Region VII Newsletter August 2021 by ACUI

NEWSLETTER August 2021

JOIN THE FUN ONLINE @acuiregionvii

Updates from our

REGIONAL DIRECTOR

Hola Mi Gente, I am so excited for this issue of the Region VII Newsletter because I think it embodies all the hard work that both the Regional Leadership Team and Conference Planning Teams have been doing. We are heading toward this fall with a plan to be more engaging with our membership and hope you will be pleased with all the effort. I also want to take time out to thank Mike MacStudy for everything he has done for ACUI and Region VII. He has stepped away from the field (and from the Regional Leadership Team) to pursue his dream of being a professional umpire on a different field. Mike has a passion for education and learning and I am so glad to have met him during the Regional Conference at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. We all wish him luck during this journey of his. Which brings me to two quick points. The first being that the time is coming soon to start thinking about volunteering and, quite possibly, joining the Regional Leadership Team. Positions will be posted in a few short months so please be on the lookout. My second point is that we need to do a better job at making sure that we remember why we do student union and activity work. Colleges and Universities are reopening and students are starting to, once again, become the life blood of our work. Let’s not forget that we provide students with the adult learning outside of the classroom they will take with them when they pursue their dreams in the fields of their choice. That has to be exciting. I am ready and I hope you are too. P.S. Congratulations to the Region VII schools that had their Student Unions featured in the latest edition of the ACUI Bulletin: Rutgers University - New Brunswick, University of Delaware, Stony Brook University, and Syracuse University. Extra shout out goes to one of the 2020 Facility Design winners from our region, Sarah Lawrence College!

Anthony Otero, Regional Director, from Rutgers University- New Brunswick.

Updates from the 2021 Region VII

CONFERENCE PLANNING TEAM

Hello Region VII! I am excited to share plans for the Regional Conference. Our team has been hard at work alongside our partners in Region VIII to develop a robust and rewarding conference for all attendees. This two-part learning opportunity will allow you to engage in a virtual conference November 18 and 19, followed by an in person offering December 2-5 in Washington D.C. For those unable to attend in person, there will be virtual offerings December 2-5 as well.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION RATES Virtual Package: $300/Institution (Unlimited Attendees); $75/Individual Includes virtual conference in November and virtual content in December

Virtual Package & In-person: +$175 per person [Institutional virtual rate has been paid]; + $200 per person [For those paying $75 virtual The November experience will be 100% virtual on the fee] Balloon platform. The conference team will facilitate all Includes virtual conference in November and of the offerings members have grown to love about participation at the in-person event in D.C. regional conferences: educational sessions, student & professional tracks, networking, entertainment, and a Please note, there is no “D.C. Only” fee RVIII special PechaKuchas session! When in D.C., members can stay at the Courtyard Washington, D.C./U.S. which is 1-2 miles from main D.C. attractions like the National Mall, museums, and the White House. The conference hotel rate is $109/night plus tax so book soon! Hotel rate is guaranteed until November 10. University of Maryland-College Park is our primary host, with various other institutions being featured for campus spotlights and tours throughout the program. Attendees can expect keynote sessions, panels, networking, group community service, and plenty of time to explore D.C. Those attending this portion virtually will have access to some education sessions, all conference sessions, and some virtual tours. Our planning teams hopes to have registration live soon! Pricing is listed in the chart. In person attendees will be responsible for travel around the city and most of their meals. For the most up-to-date information, please visit your regional website and the conference website. https://www.acui.org/regions/vii/region-vii-conference Stay well and reach out with any questions! Andrea Giachino 2021 Conference Coordinator Andrea.giachino@temple.edu

MEET THE 2021

CONFERENCE PLANNING TEAM Makana Aloha Lariosa Agcaoili Associate Director of Student Engagement Drew University 2021 Volunteer and Member Engagement Coordinator

Tell us a little bit about the role you have on the Conference Planning Team. What will you be doing/planning for the Regional Conference? Along with my colleague Kerrin Lyles, we will be working on coordinating and supporting our wonderful volunteers as well as trying to create an exciting, educational, and compelling conference experience for our members. What are you most looking forward to about the 2021 Regional Conference? I am most looking forward to seeing people in-person and seeing their aloha and joy for each other, our students, and field. Why should regional members plan to attend the 2021 Regional Conference? I have always found conferences a space and area to reflect and disconnect in a way that allows us to pause our automatic response to our work and think creatively and differently. I hope that when people attend the Regional Conference, they will leave with a new found energy and ideas that will help folks feel more connected to their work and thus better support the university experience. If you could give an education session on anything (and we mean anything!), what would it be (and why)? Mo'olelo (storytelling). I have always been passionate about storytelling, and I think that with so much data and student's wanting to share their truths, there is a beautiful opportunity for us to listen, reflect, and act in a way that better serves all of our stakeholders and community members better in a diverse, equitable, just, and inclusive manner. What is one thing you’ve learned from your current job that is a new skill you have, but it wouldn’t make it onto your resume? I have gotten remarkably good at smearing cream cheese on bagels. I would never have thought how difficult it would be to do this. I am definitely not as good as my partner, who was born and raised in New York City, but I can definitely do an adequate job.

Zac Lomas Program Coordinator, Office of Student Involvement Rutgers University - Camden 2021 Education Coordinator

Tell us a little bit about the role you have on the Conference Planning Team. What will you be doing/planning for the Regional Conference? My role is focused on the curation of educational sessions for the conference, so I worked with my counterpart from Region VIII to create the educational session submission process questions and will be reviewing those to create a diverse array of learning opportunities for our attendees that touch on the strategic guideposts of the Association, as well as the unique knowledge areas of our members! However, the educational offerings are only as good as you make them, so please, submit to present an educational session today! And, if you've never presented before and have any questions about the submission process or what it's like to present feel free to reach out to me with any questions and I'm more than happy to guide you along the way. What are you most looking forward to about the 2021 Regional Conference? I'm most looking forward to connecting and re-connecting with colleagues in the region, as well as our new partners in Region VIII! The community aspect of ACUI is so important to me and I cannot wait to embrace that in-person once again! Why should regional members plan to attend the 2021 Regional Conference? As a young professional, ACUI regional conferences have been so instrumental in my own professional growth, connecting with new colleagues, learning new skills, and even meeting the person who would become my future supervisor. From a career perspective, it's a no-brainer to attend the regional conference and develop in the field, but if I'm being honest, it's also a ton of fun! Every year I leave the conference feeling excited and rejuvenated about the work that I do, as well as thankful to be surrounded by such supportive and kind colleagues. If you could give an education session on anything (and we mean anything!), what would it be (and why)? If I could give an educational session on any topic it would probably be title: "An Introduction to Buffalo, NY Style Cuisine" where I would educate folks on all of the delicious, yet unhealthy delicacies from hometown, including but not limited to Chicken Wings, Buffalo Style Pizza, Beef on Weck, Loganberry, Chicken Finger Subs, and the list goes on. What is one thing you’ve learned from your current job that is a new skill you have, but it wouldn’t make it onto your resume? It would probably have to be editing TikToks, although I could technically just put that as video editing and nobody would bat an eye.

SUBMIT AN EDUCATION SESSION PROPOSAL This year, we are focusing our educational sessions around the following 3 topic areas:

Building CommUNITY through Social Justice Topics may include: - Dismantling systems of oppression, power, and privilege - Impact of world events on identity-based communities - Global citizenship in the virtual environment - Impact of social movements on campuses: BLM, #StopAAPIHate, #HateisaVirus - Important cultural traditions and artifacts present and important to campus and local communities

Event Management in the era of ambiguity Topics may include: - Accessibility of services & events (captioning, hybrid, hyflex models,etc.) - Managing dual “first-year” classes: creating a froshmore experience - Venue-specific risk, safety, and emergency policies and procedures - Contract creation, review, negotiation and execution, and best practices - Maintaining quality student experiences/events with budget restrictions

Embedding Assessment/Evaluation/Research into campus culture Topics: - Using assessment to maximize budget management - Programming and how assessment and evaluation can drive it - Specific language, software, and correct use for Assessment/Evaluation/Research - Enhancing operations in your student union through data collection - Instilling assessment/evaluation/research into the student experience (in-house & nationally-driven survey)

Educational Sessions Proposals are being accepted through August 30th https://acuiforms.wufoo.com/forms/p10hkg0i1pe7vws/

FOLLOWING AND A STORY: HOW TO USE INSTAGRAM TO BETTER ENGAGE WITH STUDENTS

Megan Gasztonyi The Pennsylvania State University

Over the past sixteen months, social media has played an even more integral role in communicating with students about opportunities on campus. Without the potential chance encounters with posters and fliers, the Office of Student Activities at Penn State University, University Park, has focused more intentionally on building two things when it comes to Instagram: a following and a story. Since August 2020, our Instagram account’s (@pennstatestudentactivities) following has grown by 150%, creating more opportunities to connect with more students about events. As we move to more in-person experiences, crafting a story for our audience will continue our success. Many of the strategies we’ve used may help your team build a following and a story on your campus.

Instagram Keywords Posts Feed

Story

Highlights

Images, videos, or sets of images and videos uploaded to the account that are permanent. A collection of posts that remain on the account. Can also refer to this as the viewing experience as someone is scrolling through Instagram on their homepage. Images or videos that are posted to a separate stream that are temporary and offer interactive elements. When sharing another account’s post, it will go to the Story. To notify the other account that their post has been shared, their account must be tagged. Groupings of Stories saved into collections that can be reviewed later. This appears above the feed on an account

Building a following Before marketing an event, you need to have someone to market to--building a following is integral! One excellent way to do this, though a little time consuming, is to spend time on Instagram interacting with different accounts. Follow relevant campus partners, student organizations, and other popular university and community accounts. Then, build a relationship with these accounts. Throughout the year, the Office of Student Activities takes different approaches to engaging with social media partners. In the summer and early in the semester, we will interact with accounts first-year, transfer, or new-tocampus students might follow. Specifically, we will comment on or share posts from Student Transition and Orientation Programs, Summer Session, Penn State, Residential Life, Penn State Football, etc. Commenting on posts boosts engagement for the social media partners, but it also puts your account’s name somewhere students may see!

The screenshot here shows a post from Penn State Summer Session’s recent ice skating event, where the Office of Student Activities account has commented. After this comment, our account received a wave of followers! As we transition into the semester, both Fall and Spring, we move to interact more intentionally with student organizations. The Office of Student Activities manages the involvement fair, which is a great time to shift with the needs of our audience. As students are more settled on campus and looking to get involved, our Instagram account can guide them to meet new organizations and involvement opportunities, while gaining followers. This looks like commenting on student organizations’ posts and sharing events and involvement opportunities for students. After building a relationship, student organizations will occasionally ask for posts to be shared to our Instagram Story, and in turn share events and programs from our Instagram feed to their Stories. Included here is a screenshot of a direct message with Penn State Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG). The Office of Student Activities recently shared a recruitment post--you’ll notice that the Story has tagged CCSG’s account rather than just sharing only the post. Tagging a social media partner will send a notification to their account, where just directly sharing a post will not! We’ve also been careful to make sure the student organization knows they’re welcome to reach out to us to share more information about their organization. We take a similar approach to working with campus partners in the social media space-- we love sharing any events or involvement opportunities that might interest our audience. This strategy is especially important mid-semester, where students are looking for events to attend. Again, we will intentionally comment on posts and share them to our Story, with the goal of centering our account as a hub of information for getting involved on campus! As we’re building our following, it’s important to keep in mind that your audience wants content too-- that’s where creating your own story comes in.

Creating a story The Office of Student Activities wants to curate a “story of student involvement” at Penn State-- for this, we are working towards developing a feed that is high quality, cohesive, and varied, specifically sharing content that students want from our office. In the Spring of 2021, we conducted an informal survey using our Stories, and learned that the primary reason our audience follows our account is for information to get involved on campus and learn about upcoming events. I’ll guide you through how we’re creating a “story of student involvement” using promotion for an event. Here, we see a picture with quick information about a pot-yourown succulent event. The photograph of a student experience is the main focus of the post. The information someone would need to go to this event is clear and easy to read. On the bottom we have featured the logo for our office. This helps students tie this event to our office, recognizing that this is a University event from a University account. There is not a ton of information on what is happening at this event in this first post, which is where the next image comes in. If you use Instagram, you may have noticed when scrolling through the feed on your homepage, that the algorithm for the app will show you the same post twice when there are multiple images combined into one post-- including two images in one post increases the chances students will see it. If someone isn’t drawn to the first image, they may be drawn to this second one when scrolling through Instagram again later. If they are drawn in, they should be interested in getting more info-- this second image would be used in the same post to provide more specific details about the event. This strategy for promoting events is especially helpful for recurring events, or events with complicated information that needs to be in the post. When a post shows up on your account’s feed, only the first image is shown. So, if your office hosts a weekly event, you can avoid having a repetitive or stale look on your account’s feed that can come from posting the same image over and over. You can use that same image as the second in a set, while using a photograph as the first. Tying this back to creating a “story of student involvement” using social media, when looking at a feed, the student involvement experience is highlighted. Many students learn about events from our office on Instagram Stories, which is why we will often create promotional materials designed specifically for that format. Here, we have similar elements to the post, with quick information about the event. This post was originally animated, with the information about the location and time of the event zooming in, which can be eye catching for people as they scroll through Stories. We shared this around the time we announced the DIY Succulent event.

Closer to the event itself, we wanted to create a bit more interest. One of the ways we did this was to create a more engaging Story for students to interact with. Instagram offers interactive “stickers” that can be added to a Story when posting, including quizzes, questions, polls, and more. For this event, our staff created an interactive quiz, where students could answer a few questions about succulents. After the quiz, students were shown more information about the DIY Succulent event-- we just shared the original post to our Story! Stories are a great way to get creative-- our team has created some amazing things: Personality quizzes specific to an event (Which Summer Day of Service Activity Are You?) Information about student employment opportunities using a video clip from an episode of Spongebob (Get a Job!) A summary of the Office of Student Activities work with students from the semester (Student Activities Wrapped)

Instagram Stories provides your team the opportunity to show a little personality and create more of a narrative for that story your account is telling. As we move towards more in-person experiences, Stories is also a great place to post videos of your events and programs as they’re happening, which can provide some context for students interested in attending your events! Furthermore, Stories can be saved to your account’s Highlights-- which immortalizes them (for as long as you’d like) for students to refer back to throughout the semester. The Office of Student Activities curates current, relevant Highlights of our Stories in a few categories, most often Events, Student Orgs, and Workshops. Keeping these up to date (no events from 50 weeks ago!) contributes to our goal of making ourselves a hub of involvement opportunities on campus.

This is just a quick overview of some of the ways the Office of Student Activities has built a following and is starting to craft a “story of student involvement” at Penn State, University Park. Our strategy is to intentionally interact with accounts throughout the year, and build relationships with social media partners, while simultaneously centering student experiences on campus as part of our social media story. I hope this is helpful for you and your team as we move back to campus! Also - follow us on Instagram @PennStateStudentActivities! Megan Gasztonyi (she/her) Program Coordinator, Office of Student Activities The Pennsylvania State University

Mark your calendar for

UPCOMING EVENTS ACUI has a wide variety of FREE online learning opportunities available to members. Visit www.acui.org/events and www.acui.org/onlinelearning for details.

ACUI Together August 17, Noon Eastern The Nuts and Bolts of Alternative Breaks August 18, 3 p.m. Eastern CliftonStrengths as a Pathway Toward Celebrating Difference September 14, 2 p.m. Eastern All About Retirement or Is Retirement on Your Horizon? (Part 1) September 30, 4 p.m. Eastern All About Retirement or Is Retirement on Your Horizon? (Part 2) October 14, 4 p.m. Eastern Supporting Students Through Relationship Formation and Maintenance November 17, 2 p.m.

Who's Innovating in Region VII

PROGRAMMING “FIRSTS” IN THE PANDEMIC CARA WHITE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE

As many of us experienced during the past year, COVID-19 has presented a lot of unprecedented circumstances and many “firsts” for those of us in Higher Education. In most cases, many of us in the event planning world have had to halt traditional programming or find ways to pivot or adapt. For some, this may have been intimidating to navigate uncharted waters; however, for others it presented an opportunity to expand upon creativity and seek innovative solutions. At the University of Delaware, we seized the opportunity to make the best of these circumstances while working within limitations. Our goal was to provide students with opportunities to engage socially and foster a sense of belonging to the university. During the time, we transitioned many of our programs from virtual to hybrid to in person. Though the transition for most of our programs ended up being pretty seamless, there were some that required additional approvals and adjustments. As we reflected on the programs we had executed for the year, our intention was to tailor our large scale traditional programs in the same manner. For the spring, that included our Annual Senior Fling concert.

The Senior Fling concert is hosted annually by the University of Delaware’s Programming Board, (the Crew), with direct advisement from the Student Involvement office. Traditionally this event is a celebration for graduating seniors, but is open to the greater UD community. It takes place on a popular campus area called the North Green, which is an outdoor lawn centered between residence halls. The event often features a throwback artist as the headliner, novelties, activities, and giveaways related to the theme. Prior to the execution of this event, we were planning to keep the concert on the North Green, limit only to seniors to attend in person, and stream to all other students. In the months leading up to the date, we piloted a series of outdoor programs to see how we could work within the limitations of COVID19 protocols. In doing so, we found that we really would not feasibly get the outcome we’d hope for with the event being on the North Green. So we decided to do something we’d never done before, host the concert in the football stadium!

Transitioning the concert to the stadium presented many opportunities for us. We had an increase in space capacity which allowed for the concert and all of the activities to take place. We planned to use the stadium for the actual performance, and the parking lot for all of the activities and giveaway stations. What was great for us, was our existing relationship with our athletic partners who worked with us to see the event come to fruition. In addition, we had to get approval from the University’s Health Advisory Committee (HAC), made up of campus administrators from the President and Deans to local health officials. After presenting to the HAC, we also had to submit a proposal to the State of Delaware outlining the manner in which we intended to execute the program and the safety mitigation plan. This document was 13 pages long and detailed every aspect of the event. Three weeks prior to the event date, we got our approval. On May 14, we hosted the first ever concert in the Stadium featuring duo Aly & Aj.. The event was free to all students, reaching our in person capacity of 1,000 and streaming to those who were remote or unable to attend in person. While the semester was full of several changes and many challenges, we were happy to pull off a “first” despite the circumstance. We learned a lot throughout the whole experience, and are now looking forward to other ways to creatively work within limitations to create new opportunities!

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TONY DOODY

STUDENT ORGANIZATION ADVISORS: WE NEED THEM, WE APPRECIATE THEM, BUT HOW DO WE RETAIN THEM? COURTNEY CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE COUNTY

The initial months of the pandemic caused people to turn inward in many regards. For the first time it felt like there was a space to stop, reflect, and ask questions about the work we do, how we show up, and where we want to be moving forward with ample time to contemplate along the way and have serious conversations about change. This showed up directly for us when thinking about the connection between support structures offered to student organization advisors at UMBC. In my three years at UMBC I have come to learn that there is no “one size fits all” approach to how student organization advisors show up to support our clubs on campus. We have advisors who are directly hands-on and have been working with the same student group for 10+ years, advisors who check in periodically, and some and some who are much more hands off. With varying approaches to advising and engagement, I was curious to learn if some of the challenges and questions I was experiencing were common amongst some of my fellow University System of Maryland peer institutions and aspirational peer schools. I decided to interview several of them and posed the following questions: What are the basic requirements for an individual to be a student organization advisor? Are clubs required to find their own advisor if one leaves? Do they get assigned to a different advisor? Are there mandatory trainings the advisors must do each year? What is your staff’s relationship like with student org advisors? What does engagement look like from advisors? Does their involvement mimic that of the student group and what they want out of the relationship? What does attendance look like for programs that are geared toward advisors? Do you think your current structure for advisor support is going well? Is there anything you would change?

Creating Balance There was a general consensus for not requiring any type of annual training or check-in for advisors. This stems from an overall feeling that many advisors would no longer be interested due to the demands they already feel from their primary roles on campus. However, there was also an agreement that there is a need for some type of accountability to keep advisors in the loop on a more regular basis. Monthly newsletters, roundtables, and appreciation lunches only reach so many advisors. Topics such as risk management, liability, and travel accommodations for student organizations warrant a greater discussion for finding a better meeting ground to disseminate this information to advisors. Moving forward the question that continues to stick with me is “how do we balance the need to get important information to our advisors while not burning them out?”. As we navigate student life and community engagement when returning to campus this fall, I think the awareness of these questions and the shared experiences from fellow institutions are topics to continue having conversations about. Student organization advisors are an asset to the involvement of our students outside of the classroom and maintaining relationships with them should be an ongoing priority. How student affairs professionals continue to program, communicate, and include advisors in the decision making processes and support structures of student organizations is critical for student well-being overall. Courtney Campbell (she/her/hers) Coordinator for Student Organization Development University of Maryland Baltimore County

Are you doing innovative things for your campus? Share with Region VII by emailing Emily Kofman at ekofman@wcupa.edu to be featured in the next newsletter!

Musings from Region VII's

INCLUSIVITY

COORDINATOR Not So Random Thoughts! Hello All!! As we slowly return back to campus, here are a few monthly celebrations and holidays we can recognize and celebrate as we go back to a sense of new normalcy. It is always good to remember and celebrate different people even if we are in person, virtual or hybrid.

Monthly Celebrations September 15th- October 15th- Hispanic Heritage Month October- LGBT History Month October- National Disability Employment Heritage Month November- American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

Holidays September 6th- Rosh Hashanah September 15th - Yom Kippur September 24th- Native American Day October 7th- 15th- Navratri October- 11th - Indigenous Peoples Day October 11th - National Coming Out Day November 1st & 2nd- Dia De Los Muertos November 4th - Diwali November 11th- Veterans Day November 28th- December 6th- Hanukkah December 25th- Christmas December 26th- January 1st - Kwanza

Random Thoughts! The pandemic has forever changed our outlook on student unions and the services we provide. As we return back to some sense of our new normalcy, even if that is a slow or quick transition, we should take the time to look at what practices worked for students and what did not. Sometimes we are quick to try to return back to the status quo, but forget some of our disadvantaged students who may struggle with that transition. Providing more hybrid events to keep students more engaged and feel a part of our campus is one thing, but looking more in depth and assessing individual populations and how the pandemic affected them can provide more details on how to support our student populations better. What we have faced in our country and the world was not normal. It is our job, as student union professionals, to rewrite our new normal. Looking at the events above, and finding new and innovative ways to execute them, is a good start.

Sincerely, Jay Patel Inclusivity Coordinator Pateljay@rowan.edu

Who's Innovating in Region VII

GRATITUDE TREE ELIZABETH HLADCZUK SUNY BUFFALO In January of 2020, at Divisional retreats, the book, When When Likes Likes Aren’t Aren’t Enough Enough(2018) by Dr. Tim Bono was discussed. Directors had conversations about happiness and gratitude and ways for students to both express and practice lessons learned from the book.The idea of soliciting “what are you grateful for?” and showcasing responses came about. The Student Union, specifically, was identified as a key location. The idea of a visual was evident. In December of 2020, Maria Wallace, director of Student Unions, charged her team with coming up with a location within our building for the community to showcase gratitude. The idea that grew in our minds was a gratitude tree. The team brainstormed a couple of locations within the Student Union on North Campus for our tree. Highly visible, yet not lost in a post-pandemic busy building. A location that would allow people to stop, look, reflect and add. We decided to plant our tree on the second floor of our building near our office and adjacent to eating areas. This location can actually be seen from all three floors in our building. The wall was freshly painted so it was a blank canvas. With our location chosen, we needed a design. We wanted the design to be artistic yet realistic. We wanted some leaves to be permanently on the tree so when we “reset” and take leaves down it would always look full. We are very pleased with our final design.

For our community, the process for adding to the Gratitude Tree is simple - come to our office, obtain a leaf, fill it out and then turn it in. We have an online form that asks some demographic information. Embedded in this form is the option to tag someone they are grateful for via email. A message will then be sent to the email provided, stating that someone has expressed gratitude towards them, and invite them to look for the message on our tree. Those unable to travel to campus may also use this form to submit a leaf. Leaves are added weekly on “Thankful Thursdays” and we plan to display them for a semester. The tree was installed in mid-June and hidden behind pipe and drape. We are set to unveil our Gratitude Tree at the start of the Fall 2021 semester. The gratitude tree adds an aesthetically pleasing and colorful element to the Student Union. Our hopes are it will inspire others and encourage reflection of gratitude and happiness. As leaves are added throughout the semester, our campus community will watch our tree grow. As we return to campus after navigating through a pandemic, what better time to be grateful? Student Unions Gratitude Tree Team: John Kisker, assistant director Don Erb, sustainable operations Elizabeth Hladczuk, reservations coordinator

Hey Region VII! Is this article making you feel inspired? Consider sending a note of gratitude to those around you! A colleague you haven't seen in a while, a mentor who has inspired you during your career, or maybe to a student who you are excited to work with this year!

The Rutgers Esports Network

OFFERING EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES IN ESPORTS ENTERTAINMENT TO CRAFT AUTHENTIC VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING I have the pleasure of serving as the Esports Center Director at Rutgers University - New Brunswick. When I joined Rutgers in December of 2019, we were faced with a short timeline; just a few months to outfit and open the Esports Center before the end of the 2020 school year. The Rutgers Esports Center is a 2,624 square foot full-service gaming center that has 60 high performance gaming computers and 10 consoles supporting casual and competitive video gaming as well as virtual reality. Our mission is simple: “We believe that students are best suited to develop and grow when they are given the opportunity to learn through the lens of their passions. We aim to improve the student experience, enhance academic learning opportunities, and create an area of distinction for the University through creating a seamlessly hybridized physical & digital home in which to foster the growth of the Rutgers gaming community.” This mission is incredibly important to me because of my own experiences with how little visibility student gamers and their online communities at times receive on a college campus. When a student participates in most other extracurricular activities in their college career; they need a place to participate. When students are playing basketball you will see them on the courts and those students will see others who share their love of sports. When a student plays a competitive video game, they can easily play online from the comfort of their dorm. Most multiplayer esports games have matchmaking systems where a student can find a whole team of other players to practice with and against. Unfortunately, these teammates can be anywhere in the world when a classmate might be playing the very same game just down the hall and never connect through this online forum. As a result, all the methods that other extracurricular activities increase a sense of belongingness, school spirit, and campus social capital are at risk of being lost when a student’s passion is online gaming. It can be isolating and we know how harmful isolation can be to a student’s well-being and, consequently, their development and retention. In March of 2020 I was beyond excited to be just a few weeks away from opening the doors of the Esports Center and creating a physical home for the Rutgers gaming community, but something unexpected happened. For the first time in higher education history, all other campus programming and events became just as virtual as online gaming has always been due to the safety restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Esports Center would not be opening until Fall of 2021 providing there are no new unforeseen circumstances.

This meant that it was time to focus on the hybridization of the physical home with the digital home in accordance with our mission; a daunting task that most of us faced in some way during remote learning, but one that esports are uniquely well suited for. Some of the largest and most engaged online communities exist around particular esports teams or video game content creators. In recognition of this fact, the groundwork had already been laid for a cross discipline team of student employees that I like to call the Rutgers Esports Network. Before the start of collegiate esports, I worked as a professional esports commentator, YouTuber, and Twitch.tv live streamer and these experiences made me keenly aware that these massive online communities were not created by the teams of professionals from the multi-million dollar entertainment companies who engage them now. They were started by young people just like our students who chose to forgo a paycheck in order to volunteer at events and on broadcasts to create these digital experiences that their community would be passionate about. These are the origins of the booming entertainment industry that esports has become and if we wanted to see the same growth in online engagement for the Rutgers esports community I felt we needed to replicate the authenticity of the programming that led to that growth. In order to do this, we diversified the responsibilities of our facility manager student assistantships. We created manager positions that would oversee facility operations, but gave each position its own specialized responsibilities for creating esports events and programming for the Rutgers gaming community with titles specific to each unique position . These positions were specialized around 5 verticals: Events, Broadcasting, Community, Content, and Technology. It was my intent to use these 5 positions to create a cycle of authentic esports activations within our facility. Our programming would be created by students for students, but with organizational and mentorship support from staff that would be necessary to leapfrog the quality of the programming to a level equivalent to what we see from popular esports communities. The initial intent was to get students excited to walk through our doors and participate, but these professional esports communities primarily operate online and we could too.We were very fortunate to be able to still hire 4 of these 5 positions during the pandemic.

Our production cycle was simple. Our Event Manager coordinated with club, university, and local community partners to plan competitions and other gaming events; referring to the student gaming community for experience design, writing rulesets, managing event volunteers, and coordinating the event calendar with the other managers. Our Broadcast Manager had similar responsibilities, but for live streaming; selecting events from the calendar to highlight with livestream broadcasting, designing run-of-show’s, training students interested in commentating or production, and relaying broadcasting needs to the other managers. Our Community Manager was able to use our programming calendar to create a thorough social media schedule, writing social media posts with an authentic student-gamer voice, promoting all of the activity going on virtually, and relaying graphic asset needs to our Content Manager. The Content Manager then was able to quickly turnaround assets to our Content and Broadcasting teams; by overseeing requests to our fantastic marketing team, offering up volunteer opportunities to student-creators within our gaming communities, or creating the assets themselves; even editing video highlights and other content for YouTube. I am extremely excited to bring on our Technology Manager this upcoming year to help create specialized applications and bots to allow the Esports Center to better execute its programming. It was extremely humbling to oversee this highly motivated, cross-discipline team and I’m proud to say the resulting growth was an unmitigated success. Since onboarding our managers, the Esports Center has had the opportunity to co-host events with our Office of Summer and Winter Sessions, the New Jersey Special Olympics, and 8 student organizations; both gaming-related and otherwise. Our office was able to plan and execute 2-3 gaming events per month for the 2021 school year; each with an average of 87 unique student participants. Our broadcasting allowed even more students to engage even if they didn’t want to play. In the 2021 school year we were able to stream 366 hours of gaming content averaging 783 unique viewers per month. Our social media followings on most platforms went from below 80 to between 1-3 thousand. After a chaotic year of isolation and remote work, a couple of our managers are now moving on to professional positions in their specialization within the esports industry thanks to the portfolio and resume they’ve been able to build through these positions. Without ever seeing our facility, thousands of students are familiar with the Esports Center’s brand and eager to get inside this Fall. In addition, thanks to the hybridized engagement strategy we’ve been able to develop: every student who can’t come into our facility will still be able to participate, engage, and feel like they belong. The groundswell of virtual interest we’ve cultivated has allowed us to begin conversations with corporate sponsors and donors around supporting our mission before ever opening our doors. The lessons I’ve learned from this experience are ones I think most of us know, but that we rarely think of in the context of video games. Create activations like an esports center for your institution's gaming community and you’ll validate your student-gamers as campus community members. Invite student-gamers to help the institution create programming for themselves and you’ll galvanize them. Then, when you offer those student-centric activations to the greater community you can start creating evangelists on behalf of your institution's services and, I believe, forge a new legacy of school spirit and belongingness for the campus gaming community for decades to come.

Region VII Member Highlights

SIDE HUSTLES Check out some of our very talented colleagues around Region VII to see what they are up to! In this edition of our newsletter, we are featuring side hustles! The work folks do outside their jobs in Higher Education.

Kim Celano, Temple University KC Bakes @KCbakes kcbakes@hotmail.com Celebrating our 10th year in business, KC Bakes offers premium, solid wood display stands for cake pops & other treats on sticks. We’ve recently created stands to display dipped pretzel rods as well! From hobby bakers to professional kitchens, we are forever in awe of the beautiful confections our customers create around the world.

Cara White, University of Delaware Sherman Nellie Productions IG: @_sherman_nellie www.shermannellie.com SNP specializes in video production, marketing and custom creations. Our most popular specialty is custom creations. We specialize in custom greeting cards for any occasion and custom flashcards for early learners! Check us out today, Region VII Friends can receive 7% off total purchase, use discount count code, ACUIVII

Melissia Schmidt, University of Rochester MindSet Nutrition Coaching @mindsetnutritioncoach mindsetnutritioncoaching@gmail.com New Habits + Personalized Nutrition + MindSet Mastery = a one size fits one lifestyle and nutrition blueprint for lasting change! As a certified nutrition coach, and Spinning and TRX Instructor, I help busy professional women 35+ change their bodies, shift their mindset, have more energy and confidence, & uncover potential all without restrictive diets or living in the gym. As a busy professional woman approaching the “Big 5-0”, I am just like you. I know first-hand how hard self-care is when you’re trying to balance the stress of life, family, and a demanding career, but I'm here to help you get in the best shape of your life, and give you back control over your health and wellness, even when life gets crazy. Stop struggling on your own. Stop wasting time and money on fads, gimmicks, supplements, and detoxes. Just ditch the diet culture and mentality society is selling. Instead, let’s work together as a team, 1:1. Let’s develop your custom habit and evidence based nutrition plan to help you eat, move, feel, sleep, and live better, all in a way that works for your unique body and your unique life, with all the support and accountability you need every step of the way. Let’s finally get you the lasting results you never thought possible. https://www.facebook.com/MindSetNutritionCoaching https://procoach.app/mindsetnutrition

Emily Kofman, West Chester University of Pennsylvania Emily Kofman Bakes @EmilyKofmanBakes An avid baker with years of experience as both a professional and home baker, Emily offers interactive virtual classes for those wanting to learn how to bake! Classes can be small intimate groups for family and friends or larger college events!

Casey Coleman, Montclair State University What started out as a simple way to be part of one friends wedding has blossomed into something even more special! Wedding Officiating has become a unique and fun side hustle that allows me the ability to put a lot of skills to work. It’s a lot of fun to get to know a couple and help them put together their perfect ceremony.

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REGION VII

ANNOUNCEMENTS 2021 Scholarship Applications Open! 2021 scholarship applications from Region VII are currently open! Apply today for a scholarship to help fund the registration fee of any ACUI-affiliated program or the travel to an ACUI-affiliated program. Applications can be found online at https://www.acui.org/regions/vii/regional-scholarships.

Thinking about joining the Regional Leadership Team? Region VII is excited to start searching for the newest members for the Regional Leadership Starting in late October. More information will be released in the coming months about open positions and the recruitment process!

ACUI Glossary We understand that sometimes folks in ACUI use acronyms or terms that not all members are familiar with. While we try our hardest to avoid this, you still may hear these terms and phrases and not be sure what they mean. To help everyone stay in-the-know, here is a glossary of commonly used ACUI acronyms or terms that you may hear in the future. ACUI-The abbreviation for Association of College Unions International Annual Conference- Association-wide meeting held each year Board of Trustees- Volunteers that work on determining and advancing strategic directions, governing over long-term goals, representing the association to other members, and setting the tone for member experiences. The Bulletin- ACUI's online member magazine. CAS-Council for the Advancement of Standards CO-Central Office Community of Practice- A term referring to networks of members that share a common interest. CPT-Conference Planning Team (team planning Regional Conferences) or could refer to Conference Program Team (team planning Annual Conferences) CUPSI-The abbreviation for College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational ERF-Education and Research Fund ILEAD®-Institute for Leadership Education and Development. I-LEAD® is ACUI's premier student program, designed to emphasize the key concept areas of leadership, community development, and change. IPDS-IPDS: New Professionals Orientation is an introduction to the profession that offers ample idea sharing, discussion of theory and skills, and opportunities to network. RD- Regional Director. Regional directors serve as the chief administrator of their region, representing regional activities to other ACUI leaders and members. Region VII- ACUI is broken down into eight separate regions that covers the globe. Region VII is made up of Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Quebec. RLT-Regional Leadership Team VDT- Volunteer Development Team

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REGION VII'S

Takeover our Story! We want to showcase your work in union or activities in action! Email Dawn Savage at savaged@umd.edu for the opportunity to takeover our Instagram account for a day or two. This is a great way to highlight unique staffing practices, fun events, or building improvements. We're open to whatever! Our most recent takeover was from Penn State! Viewers were able to follow along for a tour of new art exhibits in the HUB-Robeson Student Center!