HEATHER SHEA: Welcome to Student Affairs NOW. Today’s episode, recorded earlier in the week is brought to you as a partnership between Student Affairs NOW and ACPA – College Student Educators International. I’m grateful for the opportunity to showcase the NextGen Institute and bring to the podcast this conversation about how prospective graduate students go about building a career in student affairs. 

For those of you who are watching or listening who are current administrators in a division of student affairs, who work with students who may be considering going into the filed, this podcast is for them! Please forward the YouTube video or iTunes link to students on your campus who you think could benefit from engaging with the NextGen Institute. Find out more about NextGen at myacpa.org.

HEATHER SHEA: My name is Heather Shea, my pronouns are she her and hers, and I’m the host for tonight’s episode.

Together with Richie Stevens I also serve as one of the cochairs of the ACPA NextGen institute. 

I am broadcasting tonight from East Lansing, MI near the campus of Michigan State University. MSU occupies the ancestral homelands of the Anishinaabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Peoples. 

For those of you tuning in from campuses all over the United States, I urge you to take a moment to investigate the land on which you currently reside.

I want to turn it over to Angela Hoffman-Cooper who is going to tell us about ACPA land acknowledgment as well.

ANGELA HOFFMAN-COOPER: Hi everyone it’s great to be here with you today. My name is Angela Hoffman-Cooper and my pronouns she/her and I’m the director of professional development with ACPA, College Student Educators International.

I’m really glad you could be here with us.

We would like to begin with our ACPA Land Acknowledgement.

ACPA – College Student Educators International is the leading comprehensive student affairs association that advances higher education and engages students for a lifetime of learning and discovery. Although serving an international audience, our membership is primarily from the United States and our offices are headquartered in Washington, D.C. at the National Center for Higher Education.

Related to our mission of supporting and fostering learning through the generation and sharing of knowledge, ACPA acknowledges the painful history of genocide in the United States for native, aboriginal, and indigenous peoples. We honor and respect the many and diverse tribal nations and peoples who were forcefully removed from, as well as those still connected to, this land. We particularly acknowledge and recognize that the land upon which our international headquarters is located today has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst a number of Indigenous people, including the Accohannock,  Pocomoke, Piscataway, Anacostank, Mattapanient, Nangemeick, Pamunkey, Tauxehent, Nanticoke, Chickahominy, Monacan, Mattiponi, Nansemond, Rappahannock, Ani-Stohini/Unami, and Assateague tribal nations as the original occupants of the Washington, D.C. region.

ACPA strongly advocates for higher education and student affairs professionals to honor the land, the original tribal occupants, and the history of the place where you are located. Further, we have a responsibility to continually self-educate, reflect, and listen to the histories and people in our areas. Including tribal land acknowledgements in practice, and understanding and acknowledging history, is not only respectful and educational, it is the justice-oriented advocacy necessary for continuing the work of dismantling the devastating effects of settler colonialism in our society.

As we are gathering virtually as Heather said to encourage us to each learn more about the history of the areas of the land that you are on.

HEATHER SHEA: Thank you so much Angela. I’m going to introduce the rest of the panelists just a moment but before I do want to give a quick shout out to the organizations that major knights webcast possible. Student Affairs NOW is a new podcast and online learning community

for thousands of us who work in come alongside and adjacent to the field of student affairs and higher education. Our mission is to make the contribution to the field while being restorative to the profession. We release new episodes every week on Wednesdays and you can find us online at studentaffairsnow.com. 

Partnering with us tonight to bring you this webcast is the premier international student affairs association, ACPA, College Student Educators International, the host of the NextGen institute.

As Angela said, ACPA is the leading comprehensive student affairs association that advances student affairs and engages students for a lifetime of learning and discovery.

Headquartered in Washington DC, at the National Center for Higher Education,

the ACPA members include graduate and undergraduate students, and rolled in stewed affairs in higher education administration, programs, faculty, and student affairs educators representing Hello everyone who’s joining us today will be listening a little later on. As Heather mentioned my name is Antonio Duran my pronouns are he and his and I’m currently faculty number at Auburn University. It’s a short and long simultaneous history. I was first generation college student who found my way to have them NYU all the way from Phoenix Arizona and I had no idea what my college years would have in front of me. As soon as I arrived on the NYU campus I fell in love.

Importantly always say that even though I didn’t know at the time it was exactly what I needed. As a first-generation student from a working-class background who also identifies as square and a person of color, NYU was extremely informative to me be able to explore all parts of myself into I was especially as I moved through the world. In particular, it was a student affairs practitioners who were who was at the institution who allowed me to engage in this kind of self-reflection. And challenged me to think critically about what areas was I privileged and oppressed and how I can mobilize this power moving forward. Seeing the passion these individuals had for their work encouraged me to pursue a career in student affairs. When I arrived at Miami University for my Masters program, I also quickly realized that even though I still loved working with students, My passions for student affairs started to shift and in particular started to gain a fervor for teaching and researching about student affairs that led me to pursue a PhD. So for being first generation college student to obtaining a PhD and becoming an assistant professor, The journey has been wild but one I would never trade for a million years because now I get to work with amazing graduate students entering the student affairs field and are doing great work.

HEATHER SHEA: Thanks so much Antonio. Welcome. Da’Shaun, tell us about you.

DA’SHAUN SCOTT: Hello everyone my name is Da’Shaun Scott my pronouns are he, him, his I currently work at Florida State University as program coordinator of student government and advocacy. My journey to student affairs all started at Westminster College which is a small private liberal arts institution in Missouri. The very first week I got involved with SGA shortly afterwards I began getting involved with campus activities, Alumni relations, student counsel in a start getting involved very fast on campus.

One of my mentors was the director of student activities and I always see her and all her events. Showing up and she’s advocating for us so one night I was just talking to her and she was like what exactly is your job? I see you here all the time on campus you constantly are advocating for us. What did you go to school for? She told me I went to school for higher education student affairs.

My first question was what is student affairs because I’d never heard about that. It’s not a major in undergrad and explained to me more.

She took matching dinner and explained more about her role in how I could get involved.

I was looking at her and seeing I would love to have this support and do the same thing she does further students.

I switched my major to something else because I was like I want to do what she does and go to graduate school.

I should went to Indiana University in Bloomington Indiana for higher education student affairs spirit shows that because the faculty and is a cohort model.

Me attending a small school I wanted that family connection so I chose the cohort model at Indiana University.

That is my short journey into higher education student affairs.

HEATHER SHEA: Thanks so much Da’Shaun I love hearing that story. Karla, welcome.

KARLA PÉREZ-VÉLEZ: Hi folks, so having shared my name is Dr. Karla Pérez-Vélez I use she/her pronouns and currently serve as associate director at the Colorado School of Mines in the center for academic services and advising.

My pathway was really actionable I started school when I was 21, I fell into it but I was very practical looking for an on-campus job and I needed to support myself through academics. I’m a first-generation Latina, So I needed a practical approach so I learned my roommate happened to be a resident assistant. I learned more about on-campus jobs through them.

I into pump lung and became a resident assistant and then an orientation leader and I was involved in my multicultural office.

That is how I began to learn about the feel of student affairs. Then it was not until my junior year that I had a serious thought around entering the field.

I was going to be a sociology major and I decided this would potentially be the next step for me so I actually decided to go into student affairs because it connected and pursued my interest in working with people and my job at the time as a resident assistant. I ended up choosing my program they’re going to the placement exchange and I decided to attend Western Kentucky University.

I made a fairly practical decision I loved the institution I met with the folks there and the staff.

It was a great opportunity but also they offered me a full-time employment and I attended school part time so it was more of what I needed at that time in my life.

So it was a great opportunity there and then it was from there I moved into resident life and have moved on to some other positions since then.

It’s a bit about my path into the fields.

HEATHER SHEA: Thanks so much Karla. Ritchie, tell us about you.

RICHIE STEVENS: Hi I’m Dr. Richie Stevens I use he/him/his pronouns and I’m currently the interim Vice President for enrollment management and I’m also the assistant Provost for faculty affairs and Dean of graduate and professional studies at Shepherd University.

Which is located in the Eastern Panhandle of Western Virginia.

My journey I was also a first-generation college student and I had to get a job so

My first job was in the dining hall. And I can replace milk in a milk dispenser like nobody’s business.

But I was going to be a teacher as a first generation there were a few opportunities to think about what you’re going to do it I was going to be a teacher and guidance counselor.

That’s where my mentors were in high school and I became an RA I decided I liked working with college students more than high school students.

That is what started my journey. Of I got my Masters at Iowa State University in the Midwest

And originally, I looked at Miami of Ohio and I drove I went from a small public institution on the East Coast and moved to the Midwest for a school that was I think 26,000 at the time.

I wanted that experience difference.

I was a hall director there and got into higher education program. I worked I always loved being in the classroom and had an opportunity to create a Masters program at Sheppard University.

I started teaching in that and taught for As I earned my doctorate at University of Maryland, College Park.

HEATHER SHEA: Thanks so much. My pathways really similar I won’t go into details but also an RA similar to many of you. Kind of fell into it was looking for a job and something to do after undergrad – ended up doing my Masters at the same institution that I had been at for undergrad, Colorado State University. Now I’m at Michigan State and teach the student affairs administration MA program here and also work full time in the division of student affairs so it’s really fun to be able to be on this call with you all tonight.

We have, the five of us, been together over a course of a year or more working on plan of the NextGen institute both last year last March as well as coming up this next year.

Antonio can you tell us about what is NextGen? What can students that are joining us tonight are listening later expect about this institute typically and then maybe in future years?

ANTONIO DURAN: Great question Heather. I’m looking at the list of attendees and recognize some past NextGen participants so that’s wonderful to see. People love it so much they are coming back to ca. of NextGen is a unique opportunity for undergrads from across the country to interact with NextGen faculty, student practitioners, in order to navigate this field of student affairs. Picking up on what Da’Shaun mentioned earlier, a lot of us have that moment in which we recognize, oh, student affairs is a field and pursue a career in this thing that I never knew existed.

So NextGen is your opportunity to learn about the ins and outs of student affairs as a profession and as well as to connect you to students and practitioners were located across the country really across the world.

When I was an undergraduate student who attended a very similar experience, I felt so empowered when I realized there are people like me.

And you also have the same sort of passion.

Traditionally, NextGen is a two-day experience that occurs right before the ACPA convention.

This year, we are being pushed to be creative in how we deliver NextGen experience in the NextGen institute.

But participants can expect this next year is actually a four-part webinar series in which we are going to break up the conversations that we would typically have over the course of two days

And engage with you all virtually through this webinar platform.

Importantly, we are starting to provide you all with some of the topics that are not typically explored as when people are considering the field of student affairs.

You can expect webinars having to do with alternative pathways to student affairs.

As well as me are some reasons that what are some ways that people use nonstudent affairs positions. So lots of really good information to come and we are also looking forward to engaging with you individually. As the experience continues to unfold. But I will turn it over to anyone else to see if I missed anything that relates with the NextGen experience is all about.

HEATHER SHEA: I think you did a great job. Anyone else have something to add? Okay so we’ve been dancing around this topic we will move to the next question.

We been dancing around this topic of student affairs. What is student affairs?

I’m going to have Richie give us the broad definition of what do we mean when we say this field? For those of you who are like I’ve never heard of this before

And I’m curious about it why would I want to do it? What is student affairs, Richie?

RICHIE STEVENS: I teach the intro class –  I’ve taught it It’s pretty much except for the faculty in the business office at a college or university could be any two year or four year institution.

Really recognizing that student affairs covers a lot of departments and divisions around the campus so you may have worked in those as a leader or employee

Residence life, judicial, but it also can include the enrollment management areas so admissions, the registrar… Places like the development and alumni office as well. So I think it’s really important and all of those offices… Our looking to think about often how can we provide programmatic services, programs, resources, research, advocacy, in order to help students grow and develop as individuals while on the college campus?

We can look at how we aid and assist students as they achieve their primary goal of earning a degree. And look for those opportunities for people to explore who they are and who they want to be.

HEATHER SHEA: Anyone else have something else they want to add? How they see student affairs? I think the one thing I would say is that it may look very different on the campus that you are at. For example, at Michigan State University the division of student affairs and services contains offices that I would not necessarily expect. And some offices are external to the division of student affairs that you would expect to be in a typical division. It might be interesting for folks on the call who are watching today are listening later, to look up their own institution organizational chart peer-to-peer of what does student affairs like at your institution?

So on the next question, if you were talking to a prospective student who wanted to go into student affairs, what would you tell them about fit and career fit? We could definitely complicate that topic of fit because that is often fraught discussion. But how would you know

If student affairs might be a good career for you?

KARLA PÉREZ-VÉLEZ: Definitely complicated a little bit but I would say to start it would be to

Talk to as many people as you can on your campus. Maybe when you pulled that organization chart and see what your campus looks like the organization of student affairs or student life or however it is classified on your campus. Talk to folks and see what it is that folks are doing, what is the day to day look like? And this could sound very similar to what you would hear if you were to enter any fields. How do you explore maybe do some informational interviews if you are trying to reach out to someone that you are not connected with to learn more about their area. And I did some of this initially my started looking into the field I started in residence life and when I expanded my efforts realizing I wanted to move out of residence life,

I also came back to this idea of how do I connect and learn more by having these conversations? And determining they could be something you are interested in careerwise.

Do you like working with students? What type of students? Four year institutions, two your institutions?

And don’t feel if you have the capacity to reach out to other types of institutions, small, large, private, public,

Truly learn about those pieces, As it relates to fit we could complicate that knowing there is a long-standing idea around fit and organizations but I encourage folks to think more about where they could grow… Also how they could help folks grow or organizations grow.

How do they want to show up in the workspaces and be able to be authentic when they enter them.

And as a follow-up, I don’t know that I would say we think about — if there are any wrong reasons to join a field but I would encourage folks if in those conversations that maybe expand beyond come I think one of the common areas is that there is the live an opportunity for some positions. For you might have room and board covered you might have different opportunities in that way which is great and also — You want to make sure you are engaged in the work in a way that fulfills you and is what you are excited to do each day.

So I think taking it a bit further — what is that day-to-day want to do when you get up and connect with students? It does not mean you are locked into a field. You could definitely switch and move. There’s a lot of opportunities in the field and even extension out into the field and the sort of partnerships that we have as a relates to student affairs. So that is what I would share as you think about going into the field as student affairs.

HEATHER SHEA: Antonio do you have something to add?

ANTONIO DURAN: First I want to echo everything that Doctora Pérez-Vélez just shared and I agree with complicating this notion of fit becomes very code of language in ways that we produce acquiring the same kind of people in an organization. That inherently may reproduce issues of whiteness and other forms of oppression. So related to that I want to jump on Karla was mentioning having those tough and real conversations with professionals.

Especially with those who have similar social identities in order to understand in what ways have they moved through the field. Especially if they hold my minoritize to identities and what ways have they been able to advocate for equity and justice on college campuses?

What other ways have the work been hard. Da’Shaun could speak to some of these challenges by think it is important to connect with those who hold different social identities to hear how they navigated through the field as a whole.

HEATHER SHEA: Da’Shaun tell us a bit about how you have experienced your professional career thus far. What have been some benefits and want have been some of the challenges that you’ve experienced or that brought the you’ve seen other student affairs professionals face?

DA’SHAUN SCOTT: Before I go any further the number one benefit is the variety of professional organizations like ACPA, NASPA, ASHE, I call these people my student affairs family because it’s exciting for people who are outside the institution that I’m currently working in who can support me and are able to share resources on how we can support each other during times …  Regardless of what school you attend her work at, institutions are experiencing similar campus issues. Student affairs is a field that is constantly changing and evolving… It performs a variety of tasks such as planning events, crisis management, leading meetings, there are so many different career opportunities you can have within student affairs.

One other benefit is supported in developing students from the beginning and end like meeting the student for the first time as a freshman or sophomore and then helping them try to understand campus and you being there to provide resources and tools to help them all the way up to graduation. That moment right there is very exciting to me because I’m glad I was able to provide the support that other students or myself may not have had in the past.

Another thing is advocating for students. It’s kind of hard separating yourself and the values of your institution and trying to figure out how can you combine both those to successfully, effectively support and advocate students during certain times. Another thing just hearing students say thank you for being there. Don’t do this for a thank you but it’s always nice to hear a student say I appreciate you and this is what I needed.

Even though there are many benefits of working in student affairs, like I said, the campus environment is always changing and offers new challenges and requires new strategies and ideas to make these challenges.

I think one big one is what does support mean because everyone has their own definition of support especially when it’s around diversity and inclusion issues. My office deals with — advised organizations in advising SGA two completely different areas I deal with. We have to figure out how? Offer support and guidance to institutions across the country and even ourselves around diversity and inclusion issues I tell people America is hurting and many in our communities are too so this year I’ve seen an increase of social media posts and students, faculty and staff showing their anger, frustration and sadness about a variety of issues such as Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights and international students accepted in our society.

Members within a campus community are holding institutions responsible for their actions.

I tell my institutional all the time it’s important to realize that commitment goes beyond hosting meetings and issuing statements. What are you doing to help support students?

There are times you realize I did all that I can do people are still not satisfied. I realize you’re not going to make everyone Another one is realizing taking time for yourself. You have to take those moments. So there are challenges and benefits of being a student affairs professional.

HEATHER SHEA: Da’Shaun I got chills as you were talking about the ways that you have both experienced the benefits as well as the challenges. Thank you so much for sharing that and I wholeheartedly agree those student notes at the end of the college career are among the moments that I look back on and really And again say wow this was amazing.

Richie did you want to add something else about challenges or benefits?

RICHIE STEVENS: Yeah I think Da’Shaun is talking about his early-stage career. For me, I’ve been here in the profession a lot longer. I think one of the things that is really beneficial is that in a career working in higher education, you stay young or young at heart however you want to look at that because the energy that comes in the students you’re working with… And the employees and peers you have keep you young and motivated.

And I have a tattoo on my arm one of the things that I tell the students when I teach them there two things. One is they are an educator, forget that. And you are a lifelong learner.

Any day I don’t learn something new in higher education is just a bad day and I haven’t had a bad day so really taking advantage of recognize that you can grow and stay young and learn from the students and peers that you are interacting with which I think is just key for success.

HEATHER SHEA: I love that. I love that absolutely. As I’m nearing into my second decade in this field I continually reminded of the ways in which I both in some rooms the youngest in the room and other times the oldest person in the room. I want to transition now into the topic of building a career. This is “Careers in student affairs month” and for those of you who were watching who are may be considering a pathway into the field, One of the steps is often a professional preparation program or graduate school. Antonio can you talk about some advantages of going straight into graduate school versus taking time off between undergraduate and graduate study.

ANTONIO DURAN: Such a good question. I do think one of the benefits of having this first webinar of NextGen during current student affairs month is that we get to benefit from the variety of perspectives that professionals hold about what it takes to pursue careers in student affairs. All my advice is going to be subjective and my own journey into the field was that I was an eager beaver and went straight through not only to my masters program but also to my PhD program. However, I do now have the valuable perspective of being a faculty member in which I’m working with students who come somewhat straight through from undergraduate to graduate degree and others took time off in between. And once again their journeys are so individual. One of the reasons why people oftentimes take time off between undergraduate and graduate degree may be that you are just tired.

You have just spent a substantial amount of your life going to school and you may need to get recalibrate and recharge your energy in order to go on with advanced study needs. A graduate degree is an enriching experience but does take a lot of time and energy and for those who take a gap year that may be multiple gap years that may be the opportunity to recharge in order to do so. Others may not be particularly set on whether or not they want to go into student affairs and the time off between undergraduate and graduate degree may be an opportunity

to actually work in the field and apply for positions that only require a bachelors degree.

And through the practical hands on experience they may discover that yes, this is it this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

For the immediate future or you may come to realize the me know student affairs is not — what I thought was going to be like. That can be extremely helpful information for you to make the decision to go into a graduate program. That being said, if you do decide to go straight through,

I know a lot of people are working off of the Adrenalin of being in education and really want to make it through to finish off one more degree.

As long as you had that energy pushing you through, I think you will be just fine and equipped in order to acquire a graduate degree. The last thing I will mention is that both are extremely valuable to having in the classroom. Those who went through from undergraduate to graduate degree are often pulling on those fresh undergraduate experiences in making sense of research and material.

Discussing those who took some time off and potentially work in the field or outside of the field are bringing in that professional, practical, hands-on experience as a practitioner.

You are going to be set up well regardless of what path you go it just becomes a matter of how am I feeling am I ready for this experience and if not what are other alternatives?

To pursue before obtaining a graduate degree if that is what you decide to do.

HEATHER SHEA: Perfect. Thank you so much. It is really in the fall the time when people make some choices about where they’re going to apply and perhaps what types of programs they are most interested in pursuing.

And there is a wide variety of graduate programs out there. We’ve all talked about our experiences from cohort-based models to more practical counseling based.

Da’Shaun can you talk about that approach for graduate school and I think you talked about it at the beginning. Maybe a little emphasis on what is the difference between different types of graduate programs and we will pick up this topic in a future webinar where we go into alternative pathways in the field. Certainly graduate preparation is not the only way just tuned affairs but talk about some of the differences in graduate school programs.

DA’SHAUN SCOTT: There are so many different graduate programs. Before I started my graduate search I was trying to figure out I want to do full-time or part-time. So I decided to do full-time route right after undergrad.

Looking through all the institution websites about the student affairs programs, learning what assistantships do they offer because me, I don’t know about everyone else, but I was, I would love if I had a stipend and tuition waiver.

That would help out a lot because of my family are not, not rich. [LAUGHING] So I was like what can I do to help myself and my family with finances. Paragraph finding my different assistantships, do they have residential life or student activities or academic advising?

There are so many routes you could choose with assistantship.

Another one is fine wanted a cohort model or not. I mentioned earlier I wanted a cohort model because I was looking at a lot of big institutions and by undergraduate institution was about 950 students. So I wanted that family feel like people I could talk to and have friends and talk about different curriculum they were talking about in the classroom. That was a big thing for me so I chose the cohort model. And the big one is diversity the diversity of students, the diversity of faculty and staff. That’s hard to find sometimes but I tell people always be willing to ask those difficult questions when it comes to diversity of students. The may be times when you may be the only Black student in your class or the Black supervisor and the person of color in your assistantship.

So being willing to realize that may happen to you in that situation do you have support when dealing with those things? Another thing if you want the social justice base, pathway, academic base or theory to practice are all mixture of two or three of these altogether. I picked the mixture of the theory to practice and the social justice route but felt I would like to learn

in the classroom and apply to my assistantship and see how the two connect help me prepare to be a student affairs professional.

This may have changed from years people that up in higher education before me so I’m thankful for that. Also looking to the faculty, where does the research go? To think of what types of classes are they teachings or during my time I had — I had two professors that was very rewarding because I see your name in this book in your my professors so I can ask you more questions about the things we are reading about and you can provide support.

And last thing was can I get a minor or graduate certificate at Indiana University I added an education law is a graduate certificate because The law, the state of law that we are in right now, law is impacting every little bits and pieces of higher education and I want to be able to effectively support my students when things like that happen. With this administration.

HEATHER SHEA: Well said. We are running just a low bit short on time but I want to get to one final question before we do final thoughts.

For me the field of student affairs has largely been about connections. I moved around the country on many different campuses and through that entire almost 2 decades in the field.

It’s been my professional association involved with ACPA that is been the primary source of my support and home.

This is a very connected field I mean for those of us on the call, we can all go one degree from each other and probably name Karla can you talk about how you go about building connections in the field? And what that has looked like for you through your career.

KARLA PÉREZ-VÉLEZ: At first it feels very daunting at least it did for me when I started. I went to a small institution out on the East Coast … And had a really strong local and regional professional organization. I would say if you were to start small and connect with the professionals on your campus and then if you have if your institution has a student affairs program I would also recommend you connect with faculty to get those perspectives. And if you don’t have a higher education program or student affairs program on your campus, may be connect to one that is in your state or look at those opportunities where you could reach out to. 

Local, regional and virtual opportunities are really critical for participating in webinars or webcasts. I started at the local, regional level. So I was in the southeast but I still joined the local ACPA chapter. When I was at Western Kentucky and then here in Colorado there is a local chapter. So often you can start there and then and then I moved into the national organization and joining committees and opportunities to apply for different commissions and different opportunities there. So sometimes if you are offered the opportunity to connect just take the opportunity to reach out or send an email. I’m always happy to try and answer questions. I’m on part of the panel so reaching out to folks… But I would say you don’t have to go big right away. You could definitely start small like steps through but  — you could also join a very large National Convention so there are multiple ways that I would say start with where you feel most comfortable. And you will definitely find a helping hand along the way.

HEATHER SHEA: That was great.

So as we talked about at the beginning this podcast is called Student Affairs NOW. we want to bring it back to the present. What are you all pondering, question, excited about, troubling in our field? Now? Richie? I’m going to start with you.

RICHIE STEVENS: The obvious is with the COVID pandemic. We have pivoted to online and distance education and for someone who has been in the field over 30 years, this is not new but for many campuses it is. So really rethinking what the student development look like

as we continue to move forward and more virtual spaces. And how do we assist students to continue to be successful as they define success? On the college campuses whether it is two or four year institutions. So I think it is an opportunity.

HEATHER SHEA: Karla?

KARLA PÉREZ-VÉLEZ: I would say I tend to be a bit of a thinker so I’ve been pondering for some time and thinking about how do we not lose some of the different ways that we’ve learned to be at work, Or in school due to the pandemic. For example, how do we continue to honor different ways of being so different work schedules, different work locations, making adjustments for students, making adjustments for staff.

I think the pandemic has pushed some of us to think more broadly and around equity and access and for me it’s how do we not lose that and just go back to normal?

Because normal did not work for everyone so how do we continue to push and think, how we can hold onto some things that we have learned through this pandemic?

HEATHER SHEA: Thank you so much. Da’Shaun..

DA’SHAUN SCOTT: The election, I’ve been thinking a lot about the impacts of politics on student affairs what is this going to look like for the future as in terms of How will we be able to advocate and support students in terms of diversity and inclusion efforts because that is changing. That changes every single day it feels like what support means for students.

Also thinking about what would advocacy look like on student campus during this time because we are virtual.

I see a lot more advancement in technology were students are advocating there but we have to think about what does accessibility and equity of technology for our students because we have them virtually but not every student has the opportunity to have Wi-Fi or a laptop. So what are institutions going to do in the future to make sure that students do have the tools and resources in technology for them to continue on with schooling?

HEATHER SHEA: Well said. Antonio?

ANTONIO DURAN: I think the one thing that is on my mind is how? Continue to support our career professionals in student affairs especially those my minoritize communities.

Those minority communities. Think everything they pandemic, the recent violence against minority groups has really brought to light the fact that, the issue that student affairs has prepared of I love student affairs and that’s why I’m here on this webinar and is not without issues. I think about the labor that professionals put into their work especially those who have minoritized identities. I could reflect on how do we best prepare these individuals were starting out in those fields. And also compensate them as well.

HEATHER SHEA: Really well said. I think this is a unique time to be doing this work and entering this field and yet I’m reminded as one of my mentors, Kris Renn, said that this is still a really good place to be, higher education is still a really good place to be.  Moving into this field may be the right fit for several of you watching today.

Thank you so much to all of the panelists and audience members who participated in tonight’s webcast. 

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Again, I’m Heather Shea, thanks again to the fabulous guests today and to everyone who is watching/listening. Make it a great week!

ACPA–College Student Educators International

NextGen Institute (2020 information)