Novemberpulse

THE PULSE 


THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ONTARIO ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY HOUSING OFFICERS November 2017

Board of Directors PRESIDENT

CONFERENCE DIRECTOR

Amanda Ziegler

Kristin Lennan

Brock University aziegler@brocku.ca

University of Guelph lennank@uoguelph.ca

PRESIDENT-ELECT / FINANCE DIRECTOR

CORPORATE PARTNER RELATIONS DIRECTOR

Ian Crookshank

Jessica Nayda

Ryerson University ian.crookshank@ryerson. ca

University of Guelph jnayda@uoguelph.ca

PAST PRESIDENT

SENIOR-LEVEL MEMBER AT LARGE

Daryl Nauman York University dnauman@yorku.ca

Valerie Bruce

COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

MEMBER AT LARGE

Kristina Bartold

Wilfrid Laurier University cwebb@wlu.ca

St. Jerome's University kbartold@uwaterloo.ca

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Andrew Natale Brock University anatale@brocku.ca

Ryerson University vbruce@ryerson.ca

Carley Webb

MEMBER AT LARGE

Jennifer Tabar University of Waterloo jtabar@uwaterloo.ca

MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR

ASSOCIATION MANAGER

Nathan Riley

OACUHO info@oacuho.com

Queens University nathan.riley@queensu.ca

Carol Ford

THE OACUHO PULSE September Edition

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Balance – what a lo-y goal! I applaud our Communica9ons commi;ee and various contributors for taking on this challenging topic. Given the o-en reac9ve nature of our work, achieving balance can some9mes seem as difficult as the pose being executed in the photo above. In my experience, balance is almost always a ma;er of perspec9ve. Usually, as you scale up from the hour, to the day, to the week and so on, you are more able to find that the aspects of your life are more in balance.

Increasingly, it seems we are trying to find ways to bring that balance back down the scale and have a more balanced week, day and even hour (e.g. the gentle nudge of my FitBit to move). I think this is likely a good thing - just as long as the gentle nudges and the inevitable unbalanced hours are not contribu9ng to more stress.

That being said, this message would be unbalanced if I did not take the opportunity to extend a big thank you to our colleagues at University of Toronto Mississauga for hos9ng our most recent full day Board of Directors mee9ng and a wonderful Fall Business Mee9ng. As always, it was a great opportunity to catch up, learn and move forward the important business of our associa9on.

Amanda

Ziegler

Manager, Residence Life OACUHO President Brock University

“In my experience, balance is almost always a matter of perspective”

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in house

RESEARCH

with Research Writer Aman Litt

Work/Life Balance?

Work/life balance...I know we all talk about it, but who is actually successful at it? I have not been very good at this balancing act and it is a really easy thing to preach to others about and completely ignore in your own life. This year has really been my year to assess what I consider a healthy work and life balance and to really evaluate my selfcare rou@ne, or lack thereof.

For this ar@cle, like many of my previous ar@cles, I have ques@ons scaCered throughout it, but this (me I have a challenge for you: grab a piece of paper and pen and answer the ques@ons I pose in this ar@cle, for yourself and only yourself. I know that many of you are already trying to cut out a step by simply answering the ques@ons mentally, but I challenge you to get out of your comfort zone and follow the instruc@ons.

Student affairs seems to breed individuals who love to go above and beyond, even if it is at their own peril.

Student affairs also promotes working long hours because it feels that everyone around you is working long hours, therefore you should be too.

In order to really create a work/life balance in your life, you need to sit down and dedicate some @me to the situa@on. Not ten minutes, but hours, maybe not all in one siIng, but dedicate @me each day to assess how you are doing and where you are not doing well.

Firstly, determine, on average, how many days you actually work. Also, determine how much @me you spend at work not working (chaIng, surfing the net, taking long breaks) and be honest with yourself, you are not submiIng this to your supervisor. Ask yourself how effec@ve you are at work and be honest with yourself if you tend to avoid work you do not like doing or waste @me daily on things that are not a high priority or even work related at all.

Secondly, assess your homelife expecta@ons. Females especially might realize, if they have a family especially, that once they hang up their work coat, they are coming home to another full-@me job, while their partner or family gets to kick their legs up. What are you doing at home? Who do you live with and what are they doing to ensure that the house runs effec@vely? Think about your life to-do list and your work to-do list for tomorrow. Write down everything you plan to accomplish and now add your social or personal goals. How long is that list? Is it a reasonable request of yourself?

Thirdly, what are you ignoring about yourself? When was the last @me you had a good workout session? Is your fridge filled with takeout containers and a wrinkly piece of fruit because you have not gone grocery shopping in weeks? Do you friends even remember what you look like? When was your last social engagement? What was the last thing you did, just for yourself, and did not feel guilty about it and fully enjoyed it?

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he most important part of our day is the @me we fully dedicate to ourselves. What @me have you dedicated today for yourself? GeIng ready for work does not count. I am here to promote a morning rou@ne, where you are the star and not work. Take care of yourself before your work day, social life and unplanned events take over your day, so basically, take care of yourself before 8 a.m (Elrod, 2016). I hope I did not lose half of my readers with that last comment...stay with me and let me walk you through it.

By the @me we get to work, our day has overtaken our mind. There is no way the idea of self care is going to compete with preparing for: our morning mee@ng, the student maCers which need to be addressed before the end of day, the prescrip@on you have to rush and pick up during your lunch hour and the leaky faucet at home you need to repair the moment you get home.

All of these things are important, but they leave liCle @me for us to focus on us, so start focusing on yourself earlier in the day. I challenge you to wake up fiZeen to thirty to thirty minutes earlier than you usually do. I know that many people right now are thinking that that extra sleep is their self care, but hear me out. Try my challenge for a week, wake up a bit earlier and do a few things that you enjoy doing and that help ground you for your day; do not start tackling your to do list, this @me is meant to rejuvenate you for your day.

For example, when I wake up, my first half an hour looks like this: • Get out of bed • Make a pot of coffee and neaten the house (nothing too intense, just loading the dishwasher and puIng away things from the evening)--10 minutes • Once my coffee is ready I sit down and journal--10 minutes

• I visualize my day and look forward to the day I am about to have--5 minutes By the @me I leave for work, I feel happy, posi@ve and am looking forward to mee@ng my day. I am excited about the tasks I will be working on and the colleagues I will be working with.

Now, before you keep reading, think about things that I do not do in that first 25-30 minute segment (i.e. check my phone, look at my work schedule). Think about the things you do immediately aZer waking up and what is beneficial and what might not be beneficial.

Less than a few months ago, my morning rou@ne was not like this; it was much more damaging to myself.

It looked like this: • Wake up and while in bed look over schedule of day on phone (and start to stress about all the things I had to do)--5 minutes • Make a pot of coffee and go through pending emails for work (and feel guilty for not responding to requests sooner than later)--5 minutes • Once my coffee is ready, I would respond to all pending emails and start working on work related items (imposter syndrome would kick in and I would feel that I need to be working harder)--20 minutes • Maybe go for a run, if I had the @me (the whole @me I was running I would be mentally organizing my day or preparing for work)--30 minutes When I was doing this rou@ne, by the @me I leZ for work I had already put so many weights on my shoulder which were not needed. I already started to fear and ins@ll nega@ve thoughts about how I was going to mess up a presenta@on or that the work I submiCed was not sufficient enough and I had not even leZ the house yet! I had already dragged myself through the mud and it was not even 9 a.m.!

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lso, I was not doing that much more work, work was just infiltra@ng every moment of my mind. Thinking

and doing more work does not make you a beCer employee or team mate. Doing your work efficiently and effec@vely is what makes you the best at your job.

Remember that the next @me you tell a colleague that you worked ten hours the other day. Think about what you actually accomplished? Could some of it have been delegated off? Was some of it completely unnecessary?

Also, was it your own fault because you procras@nated all week and wasted @me? Be honest with yourself.

Also, here are a few challenges for you to mull over and try to answer honestly: Are you good at saying no? Do you have clear boundaries and do people respect said boundaries?

Think about the last thing you vented about to your partner, friend or family member. Who or what was it about? What was in your control in the situa@on? What could you have done beCer? I find that the easiest way for me to reflect on my boundaries or my inability to say no family is what I am ven@ng about. Think about what frustrates you or causes you to fall into a nega@ve headspace and start to assess your responsibility for that situa@on occurring and make a clear plan to ensure it will not happen again.

Also, do you suffer from Lone Ranger Syndrome?

Are you good at delega@ng? Are you u@lizing your colleagues and team effec@vely? “The Lone Ranger Syndrome is the belief that we need to do everything ourselves. At work, the Lone Ranger Syndrome is the belief that if we come to work every day, work hard, prove our worth, we will get that promo@on. At home, the Lone Ranger Syndrome is a belief in a false efficiency —if we do everything ourselves it will get done beCer, quicker, faster. The reality is, every Lone Ranger needs a Tonto” (Dufu, 2016).

Think about all the @mes you have felt overwhelmed. What are you doing that is: not that important (i.e. folding your laundry), easily delegated to someone else (your partner, children, friend or colleague), or is not a priority today (try and keep your priori@es for the day to a few to not get overwhelmed.

When I am catching up with a friend, and they talk to me about how busy they are, I now challenge them to assess what that business is. If you are frustrated with the length of your to-do list, do something about it!

You made the list! No one made it for you, so you have to learn to create manageable expecta@ons for yourself.

Also, remember that “...just because you’re beCer at doing something doesn’t mean you doing it is the most produc@ve use of your @me” (Dufu, 2017, p. 94).

I feel like this is a topic I have been speaking about a lot lately and I am glad. I know that this is something which is difficult for me, so I hope that you can learn from the research I have done thus far and start ahead of the game.

The world will not stop if you take something off of any of your lists: work, home, or personal. Nobody is that pivotal to the spinning of the Earth’s axis. By puIng yourself first, you will be beCer at everything else you do and enjoy doing it more.

Now, I challenge you to take this one step further and make crea@ng a balanced work/life schedule a priority for the month of September. Do not start thinking about how September is ‘not doable’ because of all your work commitments, but rather, think about how you are going to carve out the @me. The @me might be u s e d to re a d a go o d b o o k , h e re a re s o m e recommenda@ons from books which have helped me out: • Drop the Ball by Tiffany Dufu • For the individuals who are just too busy to even breath. Every minute of your day is filled, your to-do lists are miles long and you cannot remember the last @me you just relaxed and did absolutely nothing.

• One caveat is that this author is very opinionated and though I do not agree with everything she says, I do see value or can pull value from a lot of it. Also, her vantage point is from a mother with children, but even if you are not in the same point of life, there is a lot to learn from her about making your life more manageable and puIng yourself first.

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• The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod • Have you been trying and trying to be more organized and start your day off on the right foot? I would recommend this book to get your gears going then. Elrod does a good job of presenting digestible days to positively enhance your morning routine and he has an optimistic, cheerful writing style. I found I took bits and pieces from his morning routine, so like any recommendation, take what will make your life better, but it is an easy, quick, beneficial read for all.

• You are a Badass by Jen Sincero • This book is a great book for people struggling with imposter syndrome or motivation to go out and grab what they actually want. This is a great book to make you feel empowered and feel good about yourself and your capabilities. It might also challenge or motivate you to make some dreams your goals and move towards attaining said goals sooner than later.

References: Dufu, T. (2017). Drop the Ball: Achieving more by doing Less. New York, NY: Flatiron Books.

Dufu, T. (2016). Tiffany’s Epiphanies: Do You Suffer from Lone Ranger Syndrome? tiffany dufu. Retrieved from http://tiffanydufu.com/thoughts/2016/10/31/tiffanys-epiphanies-do-you-suffer-from-lon e-ranger-syndrome Elrod, H. (2016). The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform your Life before 8 a.m. San Bernardino, CA: Hal Elrod International, Inc. Sincero, J. (2013). You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press.

November Pulse

Carleton Upper Year Students Being an upper year student in residence is an often overlooked population to be a part of. With so much focus being placed on our first year students who are transitioning for high school, being intentional with the opportunities being provided to our upper year communities has proven to be one of the crucial factors in residence retention.

Sean Park
 Residence Manager Carleton University

Curriculum: After assessing the needs of our students, an Upper Year Curriculum was developed to best achieve our learnings goals as it related to a unique population.

This past year our student staff were provided with door tags that students could fill in upon move in. The upper year door tags had some nuanced differences as to the information shared (instead of hobbies, we asked for favourite Ottawa activities).

Additionally in lieu of a community meeting on move-in day, a catered welcome social was hosted instead. The welcome social was run for all students in the building to provide an opportunity to build deeper connections with the building rather than just the community.

Another area in which we cater to our upper year students is in our Flock Talks (Carleton’s take on intentional conversations). Compared to the first year flock talks, the upper year flock talks occur less frequently and also have different learning objectives associated with the conversations that we feel are most important for the identification and development of our students. As the year progresses, our staff run stress-busters during midterm season (as indicated by our application process leads to a more academically focused group of students living in those communities). Finally, in collaboration with the Student Experience Office a servant leadership trip is organized to help integrate our students into the greater Ottawa THE OACUHO PULSE community.

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Application: When applying to live in Carleton’s upper year residence, you are put into a similar lottery system as if you were applying in first year. However there are a few exceptions: • If the student is in 1st year looking to come back to residence for 2nd year, a 90%+ average from the best 6 courses in high school would guarantee a spot • If the student is in 2nd year or above and looking to live/return to residence, a 90%+ average from their previous academic year guarantees a spot In addition, our accommodations team run workshops at the end of the year to help inform students that are both interested in returning to residence or living off-campus. This workshop covers the options that are available to students, and also highlights our application process.

The Membership Engagement CommiCee wrapped up its #OACUHOLIDAY contest at the beginning of November and would like to thank everyone who shared their fes@ve photos on Instagram and TwiCer! Seeing all of your crea@ve Halloween costumes and departmental ac@vi@es really helped us get into the Halloween spirit. Congratula@ons to our TwiCer winner Chad NuCall from UTM and our Instagram winner also from UTM, Jessica Charbonneau. We hope you enjoy your prizes!

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Residence Communities

as a Zumba® Class!?

Stewart Traill Residence Life Manager University of Guelph

When I first started out as a Zumba® instructor, I started doing it as a personal hobby on the side teaching at the local gym. After a few months had passed, I began to notice that my Zumba® students who came to my classes became regular students who never wanted to miss a class. Some of them mentioned that it is their 1 hour a week that they get to let loose, have fun, and be themselves dancing and working out. I wanted to find out why this relationship with my Zumba® students was so strong and after speaking with more of the participants it became apparent that the Zumba® class was not only a group exercise class, but it was a community.

When comparing a Zumba® class to a community, I looked at Zumba® through the lens of the Six I’s of Community Development (Schroeder and Minor, 1993). The theory illustrates six factors, Introduction, Interaction, Involvement, Influence, Investment, and Identity, which impact the development of a strong community. These same six factors coincidentally fit nicely into what happens with a Zumba® class.

Introduction – Before the Zumba® class begins, I introduce myself and ask if there are any new participants in today’s class. My goal is to ensure everyone feels welcome and knows what to expect from a Zumba® class.

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Involvement – There will always be the front row “Divas” of the class who know the routines. As an instructor we embrace those participants and encourage them to step up to the front of the class allowing them to be involved more heavily in the class, giving the instructor more time to interact with the class.

Investment – The main goal of the Zumba® class is to create a positive environment for students to feel welcome and to understand for themselves the benefits of the class as well as to identify their own enjoyment of getting to interact with the rest of the class participants.

Influence – Not only do instructors have a massive influence on the success of a Zumba® class, they influence participants as well. Participants will often ask the instructor about their favourite songs they hear on the radio and request their favourite songs to be played. This influence impacts the rest of the Zumba® class but also demonstrates the needs of the class to the instructor to continue to grow and develop new routines.

Identity – A goal of the Zumba® program is to have students saying “I can’t wait for class” instead of “I should go to class”. The positive environment shaped by instructors creates internal motivation for participants, encouraging them to return and exercise with the Zumba® program regularly. Zumba® becomes a part of participants’ identities.

Theories are always a great place to start in advising on best practices, but when the correlation of community translates between Zumba® and Residence Life so nicely, I couldn’t help but be ecstatic. The six I’s of community have helped to inform myself as a professional to develop strong communities within my own Residence Building beyond Zumba®. I’ve integrated aspects of a Zumba® class into my everyday interactions with students and staff; Introducing students to residence norms and creating a welcoming environment in residence, interacting with students at common events throughout the year such as intramurals, hall councils, and committees, finding the positive community members to encourage their involvement with opportunities across campus, investing in the development of each individual student working with them to meet their needs as they transition, encouraging students to influence their own communities either moving forward from conduct or developing community events, and ensuring that students are walking away with a positive residence experience where they felt they could be themselves in a welcoming environment.

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  Chris Eley & Adam Rooke Wilfrid Laurier University

Changes to Hiring Practice Sometimes it is necessary to break away from the status quo and make a change that you believe will improve your practice as a professional or as a department. For us that decision was focussed on our hiring and recruitment practices for our Residence Life student staff.

We knew we had a problem. Our application numbers had been dwindling over the last few years, the candidates (some at least) seemed unaware of what they were truly applying for, the hiring process took a huge amount of time from almost every member of our management team, our process was not aligned across both our Waterloo and Brantford campuses and ultimately the whole process seemed tired. We knew we needed to make a change, to think of something new that would hopefully help us generate more candidates, better candidates and evaluate them in a more efficient and effective way. For us the many problems identified had different solutions, some more bold or controversial than others. Each solution that we implemented will be looked at below.

Performance Domains When staff participated in our training program, every session was tied back to one of our six performance domains, when we evaluated the success or lack thereof we were using those same performance domains and yet we did not connect those domains to hiring. We saw this as an oversight and substantial error which our changes to our hiring process addressed in a substantial way. All new applicants were asked questions that aligned with those same six performance domains, and detailed rubrics based on our performance expectations were created for consistency in grading responses. Using the performance domains really gave our hiring process a structure. In the near future we will begin the process of migrating everything we do, from training to evaluations to hiring to a competency model, but whatever criteria you use, the biggest piece of advice I would provide is use that in everything that you do.

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Candidates Our biggest step forward in this realm was converting those that opened an application to following through and submitting that application. Using some very targeted outreach we were able to increase our conversion rates from 60% in 16-17 to 74% in 17-18. We still have a lot to do in the realm of attracting the number and quality of applicant we are looking for, as well as achieving better levels of diversity in our applicant pool, but the difference in our conversion rate last year did increase our total applicant number so we are moving in the right direction.

Saving Time We identified three very substantial ways to save time in our hiring process. The first was the elimination of experienced staff interviews. We made the decision that staff have been in a role, performing it well or not well for 4-5 months at a minimum, why would a 30 minute interview take priority over that performance data? If it wasn’t going to take priority and we were going to base our decision on their performance regardless, why were we wasting our time and our student staff’s time going through the motions. The second was the elimination of our carousel interview process.

We moved to a model where after screening for a student’s conduct record and academic eligibility every candidate would get an interview. With 12 interview rooms running simultaneously we were able to interview all our candidates over a 2 day period and have much richer data on them than we would have gotten in a carousel setting. The combination of better rubrics, better applicant data and more reliable scores led to a much more efficient deliberation process, which was the third huge time saver. Our three days of meetings to choose our team was condensed down to one.

Overall we calculated that we were able to save each coordinator within our department 7 full working day's worth of time.

As a final thought, taking the time to thoroughly review your practices when it comes to hiring student staff, even if you do not make huge fundamental changes is time well spent. In a Post Secondary environment where departments are constantly being asked to do more with less, finding departmental alignment, leveraging strengths and ensuring time is being spent in the most effective manner is crucial to our success.

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Why We Mentor When I first moved into Saugeen-Maitland Hall at Western University as a first-year student, I was enraptured by the idea of being an RA. All the way back in September 2000 I can still remember the feeling of wanting to be a leader in residence. In the interest of full disclosure, the idea had been planted in my brain in 1998 during the first season of Felicity. Not a word of a lie, I wanted to be Noel, Felicity’s RA. I made it my mission then to become an RA and to knock it out of the park when the opportunity finally arose.

Zip ahead 17 years, and I am still working and living in Residence and the best part of my day is when I have the opportunity to connect with students. As I write this, it is my last day at MacEwan University before heading off to a new role at Sheridan College in Oakville. For the past nine years, I have worked with hundreds of RAs and watched them grow and develop into exceptional community builders and relationship builders. However, I have recently been challenged, in the best way, to redefine what a residence student leader’s responsibilities should be.

Tim Lade Residence Life Coordinator

A good friend of mine recently reminded me that we haven’t hired anyone to be cheerleaders or arts and crafts specialists but instead to be a supportive catalyst for what is essential in residence: engaging residents and helping them to be connected to the community, academically successful, and wellrounded students. Throughout my career, I have spent a lot of time coaching residence life staff to get their door tags done, and their bulletin boards up, and their monthly academic programs in on time.

However, the big question that remains for me is, are these things essential to our mission? Am I mentoring RLS in a way that prepares them for this shift in thinking? With this thought, I have begun to question the practice of mentorship and coaching and if I am executing it in such a way that it connects directly and effectively to delivering that overall mission and vision. In questioning the role of an RA or Don or CA and in turn, unpacking my role as a mentor, , I have come to a couple of different conclusions about the value and “why” of mentorship.

He is a tremendous listener and absorbs everything one might share, and he is a keen observer of behaviour.

When a resident who previously was around all the time and quite involved suddenly became withdrawn and self-isolated, this Senior RA was the first to notice and the first to respond. Mentoring this staff member at first felt like a chore because he didn’t engage at the same level as other RLS however, in working with this individual, it became clear that it wasn’t his behaviour that needed to change, but I needed to evolve (adapt?

Change?) my mentoring to meet him where he was. By providing the discussion items in advance, it gave him the chance to sketch out notes on his own and relieved him of the pressure of thinking on the spot. By keeping our questions focused on highlights from residents in his community it provided a structure that he needed.

By continuing to seek feedback on what would keep us on the same wavelength we were both able to establish a clear understanding of what we wanted to get out of the relationship. At the end of the day, watching him cross the stage at convocation was one of my proudest moments at MacEwan because I got to see a student flourish into a confident leader. At one final one-on-one, I asked what the most important relationship he built as an RA was and he shared that it was our conversations that helped him find his voice and be more comfortable in his own two feet of space in this world. His whole life people have always told him to speak up and not to be so quiet. By joining him where he was most confident and shifting how we chose to mentor him, we found a tremendous leader who was changing the very definition of Residence Assistant at MacEwan University.

In the final analysis of why we mentor, I think it comes down to holding that space and allowing people to be themselves. Obviously, there are some situations where it comes down to unsatisfactory performance, and there is a need for a resolution. However, when the opportunity presents itself to unpack the student leader’s experience and shift the mentorship of that staff member to a place of empathy and constructive planning, we can create the conditions for success and ladder our mission and vision into all layers of our student leadership development.

Barack Obama recently said in Montreal that he doesn’t believe that the future of the world belongs to those who seek control and power but in grassroots movements that come out of communities and lift everyone up. His speech resonated with me because leadership and mentoring that leadership can easily backslide into performance management with a hard line on completing obligations. I don’t want to suggest that performance management isn’t a necessary or valuable tool, nor do I want to infer that missing deliverables is not something to show concern over.

However, I wondering in the process of coaching student staff there is an opportunity to place focus on holding an empathetic space for the students we work with and helping to guide them towards their own answers. If we continue to evolve our residence life programs away from pizza parties and study nights and want RLS to be spending their time relationship building and growing communities, I believe our mentorship must also evolve as well.

Holding space for those who are struggling can be a tough thing to do when we have 17 things that need to be done at that moment, but when we work with RLS to set goals with action items and help them find their own path we are helping to uphold our overall mission and vision. It is a well-known fact that students who live in residence do better academically and are more likely to persist to graduation. In developing our curriculum programs, laddering into institutional goals is vital, and so it should be just as pressing that the mentorship and coaching we offer RLS also be intertwined with the broader goals of our departments.

For the last two years, I have been working with a student leader in residence at MacEwan who is quite a shy and reserved individual. When you consider the typical image of an RA, perhaps the way Hollywood might show someone in the role, this individual is a striking departure from that perception. Our one-on-ones often felt quite forced because, in his words, he prefers not to talk and just to listen. Last year we had the opportunity to promote him to a Senior RA role and although some might say that a strong Senior RA needs to be outgoing and full of “woo,” this leader is the opposite of that. He is thoughtful and deliberative in this interactions with people.

Understanding the International Student Experience Two years ago while travelling through Thailand I lost my cell phone, a millennial’s worst nightmare. However, as a western tourist, we often have the privilege of accessing services in our native language. I was able to connect with the hotel front desk and a few calls later I had my phone back in my hands. This got me thinking about the experience of our international students, these students don’t often have the same opportunity I did. The vast majority of services offered at Canadian post-secondary institutions are only available in English. While some argue this is to the benefit of our international students I believe this is not the case.

In the last 2 years, The University of Toronto Mississauga has seen a dramatic increase in international student enrollment. In our current academic year (2017-2018), 47.5% of UTM’s residence students are international feepaying. Despite the size of this population, we offer few services to our students in languages other than English, and our campus jargon is often complicated with acronyms and short forms.

At the moment UTM currently offers its residence application in four different languages in addition to English. This is one small step we have made in an effort to improve the accessibility of services and information for our international students but there is so much more that can be done.

Alex Humphries Admissions Coordinator

The answers to these questions from both sides of the international student experience will eventually shape our service strategy for this population of residents. It is extremely important to me to include them in this process and have authentic conversations throughout. The cocreation process has an impact on the students that participate in it; I want them to feel they have the agency to shape their own experiences.

These students shouldn’t feel like tourists in their new home.

Have a burning question you want to ask prospective international students? Join me in the journey! I will be tweeting throughout my experience @alexrhumphries and contributing to the Pulse as I attempt to find the answers these questions.

Residence move-in day is frequently the first time our international students visit Canada, let alone our campus.

As housing professionals what can we be doing to anticipating the needs of our international students when it is an experience we haven’t lived ourselves.

This year, I will be working on an International Resident Service Strategy project for UTM’s Student Housing & Residence Life department. I will be travelling to several countries in Asia to conduct interviews and focus groups with senior high school students to gain their insight on the application experience to North American universities, and their pre-arrival expectations of those institutions and their services.

Upon my return, I will conduct further research into the post-arrival experience of the current first-year population. How did our school, residence, and Country meet their expectations? How did we fail them? And what can we do to make their lives easier?

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Surgite!

Stu Grunwell Residence Life Coordinator Reflections on the 2017 Queens University Residence Life Conference As the curtains close on the Residence Life Conference 2017, I am left with one feeling – hope. After what was – perhaps expectedly – a spirited, fun, and informative weekend, it was this feeling that filled my thoughts as I enjoyed the long, quiet drive back to Kingston as half of our delegation slept peacefully in the back of our Caravan.

I approached this year’s Residence Life Conference with excitement for things that had come before – excited to revisit a campus where I completed two degrees and fell in love with Residence Life, eager to reconnect with old friends and colleagues. And, yet, from the moment I arrived at the conference, I found myself looking ahead.

To see student staff members rising to the challenges seen on our campuses, addressing topics related to mental health, healthy masculinity, self-limiting beliefs, and effective self-expression, among many others, with such tact, insight, and maturity was a great honour. To witness the level of care, passion, and drive the many Dons/RAs I had the privilege of meeting bring to their role was inspiring. To know that these fine folks are living within our residence communities, looking out for our residence students, is to know that our students are certainly in good hands, to say the least.

Perhaps none of this is surprising for many of you reading this. I know I have certainly been impressed with the efforts of our student staff here at Queen’s, and you may feel similarly about the Dons/RAs at your institution. But to walk-away from a conference primarily intended to further the development of our student-staff, reflecting on what they had taught me – for me, that is worth celebrating.

In a field that is always changing, evolving with the students whom we serve, it is comforting to know our studentstaff are right there on their growing-edge, ready to meet the changing needs of the students in their communities.

I would like to close by giving a big shout-out and thank you for all of the hard work put into organizing the conference by Andrew, Lesley, Amanda, and the rest of the team at Brock – for me, the weekend was an unbelievable success, and reminded me of why I am so proud to be an alumnus of both Brock University, and Brock’s Residence Life Staff.

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Balance First, let me say that I understand I approach this article with some privilege and positional power. I also want to open by saying that although the theme of this issue of the Pulse is Balance – I’m not sure that I know any more than the next person about the topic. In fact, I am a CHO, a commuter and have a toddler. Things don’t exactly feel balanced!

This article won’t deconstruct balance, or cite studies about how much we work, how stressed we are or how sedentary we are. It won’t detail the origins of the modern 40-hour work-week or describe how we would have ‘worked’ when we lived in caves. I have intentionally not defined balance. #1: Relatio nships are k

ey.

Many of you are excellen t at this and don’t need any advice from me.

Develop a g reat relation ship with your boss, c olleagues a nd staff.

When you c are for and support eac other it mak h es being fle x ible, saying no and adv ocating for y ourself muc easier. Tru h st is an imp ortant part o improving b f alance.

Resource: M anager Too ls One-onOnes

#2: Stop doing unimportant things.

Easier said than done! You may be working lots of hours on things that are unimportant. Most of you are familiar with the Eisenhower Matrix. An easy way of qualifying if things ought to be done is if they are both urgent, and important. This tool is oversimplified for our complex work but deserves to be revisited from time to time.

Resource: Eisenhower Matrix

and ur goals o y n o us #3: Foc

es objectiv

.

the level of a or t a h w r e o n a l a re No matt on, your functi tant work is ati impor organiz tives. e most th – or objec le ls o r a r o u g o y our ted to y lear goals and is connec c at ou have sy to know wh When y a e the es it is u share o y r e objectiv th ally e be form nt. Wh l il ta r w o r p o im ne ith no o is less goals w against them y. d als is ke evaluate Clarity on go nt. importa atrick ge by P ta n a v d A ce: The Resour i Lencion

tives Outside of #4: Have Goals and Objec Work rk it also

s at wo If you have goals or objective them at home. e makes sense you should hav you use in your t tha Have a plan and use tools your goals outside h plis work to ensure you accom eer, I noticed that of work too. Early in my car did a lot of cool things some leaders that I admired That was the push I outside of their formal work. a-tri and get in shape. needed to sign up for a tryrespect a great deal I Someone in our field that ke to evening work once told me she couldn’t ma e. The date was event because she had a dat a partner. Your ing important to her goal of find have them and try but goals could be big or small to meet them. ily by Patrick Lencioni.

Resource: The Frantic Fam

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#5: Be proactive and manage your energy.

Each campus culture is different and has different HR policies. However, if I know I’m going to be working on the weekend I book a day off to ensure I have time to rest, recharge and get things done at home. To ensure you don’t get sick and operate at your best you need to plan time off and downtime.

During the day, one can introduce behaviours that help renew their energy. If you fall into the trap of skipping meals and snacks when busy – ensure you take time to time eat. Think of it as replenishing your energy.

Resource: Harvard Business Review - Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength #6: Rules to live by.

Over time you can begin to develop some rules in how you manage your time, energy, work and life.

For example, one such ‘rule’ is that I do not stay late to catch-up on e-mail. I will work late for an evening meeting, in support of a crisis, to support an event, etc. I won’t work late just to clear e-mails.

Another example is a new rule - adjusting to life with a toddler I will do anything I can to leave early Tuesday to make it to swimming lessons.

Resource: I’m not sure I have a good resource for this one. Lots of people have rules or a code to guide their life. Often advice from family, mentors. I got the idea for mine from Gibb’s Rules.

#7: Earn your salary in the first hour of work.

This is old advice. I’m not sure where it came from. This is really one of my ‘rules to live by’ outlined above. No matter what time I leave the office – I know there are lots and lots of things I didn’t do.

However, I know I did something very impactful or important in the first hour (or more!). This allows me to leave work guilt-free anytime of the day.

Resource: Intro to Time Blocking Never Check E-mail in the Morning by Julie Morgenstern Manager Tools – Basics of Calendar Management

#8: Try things and learn from others We have impressive people in our lives and in our field. Ask your mentor/mentee/colleagues questions about balance and priorities. Share tips and tricks that you use. Network with colleagues and invest time in getting to know them, understand them and learn from them. At any OACUHO events over the past 2 years, I’ve been grilling any housing professional that has kids. I have learned a great deal!

Resource: OACUHO Mentorship Program , My Morning Routines , Lifehacker’s ‘How I Work’ Series

9 and 10. Had to run to start my weekend.

8 seems like good enough. For the sake of balance, let’s leave it at 8.

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