Your Best Year Yet

August 17th, 2011 | Posted by Matt Pistilli in #sachat | Marketing - (0 Comments)

A project I was assigned recently involved analyzing a set of grant applications. The proposals were centered on using technology to enhance student success. My job was to determine commonalities and missing pieces across the proposals. From a list of 20 or so findings, here are the four takeaways I believe are pertinent to our work:

  1. Even in a fairly well-defined grant program, definitions for common terms differed greatly across the 81 proposals.
  2. Many authors used buzz words in their application narratives, but failed to back up those words or concepts with knowledge or examples that showed they knew anything about the terms.
  3. Risks and obstacles associated with the implementation of the project almost always dealt with resistance to change in other areas of campus.
  4. Student affairs units were woefully absent among the collaborators in proposed initiatives.

In an era of fiscal responsibility and budget cuts, relevance matters. In era of accountability, meaningfulness is important. In an era of continued alteration, adaptation is key. In an era of “do more with less” (whether you ascribe to that theory or not), collaboration is necessary.  So, I ask you to consider the following as you plan for the upcoming academic year:

  1. Does everyone on campus understand what you do? If not, why not, and how will you address that this year?
  2. Do you use buzz words so you can be a part of the conversation, or are you driving the conversation because you and your area are the buzz of campus?
  3. How are you addressing change head-on and helping others realize its usefulness and necessity?
  4. Are you collaborating with non-student affairs offices to learn about their work and efforts, enhance their programs, and impact your campus’ students? If not, why not, and who’s at the top of your list for contacting?

It’s a new year, with new possibilities and new opportunities. How are you going to make this the best year yet? Not ever, because that implies you’ve no way to improve from now. Just yet… better than years past, setting a solid foundation for the years to come.

Matt Pistilli is a research associate in Information Technology at Purdue University. Connect with him on twitter.

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Living in the Backchannel: Day 2 of LEI 2010

January 3rd, 2011 | Posted by Joe Ginese in #sachat - (0 Comments)

In case you missed part one of this short series, you can check it out here: Living in the Backchannel: Pre-conference and Day 1.

Day 1: 152 total #LEI10 tweets.
Day 2: 422 total #LEI10 tweets.

With a difference of 270 tweets between the two days, an argument could be made two ways; 1) more people started tweeting (true) or 2) those who were already tweeting, tweeted even more (also true). It was a combination of both of these scenarios that led to the explosion of the Twitter activity on the second day of the Leadership Educators Institute (LEI) 2010. I left the first post of this of this series with a few cliffhangers of the explosion of the backchannel, what happened when my phone ran out of battery, and an epic tweet-up. Allow me first to paint the picture of what happens when a backchannel explodes with a metaphor of sorts.

Imagine you have an idea, that idea is akin to a 40-watt bulb. It lights up your desk, and perhaps your office. Others locally recognize the work you are doing and often will sit by your desk to grab some of the light from your 40-watt idea. There are literally thousands of these 40-watt ideas in higher education let alone floating around a leadership conference.  Now you might get a glimpse of what it was like to be a contributing participant of LEI – a place where my 40-watt idea joined other 15-, 25-, 50-, and 100- watt ideas and together they lit up the University of South Florida Student Union. Here these ideas led to sharing,  contributing, and brightening the light from one another to enhance, challenge, and redistribute the glow to others.

This is fantastic! However, in this scenario, only those in the room can see the light and benefit from it. This is hardly a light that you can bottle up and bring home with you. (I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t get by customs if you tried.)

But what has 2010 brought to LEI? Twitter! Twitter blew the roof off of the USF Student Union and concentrated the light of from the ideas into a beam in the sky like the Bat-signal! Only instead of Batman’s trademark symbol it was “#LEI10” that served as a beacon to follow towards resources and dialogue about leadership practices.

Now practitioners from all over could look to the sky, err Twitter, and see these illuminating ideas. No longer was the light only cast on those in the room, it was cast to the world! Or well, those paying attention to their Twitter feeds but I digress…back to the point.

The backchannel had exploded and while over 400 tweets occurred on the second day of the conference, so many more were watching. I know this because during a session where we were asked to stand up and introduce ourselves, I was greeted by unmet colleagues who responded with, “So it’s you who has been tweeting all this time.” A combination of embarrassment and achievement rose within me as my cheeks flushed. The point wasn’t that they knew who I was or recognized my name which doubles as my Twitter handle, the point was and still is as @CindyKane has so eloquently put it, they were lurking and they were learning. Perhaps at their next conference they will take the jump and contribute to the conversation.

In my next post I will illustrate how my connection to Twitter was suspended for one session due to a dead phone battery shifted the way I now think about my conference experience. Stay tuned!

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Reflect: Not something only a mirror can do.

August 19th, 2010 | Posted by Joe Ginese in #sachat | Orientation - (0 Comments)

Do you practice reflection? The art of stopping and smelling the roses? The action of not doing anything else in a moment but living in that moment?

When’s the last time you walked outside in the midst of Orientation/Welcome Week and just observed the madness behind the method of starting up the school year?

Watching that Mother try to sneak the tissue our of her purse to wipe away a tear before her student sees it.

The Dad eying the other males in the building up and down as he puts the massive pink hamper and pink comforter on his daughter’s bed.

The siblings holding a folder that announces who they belong to, shouting out, “Hurry up! This thing says you have to meet the President in 5 minutes at the Auditorium!”

The Orientation Leaders smiling and running around on minimal hours of sleep and not wanting it any other way.

The Residence Life staff handing out keys, answering questions, and responding to roommate conflicts exactly 40 minutes into the operation.

The campus custodial staff, quietly, and unnoticed, emptying trashes, and maintaining a bright and shiny veneer of campus on day 1. They go along with the campus grounds staff who sit in the shade and watch their perfectly manicured lawns, mulch, and walk ways get trampled by the egress of 400 anxious teenagers heading to their next session.

And then there is you. The master of your domain whether it be handing out keys, hot dogs, t-shirts, lanyards, folders, name tags, hugs, or handshakes. You own your responsibility, you watch others do take charge of theirs. Whether you are a cog in the machine, or the operator of the machine take a step back and watch the production that you get to play a part in.

Realize the act of the welcoming hundreds to thousands of new members of your community. Reflect on how you may become part of their story while they are learning at your institution.

Orientation/Welcome week is a busy time in student affairs. Don’t let it pass you by without having a moment in the middle of the madness to realize the value in what is it that you do, and are doing in that moment.

I ask again…

Do you practice reflection? The art of stopping and smelling the roses? The action of not doing anything else in a moment but living in that moment?

Try it right now. It doesn’t take long. In fact, it can be as short or as long as an experience that you want.

Take a deep breath. Shut your monitor off. Go outside. Walk outside and don’t look at your watch, phone, or the ground. Look up. Listen to the birds (or the stampede of new students heading your way). Feel the wind and the sun. Realize what it is you do that will make an impact on your campus community and those within it.

That’s my idea for the day – and I say it CAN happen.

Rock on,
Joe

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Review of NACA Huge Leadership Weekend

June 14th, 2010 | Posted by Peter Pereira in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

I had the chance to attend NACA’s Huge Leadership Weekend this year (June 3 – 6) and I think that it was a great experience. I was somewhat tentative about it since I was going on my own with no students soley for the professional track that is offered. Would I interact with the other professionals outside of our sessions?


The track was taught by Dr. Adam Peck, the Dean of Student Affairs at Stephen F Austin in Texas. For me, the sessions served as a reminder for the following things: why am I in this profession, what outcomes do I strive for in my areas of responsibility, and what best practices are out there?


Since the group was only around 21 folks, it was an intimate setting and I got the opportunity to talk to every person at least once about what they are doing and what trends they see on their campus.


Adam also implements some social media by creating a facebook group for us to join where we were encourged to post prior to HLW and to keep posting questions or ideas. I think I’ve convinced a couple of folks to start utilizing Twitter (make sure to say hi @arosemurphy).


Overall, I would highly recommend this. It’s a pretty affordable, especially if you are within driving distance to it’s location (it’s only about 15 mins from my house). You’ll get the chance to learn some ideas, reflect on your experiences, and network.

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My Quest for the Prefect Name

April 19th, 2010 | Posted by Peter Pereira in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

One of the luxuries of working at a new institution is that I get to play a central role in developing the identity for my “office”. While I believe that it is important to first create a mission, vision, goals, & outcomes; that process has me wondering if I should my office be called campus activities or should it go by a different name?

My thought right now is that I definitely need to move away from “campus activates”. Since I’m charged with developing the leadership development, student organizations, and programming experiences; I think “campus activities” does not does not cover the full scope of what I do.

With that said, this has not been easy. I’ve asked on Twitter for some ideas & have gotten some great feedback from folks but there’s one problem: coming up with an awesome acronym. One thing that I think I am learning through this process is the importance of language selection, especially in marketing. I think we student affairs professional get caught up in our jargon a lot which can stray us from who we’re trying to serve in the first place. I’ve also come to realize that I don’t like using “student” because

So, here’s what I like so far:

Campus Leadership, Involvement, and Programs
Campus Activities and Leadership Programs
Campus Life

Like any of ‘em? Have an idea, let me know.

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Working at a new institution series: Post #1

March 17th, 2010 | Posted by Peter Pereira in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

So, the description of my blog mentions that I am working at a new institution and that I will write blog entries reflecting on my experience.

To be honest, I have been kind of avoiding the topic because while I like where I work and I get to work with some great students, it’s been very frustrating as well. I’m a natural pessimist and I’m worried that I might come off as too negative and that in turn would impact my image that my employer has of me.

But, it’s time to stop being a wuss and just dive in to this topic. So, I thought I’d back track and bring y’all up to speed on what I’ve been doing and then talk about what I am currently doing in any posts that I do.

I started working here on July 1 and I’ve been charged to develop a campus activities office. My supervisor is our SSAO (Senior Student Affairs Officer) and she was the first person hired almost 2 yrs ago followed by a career services person, an admin assistant, a mental health counselor/student disability specialist, and then me. Since then, there’s been a student disability specalist added ’cause it was waaay to much work for our mental health counselor to balance both roles.

Prior to starting the position, I assumed that I would just run with the ball per say and start developing events, work with student orgs, and create leadership development workshops. I’d be autonomous and life would be great. My supervisor mentioned that she had already proposed a budget for my area complete with a salary to hire a second person within the year as well as see my title go from a coordinator to a director.

Over the past 9 months, I’ve been successful in planning some small & large-scale events, created a handbook for student organizations that is constantly being updated as new topics are addressed, done some leadership workshops that were not very well attended, and have even done some advising for our new Student Government. I do not have a budget, I have to get all of my expenditures approved by my supervisor & her supervisor (our provost), and my title has not changed.

I think the biggest & constant source of frustration for me is the micromanaging that takes place where I work. Since we’re so small (around 2500 – which is roughly double from last year) our senior leadership has the opportunity to be keep more of an eye on folks like me & they sure take advantage of it. Also, the organizational structure is set up that you have to go up the chain of command to get approval to do things (especially if you’re wanting to spend money). I really like my autonomy so that’s a big reason why I am frustrated a lot, that has nothing to do with my employer.

One thing that I am stuggling with is trying to be “innovative”. I am not necessarily sure all the time what’s innovative (I tend to use this word when utilizing technology) and I wonder if I am trying to move too fast when I don’t have anything to compare that was done in the past. So, I have this dillemma: What should come first – 1) creating things that are common at other institutions or 2) trying to figure out are the best practices out there that are tend setting or 3) use my experiences as a foundation of what to do here.

Having been a student affairs nomad (I’ve worked or interned at 4 types of institutions in a variety of roles) and I like to thing that I have a good variety of experience from different perspectives. So, in a way, I must admit that I kind of have this sense of entitlement since most of the staff at this institution have minimal higher ed experience with the exception of my supervisor.

The one skill that I have had to utilize the most (successfully or unsuccessfully) is patience. I don’t consider that to be a strength of mine so I’m glad that I am being challenged to develop this skill and getting lots of practice.

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Are Religious Student Orgs At State Institutions Entitled To Funding?

March 1st, 2010 | Posted by Peter Pereira in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

Yesterday, I was reading the Sunday newpaper when something on the cover of Parade Magazine caught my eye. “Can Campus Religious Groups Exclude Non-Believers?” was on the right hand corner of the magazine. Curious, I decided to find & read this article.

The article (you can read it here), talks about the fight between the student organization Christian Legal Society and the University of California Hastings College of the Law. CLS was denied recognition due to the fact that CLS violated their nondiscrimination policy. The institution’s stance is summed up with this quote:

“Religious groups on campus have a choice,” says Ethan Schulman, a lawyer representing the school. “If they want to be eligible to receive public funds and access to facilities, they cannot discriminate in selecting members and officers. If they wish to discriminate, they can continue to meet, but without the benefit of public funds and support.”

Just to put any biases out there, I’m not a religious person so I approach this issue from that angle. I think it’s great that this law school is holding it’s ground if that’s what they think it right.

When I was at the University of Arizona, it was interpreted differently. They took the stance that religious organizations were entitled to facilities as well as funding. However, the funding could not be used for proselytizing. I thought this stance was fine: I was fine that we gave equal access to all organizations regardless of their beliefs. However, after seeing religious organizations request club funding, it was really hard to interpret what was or was not proselytizing. After all, the majority of these groups were about religious/spirtitual development & actively recruited new members.

Now, I am at a new institution that has just started a lot of it’s campus life opportunities and one of those being funding for student organizations. They haven’t started their first meeting yet (it’s a couple of weeks away) but what precedent will we be taking on this matter? I know what my bosses will say (see what everyone else does) but I’d like for us to just make our own choice and stick with it. Besides, haven’t we always said “just because everyone else does it, doesn’t mean it’s good” to each other?

I’m personally on the fence with the funding part. I’m okay with them having rooms to meet and access to other areas to recruit because while I don’t agree with them on a moral level, it is not my right as a rule maker to say that one organization is okay while the other is not – that doesn’t mean that if they do anything that I find to be against our policies, they won’t be held accoutable. Then there’s the whole “free speech zone” topic but that’s a bridge I’ll cross when I need to (students here don’t seem to be interested in protesting or other activities that require the use one a free speech zone – yet at least).

If I had to make a choice right now, I would say that they shouldn’t have access to funds. As a state institution, there must remain some separation between us and religious affiliated student orgs. Right now, there is only one religous organization on campus and I must admit that I really don’t know what they do. I should get on that.

What are others doing? I’d love to hear how peers approach this.

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Ole Miss students vote yes for new mascot

February 24th, 2010 | Posted by Peter Pereira in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

I was checking out one of my favorite web sites, ESPN, and I noticed that the University of Mississippi (aka Ole Miss) students have decided to officially retire Colonel Reb, Ole Miss’ inactive mastcot that looks like umm…an ol’ school southern gentlemen? Here’s a pic of the colonel:

The colonel has been inactive for several years as Ole Miss tries to move away from what some view as lingering ties to a confederate past (IMHO – yup, the colonel does). Student Koriann Porter started the petition initiative that led to the vote conducted by the institution’s Associated Students. Although the campus has over 18,000 students, only 3,366 voted. There will be a committee formed to develop a new mascot.

I personally think that it is great that this student-led initiative has taken place to personify their school spirit in a less offensive manner. I am curious how much support she recieved (if any) from staff or faculty on campus. You can read the ESPN article here. There’s also a good article from MSNBC that you can find here.

Source: ESPN.com

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What are Student Affairs Conferences doing to be Sustainable?

February 18th, 2010 | Posted by Peter Pereira in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)


While I know Student Affairs professional organizations and the conferences they host have embraced the idea of sustainability, I decided to check out several web sites to see what they are doing this year. So, here’s what I was able to find:

NASPA – The conference web site had a section about sustainability but did not go into details about what they are specifically. I know from experience that they started handing out the popular reusable totes & had recycling bins all over the place. They do offer some tips. Grade: C. The tips are nice but there could be more info.

ACPA – Their section is similar to NASPA’s in that they don’t talk about what they’re doing for the conference and provide some tips to attendees. In addition, they encourage people to donate to the ACPA foundation. Grade: C+. They do have a little more info than NASPA.

ACUHO-I – Like the previous two, they don’t really discuss what they’re doing. They do provide two links about sustainability in Austin & sustainable measures the convention center has taken. C-. Interesting links but that’s about it.

NACA – This one has already happened but they had zero infomation. Grade: F. No info.

ACUI - Like NACA, they have nothing either. Grade: F. No info also.

Now, I know all of these conferences are going to have session about sustainability & have even started committees (groups, communities, they all use different language) to discuss & promote sustainability. But my grades are based on just infomation provided. I think all of these organizations should do at least the following some of which is being done already:

  1. Have tips on how to be more sustainable.
  2. Provide minimal materials to attendees. Do we really need a big conference book?
  3. Provide innovative resources for attendees that are also more eco-friendly. Hello ACPA Mingle Stick, goodbye a bunch of business cards.
  4. Use as a many materials as possible that are sustainable within the conference.

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Standard Operating Procedures

February 17th, 2010 | Posted by Peter Pereira in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

One of the perks of working at a new institution is that I get to create University Rules & Standard Operation Procedures (I know your jealous). Right now, I’m working on the one regarding Student Travel. I researched all of my fellow Texas A&M peers as well a couple of additional institutions. One thing that I noticed is that the most recent editions were published more than five years ago, if not more. Which leads me to this question: How often should things like SOP’s be revised?

The reason why I ask if because any SOP involving students should be updated regularly but what’s considered “best practice” in regards to this? To use travel as an example, there are so many variables (travel safety standards, politicial climates domestically & abroad, or modes of transportation) that are constantly changing as well as our students. What might have worked ten years ago may not apply to the current demographics of the student body.

I personally think an institution should not go more than 5 years with out doing a review. What do you think?