Watching more than 70 students, staff and faculty dance in front of the Oregon State University (OSU) Memorial Union steps was quite the sight today.
The OSU’s flashmob was pretty cool too…
Tag: Higher-Education
How I’m Powered by Orange
My last day at Oregon State University (OSU) is September 30th. I think it’s fitting as my first day at OSU was also in September. Six years ago I moved out to Oregon from Chicago, IL. It was a tremendous life transition. I had been working at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the decision to leave UIC/Chicago was a big one for a young professional from the Midwest.
When I first started looking at graduate programs in higher education/student affairs I had no idea that I would end up moving to Oregon. I remember checking up on about 5 or 6 programs. I kept coming back to OSU as my first choice. Eventually, I decided to apply for the College Student Services Administration (CSSA) program at OSU. It was the only grad program that I submitted an application to. In hindsight, I probably should have applied to more than one school just in case OSU didn’t accept me. However, sometimes you have to put all of your eggs in a single basket and hope for the best. Concentrating on a single application made my process extremely focused. I was going to get into grad school at Oregon State. There wasn’t a “plan B.”
Student Affairs Professionals, Search, and Personal Branding
I was interviewing a potential candidate for the Oregon State University College Student Services Administration program when she asked for my business card. Unfortunately, I had not brought any with me. I found myself saying what has become an inside joke amongst my friends: “Just Google my name.” Trust me, it sounded a little ridiculous when I said it. However, I think it brought up a valuable topic/question for student affairs professionals: Are you searchable and how does it relate to your personal brand?
We’re all aware that people like to Google each other. Prospective employers, current employers, colleagues, friends, family members…any member of our professional/personal network can search for our name. I’m often asked how I was able to get my name, and the sites that I either run or belong to, into the top 10 search results page for the top 3 search engines: Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
The answer is relatively simple: consistency, reach, and connections.
Continue reading Student Affairs Professionals, Search, and Personal Branding
Academic Advisors and Versatility
Full disclosure: I am currently an academic advisor. It’s my first full-time academic advising experience. I actually was quite pro-active about avoiding academic advising experiences when I was in graduate school. I never thought that I would be an academic advisor. I’ve been in my current advising position for 3 years. It’s been an incredible experience. Having said that, this post is not about me. It’s for anyone who has ever been an academic advisor who has dealt with the subject matter of this post.
A friend of mine is an academic advisor. She’s currently looking for a new position within student affairs. Having applied for several positions that have not yielded an offer. She came to the conclusion that having “academic advisor” at the top of her most recent experiences on her resume was resulting in her application being ignored or devalued. We chatted about how her resume could be re-worked to be more of a skills-based document. While I wasn’t happy about the apparent devaluing of academic advising that seemed to be occurring, I could empathize with both my friend and prospective hiring departments.
The state of academic advising in higher education is that it is a field that is predominantly seen as being in academic affairs. What this means is that while academic advisors may do exactly the same kinds of work as their student affairs colleagues, they might not be recognized for this due to the “silo effect” in higher education.
Multiple Mentors = Lifelong Mentoring
One of my mentors once told me that mentors are everywhere and that all I needed to do was to seek them out. At the time, I had been struggling with finding experienced practitioners who were as into learning / using technology within student affairs as I was. It took me a while to realize that what I had been looking for was the ultimate mentor. I was seeking someone who matched up with every nuance, every interest area, in effect, the “perfect” mentor.
When I woke up this morning, I had a realization. A thought that I had never really allowed to materialize. I currently have multiple individuals who I call “mentor.” No single person. Not a lone individual. I have multiple mentors. Some of my mentors provide professional advice. Some of my mentors assist me in the “apprenticeship of life.” This cadre of mentors provides me with an amazing breadth and depth of learning, experiences, and guidance. A community of mentors who I look to for strength, insight, humor, and caring.
My mentors come from all over the place. They have been instrumental in where I am and where I want to be. Here are a few ideas that I have been pondering about mentoring:
- Sometimes mentors bring mentorship into your life without it being strategic or intentional. It just happens.
- Age does not always equal wisdom. Be open to mentoring from anyone. Wisdom can surprise you.
- If your mentors are well-known, be prepared to spend less time with them. Learn as much as you can when you have access. Maximize your time with them.
- Social media spans the globe. Your access to mentors has just increased…be ready.
- Sometimes mentors and mentees switch roles depending on circumstances, timing, and need. It’s okay.
Photo credit: quacktaculous
It’s okay if you don’t “get” Twitter right away
I started using Twitter on March 14, 2007. I didn’t “get” Twitter at first. It took me more than a year before I realized that Twitter was useful. When you first start using Twitter, it’s like being on Facebook without friends…It’s not exactly a party. Once I started following various Twitter accounts and being followed by folks, Twitter became much more useful. In fact, Twitter has turned out to be one of my favorite ways to connect with people in a variety of spheres.
Don’t worry if you don’t “get” Twitter right away. Be patient with it. Follow some folks. Engage with people/accounts. Take the time to learn how Twitter works.
Twitter stats courtesy of TweetStats.
Student Affairs + Technology: IHE Recap
Career Services and Social Media: Todd really says it best ;-)
@EricStoller If there is a single Student Affairs dept that could *pwn* social media it is career services.
Todd Sanders
tsand
Let’s shift some paradigms: Introducing my new blog at Inside Higher Ed.
Challenge and Tech Support: Student Affairs practitioners and Tech Support departments…please let us be admins.
Do you YouTube? Don’t forget to add captions: Would you build a new building without an elevator? Nope… Then why would you ever create videos without captions?
George Orwell, Web Stats, and Your Site Visitors: Student Affairs + Web Stats….Nerdvana :-)
Blogging Student Affairs and Technology
I am thrilled to announce that I’m going to be blogging about Student Affairs and Technology for Inside Higher Ed (IHE). As an avid reader of IHE, I am very excited to join the IHE blogging team. I think that my posts on student affairs + technology will complement Joshua Kim’s blog on Technology and Learning.
Recently, I held a contest via Twitter to name my new blog. The incentive — a $100 Amazon gift card — courtesy of Inside Higher Ed. Several folks came up with interesting/creative blog names. I think the #SAChat Community provided the majority of ideas. Student Affairs folks are uber creative.
Here are my 3 favorite submissions:
- Jeff Jackson: The Stoller Strikes Back, Return of the Blogosphere, Student Affairs….I am Your Blogger
- Zack Ford: Challenge and Tech Support
- ACUHO-I (sent via DM): Binary Code of Conduct
Choosing a winner from these 3 has been extremely challenging. Star Wars references, Sanford, and an entire Association…how cool is that?!! After more than a week of deliberate (intentional ;-) ) deliberating I have decided that the winner of the gift card is:
Zack Ford’s submission made me laugh. It’s subtle….and I love subtlety. The obvious nod / homage to Nevitt Sanford warms the heart. Challenge and Support is one of my all-time favorite, and oft-used, student development theories.
It should be noted that Julie Larsen was correct…the official name of my new blog is going to be: Student Affairs and Technology. The name needed to be something that would be simple enough that any IHE reader would know exactly what it was about. The blog also needed to be search engine friendly…”Students Affairs + Technology” is simple and searchable.
Stay tuned for my first official post on Inside Higher Ed!
Honorable mention:
Julie P-Kirchmeier: Stoller: Resistance is Futile
Niki Rudolph: Epic Stoller
Justine Carpenter: Tech Tips for SAPs
Christopher Conzen: The Stoller Coaster
Student Affairs + Jobs + RSS + Email
Conducting a successful student affairs job search requires patience, networking, and technology. That’s right, technology. One particular tech tool that is extremely useful for conducting a search is RSS. Job postings delivered to your feed reader via RSS means that new job announcements are efficiently delivered to your virtual doorstep.
If you aren’t familiar with using RSS, please watch this video for more information:
If you need an RSS feed reader, I would highly recommend using Google Reader:
There are a few student affairs websites that offer job postings via RSS feeds, including:
Remember to look for the RSS symbol – 
– or for a link to RSS data. Ideally, all student affairs job sites will offer RSS feeds in the near future as this makes conducting a search ultra-convenient.
An alternative to RSS feeds for job postings is the “Email Alert.” Several sites offer email alerts based on a variety of search queries. ACPA, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Placement Exchange, and the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium all offer student affairs job search updates via email alerts.
In addition to the RSS and Email solutions mentioned above, most student affairs associations / higher education news sites offer job listings on their websites. Here are direct links to the student affairs job listings for the following associations / resource sites.
Student Affairs jobs via professional associations:
- American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO)
- American College Personnel Association (ACPA)
- Association of College Unions International (ACUI)
- Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA)
- Consortium of Higher Education Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Professionals
- National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)
- National Academic Advising Association (NACADA)
- National Association of College Auxiliary Services (NACAS)
- National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)
- NAFSA: Association of International Educators
- National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA)
- The Placement Exchange (NASPA, ACUHO-I, NACA, NODA, ASCA and AFA)
Student Affairs jobs via higher education publications / job sites:
Academic Advising & Social Media
NACADA Tech in Advising Recommendations for Use of Online Social Communication in Academic Advising
The purpose of these recommendations is to provide guidance to Academic Advisors contemplating the inclusion of on-line social communication tools in their personal or programmatic advising design.
For the purposes of this discussion, Online Social Communications will be understood as externally hosted Web environments, sometimes referred to as Social Media Environments, in which information is aggregated, presented and shared. Further, where functionality exist, the environments allow you to document and filter connections between individuals, maintain profiles, support multimedia, and facilitate communication with a time shift supporting response at user-defined times. On-Line Social Communication environments include Facebook and other Online Social Networks, Twitter, YouTube, personal blogs and wiki pages. Since Facebook’s introduction in 2004, an ever-increasing number of advisors, student services specialists, academic units and universities have been leveraging the benefits of an on-line presence.
The expanding use of on-line social communication by advisors and advising offices, evidenced by numerous publications and presentations over the past five years, encouraged the NACADA Commission for Technology in Advising to proffer the following recommendations when considering inclusion of Social Communication tools in the delivery of advising information: