Wow!  The whirlwind of  ACPA, Osh Kosh, NASPA and regional placements is over!  Many of you connected with employers at this year’s placement exchanges.  You may be hoping that your next email notification or cell phone ring is the dream employer calling you with an on-campus interview offer.

What happens between the conferences and the call?  You’ll have some hours of waiting and second-guessing your interview responses.  Instead, you may want to try some of the strategies below.    Second-guessing only helps if you learn from it, otherwise it becomes a rocking chair. (It gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you anywhere).

Try these:

1)   You will want to distill down which schools you ‘connected’ with during socials and the interviews.  Was there a table of interviewers that immediatelymade you comfortable?  Did you seem to connect with the themes of their questions?  Was there  a school that asked a question that you struggled with?  Why?  Were you invited and did you attend the school’s socials?  Did you feel like you were socializing with long-lost colleagues at the event?  Is there a particular mission or vision of a school or department that really spoke to you?

Contemplating some of these questions will help you preliminarily identify institutions that may be a “fit.”  Fit becomes important because you will want to work somewhere you feel like you will learn and grow from the school and people around you.

2)  Attending placements with a pre-determined “dream” school or position in mind is natural.  I know I did.  I went in thinking, I don’t know what I’ll do if I don’t get X position at Y school.  Instead, I ended up connecting with an entirely different school and state – this is where I ended up working.

You want to have an open mind about the schools and positions you interviewed for during your time at the conference.  Even if you really wanted an orientation position, but you connected with a school with a RD position – you may want to give that serious consideration.

When you get your foot in the door at a school – you connect with is going to give you excellent experience, the opportunity to gain skills in other areas as well the ability to connect with other opportunities at the school that may be an orientation position or a step-up in housing in a few years.

3)  If a school calls you to offer an on campus interview, but you have absolutely no desire to work there.  You will want to consider points one and two above.

Remember, your time and the schools’ are very valuable.  If you do not think you would want to live or work there – be honest.  Thank them for their consideration, but right now you are considering other opportunities.

You may think because you are not be getting any other interview offers you should jump at the chance for an on-campus.  One of the hardest things to do is work at a school you do not connect with in a place where you do not want to live.  This is hard on you, as well as on the school and your colleagues.  You will want to factor this into your consideration.

If you accept the on campus offer, and then decide at the last minute that you do not want to go – you will need to do more than send an email to the search coordinator.  You may want to call the person you were working with to make your interview arrangements.  Thank them for all their time and consideration, and talk with them about your decision.  You and the employer will be happy that you did.   You both saved valuable time and resources.

4)  While it is important to follow up on your application, you should give schools some time to get back home, get their search committees together, review all the applicants they interviewed, do follow-up phone interviews… -basically, it will take time.  More time than you think it should – especially when you are on the other side waiting for the phone calls and emails to start rolling in.

Sometimes private schools can move faster in their search process than a state school.  Private schools do not have state guidelines mandating search committee processes and procedures.  They may be offering on-campus interviews more quickly, than their state counterparts.

It’s okay to drop an email to the people you met at the conference to let your interviewers  know you are still interested –  just make sure you are not overdoing it.  Before hitting ‘send’ on that 12th follow-up email, you may want get some advice from a colleague or mentor.

5)  Remember your job and/or grad school.  Communicate with your supervisors and/or professors if you are having to head out of town on an on-campus interview during work or class.  Reveal as much as you feel comfortable.

Enjoy the process!  Stay positive and work with mentors and friends as you experience the adventure!  You are writing a new chapter in your life – enjoy the moment.

Hollie Chessman is the Associate Director of Distributed Campus Projects at George Mason University.  She is a PhD in education student whose research interests include student affairs professionals, well-being and work life balance.

Thanks to everyone who participated in our #SAchat focused on Getting Involved with Professional Organizations. This week’s topic produced over 450 tweets from several student affairs professionals, graduate students and undergraduates interested or working in the Student Affairs field!

View transcript as a Google doc.

What are some other topics you would like to see us cover? Please let us know your ideas and feedback to keep #sachat growing strong. Until next week, (if you haven’t already done so) please make sure to LIKE our Facebook Page. Thanks for your continued support!

The Multiracial Network (MRN) is a group of student affairs professionals organized within ACPA’s Commission for Multicultural Affairs. MRN’s goals include increasing the discourse on multiracial issues in higher education and providing resources to practitioners who are invested in multiracial student support. This year, to celebrate our network’s 10th anniversary at ACPA, we assembled a list of ten ways to support multiracial students. These are by no means comprehensive, but we felt that this would be a good starting point for practitioners who seek to provide support to a population whose racial identity is both varied and oftentimes complex.

1) When designing surveys that require demographic data, allow respondents to “Check all that apply”  and include a “bi/multiracial” or “mixed” option (or explain why you cannot).

2) Ensure that multiracial students feel that they have a space that they fit in on campus, whether that is a student organization or location.

3) When engaging in racial social justice work, make sure to include spaces for   conversations about multiracial people.

4) Build your multicultural competence in the field of multiracial identity development.  Understanding and embracing the complexities of how environments affect racial identity development for multiracial college students is key to identifying ways in which to support multiracial students at your institution.

5) Be mindful about language and your own biases.  It is common to use monoracial language and/or even the term “students of color” when speaking about students who identity with one or more marginalized and/or underrepresented racial identities.

6) It’s all about relationships! Bottom line, work to build relationships with students across multiple social identities that can foster a supportive environment where students see you as an advocate around a plethora of matters.

7) Understand that multiracial students can racially identify in different ways based on their experiences and situations. It is important that we do not make assumptions based on how a student looks or put them in positions where they may feel obligated to represent a specific racial identity.

8) Explore your own background as well as resources, writing, scholarship dealing with multiracial experiences, histories of people of color and issues of social, economic and racial justice.

9) Advocate for Multiracial students in your higher education institution and educational policies. Give them a voice!

10) Stay connected to national mixed race/multiracial resources like MRN and the National Association of Mixed Student Organizations (NAMSO) to be informed about ongoing multiracial student needs.

I’m a conference hoarder. I love the experience of interacting with like-minded colleagues, learning new best practices, and having social networking opportunities with leaders in the field. That being said, I’ve been to some great and not so great conferences in my short time as a #SAPr0, and #LEI12 is pretty much top dog from my perspective.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I begged my boss to let me attend the conference. It was right at the end of the semester when things get crazy around the office, and although the premise of the “Leadership Educators Institute” seemed pretty straight forward, I wasn’t sure if I was bumbling into a mostly grad-student conference, or a mostly mid-level scenario. Whatever my initial hesitations were, they were complete unfounded.

Arriving at OSU, and their ABSOLUTELY amazing student union, revealed a coalescence of veteran SAPros, new professionals and graduate students that made for the perfect storm of colleague engagement and enlightenment. I found myself thrown into a conference where I knew nobody attending, but left it having a solid crew of folks I felt truly and authentically connected with, both professionally and socially. Hearing from some of my Student Affairs crushes, Dr. Susan Komives, Dr. John Dugan, and Dr. Julie Owens (to name just a few), kicked off a conference that would reveal innumerable new routes for Leadership Programs and development strategies. Networking with those folks we all see in #SAChat, but perhaps have never had the pleasure of physically colliding with was icing on the cake.

So what were some of the key take-aways for me from this bi-annual shindig we call LEI? Well, theres a ton, but for the sake of readership, here’s just a few stand-out ones from the perspective of “this guy”:

• When NASPA, ACPA and NCLP join forces, even for just a glimmer of a second, amazing learning outcomes are achieved.
• Dr. Corey Seemiller’s work at the University of Arizona could single-handedly reshape how institutions look at learning outcomes, their association with real-world skill development, and the broader application of those outcomes to a myriad of curricular, co-curricular, and purely social engagement opportunities.
• The Social Change Model isn’t the only player in the game, but it sure does team up well with almost all of our campuses when it’s up at bat.
• In the tweeted words of Chris Conzen “Social Justice – not just making sure everyone has shoes, but that everyone has shoes that fit” = GENIUS!*
• We aren’t using assessment tools to their full extent the majority of the time, and it’s important for us to (and this isn’t meant to sound silly) assess our assessment strategies and how we are applying the derived tangible results of our work.
• Dr. Susan Komives is indeed as amazing as folks have said she is.
• What James MacGregor Burns said decades ago still applies “Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.” So it’s our job to continue that search for understanding so that we can distill out for our students, a method, objectives and ideal outcomes for the work we are doing with and for them.
• Academic multi-linguistic skills are key to crossing the bridges with our colleagues on the academic side, as well as many of our colleagues on the student affairs side.
• We’ve all got our work cut out for us, but I couldn’t be more excited to know that there are so many of us out there doing the good work that’s needed!

All in all, LEI12 blew my mind, and rekindled some of the fires that drove me into this field in the first place. Like we say, leadership isn’t a position, it’s a journey and a process, and much like those dwarves and a hobbit bumbling through a world of mystery and intrigue, I’m excited to venture on with you on this adventure.

*Editor’s note: shout out to Vernon Wall who uses the shoes that fit reference in his “10 Myths of Social Justice” talk.

Benjamin Lamb is the Assistant Director for Student Involvement at Williams College.

Thanks to everyone who participated in our #SAchat focused on Serving Undocumented Students in partnership with ACPA Commission of Social Justice Educators. This week’s topic produced 463 tweets from 64 student affairs professionals, graduate students and undergraduates interested or working in the Student Affairs field!

Full Transcript

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What are some other topics you would like to see us cover? Please let us know your ideas and feedback to keep #sachat growing strong. Until next week, (if you haven’t already done so) please make sure to LIKE our Facebook Page. Thanks for your continued support!

The wonderful folks at the Student Affairs Collaborative have agreed to collaborate with some of the folks from the American College Personnel Association’s (ACPA) Commission for Social Justice Educators (CSJE) Directorate this week!

The #sachat on Thursday, December 6 will feature social justice education topics.  The CSJE folks are hoping to develop a twitter chat around social justice education, but want the community to drive that initiative.  We look forward to seeing you for the chat on Thursday and in the future.

To gear up for this week’s social justice chat, three of the CSJE Directorate Body members contributed a short post on what they believe about social justice education.  Inspiration came from This I Believe.

Kayla Nuss (@KaylaJNuss):

“Don’t go past the railroad tracks,” said one of my coworkers. “Oh yeah, I saw a property over there and I was afraid to get out of my car. That’s a really BAD part of town,” responded the other. As I sat listening to my colleagues discuss where they’d looked at homes for sale, I felt it boil up inside me. It was something akin to fury- hot and angry- rising into my throat. I clenched my hands over my keyboard and my nails made marks into my palms. ‘What should I do?” I thought, “I barely know these people. We just started working together What if I ruin the relationship that we’ve just begun building?” As they went on and on about the ‘good parts’ and the ‘bad parts’ of our suburban, mostly white, college town, I just couldn’t stay silent any longer.

“Hey, could you two please come into my office? I need to speak to you both,” I said, my voice trembling and cracking. “I’m worried about the words you’re choosing to use to describe parts of town. Things like ‘good’ or ‘bad’ are pretty loaded terms. Could you tell me why you chose those?” My colleagues stared back at me blankly. I wasn’t sure if it was surprise, horror, embarrassment, or something else on their faces. One finally said, “I guess I never thought about why I’d chosen those words. I just looked around at the houses and cars around some of those neighborhoods and they look run down and old.” I explained that it sounded like they were making huge assumptions about groups of people based on where they lived. I explained that they never knew which one of the students we served lived in the very neighborhood they were describing.

What I believe is that the students I work with and the people in my community deserve my voice. They deserve it because I am in a position of power and privilege. I never earned this power but, based on what I look like, who my parents are, and where I grew up, I have it. And I need to, no, I HAVE to use it- as anxiety provoking as that can be, it’s my responsibility to muster the courage, and care, to use it. It’s my job and that’s what I believe.

Sarah Glassman (@slglassman):

I see it everywhere, it’s systemic; on billboards and in magazines, images of violence against women – images of patriarchy, power and oppression. I hear it on the radio, in song lyrics and spoken by the DJ. It’s on TV, not just on Lifetime, but primetime. Am I the only one who sees it?

It is big and I feel small.

And then I heard it in the hallway near my office “dude, I totally just raped that exam!” It took me more than a minute to realize what I’d heard. With my office door cluttered with ‘Safe Space’ stickers and information about campus resources, it’s rare that I hear students acting so much like…themselves. I peeked out into the hallway to find who was speaking, a student I know. As their friends left I asked if we could talk. We sat in my office and I said, “what did you mean when you said you ‘raped your exam?’” The student explained that it’s “just something people say” and that he “didn’t mean it like that.” We had a conversation about understanding one’s intent versus their impact; we talked about violence against women. Our culture normalizes violence through phrases like the one he had said moments before; and if he’d said that comment in the presence of just a few others it’s likely that one of them has been sexually assaulted.

It may have seemed like an ordinary weekday to him, he may not reflect on the conversation for months or at all. But I believe it’s important to promote a culture that reflects knowledge and awareness through vocabulary and actions.

It wasn’t a long conversation but it’s a drop in the bucket that wouldn’t be there without me.

The language of our rape culture is bigger than any one individual but all of us have the power to do something. I believe I can interrupt and change it. I believe my simple action, my voice, move us toward a more just world.

Erica Thompson (@EricaKThompson):

I remember sitting on the bus, on my way to school in the seventh grade.  I had become old enough to sit at the back of the bus, where the “cool” kids sat, and really enjoyed that half hour or so every morning.  At the time, blonde jokes were all the rage; being naturally blonde, these always made me uncomfortable.  I considered myself smart and capable, something those jokes never portrayed.  I couldn’t see myself in the (almost always) women who received the brunt of the so-called humor.  There were whole books devoted to the concept that women born blonde were inherently stupid, incapable, ditzy, and promiscuous.  I hated them.  Every single day.

Then it got worse.  The blond jokes turned to cultural offenses that I feel ashamed to even discuss.  My young peers cracked up over indecent descriptions of our fellow humans of Polish and Jewish descent.  There are probably other populations whom were struck down with similar obscenities, but I have repressed which specific groups they were.  What I can recall with distinct shame, sadness, and discomfort is how I felt inside when those jokes were rattled off without a second thought.  My heart broke for the people who were the subject – even though my small town Iowan roots had never met anyone like them.

Even as a young teenager, I could feel at my core the injustices in our world because of race, gender, religion, and even appearances.   Those years ago, I didn’t have the knowledge and information to understand those injustices at a societal and academic level nor the tools to address my peers.  Now I have some knowledge and a few tools to do what is referred to as social justice work.  More than ever, though, I have that feeling – deep down inside – that it is my responsibility to work for justice.  This I believe – without working for justice, I will not find peace in my heart.  And I know more than ever before how much work I have to do, both internally and externally.

What do you believe?  Why do you do social justice work (if you do)?

We look forward to connecting with you.

Follow the CSJE Blog – new posts every Tuesday morning at 8 am CST: http://acpacsje.wordpress.com/

I was not able to attend ACPA this year, and on Tuesday morning I started to feel rather bummed that I was missing out on all the fun. As a Twitter user, I was following the conference to the best of my ability via the #ACPA12 hashtag, but at points it began to feel cumbersome. I didn’t have a good way to keep track of the information I was seeing, I wanted to be able to group tweets that seemed to have similar content, and I wanted a way to keep track of the new voices I saw via the hashtag search. Yes, you can favorite tweets (which I admittedly rarely go back and read), or bookmark articles that are shared (I find delicious rather gross aesthetically), but neither of these options seemed like the right fit.

I first heard about Storify from a faculty member on my campus, Kim Knight. She used it to create a story which combined information from her undergraduate and graduate courses during the Spring 2011 semester. I was then reminded about the service recently by Joe Ginese when he used it to create a story about a recent Nichols College Alternative Spring Break trip to New Orleans. Gathering a few tweets from #ACPA12 seemed like a great way for me to try out the system for the first time. You can read the story here: http://storify.com/julieclarsen/acpa12-round-up

Now, we have talked about Storify before on the The SA Blog, but I wanted to also offer a few pros and cons about the service.

Pros:

• It’s fun. I loved being able to move the tweets around and add photos that related to my various categories. I felt that I was creating a mini “conference experience” for myself by selecting important information from sessions, group ideas, and following new folks.
• You truly can create a story. I liked the ability to group tweets regardless of the time or day they were originally sent. Now, I realize this feature could be questionable in some situations, but in this case, it allowed me to group pieces of information in a way that was meaningful to me. You are also able to add text within the story. I chose to add simple headings, while Kim used longer paragraphs to give context of class assignments.
• You can reply and retweet from the service. If you use your Twitter account as a log in, you can reply directly to folks from the tweets in the story. This will also work for stories that you are reading. An easy and quick way to make connections with someone who may share your interests/functional area.

Cons:

• The search function is a bit clunky, and for an event like ACPA where there are thousands of tweets per day for the hashtag, it was tedious at points. (This is why most of the tweets I gathered are actually from rather limited time frames.)
• I would love more control over the visual representation of the story, and be able to really group tweets according to headings/categories.

Overall, I think it’s a great service that I see myself using again. Enjoy reading my #ACPA12 story!

My first student affairs association conference was the 2006 NASPA held in Washington, D.C. I was graduating from my master’s program that spring, and several of us were heading East to participate in The Placement Exchange.

As graduate students, we had taken the time to figure out many cost saving measures. We flew into the cheaper airport, fit nine of us in a shuttle into downtown, and me and my three closest cohort friends shared a $99/night room in the Days Inn. (No, it was not one of the conference hotels.) The room was “non-smoking” yet we all had a slight stale smoke smell to our interview clothes, and I am still not sure if something of a questionable nature was rolled up in the carpet that sat at the end of the hall all week.

I forgot pajamas, packed uncomfortable shoes, and spent more time agonizing over what sessions I should go to instead of actually attending the sessions. I can honestly say, my conference experiences have only gotten better as I have spent more time in the field. As I started planning my conference season, I thought it would be useful to solicit advice from others in the profession to share with those attending their first conference this year. Thank you to all who shared, I think we have a great collection of wisdom to pass along. If you didn’t get a chance to share your tips, please feel free to add them to the list!

My own advice from the D.C. conference years ago? 1) If you are able to, splurge on a conference hotel. Being in a comfortable space really makes the conference more enjoyable, and being in the midst of all the happenings gives you a chance to make some great connections. 2) Pack snacks and bring a reusable water bottle. 3) Take some time to explore the city and sights around the conference location. It’s a good mental break, and a great way to find good restaurants and unique souvenirs. 4) Everyone around you may be a potential colleague or supervisor. Be kind, be courteous, and don’t get too crazy at the regional receptions.

I wish you all a successful and fulfilling conference season!

Three quick stories, one important point.

Story #1:
Last week, before my soccer match, I watched a little league softball game on the field next to us. Surrounding the field was a collection of parents multitasking between the game, their blackberries, and babysitting their, even younger, offspring. One parent in particular was having a hard time keeping her little one under control. Her kid kept racing up and down the sidelines while mimicking a train. He put his hand in the air, pumped his fist, and as he passed us let out a loud, “Choo Choo!” Then 30 seconds later he’d come steamrolling back. The kid clearly had extra energy and needed to let it out. The parent, and most parents would agree, didn’t try and stop him from running, instead she calming kept looking a few yards ahead to clear away any dangers that might be in his way. The little kid was motivated to run, so instead of trying to stop him, the parent took on the role of laying tracks for him to keep running.

Story #2:
My brother and I were playing Frisbee Golf and he lodged his frisbee square in the middle of a mud pit. I quickly looked around for a large stick and without much thinking took two steps into the mud pit, reached out my arm, and started to retrieve his frisbee for him. With my foot half covered in mud, my brother said, “never get in the way of a motivated individual.”

Story #3:
At this year’s ACPA conference in Philadelphia, the conference organizers hosted a special social media strategy session with several individuals to talk about how they could better leverage social media for the ACPA community. Throughout the session it was clear that someone needed to step up and lead the charge. Looking around the room, there were many capable individuals, but the question was who was the most motivated and ready? Kathy Petras raised her hand and agreed to lead the group. Since then,  she has been a wonderful leader, and had we had enough data to work with, probably could have predicted so because Kathy was already a trending leader in the community. She was a newer associate that recently took on a leadership position in another committee as well as led an ed session for the first time this year. If we were to tally up her actions, we would’ve seen she was a trending leader and was hunting for her next level of growth. In this case, leading the social media adoption committee was a perfect fit for her.

Point:
Every student group/classroom can be broken up into varying levels of engagement. Based on a specific student’s engagement level, they want to be treated in different ways. A fully involved students wants to be treated in a totally different way than a student lurking on the edge of the wall. A student’s engagement level is constantly shifting though, with a hope of always trending towards more involvement. It’s up to the leaders of the community to thus recognize the individual engagement level of each student, and also to recognize how an individual is trending. Find out who the Kathy is of your community that is trending towards being a leader, then lay down tracks for her to continue to be great, because the worst thing a leader can do is get in the way of a motivated train.

From web tools to lunch breaks (or lack thereof), here are the most popular SA Collaborative polls: