'The Pulse' January 2014

CONFERENCES—UPCOMING & REVIEWING—2

OACUHO GIVES BACK—6

I am excited to report that I am back to my OACUHO obligations. Although I have not yet returned to the office I am enjoying sufficient energy to return to the board. I have missed this a great deal. This is my professional home and I am very excited to be back with all of you!

It was wonderful to meet face to face with the board at the Residence Life Conference in January.

Over the last several months those of you close to me have heard me speak about capacity.

Going through chemotherapy reduced my capacity to levels that I have not experienced in my memory. Some days I could hardly get out of bed, others I could go for a walk but little else.

Weeks and weeks passed and my to do list stayed the same. I simply did not have the capacity to accomplish any of those things. Tasks I could have easily accomplished before, I simply could not.

January 2014

I would not have completed my Masters thesis had I not woken up at 5AM and written before work. Nothing balanced about that. I will now add that at the same time I would not have made it through the last several months if I didn’t get 10+ hours of sleep a night. Nothing balanced about that either.

Although balance is extremely difficult to attain – increasing capacity is a natural part of growth.

As life gets harder we get better at life. School gets harder and we get smarter. Life gets busier and we develop tools for managing. The complexity of our work increases and we get better at dealing with complexity. If we are struck with crisis in our jobs or life – we reprioritize according to our capacity.

As President of OACUHO nothing strikes me more than what I perceive as excellent professionals leaving the field of student housing for When I become focused on something I begin other areas of student affairs. My guess is that seeing it everywhere. Everywhere I looked it this has a lot to do with capacity. I fear that was capacity. Discussions with tired new prostrong professionals feel they don’t have the fessionals with bags under their eyes … capaci- capacity to accomplish all the things life is ty. E-mail exchanges with colleagues with throwing at them. They are understandably young children apologizing for a delayed retired. As an organization we need to ensure we sponse … capacity. Speaking with frustrated are offering lots of opportunities to increase the colleagues about co-workers that ‘just didn’t get capacity of our professionals so they can take it’ … capacity. on more and not only survive – but thrive!

Among us are those who have accomplished Over the last couple of years I have had the remarkable things while maintaining a long capleasure of serving on several panels. The top- reer in student housing and residence life. I ic that quickly dominates the discussion is – encourage our most seasoned OACUHO mem“how do you get it all done?” “How do you get bers to contribute to this capacity building. ahead?” “How do you have time for your prioriChad Nuttall ties?” Balance – the term that makes me cringe.

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CONNECT WITH OACUHO #OACUHO1314

The Conference Corner Upcoming and Reviewing The Canadian Conference on Student Leadership is a national conference bringing together over 350 student leaders from across the country for a three day conference on March 6-8, 2014. This year’s conference is hosted by McMaster University and being held in Hamilton, ON. The conference provides an opportunity for student leaders to come together, share ideas, become inspired, and leave determined to make a difference on their own campus and in their community. It is a great opportunity for leaders at any stage of their leadership development to network, brainstorm, and have fun! The conference is comprised of workshops, discussion panels, think tanks, a case study competition, and three exciting keynote speakers, including Kristine Stewart, Managing Director of Twitter Canada, and Dr. Roberta Bondar, the first neurologist in space and NASA Head of Space Medicine. Registration closes February 14, 2014 at 11:59 pm. For more information and registration details, please visit www.theccsl.ca

Recap and Review of the Fall Business Meeting 2013— Brock University Brock has hosted the Spring Conference and the Residence Life Conference several times; however, this year was the first time Brock hosted the Fall Business Meeting and we were delighted to do so!

maybe the next time you see re-located furniture, or a propped door, you will give serious consideration about why, and not just chalk it up to a lack of respect for the rules.

Last month the City of Vancouver announced the elimination of traditional doorknobs in all new construction. This move is an acknowledgement of universal design and how Our theme around universal design came from a discussion important it is to at our Senior Management meeting regarding what topics, take all users into or areas of interest, are applicable and relevant to all (or consideration for most) functional areas in housing. We believe that Univer- various different sal Design is an area we should all be thinking about. It’s aspects of our fanot just a facilities concept, only to be considered for reno- cilities, programs vations or new construction projects. Universal design can and services. play a role in programs and events that are offered; in how we approach room assignments; in the development of as- http://www.cbc.ca/ sessments; and in managing day to day operations. thecurrent/ epiJonathan White, our keynote speaker, had an “ode to the sode/2013/11/25/ misplaced garbage can” in his presentation, where somedoorknobs-arething as simple as the placement of a garbage can could dead-incause issues for people using a facility. We hope that the vancouver/ keynote speaker gave you something to think about and

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The Best Of...Leadership Residence Life Conference 2014

By Arjan Banerjee As Residence Life Staff, one of the things we seek to do the most, and pride ourselves on being able to do the best, is creating atmospheres. We try to create atmospheres of support in our communities. We do our best to create atmospheres of positivity and safety in our meetings. We attempt to create positive spaces on all our Residences. The Residence Life Conference establishes all these environments and more but what I feel it does the best is to create an atmosphere of leadership: one where leaders can flourish.

The RLC 2014 and the leaders who made it what it was. (Photos by Jess McGee) One of the things that strikes me as most poignant about air of leadership at the RLC, though, is how it is established. In all other program I've ever attended, the organizers or facilitators take the lead in setting the tone and regulating the event. In the RLC, the hosts really didn't feature as authoritative figures at all: they weren't needed to. They were more informers than facilitators because a room full of 300 leaders doesn't need to be facilitated as any other room does. That's one of the unique, vague and hard-to-pen feelings of the RLC that I walked away from the conference with.

When I think of leaders, I think of the words initiative, support and encouragement. Those very same words leap to my mind when I think of each and every delegate I met at the conference over the span of that one short weekend. Every delegate was different: some were loud and energetic, some exuded quiet confidence, and shone with reserved wisdom. However, whenever anyone did anything (and I mean just about anything) all those individuals were behind them as one. I guess my point is that in the RLC, the delegates are the ones that created the atmosphere of initiative, support and encouragement: each and every one of them. That's what made the conference stand out in my mind as far as fostering leadership goes and that's the part I won't forget!

Assessment Drive-in The mid/ senior level stream is catered to those that work to make programmatic changes within their department and these attendees drive their department or have a strong voice in the decision making process. Sessions in this stream will look at how to use quantitative assessment is used to make large decisions within a department and move a department forward. The stream will also look at how the performance management tool, the Balanced Scorecard can be used effectively in assessing programs. This As a reminder, the day will begin with a keynote by Dr. Martha stream too will look at qualitative assessment and how it can be Rogers of York University, an Associate Professor who has spoken used by mid/ senior level leaders. at the First Year Experience Conference on student success and conclude with a panel discussion. The day has been streamed We will be posting further information regarding the session prewith one stream for new professionals and one for mid and senior senters and their program descriptions in the near future and will level managers. The new professional stream is ideal for those be informing the membership via the listserv of that update. that have been in their role for less than 3-4 years and is looking to gain further understanding of assessment and in particular of proWith any further questions immediate questions please contact grams within Residence Life. Sessions within this stream look at reslife@yorku.ca an overview of assessment and its importance and it also responds to the question of why assessment. The stream will also have a We look forward to seeing everyone and sharing in amazing consession that examines how York utilized assessment when review- versations on such an important topic. ing their First Year Experience programs. The stream will con- - PAGE 3 clude with a review of qualitative assessment.

York University and the Professional Development Committee are excitedly preparing for the Assessment Drive-in on Friday 28 February, 2014. Registration is live on the OACUHO website and simply requires that the registrant log into their OACUHO account.

For those that are not members the Drive-in in also available by simply going to the OACUHO website.

the Housing field. And that we need to equip ourselves with the right attitudes, skills, knowledge and resources to realize the goals we are setting for ourselves.

Residence Life Conference— Reflections from the Professional Stream Dan Cantiller, Ryerson University The team at UTM did a fantastic job putting together and executing a well-planned conference experience this January. With the conference earlier on in the month, it felt like an extension of our student staff January Training, not only providing some great cross-teaching opportunities and learning moments but also helping further bond and energize the delegates who attended. I felt I had the chance to get to know my colleague and our 6 student staff delegates even more as we shared countless laughs while loading into/out of our vehicle, representing our “epic swag” and school spirit, and talking about some great personal development and programming ideas we could bring back to our teams at Ryerson.

As a professional delegate, I felt we were also offered some great sessions for our learning and development. One in particular that I took a lot from was the morning session with Dr. Tricia Seifert, Paula Greenwood and Chris Lengyell, called “A Competency-based Approach to your Professional Development Plan”. This sounded of particular interest to me as conversations about competencies have been taking place more frequently in our department and on our campus, as we discuss such things as staff training, program assessment, and collaborative opportunities.

Shaun McCracken, Wilfrid Laurier University I have always loved being able to spend time with some of my staff off campus and have the opportunity get to know them even better, by staying up late and just talking and laughing without them feeling the pressure of school. I feel that our students really do get a chance to see what we are really like when the music starts and the professional staff hit the dance floor! I think this year was a remarkable year for the dance off and I look forward to seeing the new moves that come out next year!

Every year the Residence Life Conference is something that I look forward to. Seeing fellow colleagues, catching up on the year that has passed and having conversations with them around successes at your institution and successes you have had personally in the past year. The RLC has become more and more dedicated to providing an engaging and thought-provoking professional stream each year, and this year's stream was very well executed and thought out.

The one session I truly enjoyed was the panel of professionals who were able to speak to their career paths and how they reached the positions that they are currently in.

Paula Greenwood, Chris Lengyell, Chris McGrath, David The session facilitators discussed how in one of their Mas- Mcmurray (Daddy Mac), and Dr. Tricia Seifert were wonter’s classes at OISE, they have discussed translating AC- derful to listen to and really came prepared and had taken the time to think about what they wanted to say to the proPA and NASPA’s professional competencies for Student Affairs professionals to the Canadian context. Eight com- fessionals that were in the room. petency areas were identified: Advising & Helping, Assessment & Evaluation, Ethics/Values, Equity & Inclusion, I believe the biggest item I took away from the ProfessionStudent Learning & Development, Human & Organization- al Stream of the RLC was that with greater access to education, it is becoming more necessary to always be edual Development, Communication, Holistic Development, and Leadership. The challenge we were invited to take on cating yourself further so that you can achieve a Master's was to assess ourselves with regard to these professional Degree or even your PHD. I think the majority of new procompetency areas, and then develop a professional devel- fessionals would agree that more and more positions that opment plan based on our self-assessment using SMART used to require an Undergraduate Degree are now asking goals. Easier said than done, and would definitely require for a Master's and those that used to be common to have a Master's Degree now require a Doctorate. more time beyond the session’s time parameters!

For the second part of this session, we broke off to work in pairs with another colleague to discuss to competency areas in which we wanted to further develop. It was interesting to draw out similarities but also differences in the SMART goals we were deriving and how our challenge areas were both impacted by our professional experiences as well as the needs or climate on our campuses. To me, an important take-away from the presenters was that we should align our goals with future roles we would like to pursue, or a current need/objective in our current role or in

The RLC this year was a fantastic conference and I want to thank UTM for the wonderful job they did!

Vladimir Smiljanic, Trent University The last time I was in attendance at a Residence Life Conference, I was helping host at Trent University. I had been hired a mere 6 months earlier and was thrown right into the conference planning experience. The logistics behind

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running such a conference mid-academic year can take a toll on anyone’s psyche. The co-chairs of the conference, Sarah Memme and Adam Fraser, had constant pep in their steps and a smile on their faces. Sarah and Adam, along with the rest of the organizing committee, ensured that whether you were a student or a professional, you were getting the most out of your conference experience.

The afternoon professional session was a panel discussion that included Paula Greenwood (Student Life Coordinator, University of Toronto), Christopher McGrath (Registrar, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College) , David McMurray (Vice President Student Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University) and Tricia Seifert (Faculty, OISE), and was hosted by Chris Lengyell (Student Development Officer, UTM). The goals of the panel discussion were to give young professionals in the field of Student Affairs several perspectives on how one's career can evolve in higher education. The discussion reviewed each panellist’s journey through their personal careers in Student Affairs. The stories they each told had very common trends among them. Personal goals and their drives for constant personal and professional development was one of the most important themes. Each panellist had a clear goal in mind early on in their lives of where they see their career taking them. For some, that goal was in a constant state of flux as their careers snaked them around the student affairs landscape. Self-reflection on what personally satisfied their career ambitions was one of the common drives in paving their career paths.

Their stories touched on many personal notes and built a strong connection with those in attendance. The panellists discussed that it was okay to take a step back and re-evaluate the direction of your career path. Chris McGarth’s discussion on ‘climbing the corporate ladder’ resonated with many individuals. Chris talked about the strong urge for motivated and driven individuals to try finding the next step up the career ladder. He discussed his own experience on that path and how he realized that this journey was not having the positive effect on his life as he believed it would. You do not have to be on a constant quest to get to that next step, you can be very, very good at the role you currently hold and still be happy and content.

Working with student staff in Residence Life, professionals need to consistently be aware of how they are perceived by their student leaders. Currently, I see many of my student leaders nervous and worried what the next steps are following graduation. They feel like they don’t have their lives planned out and in perfect order. What I’ve realized during the panel is that no matter our age, or steps in our careers, my student staff and I have many things in common. Whether it’s a graduation date or an employment contract end date, professionals and students both struggle with the idea of career identity and where the next phase in their lives will take them. Professionals and students both debate whether seeking further post-graduate is the right route or finding new career prospects is more satisfying. Professionals and students both have the internal debate of whether they are content and happy with their current direction.

As the convoy of Chrysler Town & Country vans made its way out of the hotel parking lot and back across the icy landscape to their respective campus, both professionals and students had thoughts of their futures spinning in their heads. The chatter in the vans was full of conference ‘Best Of’ moments, enthusiasm for the new term and discussion about the self-reflection. Career paths are ever evolving, but each delegate, both professional and student, walked away from this conference more informed about the choices they may have to use in building their own paths.

The Membership Engagement Committee would like to recognize Brock University for their first annual Wellness Week.

Wellness Week was run from November 25th to 29th and was coordinated by several on campus departments, led by the Brock University Students Union. The week targeted five domains of wellness and had events running each day to speak to each domain. This was the first time (outside of Orientation Week) that this many departments on campus worked together to create programming for all Brock students.

Feel free to check out all the programming offered throughout the week and even check out some of the video re-caps of the presentations (http://www.busu.net/wellnessweek/).

If you would like to nominate someone within our association for next month’s Spotlight Moment, please don’t hesitate to email Jessica Brain at jbrain@uoguelph.ca. Selected submissions will be contacted for further details.

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Last fall OACUHO’s Professional Development Committee put out a call for Housing offices to “give back” to their communities and write to us about it for inclusion in the Pulse. The committee’s goal was to promote a little bit of self-development and reflection! We heard back from a few different institutions about the amazing things they do for their communities around the holidays and we’re happy to share their experiences with you!

University of Toronto’s Tenth Annual Food and Toy Drive Submission from Jennifer Radley, University of Toronto: University of Toronto students Rocio Vilchez Bustamante and Wendy Xie are super excited about this year’s Food and Toy Drive! “It’s so rewarding to see the impact it has on students, especially those with families,” explains Wendy, who is in her third year at Victoria College. “It helps relieve some of the stress of the holidays for both the student families, and even myself, as a volunteer, because I get the chance to give, too."

Wendy and Rocio, both work-study students at Housing Services, began their work when they distributed collection boxes to 15 offices and residences throughout the St. George campus.

Three weeks later, they sorted and wrapped up the toys and food so generously donated by members of the U of T community. And on December 13 and 20, they distributed the gifts and basked in a reward of smiles.

The Food and Toy Drive is a partnership between Housing Services, the Family Care Office, and the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) to support students registered with the UTSU Food and Clothing Bank.

Brock Spreads Holiday Cheer Submission from Amanda Ziegler, Brock University: Over the years, we’ve done a few different things to give back over the holidays. We’ve had collection bins for Community Care, some students/staff have volunteered with Out of the Cold etc. This year, our two major projects were supporting the Adopt an Angel program at Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold (http:// www.communitycarestca.ca/) and volunteering as a department at Project Share in Niagara Falls (http://www.projectshare.ca/).

Adopt an Angel – Each year, the student staff in the department are asked if they would like to participate in the now annual tradition of collecting gifts for a child/family in need. This year, we were able to collect gifts for twelve children, teens and seniors. This tradition began many years ago with the RLS supporting a family from the same elementary school that Jamie’s boys attended at the time.

Project Share – Each winter break, the full time staff in our department come together for some type of teambuilder/training as it is one of the few times that we are all here without students. This year, we voted to spend the morning volunteering at Project Share in Niagara Falls. We were able to help clients grocery shop in the food bank, sort food/box food in the warehouse and sort gift donations (as well as help one family shop for presents; it was a slow day).

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York Gives Back, One Box at a time.

Written by Kathryn Als (kals93@yorku.ca) Minor edits by Daryl Nauman and Dimple Savla A bar of soap, crayons, a face cloth, pencils, a toothbrush. All items that are easily available to us here in Canada and which we often do not have to think twice about. For some children around the world these items mean hope, and a chance at a Christmas. Operation Christmas Child is a project run by a non-profit organization that collects shoe boxes filled with similar items, and ships them to children in countries such as Argentina, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uruguay, and Venezuela to open on Christmas Day. Each year, nearly 9 million boxes are collected across North America, and shipped across the globe in hopes of providing the unconditional gift of love to children in these countries and a guaranteed smile on Christmas Day. This year, Kathryn Als, a 3rd year student and Don at Vanier Residence, York University teamed up with Kolten Macher, a member of a YorkU club Power 2 Change, to encourage Residence Life, and others on campus, to participate in the project. On the Residence Life side of the project, each Don wanting to participate were provided with boxes, along with labels for the boxes (boy, girl or gender neutral) and instructions on packaging guidelines. One of the unique things that Residence Life did with the project was include the option of gender neutral boxes in order to maintain an inclusive environment and allow all students, regardless of gender, or religion, to feel comfortable participating. Whether someone celebrated Christmas or not, everyone was welcome to participate. To cover shipping, each box required a donation of $7. Altogether, Residence Life raised nearly $800 for the boxes.

Staff and students went above and beyond, with fundraisers and donations that not only covered shipping for all of the boxes collected, but provided an additional monetary donation to Operation Christmas Child to help with shipping costs of other boxes collected by the organization. With the Residence Life portion of the project being lead by Kathryn, and Kolten encouraging Power 2 Change, the pair were able to collect 128 boxes, with 112 from Residence Life alone; 37 boxes past her original goal of 75. Together the Dons at Vanier, Winters, Tatham Hall, Founders, Pond Road, Bethune, Calumet and Stong, worked with their residents to complete the boxes, with some students taking the initiative to complete their own boxes to ship off. In addition, with the recent and tragic typhoon that devastated parts of the Philippines, Operation Christmas Child also made the decision to ship some of their boxes collected across North America to children there.

Altogether the project was a great success. The contribution from Residence Life staff and students, the Center for Student Community and Leadership Development, and other students at York University who got involved showed that the initiative received an overwhelming response, demonstrating the importance of giving back. The message with this project was simple. The student organizers wanted their peers to think about the why; the ultimate reason why it was important for us living here in Canada, a developed nation, to give back to the global community. Regardless of race, religion or gender identification, the project was something that allowed all members of the York Community to participate, provide a gift to a child somewhere in the world, and to come together to share their love with the global community

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