Apr 9, 2024
NavigatingUnprecedented Challenges
The COVID-19 pandemic introduced a myriad set of challenges,upending the traditional norms and necessitating an urgent pivottowards empathetic leadership. Higher education, a particularlyaffected sector, had to swiftly evolve, fostering an environmentwhere staff felt supported amidst the ensuing chaos.
EmbodyingTransparency and Support
Amy Hecht from FSU and Matt Imboden of Wake Forest Universityunderline the importance of transparent communication and authenticactions from leaders. Through initiatives like FSU’s Culture andPeople program, leadership at these institutions exemplified thecare and long-term investment in their staff’s career trajectories.Similarly, David Chao from the University of Pittsburgh highlighteda newfound focus on self-care, crucial for maintaining a balancedsupport system for students.
Spaces forGrief and Adaptation
Andy Wiegert at Washington University and Rachael Amaro of CalState Fullerton share the vital role that organized grief spacesand an open line for support can play in sustaining staffwell-being in times of loss. Melinda Stoops from Boston Collegeemphasizes how institutional efforts to secure staff job assuranceduring such periods is a testament to caring leadership.
ProfessionalDevelopment and Well-being
Investment in professional growth and well-being, as recountedby Jackie Yoon from Harvard, ensures that employees feel valued andare more likely to contribute positively. The approach by ShateraDavis’s leadership at Northeastern in Seattle during the pandemicharmonizes with this by preserving jobs and maintaining a connectedcommunity despite quarantine.
Leading byExample
The narrative of Leanna Fenneberg from Duquesne Universitydescribes leading staff reductions with care, prioritizing a lovingenvironment even during departures. Moreover, Darlene Robinson ofSeton Hall University speaks to the strategic support provided bylistening leaders who aid employees during career transitions.
TRANSCRIPT
Dr. JillCreighton [00:00:01]:
Welcome to student affairs voices from the field, the podcast wherewe share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives toseasoned experts. This is season 10, continuing our season 9 themeof On Transitions in Student Affairs. This podcast is brought toyou by NASPA, and I'm doctor Jill Creighton. She, her, hers, youressay voices from the field host. Hey, essay voices. Welcome to oursecond of 3 bonus episodes from the annual conference. Chris and Iwere able to move about the conference and talk to a couple dozenof you about your thoughts on the various foci areas. Today'squestion will focus on the 2nd conference focus area, which wasCare in Chaos.
Dr. JillCreighton [00:00:42]:
And the question we asked you was can you share an example of atime or a hope when a supervisor or organization provided effectivecare and support to employees during times of significant change oruncertainty in their careers. A lot of you had some reallywonderful examples of how your organization
AcquanettaPinkard [00:01:07]:
I'm Acquanetta Pinkard. I am from Montgomery, Alabama. I work forAlabama State University and I am a trio professional for 23 years.I believe that my supervisor as well as my campus have been veryconscious of caring for the employees, giving us what we have needof whether that's time off, whether that's just opportunities totake a minute break, areas on campus where we could take minutebreaks, and also providing just that continuum of care where wefeel the liberty to be able to talk. So I think that that's whatI've experienced.
Taylor Cain[00:01:45]:
I'm Taylor Cain. I work at the University of Georgia and serve asthe director of engagement leadership and service there. Well, Imean, the one that comes most comes to mind first, most recently wehad, unfortunately, 2 deaths on our campus. 1 of a former studentand one of a current student. And while all of us were trying tospring into action to figure out how to care for students, in themidst of that, I was really impressed by the institution trying tofind also ways to support those who were caring for those students.Our vice president for student affairs, who is newer to her rolebut not to our institution, made really intentional efforts toreach out to folks via email or text or when she saw them to takethe time to show appreciation and care for the work that they weredoing, recognizing the importance of it, but also encouraging folksto take care of themselves. And I think little acts like that gomuch further than some people may realize. And I think it meant theworld to the staff who were doing the work.In times of crisisor difficult issues on campus, it's always really nice, I think, tohave that recognition and affirmation of you're doing a great joband I'm right here beside you. But don't forget to take care ofyourself too.
Adrienne White[00:03:01]:
I'm doctor Adrienne White. I'm the director of student successcoaching at George Mason University, and I use sheher pronouns. Ithink my supervisor during COVID was remarkable in terms of how shesupported us during certain times. And personally, during COVID, mymother was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. And so on top ofdealing with personal things, I'm now having to also grapple withhow am I supporting my team at the same time. But then, also, howam I supporting myself during all of this and putting well-being atthe forefront of our work. And I was extremely blessed to have asupervisor that allowed me the autonomy to create well-beingopportunities for my team, but also well-being opportunities thatworked for me as well because I was my mother's primary caretaker.And so, I adjusted my schedule.
Adrienne White[00:03:53]:
I went on 4:10 hour workday schedule because I needed to go to alla lot of doctor's appointments and be there with her during hertreatment, and that was a significant moment in my life, in mycareer. And having the support of my supervisor and knowing that mysupervisor has my back, right, knowing that my supervisor supportsthe decisions I need to make to take care of myself and to my team,you just can't put a number on that. It's incredibly important andhas completely transformed my thought process and my leadership aswell.
Susan Hua[00:04:29]:
Hi. My name is Susan Hua. I use sheher pronouns, and I'm thedirector of diversity, equity, inclusion at the Community Collegeof Aurora, which is an MSI HSI just outside of Denver, Colorado. Ahope that I have for supervisors or organizations to provideeffective care and support to employees is to really just beintentional about how they are mentoring and having conversationswith their employees during times of uncertainty during theircareers. I think it's helpful to understand and really holisticallylook at your employees instead of just seeing them as one role orone fraction of your department, and to really understand that theyhave lives outside of the field as well, and to understand how tosupport their whole selves in the work journey that they have.
Aileen Hentz[00:05:09]:
My name is Aileen Hentz. I'm at the University of Maryland as theprogram director of academic and student services. I think constantcommunication was very important during times, especially whenwe're looking at budget cuts, furloughs, when we're looking atpossible changing in policy that could have an impact on our officeor our jobs. Just not being left in the dark was incrediblyimportant, I think. So that kinda constant communication, openingthings up. I loved when my supervisor was like, you know, I'm notsupposed to tell you all this, but I'm gonna tell you anywaybecause I feel like you need to know. And that was really helpfulfor me when we were facing some of those uncertainties.
Stephen Rice[00:05:49]:
Stephen Rice, director of the Office of Community Expectations atthe University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.I've been very fortunate to have a lot of supervisors who reallytake the time to get to know me and provide me with the resourcesand support. And so when tough times happen, they're able to reallyprovide me with that information that I need. My currentsupervisor, Darren, always takes the time out to really talk to meabout different cases and different situations. When things goawry, cause I work in student conduct, really provides that supportthat I need for those of things. And as an effect of that, I'm ableto do that for the team that I supervise of 6 individuals to reallyhelp them in their growth through or different times and providethem support. And it goes with 1 on 1 conversations, getting toknow who they are, what they're passionate about, understandingtheir strengths, tapping into those strengths, seeing things thatthey may not see about themselves, and really getting them to to dothose different things and challenging support them in the way sothey are very effective, in what they do. And as a result, theyhave better tools when they're looking for the next step thatthey're able to move forward with it.
Amy Adam[00:06:47]:
Hi. This is Amy Adam, and I am from the University of Missouri inColumbia. I have been a student services support manager for 20years serving graduate students. I've been so, so lucky in my 20years with supervisors and organizations. I work in the School ofInformation Science and Learning Technologies. So we have mostlydistant students, but all of the faculty and staff are located inthe same building. Really, my first supervisor, doctor John Wedman,was one of a kind. He passed away about 9 years ago, but he reallywas that mentor to get me into student services and really justencouraged me to advocate for myself, advocate for my students, andto build the relationship with faculty, but to remember not to letthem take advantage of me and the willingness that I have to dowork.So, really, just making sure that I keep students firstand foremost in my goal for my job has been the biggest thing. Andreally even through COVID, my current department chair has beenamazing with flex time and just making sure that we take time forourselves. You can't just sit at your desk all day. You've gottaget out, gotta get water, go take a break, go play with your dog.So I just feel very lucky that I've had that type of relationshipswith my supervisors.
StephanieCochrane [00:08:14]:
Hi. I'm Stephanie Cochrane. I'm the director of student services atNortheastern University in Toronto. I'm here for NASPA for just theSunday pre conference around graduate students. That's a greatquestion. I think COVID created a huge shift in our entire worldand our way of thinking about student support, and our dean at theToronto campus has been really effectively caring for our ouremployees as well as our students, thinking about hiring thecorrect resources, asking for input from the people who are workingthere and dealing with the students on a daily basis to see whatour students need and keeping that student centered mindset at alltimes.
Amy Hecht[00:08:52]:
Hi. My name is Amy Hecht. I'm the vice president for studentaffairs at Florida State University. I've been there 7 years now.At Florida State, we've launched a new position and program calledCulture and People, and it's really about helping people feel athome in Tallahassee where FSU is located, connecting to otherpeople outside their division, celebrating people, and rewardingthem, and also developing them, coaching them, and that's been veryhelpful for people to feel supported and valued, but also thatsomebody cares about their long term career trajectory.
Shatera Davis[00:09:32]:
Hi. My name is Shaterra Davis. I use sheher pronouns. I'm thedirector of student affairs at Northeastern in Seattle. I think themost recent time and then the most impactful time was during thepandemic when I worked in housing before and everyone thought thatthey wouldn't have a job because our students were moving out. Andso our leadership did a really great job of saying this is wherewe're at. I'm being transparent on what the leadershipconversations were and then ultimately giving us opportunities todo other work besides being, like, resident directors in order tokeep our jobs and keep our housing during that time. And then doingthe most to make sure that we all felt community because while wewere having to quarantine, we felt that we were all byourselves.None of us have roommates, and so beingintentionally using the spaces and the meetings we had to, like,build communities, check-in, and still just being transparent onwhere we're at and, like, how we're supporting students, but alsohow we're supporting ourselves during that time.
Andy Wiegert[00:10:25]:
I am Andy Wiegert, Director of Graduate Student Affairs, Arts andSciences, Washington University in Saint Louis.Gosh.Yeah.I mean, we've kind of seen a lot in our time.Obviously, having gone through COVID is the one that stands out themost, but we've also recently experienced things like, you know, atragic death of a student. And that's really difficult because youhave administrators who are both trying to support students, but atthe same time are also experiencing their own grief and trauma. Andso it really has been neat to see some of our leaders recognizethat, acknowledge that, and create spaces not just for our studentsto grieve, but also for our staff, our faculty, and supportfolks.
Scott Peska[00:11:10]:
Hi. Scott Peska, Waubonsee Community College, assistant provost ofstudent services. I would say that this was a few years back, quitea few years back when I worked in res life, but I recall when 911took place right there was some real challenge with directionduring that time and really giving staff the space to not only helptheir students go through and kind of process, but to give us timeto process individually was really important. And to really thinkabout you're gonna deal with a lot of crisis management in highereducation. And so are you prepared for this? You need to getyourself in a space to do that. And so being able to give us timeto actually give us strategies, talk to people that were crisismanagers and kinda looking at preparing that, that was helpful.
Dilna Cama[00:11:53]:
Dilna Cama. I am a director within student life at the Ohio StateUniversity, and I am part of the off campus and commuter knowledgecommunity. My most recent supervisor, he did our organization wasdown to 2 of us, and we were essentially scratching everything andbuilding a start up. And his support and the way he really remindedme we can do anything, we can't do everything. And that's somethingI remind myself each and every day. And so really keep making surethat I'm focused on what is most important has really allowed me toremain positive. And definitely the way in which he providedsupport, I think, was very notable.
Sabina Kapoor[00:12:42]:
My name is Sabina Kapoor, and I'm currently a a full time doctoralstudent with Capella University. I spent over 20 years in highereducation as a staff within student affairs, student success, andacademic affairs. So as I progressed in my career, I've focusedmore on staff so that they can better serve students. And I wannago in deep with that, so that's why I'm pursuing the doctorate inIO Psychology because I wanna look at the relationship between theorganization and the employee. What comes to mind is a few, thepandemic. During that time, a lot of universities were downsizing,and my university that I was at was no exception. And so it wasreally interesting because it was unprecedented in how many peoplewere part of a workforce reduction. And so how the universitysupported people at that time, it was interesting.
Sabina Kapoor[00:13:31]:
I think the university really didn't know how to. And then you hadthe people that stayed that weren't, let go. And so I felt likethey had survivor's remorse, and so it's real interesting. And so Ithink now is something hopefully, that won't happen again to thatextent, not just my previous university, but other universities andcolleges as well. But if it did, I think institutions know now howto handle that better and have that human touch.
Carlie Weaver[00:14:01]:
Hello. I am Carlie Weaver with Rose Hulman Institute of Technology.I'm a programs coordinator for the student activities in Unionoffice. I'm not really sure how to answer that because I do feellike I don't really find myself being uncertain in my careerbecause my supervisor, Kristen Merchant, hurt you, and KristenLloyd are very, very supportive in helping me to find my footing inmy own voice and my role.
Roxanne WrightWatson [00:14:31]:
Hi. My name is Roxanne Wright Watson. I'm from Lehigh CarbonCommunity College in Pennsylvania, and I'm happy to be here. Ithink my direct supervisor, my dean, is supportive of what we do inthe classroom, how we help our students. And in particular, asituation that I can recall is during COVID. During COVID, I thinkthey were supportive to us in terms of having to just switch fromface to face classes to online classes. The support was there. Thesupport in getting things to instructors, supervisors did and howthey helped us, the supervisors did and how they helped us asfaculty.Yes.
Carla OrtegaSantori [00:15:27]:
My name is Carla Ortega Santori. I work at Rice University. I amthe strategic initiatives manager at the Door Institute For NewLeaders at Rice University, and my job is really about helpingstudents elevate their leadership capacity and to also elevate thecapacity of all campuses to do really great leader developments ineducation. I think everyone went through significant changes in2020. Obviously, our director and leader was really great aboutembracing that level of uncertainty and creating a safe space foreveryone to also attend to their needs, be they professional orpersonal. Another big, I think, time of uncertainty or significantchange was when we changed directors, and I think both the outgoingand incoming directors were really great at defining our roles andclarifying expectations really clearly, so that was really helpful.Laying out a vision and also being okay with if we needed to changethat vision or significantly alter it to accommodate our currentneeds was also really helpful.
Rachael Amaro[00:16:41]:
I'm Rachael Amaro. I'm the admissions and academic advisor for theDepartment of Educational Leadership within the College ofEducation at Cal State Fullerton. I think a good example of that isthe faculty who's the director of our EDD program. We had a reallyrough patch in our department, you know, between the faculty. Thefaculty were having issues with each other, which of course, thestudents pick up on, everybody picks up on. It makes the wholeenvironment a little challenging, but my EDG director was alwaysvery level headed and very understanding and always open to saying,hey, if there's something going on, like, please let me know, like,don't, you know, don't keep things. It's important that I knowwhat's happening so that we can all figure out what is going on andhow everybody's feeling, at least in the office side, because thefact are gonna be themselves. They were having some issues witheach other.
Rachael Amaro[00:17:29]:
The staff, obviously, we were okay with each other, but obviouslyit all affects everything, so I really appreciated her always beingso confident and always so caring and open, and always checking inand making sure we were doing okay when we had some rough timeswith our own leadership within our department, she was always theone person that we knew we could count on. And, you know, she's theone person that asks how you're doing, Jess, how your parents aredoing. It's just those simple acts make a big difference.
ChristineWilson [00:17:59]:
I'm Christine Wilson. I am in student affairs at UCLA. I have tworoles. 1 is as the executive director for academic partnerships andthe other is the program director for our director for our mastersin student affairs program. I saw the leadership of our studentaffairs organization exhibit tremendous humility and vulnerabilitydirectly after the pandemic when there had been some things thatwere not seen that impacted fairly large number of staff, and theywere unseen largely because of the pandemic. It was much harder toget a pulse on what was happening, and what was happening didimpact a lot of people. And in order to heal that, our leadershipreally had to show tremendous humility and vulnerability. And thefact that they did that allowed the healing to begin tohappen.And a year later, the organization was healthier, evenmaybe a little better for what they've learned.
OliviaRuggieri [00:18:53]:
Hi there. My name is Olivia Ruggieri. I'm the associate director ofadministration operations for Northeastern University Seattlecampus. I grew up in Pennsylvania, went to college in Florida, andcame out here in 2013, but I've been working for the universitysince since 2018. I would say that right now, there's a big shifttowards, not centralization, but standardization of policies acrossour network of campuses. And so while for folks, at my level, likethe ops leads on our campuses, we already do a lot of coordinationbetween each other. We know each other well. But for the folks onour teams, like our operation specialists, our event specialists,they had not yet built their network with each other.
OliviaRuggieri [00:19:34]:
And so, coming out of our Vancouver campus, someone named Kaylaorganized a, mentoring, like, work group for all of those folks,which has been really amazing. So now, folks who are new to the orgare mentored by folks who have been here a little bit longer. Thosefolks are mentored by people that whose roles they might beinterested in the future, and I've found that this has helped someof that standardization that's coming across all of our campuses,and we're gonna be well equipped for the future.
ChristleFoster [00:20:05]:
Hi. My name is Christle Foster and I'm from Chesapeake Collegelocated on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Y Mills. I'm gonnapoint to the pandemic since it's so recent and I will say that ourleadership at Chesapeake was very responsive and one of the thingsthat they definitely emphasized was care. Self care as well ascaring for our students and I've seen that change even when wereturned to the college. With the CARES funds that we have, a lotof it was allocated to students who are going through mental healthchallenges as well as financial challenges, food insecurity,housing insecurity, and there was a lot of response in which thosefunds were put to, trying to retain those students and also helpthose students over those challenges.
Nathalie WaiteBrown [00:20:46]:
My name is Nathalie Waite Brown. I am the assistant dean ofstudents and director for graduate student life at StevensInstitute of Technology located in Hoboken, New Jersey. From apersonal perspective, the institution that I worked at when Ijoined a few years following, we had a new president that came tothe institution, and it was during a time where there was a lot ofturmoil. And I believe that the leadership that remained really wascommitted to retaining staff and faculty in a way that wasintentional and purposeful, not just for our students, but also forthe climate of the employees and welcoming and supporting the newpresident. And that's something that's been impactful in my career.That was 11 years ago, and it it's still something that resonateswith me.
Dae'lyn Do[00:21:28]:
My name's Dae'lyn Do. I use sheher pronouns, and I am the associatedirector for the Women in Science and Engineering Residence Programat the University of Michigan, and I am coming into the position ofthe WISA CASE co chair. I mean, I have been lucky to have somereally great supervisors in my career and definitely supervisorswho focus on that work life balance and really making sure thatthey're taking care of their employees and not giving them time forthemselves when they've had like a high busy time. Making sure thatwe're building in those days and those breaks for ourselves,whether it's in the day to day or whether it's in the busierseasons. I feel like I have been really lucky to rely on some greatsupervisors who just really prioritize that and know that we areworkers outside of we're people outside of our jobs too.
Natalie DeRosa[00:22:18]:
So my name is Natalie DeRosa and I'm from Lehigh Carbon CommunityCollege in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania. So my supervisor has beenan amazing support for me personally when some of my programminghad the plug bolt on it this year, and being that space where I canjust grieve that that happened, that meant a lot to me. And also,we're still looking for ways to bring back the programming. I workat a community college, so sustaining programming is always achallenge for us. So being able to talk to my supervisor about itand have her be just right there as we're experiencing it haslended a lot of support to me professionally.
Dan Volchek[00:22:58]:
Dan Volchek, assistant dean of student success at Harvard GriffinGrad School of Arts and Sciences. My relationship with expect thatand hope that in a supervisor. So as we're going through changesand uncertainty, both professionally in the career and at theinstitution, they were working as a team and they were talking. Andsometimes that has happened and sometimes that hasn't, but that's avery important way to get through when issues come up.
Vaughn Calhoun[00:23:31]:
Vaughn Calhoun, Seton Hall University, hehim. I think,interestingly, you know, coming out of the pandemic, we were soused to being at home for 2 years and then coming back to campuswith the thought of we're gonna be there a 100% of the time whenliterally our lives have readjusted based on on the pandemic. Soone thing I advocated for was a work from home policy. We didn'thave one across the institution. It was based on each department.So putting together a proposal, which was then accepted by our vicepresident and saying that, you know, this is what we can do. Sothat, I think, was really powerful because our staff knew and gotthe message that our executive administrators care.
DarleneRobinson [00:24:14]:
My name is Darlene Robinson. I'm the RISE general and director forSeton Hall University. I can speak to that in a sense that beingthat I'm just moving in to this career, I spent over 15 years inthe financial aid department, and I just moved over to studentservices. And with this move, the supervisor that I currently havenow has been very strategic in listening to me as a person, askingquestions of how and what I need, and how he can be of service aswell as influence. Whatever it is that I need to do my job inthe
Miguel AngelHernandez [00:24:59]:
Hello. My name is Miguel Angel Hernandez. I am the associate vicepresident and dean of students at San Francisco State University. Ihave been very fortunate as a individual to have had amazingmentors, supervisors, sponsors throughout my career. Facultymembers that have really taught me, guided me, coached me atdifferent aspects of my career. And so when I think about aspecific time, the easy place for me is thinking about what we as acommunity, as a planet, have navigated these last 4 plus years ofCOVID through that particular global crisis. I think about thepatience, the openness, the modeling that I saw from supervisors,from organizational leaders related to bringing people in, leaningin to the moment, to what individuals needed, and really giving usthe capacity to rethink how we approach work, life, care, concernfor each other and for the students that we serve. And so one ofthe things that I work very hard to do is not to romanticize thatglobal crisis, but I am trying to make sure that I don't forget thelessons that were learned from the flexibility, the love, and thecare that we demonstrated to each other to be able to navigate thattime and that space. And so that would be something that Isaw both from supervisors and from organizations. I hope that wecontinue to allow those experiences to be centered as we moveforward in our work.
David Chao[00:26:29]:
Hello. My name is David Chow. My pronouns are hehim. I serve as thedirector of IT for student affairs at the University of Pittsburgh,and I'm also the chair of the technology knowledge community. Forsure during COVID, I think everyone became so much more attentivetowards self care. And I'm not even just in higher education, Ifeel just like in the workplace in general, everyone just seemed tobe working harder than their parents type mentality. And I thinksince then we've understood about the balance that, you know, wecan't assist our students and serve them if we don't take care ofourselves as well. And some of the advice we give to them, weshould probably take as well.
Melinda Stoops[00:27:01]:
Hi. I am Melinda Stoops. I serve as the associate vice presidentfor student health and wellness at Boston College. In terms oflooking at times when there's been significant change or anduncertainty in everyone's life. And in higher education, there werejust all of us going home for periods of times and uncertainty inwhat our roles were in specific moments when everyone's off campus.How are our roles different, and what can we do to contribute, andwhat are we needed to do to contribute? And I feel like that thatwas a time where there was a lot of uncertainty, and I think onething I appreciated about that was my institution's stance ofthere's a lot of uncertainty, but we are really going to make areal point to care for our employees during this time. Now withthat said, again, we were off campus, so caring can show up indifferent ways. But feeling like they were like, we are concernedabout employees.We wanna make sure that you all are healthy,that you all know that your job is secure, and just that reallythat in and of itself went a long way. And it felt so fortunatebecause I know not everyone was in that same position, and I feltvery privileged to be able to receive that support from myemployer. I know that my colleagues on my campus were as well.
Derek Grubb[00:28:26]:
Derek Grubb, Dean of Enrollment Management for Red Rocks CommunityCollege in Colorado. I've been fortunate to have a lot ofsupervisors and colleagues I think that I've learned from how to beeffective, but one more recently was past president. Really taughtme the value valuing people, celebrating even the small wins, andreally how that promoted a environment of caring, great place towork mindset.
Matt Imboden[00:28:50]:
My name is Matt Imboden. I use the he, him pronouns. I serve as thechief student services officer in the School of Business at WakeForest University in North Carolina. And, for the past few years,I've also been chairing the administrators and graduate andprofessional student services knowledge community for NASPA. So I'msure there'll be some point at which my mind doesn't completelyshift to the COVID experience when somebody asked this kind of aquestion, but I am not at that point yet. So my mind as you werespeaking, Chris, went immediately to COVID as a time that I thinkrevealed leadership or lack thereof depending on the experience.But that's exactly one of those stressors I just talked about interms of uncertainty that you were talking about because mygoodness. I remember feeling particularly impacted when people walkthe walk and just didn't talk the talk of either high leveladministrators who personally sacrificed in the face of budget cutsto touch their own compensation or to really demonstrate not justsort of with words, but showed me that they're in this too and thatmakes you want to give as an individual and I think role model thatfor other people on your campus. And so that stands out for me ofthroughout all that COVID uncertainty when all of us were pullingout the depths of our leadership ability and administrativecapabilities just to see people who, went beyond the talk andreally walked the walk of leadership.
EvetteCastillo Clark [00:30:01]:
Evette Castillo Clark, vice president for student life and dean ofstudents at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon. I'll thinkof myself in this as a supervisor. When you can't give or when Ican't give the gift of money, I know that in times of need orsupport to my team, I'm gonna give the gift of time. So when I lookat them, if my team or my staff are exhausted, I always talk tothem about tag in and tag out. If you need the time or you need thebreak, me as a supervisor, I have to be very understanding of that.If you can't always offer additional monies for stipend, you gottagive the gift of time. And you have to understand that people needto regroup, and people need people need time to refuel and regaintheir energy. So in times like this, campus climate issues, postpandemic breaks are needed, and I think I also have to model thatas well.
Madeline Frisk[00:30:56]:
I started this job at Portland State in 2021, was working remotelyup until the fall term. I started in the spring term at ourinstitution, so navigating that shift from remote to in person andalso having colleagues that I'd basically just met in person wasdefinitely a difficult time for me, but my boss was very supportiveand everyone was very welcoming. I found a community both with ourunion on campus as well as with my co workers and boss, and thatwas a great experience being initiated into a really wonderfulcommunity at Portland State.
Gene Zdziarski[00:31:32]:
This is Gene Jarski. I'm vice president for student affairs atDePaul University. I can think of a couple of situations. Iwill go back 25 years to Texas A&M University when I was ayoung staff member there, and we had an unfortunate tragedy of ourtraditional bonfire collapsing. And, 12 individuals were killed and27 others were seriously injured. And the amount of attention andcare that was taken by the institution beginning with the presidentwho came in and basically said to all of us who were trying torespond and trying to work with the situation, I don't care howmuch it costs. I don't I want you to do the right thing. I want youto do whatever it takes to take care of people, and that was such areassuring thing as you're trying to manage through such achallenging time, and so, for me, that was a significantmoment.
Gene Zdziarski[00:32:36]:
I also had one when I was at DePaul University, and we had aspeaker come to campus that really, disrupted the campus communitytremendously. I had actually recommended to the president at thattime that being a private institution, we could make some decisionsabout whether or not this speaker really should come to campus. Andhe said at the moment, no. I think we need to have a process, aplan for that, but we're not in that place right now. I think weneed to go ahead and do this. After it happened and there was a lotof backlash from the campus community, he stood by me the entiretime and worked with me in meeting with all the differentconstituencies, stakeholders, and student groups to really listen,hear people out, and then help us begin to build a plan for how wewould address that in the future, and that was pretty significantto me.
Lyza Liriano[00:33:22]:
Hello. My name is Lyza Liriano. I currently serve as an areacoordinator at DePaul University in housing and residence Life.Originally, I am from Brooklyn, New York. Yes. So prior to my roleat DePaul, I worked at the University of South Florida, Tampa, andthis was only about 2 years ago when there was a lot of politicalchange happening in Florida, and impacted my identities as a queerwoman of color. I didn't feel safe being in Florida, but mysupervisors at the University of South Florida specificallyprovided me with hope knowing that I would be safe at myinstitution, and not only that, that I could still be there for mystudents. No matter what legislation was saying, we still wanted tobuild that community and make sure that our students really feltlike their needs were being heard. And so I felt that as aprofessional, and we kind of instilled it to all of our studentbody as well. So although I did end up leaving, I left knowing thatmy students were in great hands.
Jackie Cetera[00:34:24]:
Jackie Cetera. I use sheher pronouns, and I serve as the directorof residential education at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.For this, examples of when this has worked out really well has beenwhen administrators and leaders within the institution reallyimportant for leaders to pour into their people and provideguidance even when it might be really hard to do so. Providingspace to talk through situations and scenarios and to keep peopleinformed is really, really important.
Lisa Landreman[00:35:09]:
My name is Lisa Landreman. I'm the vice president for studentaffairs at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. I think thatCOVID is the best example. I feel really proud as an organization,as an institution, how much we held space for our employees, thatwe gave regular frequent communication as a team of people who weremanaging the crisis, particularly early on. We did really regularcommunication. We stayed abreast of what was happening in theworld. We thought well about our community. We allowed a lot offlexibility with work even though we were in person for ourstudents.
Lisa Landreman[00:35:46]:
We gave options both for students and employees to do hybrid workor remote work as needed. I think we also gave a lot of flex toparents who were or people who had family members they were caringfor, and so I think we were clear about our expectations for, youknow, maybe some of our goals were on hold because we were tendingto what was most immediately important and what was reasonable toask people to accomplish at a time when we were all caring so muchin our personal and professional lives. I think that was a way thatI was really proud of how we managed that.
Jackie Yun[00:36:22]:
Hi. I'm Jackie Yun. I take the she series, and I serve as theexecutive director of the Harvard Griffin GSAS Student Center.Sure. I think I've been lucky at my institution that they haveinvested heavily in my professional development, and I have beenable to go to them and say, I want to learn this thing. This is howI think this connects to what I do. And maybe in some cases, itdoesn't always really connect, but they understand that providingme the support to keep learning and to try new things keeps me atthe institution and keeps me doing good work for graduatestudents.
LeannaFenneberg [00:36:55]:
Hello. This is Leanna Fenneberg. I'm the incoming chief studentaffairs officer at Duquesne University. I think so many of ourinstitutions are going through reductions in force. I'vepersonally, been impacted by those, and I've had to lead those withstaff. And those are some of the most critical times for the peoplewho are departing and for the community members who remain. And soI think of those difficulties as we all have budget reductions andhow we can provide a loving supportive environment for all of theemployees, even those who are directly affected in helping themsupport in their next journey and making difficult decisions andcommunicating those, but doing that in a ethic of care and concernfor the individual and providing that kind of supportive communityduring some of our most difficult times.
Jake Murphy[00:37:41]:
Jake Murphy. I'm the director of prospective students services atOSU Institute of Technology, and I am over all recruitment andretention efforts at the university. Probably best example is mymost recent position with a supervisor. I've just been in the rolelike about 2 years now. The university had been in a perpetualdecline of enrollment for the last 10 years and it was morale waslow. Everything was like absolutely terrible and my supervisoremployed strategies to make sure that since we can't necessarilypay people the best in student affairs affairs sometimes, that shegave us the opportunity to use whatever time we needed to be feltsupported and it really helped all of, like, bolster morale andjust helped us avoid burnout which was great.
Larry Pakowski[00:38:29]:
Larry Pakowski. I'm the vice president for student engagement,inclusion and success at Aims Community College in Greeley,Colorado. I think COVID is a good example for us all that we allshifted to a remote environment overnight, and then some schoolscame back sooner, some schools came back later. And I think it wasreally an exercise in making sure that we not only forgot ourpeople, but also the mission of the college and ensuring that wewere doing what we needed to do by students, but also our employeesas well.
JillaineZenkelberger [00:38:56]:
Hi. I'm doctor Jillaine Zenkelberger. I am the program coordinatorover at Graduate Student Life at the University of Notre Dame.Yeah. So actually, a really good example is this year, we have anew dean of our grad school, Mike Hildreth at University of NotreDame. And with any new head, new leadership, there's always, like,oh, what is this gonna mean for changes in our programs? But he'sreally taken the time to, like, sit down and listen to what ouroffices need and what our students need so that not only are weaddressing students' concerns, but we're doing it in a way that'spractical for us as employees. Because I think that sometimes wefocus only on one side of initiatives and forget, like, well,somebody has to do it and has to have the capacity to do it. Ithink he's done a really good job and our team at the grad schoolhas done a really good job of keeping those two things in mind.
KristenMerchant [00:39:49]:
Hi, everyone. I'm Kristen Merchant. I am from Rose Hulman Instituteof Technology. I am the associate director of the union and studentActivities Office there and also the director of our lead programs.So my boss's name is also Kristen, but her name is Kristen Lloyd.She always just supports us with whatever we need, asks how we'redoing. If she can sense that we're kind of feeling burnt out ortired or exhausted, she always takes the time to check-in with usus and give us some extra time off if we need it, and she justalways helps make sure that we feel confident in our roles, andthat just makes me feel very, very supported and confident in myroles.
Joe Lizza[00:40:25]:
My name isDr. Joe Lizza. I'm the director of the ChamberlainStudent Center and Campus Activities at Rowan University in NewJersey. When I was a few years within my first full time job, Iknew I wanted some type of change, and I had very supportivesupervisors that provided me those opportunities knowing that thegrowth at the time in my current role and maybe the growth at theinstitution wasn't necessarily there, but they gave me some toolsboth through mentoring, but also through professional developmentopportunities to kinda seek out that next step. And they were justvery upfront. I feel like sometimes people kinda string you along.They were very upfront to say, we love your work. You're doing agreat job, but maybe your next step is not here. And they reallyprovided that support to look elsewhere, which ultimately thenallowed me for advancement outside of that originalinstitution.
Joshua Allred[00:41:19]:
My name is Joshua Allred. I work at Louisiana State University inthe College of Agriculture as their manager of student services.Sure. So we had a a pretty significant restructuring in our officea while back, like, about a year ago when our assistant dean left.And I work in an academic affairs unit so they took that time toreally kind of restructure and move some pieces around. And sothere was an uncertainty in terms of, are our jobs secure? Are ourjobs moving around? Are we gonna have some significant changes in,like, what are what's under the purview of our our jobs. And again,I think having strong leadership and having them assure us and andtalk through us the entire time as things were being discussed andactually listening to our input and getting feedback from us aboutour experiences being kind of the boots on the ground peopleworking with students, I thought was really helpful and thoughtful.I think sometimes frustration, especially in uncertainty and duringtimes of change, comes from folks at the top who don't necessarilyhave the most recent experience working with students in, like, areally direct way, making these really big sweeping decisions andnot always taking into consideration the opinions and the feedbackfrom folks who are doing just that.
Joshua Allred[00:42:25]:
Wow. So one of the things I continue to do is try to be innovativeand think what's next? What more can I do to support students andsupport student success? I don't wanna come in and do the sameprograms over and over again. I want to do my best to collaborate,whether it's with my partners in academic affairs or my partners instudent affairs. But whenever uncertainty comes, then that says,how do I make sure that students are successful? Because inuncertainty, they wanna make sure that what you're doing issupporting student success. So that's what I do. At Texas A&M,specifically, we just had a major change in who our president is,and we changed from the College of Education to the School ofEducation and Human Development. There were a lot of theprofessionals within the College of Education and Human Developmentwho weren't happy with that change and thought that our peersaround the country would look at us and say, School of Educationand Human Development, we're a college, we do more, we're aresearch one institution, why is that happening with us? And,again, during that time of change and that time of uncertainty, ourfocus in the Burns Center was how do we make sure that we aresupporting our students and making sure our students aresuccessful? How do we make sure those persistence and retention andgraduation rates continue to stay high and how can we raisethem?
Judy Traveis[00:43:58]:
Hi, everyone. I'm Judy Traveis. I'm the associate dean for theGraduate Student Success Center at the University of Florida. Iwould say recently, I'm from the University of Florida and theFlorida landscape has been impacted greatly with big issues in theDE and I space. And I think throughout it all, leadership had townhall meetings and general counsel available to help shape andcreate our programs so that they can live in the new world.
Katie Caponera[00:44:31]:
I'm Katie Caponera, director of student life at Harvard DivinitySchool. This past academic year has been one of the mostchallenging that I've experienced in my 15 years in higher ed, andI know it's been challenging on many campuses. It's feltparticularly difficult at Harvard. We're very much in the nationalspotlight, but I think that what's helped me get through thosechallenging pieces and times have been the supportive colleaguesand my supervisor who's been amazing at checking in and keepingeverybody up to date on what's going on, talking through what wemay be facing, and being very clear about what expectations are andwhat strategies are to approach what may be coming to us given thedifferent types of uncertainty and and challenge that arepresent.
Kathy Dilks[00:45:19]:
My name is Kathy Dilks, and I am the director of graduate studentand post doctoral affairs at the Icahn School of Medicine, theGraduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Supervisors have alwaysbeen very, very helpful. I think one of the best tips they've evergiven me is perception is reality. So anytime that I come withquestions or uncertainties or even in my professional outlook, Iremember that one phrase over and over again, and I strive to putmy best foot forward if I've always had the luxury of working withother people who are able to answer questions, able to guide mealong the way.
Julie PayneKirchmeier [00:45:58]:
Julie Payne Kirchmeier, vice president for student success for theu Indiana University. It's not really a system. It's a multi campusuniversity, but we can say Indiana University System if that'seasier for folk to kinda place the role. It keeps me steady as aleader and as a member of an organization. It keeps me steady. Andbe vulnerable, as we talked about. It's a harder one to answer, Ithink, because particularly the past 4 years have just been soupside down for all of us. And so finding examples of care andsupport in such an uncertain time, relating back to question 1, isreally hard.
Julie PayneKirchmeier [00:46:30]:
But I will name a moment, and it was pre the disruption that we allknow of COVID, but it was so fundamental and so just roiling withuncertainty is when I was at Northwestern as the associate vicepresident and chief of staff, and our vice president passed away.Beloved, long, long battle with cancer, and I will say her name,Patricia Theus Urban, an icon in our field. And it was one of thosemoments you knew eventually was coming, but it doesn't make it anyeasier. And the pain and the shock and just the sadness that justinfiltrated the division and the campus, and there was a lot ofburden that was put on our division to plan her memorial and awhole host of things. So, you know, like, good student affairsprofessionals, we just jump in and get it done. But during thattime, we really tried to provide spaces, conversations, moments,touch points, remembrances of her, and not just at the memorial. Wewould take moments throughout the coming year to pause, toremember, to talk about, to laugh, to, you know, all the thingsthat you wanna do to move through a really painful time. And, youknow, I can look back on it, and that was 5 almost 5 years ago now,which is kind of mind blowing.
Julie Payne Kirchmeier [00:47:40]:
And I'm really proud and honored to have been part of a communitythat did that for each other. I'm not gonna stand here and say itwas me. I'm not gonna stand here and say it was a small group. Itreally was that full community of student affairs that cametogether and did that. I think one of the sad things for me is thatyou don't often see that happen outside of student affairs inhigher education, and I think we've got to do better
Julie Payne Kirchmeier [00:47:59]:
as an
Julie Payne Kirchmeier [00:47:59]:
industry, as a field, in industry, as a field in remembering thatwe have to show up for each other in these really important ways,large and small.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:48:10]:
This has been an episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field,a podcast brought to you by NASPA. This show the content. If you'dlike to reach the show, please email us at sa voices at naspa.orgor find me on LinkedIn by searching for doctor Jill. We alwayswelcome your feedback and your topic and guest suggestions. We'dlove it if you take a moment to tell a colleague about the show andgive us a a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts or wherever you'relistening now. It really does help other student affairsprofessionals find the show and helps raise the show's profilewithin the larger podcasting community. This episode was producedand hosted by doctor Jill Creighton, that's me, produced and audioengineered by doctor Chris Lewis. Special thanks to the Universityof Michigan Flint for your support as we create this project.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:49:03]:
Catch you next time.
