Heather Shea (00:01):

Hello and welcome to Student Affairs Now. This is our first episode and we are so excited to welcome you today. Student Affairs Now is the premier podcast and learning community for thousands of us who work in alongside, within, or adjacent to the field of higher education and student affairs. We hope you’ll find these conversations, make a contribution to the field and are restorative to our profession. We release new episodes every week on Wednesdays at 1:00 PM Eastern time. Find us online at StudentAffairsNow.com or on Twitter. I’m your host, Heather Shea broadcasting live from East Lansing, Michigan ancestral, homelands of Anishinaabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. I’m thrilled to welcome you to today’s episode featuring the four of us. We are the hosts of Student Affairs Now. This has been a few months in the making and I’m so happy the three of you have joined me today for our inaugural conversation and episode of our podcast.

Heather Shea (01:05):

So we’re going to go around, everybody’s going to introduce themselves, share a little bit about your work, maybe some of your scholarship research interest in higher education. And I’ll, I’ll start because not only am I hosting today about I’m also participating. So again, Heather, my pronouns are she, her and hers. I serve at Michigan State University as the director of women*s student services, which is within the division of student affairs. And I also teach in the master’s in student affairs administration program here at MSU. I got my master’s degree in student affairs at Colorado State University. And since then I have spent time traveling around working at mostly land grant institutions, incidentally across the country. So I’m happy to be here today and I’m thrilled to be able to join you all on student affairs. Now, Susana, do you wanna introduce yourself next?

Susan Munoz (01:59):

Sure. Thank you, Heather. My name is Susana Munoz. She, her, her pronouns. I come from you from Fort Collins, Colorado, which is the ancestral homelands of the Ute, Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples. I am currently an associate professor in the higher education leadership program at Colorado State University. And I also serve as the director of CSU initiatives at the RISE center. Before that, I used to be in student affairs. I’m proud to say that I am a former practitioner. I do miss it. Especially around these times that we’re moving in students and you see the parents and I want someone to give me an orientation shirt and help me help somebody. And and so I spent 13 years in student affairs before becoming a faculty member. My research is around looking at minority minoritized populations in higher education, particularly when specifically undocumented and DACA, Latinx populations, looking at campus, climate, student identity and student activism. And so I’ve been doing all that stuff right now. It’s, you know, very contested issue, definitely within our national political landscape and something that I’m definitely very passionate about and advocating for and with some phenomenal communities that I get the privilege of working alongside with. So, yeah, so that’s me. And I guess I’m going to pass it over to Glenn. Tell us about you

Glenn DeGuzman (03:39):

First, it’s really good to be with all of you again, reconnecting. My name is Glenn. I use he, him, his pronouns. Currently I’m the associate Dean of students and the director of residential life at UC Berkeley, my professional service, my goodness, it’s now extending 25 years. And I’ve spent that time in various functional areas in student affairs. So I do find it serendipitous that I started my career in residential life at UC Santa Barbara. And I found my way back. So I’m back in the fold, but this time at UC Berkeley. So in terms of my interest, I’m a practitioner at heart. So much of my practice are really derived from getting from theory to practice. I really dig the theoretical underpinnings of our field, but how do we take that and actualize it with today’s students?

Glenn DeGuzman (04:31):

So that’s kind of like my areas of interest. I know that the issues are becoming way more complex today and they’re just more radically different, more expansive. And I would say at times the volume of work that we do is a lot more. So sometimes it’s very difficult to be intentional and we have to be more reactive, but I think that’s kind of where forums like this, to be able to just learn and to just to kind of gain information, kind of informs the work that I do and the decisions I have to make. So I think that when I can do that, I’m able to not just learn for myself, but also just share with others, whether there appears in colleagues and or students. So that’s kind of my focus. Let’s go to you Keith.

Keith Edwards (05:19):

Thanks Glenn. My name is Keith Edwards. My pronouns are he, him, his and I’m a speaker consultant and coach. I’ve been doing that for five years now and worked with a lot of different campuses around sexual violence prevention social justice, education curricular approaches to learning beyond the classroom among other things. And in my coaching work, I work with a lot of college presidents, senior leaders do a lot of leadership development with sort of the C suite of colleges and universities with vice presidents and developing their capacity to do lots of different things. In a previous life, I worked at Macalester College as the director of campus life for eight years, loved my time there loved Macalaster, loved the students at that small private liberal arts environment, which is where I started as a college student at Hamline University at another small private liberal arts institution in between those two experiences

Keith Edwards (06:10):

I worked at Colorado State. I went to grad school with these fine folks. We didn’t intend for all four hosts to be a CSU connection, but we just wanted fabulous folks. And it just turned out that that’s how that played out. Worked at the University of Delaware and did my doctorate at University of Maryland in College Park. And so I’m really excited to be here. Like I think some of you, I think of myself as a practitioner and a scholar, some people say I’m not in higher ed anymore. I still think I am in higher ed. I’m just in a little bit of a different role. And what’s really fun for me about that is rather than having a singular campus experience, I’m working with folks with lots of different campuses. So I get to see that the themes and the trends across campuses and also the things that are unique to each campus community. So I’m really excited to be a part of this, this project with, with my good friends here.

Heather Shea (07:03):

Yeah. As Keith said, we didn’t intend for all of us to be, have a Colorado State SAHE connection. But I think that’s actually pretty interesting, right. So during that 20 plus years between the time that we all graduated with our master’s degrees from CSU, we’ve done all kinds of different and interesting things. And I think that original foundation in a program that’s very practitioner focused maybe helps inform a little bit about what we’ve done and how we think a little bit about that specific idea of theory to practice. So Keith, you and I have been talking about this for awhile and we have, we have put forth some visioning statements and some thoughts about where we see this going. Can you talk a little bit about where you see, and then I’ll chime in anybody else? We have some other, other questions we want to get to today too, but where do we see Student Affairs Now going.

Keith Edwards (07:58):

Yeah. And you know, Heather, you and I, you were hosting Student Affairs Live on the Higher Ed Live network and invited me to guest host when you were out of the country. I think literally and then I got to do more and more of that over time as that project kind of came to a conclusion and it was on hiatus, we missed it and we missed the conversations. We missed doing that. And then there was also this global pandemic. And so the need and desire for opportunities learn without going to conferences and professional development without being in person. And a lot of professional development on campuses has been done in different way. There just seemed to be an even greater need for conversations that people could access for free online. And Student Affairs Live began as this live project video.

Keith Edwards (08:46):

And then what happened as the end, we were seeing the podcasts downloads, which was really an afterthought far eclipsing, the video and who was certainly who was watching live. And so we really wanted to create a podcast focused conversation, which we’re also recording the videos. So some of you might be listening to this. Some of you might be watching the video. And we also decided we’re not going to do it live because frankly, that was a big pain to get people scheduled with everything going on and a lot of stress at it. And so we are going to record these, which is, allows us to be timely, allows us to do some different things and will allow us to do it. The other thing that we really want to do is make it weekly so people can count on this.

Keith Edwards (09:26):

So these episodes are going to come out every Wednesday as we start, we’re going to offer some bonus episodes even more frequently just to get things rolling. But where I think we’ve all talked about wanting this to be is we really wanted this to be about curiosity about our own learning. As hosts, we’re not here to be experts. We get to do that in lots of realms and maybe it will be guests as Heather gets to do today and hosts, but I’m really wanting to be curious and learn and expand what we’re thinking about beyond what we do day to day as faculty, or as practitioners, or as a little bit of both. So really looking forward to the conversations the things that we have, the episodes that we’re planning are really exciting and really a great variety from panels and topics to one-on-one with guests and authors and books and timely things. So I’m really excited to be a part of it. And can’t wait for the, the conversations to get going and to share with so many of you.

Heather Shea (10:22):

Yeah. Yeah. When I thought about what I hoped this would become, and it we’re going to get into this kind of idea of making a contribution, but what I took away from hosting episodes on student affairs live for so long was this ability to make, to create a network of people who care passionately about the field that we’re in. And each of those projects, I also consider myself to be a generalist. And then I’ve dabbled in many different functional areas. Each of those episodes were like a little mini lit review. So when I think about feeding my learner strength I think a lot about the ways that student for his life had bed that for so long. And so it’s, it’s fun to be able to jump back into the conversations. I also know as a person who’s teaching in a master’s program and working alongside faculty, that having the ability to show different types of media to students and think about like, what do students in those professional preparation programs need?

Heather Shea (11:28):

You know, how can we bring? And I think one of the, one of the episodes that I hosted that had so many views and Student Affairs Live was the one that focused on the student development theory book with the authors of that book. Maybe because faculty who were teaching it were using that episode as a way to introduce, introduce that book to their students. So I really hope that this even more so than Student Affairs Live becomes a teaching tool, a professional development tool free online, accessible engaging conversations without the live aspect. Cause I agree with you. I think that there was a lot of stress and I hopefully this will make it possible for us to bring on even more people than we would have had before. I think the other pieces that we really wanted to expand our, our hosting panel and have additional voices and perspectives and folks join us.

Heather Shea (12:24):

And so I’m thrilled that Susana and Glenn said yes, when we asked both Keith and I were like, you know, how can we, how can we make this like an even richer experience? So I’d love to hear from both of you, like, why did you say yes. What about our pitch like said, okay, I could do this. I could spend my time doing this. Susana, do you want to start or Glenn? Either one, either one I could start.

Susan Munoz (12:55):

I mean, I think other, I mean, besides that my horoscope says that I needed to share my unusual talents, you know on a creative project. Exactly. That’s what it said today, but I, I enjoy the company that I’m in and I think that’s, that’s kind of what drew me is like, you’re, you’re, I’ve always followed your work and I’ve always followed your trajectory and in the fields in higher education and have a lot of admiration.

Susan Munoz (13:23):

And I know that we all were in the master’s program together at Colorado State. And I really do miss my connections with my classmates that I had at Colorado State. And so I think that that was initially one of the reasons I think I think if there was anybody else, I would have been like, no I don’t, but because it was all of you, I felt like this, this is going to be a lot of fun. So I mean that, I mean, I don’t do anything that’s not fun. And so I, I knew that I was like, okay, I’m going to be missing out if I maybe don’t say yes to this. And so, but the other part was that, you know, I as a faculty member, I, you know, I like to keep, you know one foot or one hand in the practitioner role.

Susan Munoz (14:08):

Then I think one of the things that has been very beneficial for me in my learning and my teaching and my research is, is keeping that, you know, the pulse on the field of student affairs. And so it just enhanced, it’s his own thought process in terms of, you know, if I’m writing an article or from, you know, I’m talking or developing curriculum, I want to make sure that these theories and this research really translates into that practice. And so I think it would, you know, for my own selfish reasons, yes, it’s going to develop my own, you know enhance my own, you know, professional development and my own development in many ways. But I also feel like I’m able to contribute as sort of like the, the research perspective as well, in terms of that, you know, these, these podcasts are phenomenal in the sense of how do we take that research from that journal that is very inaccessible to many populations and how do we bring it to life in a conversation around a kitchen table?

Susan Munoz (15:22):

And so that’s one of the things that’s really excites me is that we get to like have these really great conversations about important topics that really matter to our field, but in ways that feels like we’re talking to our, our neighbors or just like a casual conversation. And so I think that’s what really enriches sort of the process of how we become better leaders, how become better practitioners and faculty members. So I really wanted to be a part of that. And it clearly like CSU look, we can’t deny that there’s, we do produce some amazing talent, so I’ll just leave it at that. I love it. Glenn, why did you say yes.

Glenn DeGuzman (16:08):

I think for the most part, the biggest, big reason honestly, is it was because the two of you were asking in part, I think that there is something special and I’m gonna take a different approach to this. I think our, to answer this question, I think there’s something special about getting to know folks before careers fully launched. And we knew each other before we ended up where we were. And I think for me personally, as a young Filipino student affairs professional, I had admittedly I have trust issues with people outside of my community, just because of the lived experiences I’ve had. And because of these lived experiences, my parents really taught me for better or worse to be cautious of others. And so I think that when I, when I traversed the world or we’re going to traverse the field as a young professional, I spent a lot of time evaluating, gauging people to see if this is someone I can trust.

Glenn DeGuzman (17:03):

So spending time with you both early in my career and just seeing how you engage others, how you, how you were passionate about serving students, just like I was, it really taught me a lot about the character and why you do what you do, and then seeing you in your career sorta just said, I gotta get, I gotta get on that train. So there was, there was excitement when the ask was made and I was like, okay, tell me more. Cause I, you know, learning is going online. I think it’s virtual. There’s just multiple ways to, to, to keep up and develop professionally. And then when, when I heard that Susana was going to be part of this group, I’m like, Aw, this is going to be like a Colorado State Fest here. So I got excited and, you know, Susana and I have a very we had a very good relationship while we were in grad school together.

Glenn DeGuzman (17:52):

I mean, I mean, we started the, I think it started, we did start that the Colorado state, what was it, the Student of Color Network for professionals. And so we needed each other back then. I think that we provided cultural nutrients to each other back then. And I think that the conversations that we had were deep, and I think this is just an opportunity to bring these conversation, bring the wonderful perspectives and learning from folks across our field to a, a place where we’ll live in perpetuity online. So I’m excited. This was a no brainer for me when y’all asked,

Susan Munoz (18:33):

Well, we got to say one story about, of course about Glenn. So like I have to say Glenn, you are the reason why I decided to come to Colorado State because I remember in my, you know, visit, I point blank asked, you know, okay, what is it like to be here in Fort Collins, Colorado as a Person of Color? And you were so real with me. And so I think that was that realness, that authenticity is led me to Colorado State where I didn’t get asked the same questions at other institutions. And I, I got something very sugarcoated, but yes. So that’s how, that’s how it happened.

Heather Shea (19:12):

Yes. I love it. I love it. We are so thrilled. You both said, yes, this is going to be so much fun. We are going to have a couple of episodes. I think each semester that just feature the four of us and kind of thinking through, so hopefully we’ll have some replays of this conversation as we learn alongside each other and, and shape this channel in our initial conversations, we did talk a little bit about what we wanted this to be. And I think Susana and Glenn, you both said something about making a contribution to the field and something that is restorative to the profession. I think both those words, contribution and restorative are really purposeful words. Can you tell us a little bit about what they mean to you and how that will maybe drive the types of episodes that you’re, you know, kind of already queuing up in your mind to host, so Glenn, do you want to start us off there?

Glenn DeGuzman (20:14):

Yeah, sure. When I think of restorative to me, that’s about making things better. As I get older, making things better means passing on what I’ve learned to the next generation of professionals. I, I think we all know, and you know, of the influences that our mentors have had for me personally, I know that dr. Keith, Miser Dr. Linda Ahuna -Hamill, they were very influential and, and that mentoring relationship. And I think about what they shared with me and truly allowed me to see behind the curtain so I can be, can begin understanding the various frames of situations and what it would take to be an effective administrator as long as I stayed in the field. So that is the process that I really want to take to kind of this this kind of space. So for the, for the most part, restorative just make things better make our newer professionals aware of the critical issues continue to have genuine care on the students that we impact.

Glenn DeGuzman (21:22):

And I think having confidence as the first generation professional to be able to speak up and say something when it doesn’t align with my personal values. So I think this is a space where we can continue to learn and create confidence. When I think of contributions to our field of student affairs, that actually is a really important part for me. In part, because I think when I was a younger professional, I think that we’re taught that contract contributing to the field is about writing and getting published. It means presenting at conferences and that’s all good stuff. I did that stuff, right. And, but I think that over time for me, because I think at heart, I’m a practitioner I’m making contributions to the field, also meant identifying gaps in our practice and sharing that with the next generation professionals, similar to what my mentors would point out.

Glenn DeGuzman (22:18):

They point out the gaps because when I get into that position, how can I change that? How can I make, how can I use my positionality to create change in policy or in, in practice or in operations? That I would say that my parents had always taught me that teach others to be better or in a more informed version of myself. That’s what I can control. And I think I’ve carried that philosophy as a parent, as a a sibling within my Filipino community. And as a student affairs professional. So now that we’re doing this student affairs now.com, it’s allowing us to bring the amazing people with deep knowledge to speak on topics that will forever be available to this generation and the next generation of students, affairs scholars, practitioners, whatnot.

Heather Shea (23:13):

Right. Well said, Susana, what do you want to say about contribution and restorative?

Susan Munoz (23:20):

Yeah, so I mean, you know, I think, you know, like Glenn, you know, I enter into, into this space as a Chicana, as an immigrant, you know, as a mom, as I wear these, you know, multiple identities. And so I you know, I come at it with a, just a very keen understanding of like making that we are privileging information and people and knowledge that hasn’t necessarily been historically privileged in our field. And that’s very important to me in the sense of you know, how I, my pedagogy, you know, and even, you know, directing the higher education leadership program, it is a very different program that I went through as a doctoral student, right. You know, at Iowa state university. And we are making intentional decisions about cultivating the next generation of faculty and student affairs that can really address the societal issues that we’re facing today.

Susan Munoz (24:24):

And racism is a pandemic that is one of them, white supremacy is, is, is one of them. And so we have to get comfortable making sure that this is a part of our everyday language. And the other thing I will say is that you know, the, the, you know, as a faculty member, you know, we’re, we’re always thought of as like, you know, what, what kind of impact are you making with your scholarship? You know, what kind of impact are you making in your community? And so this is, you know, another way I think, to, to make that impact. And I think through my whole tenure process, I had this, you know, constant comment and feedback about like, you’re doing way too much service. You’re doing way too much service. And as a Chicana, as a woman of color, you know, turning my back on my community is not an option, you know, not, not centering and not working alongside people that are, you know, central to my research is not an option.

Susan Munoz (25:21):

And so I think when you really need to shift our paradigm in terms of what does impact mean, you know, and I hopefully, you know, this podcast, which has, would illuminate a little bit more about the different mediums and different offerings that that really contribute to our field that is beyond the research now and more central to about the practice and developing new paradigms in which we can theorize some of the societal issues that we’re facing today. So I feel that that’s, that’s kind of where I’m entering into the space as absolutely Keith, what are those means? What are those words mean to you to

Keith Edwards (26:04):

I, you know, I’m just, I’m inspired right now. I’m just inspired hearing Glenn and Susana talk about what they, what they see in the field and what they want to offer. And yeah, it, it really resonates with me. I think having a multi-campus perspective, working in consulting with maybe two dozen campuses, seeing the challenges across the profession from Smith College, the University of Texas at Austin similarities in that. And one of the things that I see is student affairs professionals really tired and often feeling

Keith Edwards (26:44):

unseen and taken for granted and that their, their work is not valued. But they know that if they stopped doing the work, everything would come to a screeching halt or worse, right. Real harm would get done. And I, I’m someone who really loves to learn and the conversations that I got to have hosting Student Affairs Live, and that I, that I we’re planning and getting to have, allows me to be really curious and learn. And every time I had these conversations, I would just be like, I am today inspired and motivated and curious and excited about the possibilities. And when we had some initial conversations and Susana talked about rejuvenating to the profession, I had never thought about that, but I want that so bad. And I see the need for that so bad. And how do we how do we offer something that excites people and gets them connected to their roots to their, to their core of their humanity to their culture and, and rejuvenate people so that not just people, but also the professional conversations that we have as a profession.

Keith Edwards (27:57):

And I think we kind of get stuck, you know, teaching the same class I taught the past three years, and this gives me a whole new perspective. I’ve never heard about that. I think the other thing that’s really exciting about this is student affairs, people are just awesome people and you lose that when you read their book or when you read their chapter, you, you don’t get their sense of humor. I remember a couple of years ago being at a conference and Susan Komivs came on stage and all of a sudden on Twitter, people were saying, that’s what she looks like. I was just in the restroom with her. She was so kind, she was asking me all these questions. I had no idea that was who that was. And she’s just a wonderful person to talk to, but you don’t get that by reading, you know, a really wonderful aspects of that.

Keith Edwards (28:42):

So I think to bring some of this to life, and as Susana mentioned, you can write a lot of things. You can publish a lot of journals, not everybody can access that. Not everybody who reads it, gets it. And I think bringing some of these brilliant ideas and insights to life, and frankly we get to have conversations with people who aren’t going to take the time to write and publish. Cause they’re busy leading. They’re busy being college presidents. They’re busy doing all these other things. They’re busy mentoring. And so how do we bring that? And it’s also, we’re at a time you know, there’s a global pandemic. We’re seeing racism and race based murder playing out in front of our eyes. We’re seeing renewed call to justice and activism. We’re seeing the most divisive presidential election of our lifetimes playing out before us. And then we’re all navigating school parenting, caring for loved ones, worried about parents and their health, worrying about our own. It’s just an also trying to

Keith Edwards (29:42):

Lead orientations and move in. And how am I going to teach these classes virtually when I’ve never done that before? How do you navigate all the challenges that we’re facing now? And so we could use some rejuvenation because the world isn’t going to stop being difficult, it’s going to continue being difficult. And so we have to find ways to reengage with that in a new life giving ways.

Heather Shea (30:05):

Yeah. When I think about that all that you all have said, I think that, you know, first I absolutely did everything. I think that one of the key pieces for restorative for me is that we think about like that tiredness that Keith mentioned. And I totally get that. I, I am right now, like our students were supposed to move in last week. Our president made the choice that if we’re completely online it is a really complicated time to be doing this work. And, and I know how much I love this work. And I feel like if we can hopefully help coordinate some conversations where people can get a little bit more of that fire back. The other piece I’m really also conscious of the fact is that we have a pretty incredible, an awesome privilege to be able to be in these roles and host these conversations, elevate voices.

Heather Shea (31:06):

And like, as Susana said, you know, sometimes it’s the college presidents and the people who have written books sometimes it’s, it’s anyone who hasn’t yet had an opportunity to speak at this level. And so we really are going to be looking for suggestions and audience feedback. And, you know, if there is an episode topic that you are like, Oh my gosh, I really want to see this covered, or I could come on and host or participate in a conversation with you as a host, please reach out to us. And we’re going to provide all kinds of ways that you can do that. You know, I think one of the things I learned as a host on Student Affairs Live was how indebted I was to the, all the other people around me who made this possible. And Keith, I know you you know, came in as host also.

Heather Shea (31:54):

And I just want to give a quick shout out to the folks at mStoner and at Higher Ed Live who not only released us to be able to go do our own thing and move forward but also served as a tremendous source of inspiration. And then I also want to just give a quick shout out to Tony Dooty to Ed Cabellon and to others who are, you know, good friends colleagues, and also have been longtime supporters of, of this type of media delivery. And so I’m sure Tony and Ed and some of the other folks from that era will be on episodes some point. So just wanted to give them a shout out. Keith, when you were a part of Student Affairs Live, what are some of the key things that you learned that you were bringing with you into this?

Keith Edwards (32:51):

Well, I think we’ve talked, touched on this. I think being able to have the conversations, I think the most rewarding part for me was the people who I met. It was someone suggested this person. I reached out to them. I kind of knew them. Then they get on the show, we have this conversation and then next thing you know, we’re Facebook friends. And then next thing you know, we’re swapping kid pictures and you get to know these people. And so the relationship building was really, really great. But that was a great experience. I think we learned a lot about having the conversation and I think the conversations will be very similar. I think we also learned some behind the scenes things that we hoped to make smoother and a little bit easier. As we do this, we can do more and really offering a weekly thing.

Keith Edwards (33:32):

Sometimes it was hard to sort of find out when was the next episode, when’s it coming? I like that topic, but we’re going to try and make this a regular thing. So you can count on it on your drive or you’re walking through your neighborhood or the treadmill or while you’re cooking dinner or mowing the lawn or whatever it is that you’re doing, that you can be, be a part of this. And I know, Heather mentioned some of the folks, I just also want to thank the folks at mStoner. Ashley Bidd who helped us get started with Student Affairs, Live Mallory Wilsea, Bianca Tomlin and all the other folks at the Higher Ed Live network who made that a great experience. And have helped us be in a position to launch this new endeavor Student Affairs Now.

Heather Shea (34:11):

Yeah. So this podcast, as we’ve said, a couple of times is called Student Affairs Now that’s a, that’s intentional, right? I mean, obviously it’s not live, so it’s, it’s, it’s not that. But I think when we thought about what did we want now to be, I think we were really thinking about, you know, there, there are real issues that are facing our field today. But there’s also something about that current and relevant topic, as well as the perennial topics, right. That will live in perpetuity. And so we’re going to end every episode with this kind of question with each of our panelists to get them to kind of give us some of their, what are they currently pondering thinking, questioning troubling worrying about inspired by so I’ll ask that question of each of you, and then that will conclude our very first episode.

Heather Shea (35:05):

So Susana, why don’t you start us off? What are you pondering questioning or troubling now?

Susan Munoz (35:10):

Oh, I mean, where do I start? I mean, it’s hard to pinpoint just one thing, because, you know, it’s, you know, I, you know, the schooling right now only does for = I have two college kids. And then when one, you know, in middle school, but just, you know, are the safety right? And just, you know, keeping everyone safe. I also, you know, wanna name Jacob Blake, and, you know, what we have in, you know seen in the last week is, is troubling. And it’s also traumatic – continues to be very traumatic. And how we think about how do we come to class and show up to class when, you know, all these societal issues are happening and how do we also humanize our class to make space for the beat to be human and process, you know, what’s happening and how this is landing on it and impacting different individuals. And so, you know, I’m left with lots of questions. And I think, you know, one of the things that I, and I hope this podcast can do is, is to really what are some really trauma informed and restorative and healing practices that we can incorporate in our everyday practices as humans, but also to our students and how we show up in our work lives.

Heather Shea (36:39):

Thank you Susana. Glenn, the question what are you thinking about now.

Glenn DeGuzman (36:46):

Wow. The question is, is it’s a it’s a real question. And I think that it’s informed by what we’re experiencing today. I’m thinking about, I’m thinking about the trauma that many college administrators, staff, students are experiencing with the pandemic, with violence towards our black community. I think about the, what it must be like to go to college for many students particularly those from our BIPOC communities, our Black Indigenous People of Color communities. I think about I think about a variety of different issues that I think it’s as a, as a student affairs professional, I got into this field because I wanted to help and serve others. And I think that the complexity of issues is, is just growing and in the it’s just it’s it’s making it more and more challenging. And so for me, opportunities to be in the space to be able to have a platform, to bring diverse perspectives that are unique. And I think for what you’re going to see from me are outlier issues. I am looking I think I like what Keith said earlier about the unseen. I think there’s a lot of things that are glossed over and how do we bring that to the forefront in this, in this medium. So that is important for me. I think that’s important for me to pass onto the next generation. I’m ready to do this. Let’s do it.

Heather Shea (38:20):

Keith, do you want to share yours? And then I’ll share mine and close us out?

Keith Edwards (38:25):

I think I’m, as we talked about global pandemic, race-based violence, anti-Black violence, presidential election all those things,

Keith Edwards (38:36):

But I’m, I’m really right now, I am worried about my student affairs colleagues and their burnout. I’m worried about grad students who graduated and, and there aren’t jobs for them. I’m worried about new professionals who are, are not returning to campus – they never left. Cause they’d been there all along and they’re working with students and still on duty and had students all in the halls with no other place to go and are worried about losing their job in six weeks when layoffs start or furloughs. I’m worried about mid level folks who are gonna make those decisions and are heart-broken about it. I’m worried about senior level folks who are making, doing calculus about what might lead to illness and possibly death and how those choices are counterbalanced to financial decisions that are not just about money, it’s about people’s jobs.

Keith Edwards (39:35):

What can we do that would maybe help me save five more jobs? And you know, as Glenn said, this student affairs is more complicated than ever before, and then all of that on top of it. And I just see everyone you know, there’s this myth that now that we’re in this pandemic and we have all this free time, I don’t know those people. I don’t know those people. I don’t know. I think we’re all just overwhelmed and burning the candle at both ends and it’s really taking its toll. And so I’m, that’s why when Susana said rejuvenating, I think I, I leapt out of my chair at that.

Heather Shea (40:12):

Yeah. I I want to lift up all of those thoughts that you all shared and, and also say as a, as a white person, as a cisgender woman in this space I feel complicit with white supremacy and the things I’m thinking about most now are how do I not, not continue to, to contribute to the harm that has been. And I also feel like on our college and university campuses, we, we are being pulled. The conversation to the pandemic has pulled us away from other conversations and obviously needed, right. But as Vernon wall said a couple of weeks ago in an ACPA NASPA racial justice conversation, you can’t say we’re going to not talk about racial justice now because we have this pandemic, everything is interconnected. And, and certainly our Communities of Color our Black Indigenous People of Color on our college and university campuses, our trans members of our communities who when the residence halls closed, that might have been the only safe place for them to be.

Heather Shea (41:26):

You know, they, they are being disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. So as a director of a women’s student services office that works alongside and in conjunction with our LGBT resource center I’m also thinking about all the ways that our, all of our identities show up in this work and trying to do what we can to build coalitions, to build coalitions of accomplices who will be there to make change happen. Earlier today I was in a job interview or hiring a chief diversity officer on our campus. And I think when I think about the type of work that is demanded of a person in that role today, particularly Michigan State University, that’s had some really challenging several months, years even yeah. That in addition to a global pandemic is going to be a huge job. So I hope that when we’re thinking about the things that are on our minds, now that we can bring our full selves to this.

Heather Shea (42:36):

I mean, I also consider as a host that my voice isn’t just to like facilitate the conversation and, and go along, like, you know, we all will be adding our own perspectives to each episode. And I think hopefully that’s one of the things that people will come to appreciate about, about this channel. I am so grateful to the three of you for joining today for agreeing to participate in Student Affairs Now thank you so much for your time and for the energy and effort and emotional labor, you will undoubtedly put towards student affairs. Now, for those of you watching today, you can receive reminders about episode by subscribing to our newsletter. You can browse our archives. Once we have archives at StudentAffairsNow.com subscribe to the podcast and invite other people to subscribe, share it on social, leave a five star review. It really helps us have further conversations and continue to reach more folks, build the learning community – an engage learning community that we so desire and continue to make this a free online source of professional development for you. Again, I’m Heather Shea, thanks again for being fabulous guests and to everyone watching and listening, make it a great week.

Keith Edwards (44:00):

Thanks all.

Glenn DeGuzman (44:01):

Thank you.