (@PetePereira) is the Coordinator for Campus Activities at Texas State University-San Marcos and he’s always game for a tweet up.

Using Twitter to Market your Department

March 29th, 2011 | Posted by Brian Gallagher in Social Networks - (10 Comments)

I will soon finish my Masters program and I am currently neck deep in the job hunt–looking for Residence Life positions. I went to The Placement Exchange (TPE) and had many wonderful interviews.  However, my job hunt started long before I boarded the plane to Philadelphia.  It began when I first started to research the various schools and positions in which I was interested.

However, everyone does that.

What really set my search apart, and what I want to share, is how I used social media to research each department even more.  After checking out the mission statement, looking at the size and scope of each department, and looking at pictures, I went to Twitter and Facebook and searched the names of key staff, buildings, and the department.  For some institutions, I found nothing (some departments don’t even list the names of their staff members on their websites!)  However, for others, I was able to find a wealth of knowledge about the department, individuals, and students.  These were the schools I learned a lot more about, encouraging me to seek their positions.

One school in particular really struck me. They have a section on their website exclusively devoted to their search for the open position. Great stuff! Then I turned to Twitter. Turns out, most of their professional staff are on Twitter.  I started to follow them and learned a lot about their work and place of employment. Fast forward to TPE, the three people with whom I interviewed were all people I follow on Twitter. I have interacted with them, and I know they have seen my account as well.  The “getting to know you” phase had already taken place. It sure made the “So, tell us about yourself” question a lot easier.

Taking a side step away from my personal story, my current supervisor is looking for two graduate assistants and two professional staff.  During the interviews that he has with various candidates, he says “Hey, if you want to really learn about what we’re all about, follow me on Twitter and read my blog.”  Then, he pays attention to who follows him to gauge their interest. The big point here is that our department is being transparent in who we are and what we offer.  I think you can learn a lot from a website about a department, but seeing the daily tweets and blog postings really allow you to learn that much more.

Back to my personal story–while researching a school in which I was interested, I found a Facebook page for one of their buildings.  This was great. I brought it up in the interview at TPE.  The staff looked at one another and then shared that their strategic goal is to have every building in their residence life program own a Facebook page.

It is possible, as an employer, to use Twitter to market yourself.  It is a great place for candidates to see the day-to-day of who you are. Remember, this may be unpolished content–but, still excellent material!

Brian Gallagher is a graduate assistant in Residence Life at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis.

Student Affairs Pro goes Corporate. Sort of.

March 14th, 2011 | Posted by Kristin Williams in #sachat | Careers | Creativity | Social Networks - (0 Comments)

What?  Is that even possible?

That was my first thought when the newest adventure in my life happened upon me.  Then I realized that yes, I could take and use all of my student affairs skills and knowledge to a new setting.  But did I want to?

I presently work as an internship and professional development coordinator for a business school, and so have many interactions with various industry professionals on a daily basis.  I’ve always felt very at home here in student affairs, and quite frankly, the corporate world seemed …. scary.  I enjoy collegiality, interactions with students, peers, and upper-level administration on a regular basis.  And, there’s something to be said for the perk of wearing jeans and t-shirts to work (ok, I can’t wear jeans in my role, but I used to!).  The flexibility, the students, the fun.  Changing lives, having my life changed.  I mean, that’s why I do this!  I love it.

And then it happened.  On Twitter.  I was referring to a blogger friend of mine’s blog as an example of a great blend of personal/professional one night during an #SAchat when she tweeted back asking if I’d heard of @infinum, an educational software development company in Columbus, Ohio.  I had not, but as I am actively seeking relocation to that area (my family’s there… and after 12 years away, I’ve decided I miss them too much to stay away any longer), I decided to investigate the company’s website and twitter profile.  Mind you, my first reaction was to shudder – corporate world and IT, for me a very scary combination.

Well this company (for whom I am now working) is awesome!  They provide a social advising tool, coupled with a degree planning system that is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.  After reviewing viewable screen shots and reading more about it, I decided to tweet the CEO, and cousin of my blogger friend mentioned above.  We sent a few messages, then began an email conversation.  I was really just trying to learn more about this product/software.

What I learned quelled my fears of the corporate world.  This company (and I presume many others working with higher education institutions) really cared about students.  Sure, they want to turn a profit too, that’s their business, but they want to create a system that will enhance the student/advisor experience.  As our conversations continued over the next week or so, my prior advising experience and recent University upgrades from legacy systems came up.  I’m a huge proponent of driving the system and not letting the system drive you – that is, I’ve seen times where policies change (sometimes not favoring the student) because of system limitations.  I conveyed that to the team and they appreciated my honesty.  In fact, they were looking for someone to help “speak the language” of advisors as they continued to develop the system.

Long and short of it, I agreed to step in as a consultant.  Shared the news with my boss here at the University and he was elated – another perk of student affairs!  To date I’ve worked with our clients (other institutions) and provided training sessions and product demos.  This corporate thing that I was so afraid of is not that bad!  I’ve learned a thing or two about believing in what you do.  I mean, I do tell my students to do what they love… you know the adage… and they’ll never work a day in their life.  That’s what student affairs is for me.

I’m not looking for a way out and I’ll be keeping my current job too, but this new role is a stepping stone to home in Columbus.  And to some extent I hope the work becomes so busy that I can transition full-time with the new company and move “home.”  Especially since I’ve found a place where I can still employ my student affairs background.

This blog post is not about promoting the product or service offered by the company for which I am not working.  Rather, it’s more of a reflection of my feelings – anxiety, excitement, fear, confusion, relief – when going through the process of deciding whether or not to take on this new adventure.  On the one hand, student affairs is all that I’ve known.  But on the other, this meshing of skill and opportunity was too good to pass up!  So off I go to corporate America, sort of.

Have you ever thought of moving away from student affairs?  What were your fears?

Kristin Williams is the Business Experiences Manager, College of Business Administration, Kent State University

Resiliency in Student Affairs

February 1st, 2011 | Posted by Debra Sanborn in #sachat | Social Networks - (4 Comments)

Any individual who has dedicated more than a couple of years to a career in Student Affairs understands the power of resiliency. I was reminded of this during our weekly discussion with the Student Affairs Collaborative on the topic of “Duties as Assigned”.

In student affairs, evening and weekend duty are par for the course. Emergency calls and student crises in the middle of the night are routine. In my own career, I have had my position eliminated during financial challenges and once endured seven different supervisors over a five-year span. I have mourned the loss of students, including one killed on campus by a drunk driver (another student). And of course, I have juggled work commitments while spending time away from my family.

Dr. John Grohol writes about 5 Steps to Building Resiliency. He provides great tips for growing your own reservoir of resilience.

  1. Resiliency Means Accepting that All Things are Temporary
  2. Self-Aware People are Resilient People
  3. (Some) Adversity Helps You
  4. Our Social Relationships Bolster Us
  5. Goal Setting and Understanding Your Problems is Important

Student affairs professionals must be resilient to grow, advance and succeed in this field. This same resilience allows us to serve our students when they may be struggling. As you examine your strengths in preparation for an evaluation or interview, be certain to include the resiliency traits that you bring to the table.

Happiness is not the absence of problems but the ability to deal with them. ~H. Jackson Brown


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Content Rules (Social Media Book Review)

January 5th, 2011 | Posted by Scott Helfrich in Books | Marketing | Online Tools | Social Networks - (10 Comments)

As a serial stalker of the “new books” section of my local library, I came across a newly published (2011) gem titled Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) that Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business by Ann Handley (@MarketingProfs) and C. C. Chapman (@cc_chapman). Although the book is primarily written for entrepeneurs, the 282 page book would definitely benefit student affairs professionals and student leaders alike who are looking to develop and market educational and social program initiatives on campus.

The book is divided into four sections with 29 chapters:

  • Part One: The Content Rules – This part educates on how good online content appeals to would-be constituents as well as how to give potential readers something they find value in and keep them returning.
  • Part Two: The How-To Section – This section of the book illustrates specifics on how to develop blogs, webinars, Ebooks, videos, Podcasts, and other informational and media vehicles online.
  • Part Three: Content That Converts: Success Stories (With Ideas You Can Steal!) – There are 10 case studies of various companies that have been extremely successful at developing remarkable content for their customers, which include Hubspot, Kodak, and Boeing just to name a few.
  • Part Four: This Isn’t Goodbye – The final section (and chapter) of the book lists a 12-point checklist for how to develop remarkable content.

As the online, content marketing paradigm seems to be the hottest business model for success, I highly recommend this book to you as there are many lessons that you can utilize for success on your campus. I’ve found it to be an excellence resource that is not overly technical and is actually a fun read.

Scott M. Helfrich (@studentlifeguru) is the director of upper campus housing at California University of Pennsylvania, co-owner of Student Life Consultants, and the creator of http://www.studentlifeguru.com.

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