Keith Edwards:
Hello and welcome to Student Affairs Now. I’m your host. Keith Edwards. Today is an exciting opportunity as I’m joined by three other hosts of Student Affairs Now. Today we’ll be taking a chance to look back at our launch, our favorite episodes, and what we’re learning and looking forward to in 2021.

Keith Edwards:
Student Affairs Now is the premier podcast and learning community for thousands of us who work in alongside or adjacent to the field of higher education and student affairs. We hope you find these conversations make a contribution to the field and are restorative to the profession. We release new episodes every week on Wednesdays. Find a student affairs now.com or on Twitter. And today’s episode is sponsored by Anthology. Is your goal to engage in effective assessment, boost data fluency, and empower staff with strategic data collection, documented analysis and use of results for change, no matter where your campus is in the assessment journey, anthology formerly campus labs can help you figure out what’s next with a short assessment, you’ll receive customized results and tailored recommendations to address your most immediate assessment needs. Learn more about how Anthology products and expert consultation can empower your division with actionable data by visiting campus labs.com/sa-now.

Keith Edwards:
As I mentioned, I’m your host, Keith Edwards kind of today. We got lots of hosts today. My pronouns are he, him, his and I’m a speaker consultant and coach. And you can find out more about me@keithedwards.com. I’m hosting this conversation today from Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is the ancestral home of the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples. Heather, tell us about you.

Heather Shea:
Hi everyone. My name is Heather Shea. My pronouns are she, her, and hers and I’m broadcasting from East Lansing, Michigan near the campus of Michigan State University, where I work as director of women’s student services and serve as affiliate faculty, MSU occupies the ancestral homelands of Anishinaabeg, Three Fires, Confederacy of Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Pottawatomie peoples Susana.

Susana Muñoz:
Hi, my name is Susana Muñoz. My pronouns, are she, her, hers, ella? And today I’m in Fort Collins, Colorado, which is on the stolen lands of the Ute, Arapaho ,and Cheyenne people nations, and where Colorado state is as well. And I am an associate professor and program director of higher education leadership program. Glenn.

Glenn DeGuzman:
Hey everyone. My name is Glen DeGuzman. I use he/him pronouns. I’m coming to you from Livermore, California, the ancestral homelands of the Aloni people. Currently. I’m the associate Dean of students and director of residential life at University of California, Berkeley.

Keith Edwards:
Awesome. Well, it’s so great to have you all here. We want to talk a little bit about where we’ve been and where are we going? Believe it or not. It’s only been three months since we dropped our first episode, I believe on October 7th. This is our 18th episode. I’d just love to hear from folks. What has it been like for you being involved in this project? Heather and I invited Glenn and Susana in and you graciously agreed and you’ve been along the ride for these conversations and planning and thinking about episodes and behind the scenes. Glenn, what’s it been like for you being involved in this Student Affairs Now podcast?

Glenn DeGuzman:
Oh, it’s been fun. I get to hang with you all. Yeah. I’ve really appreciated the production and the magic that happens behind the scenes. So I think I’m going to start by just commenting on that. So thank you for that opportunity to experience. I think for me the panel conversation before we actually record has been, has been really fun and interesting. I think it’s an opportunity to just connect with people and, and not only just talk about the topic that we’re about to engage in, but also just the banter and the jokes and just sort of the stories. And so it’s really kind of cool to find connection and kind of establishing and rekindling old relationships, but just also developing new ones. So I appreciated that. I think the last piece I would just comment on is just the role on just the role that technology and social media is playing in, in this this kind of project. You know, I, you know, obviously I’m a user, but to see the, the impact and how, how different people across you know, our audience base who use, who are, who are like comfortable with web, who like to look at stuff on YouTube or who look to look that stuff through the iTunes podcast. It’s interesting to just see the demographics and looking at the data. So I think those are some of the things that stick out for me.

Keith Edwards:
Yeah. Glenn, for me, it’s always challenging sometimes the best conversations happen before we start recording. So you’ve got to save them, hold this goodness for when we’re, when we’re recording Susana, how about you, what’s been what’s been like for you being involved in this?

Susana Muñoz:
I mean, I would, I would agree with everything that, you know, Glenn was saying in terms of sort of the, like the banter and sort of the conversations behind the scenes, because I think it’s, I’m an extrovert y’all so, you know, this COVID has not been, that’s not been kind to me. And so the moment that we get into these virtual spaces where we’re inviting folks that we want to talk with, and just folks that we haven’t connected with, it’s like, Hey, how are you doing how’s COVID life treating you and how are how’s family? So I feel like it’s also brought a sense of humanity and in terms of, you know, how, how we’re all sort of adjusting and dealing with that pandemic and the other pandemics that we’re experiencing. And so I, I really appreciate that opportunity just to bring, you know, different people together and just have that banter.

Susana Muñoz:
But the, the other thing that I would say is just, you know, the, the community, I think it really, you know, brings us together. We’re able to talk about issues that really matter to, to us. I find myself, you know, in teaching class, you know, I think being about like things that students are saying and, and just kind of like, wow, this would totally be a total, a great podcast, you know, to bring to the, it said, so I’m always sort of now thinking about like you know, new ideas and, you know, walking in the grocery store, just like, Oh, you know, what about this podcast, but about that. So it’s always on my mind now in terms of being involved in this project and, and and really staying true to our purpose and trying to be restorative and providing sort of a sense of you know, now in giving our audience members sort of like, you know, here’s some, here’s some things to not, and that’s why I really appreciate like our final question that we give our audience are our, not our audience, but are our guests is sort of what are you pondering now?

Susana Muñoz:
Because I feel like that’s, that’s something that I leave pondering about too. So it’s like, Oh, what you’re pondering is exactly what I’m pondering. I need a ponder more. And so so this, this opportunity and these episodes and this, this process for me has really just given me so much to think about and how I can be provide contribution to our field.

Keith Edwards:
Well, in particularly in these times having time to think is such, such a luxury, just to be asked the question, what are you thinking about now? Sometimes that’s the time we’re so busy doing, doing, doing.

Susana Muñoz:
Yeah.

Heather Shea:
So one of the things based on what I just heard Susana and Glenn talk about that I’ve really appreciated is a community among us as hosts. So for those of you who are watching or listen to our Wednesday episodes we meet every week. We talk behind the scenes about who might be interesting to have as panelists, what topics we might want to focus on. And I love that consistency. I mean, it’s been, it’s become something that I’ve looked forward to not only in my own podcast feed, but also in just a relationship. When I think about like what we were hoping this podcast would be, we, we talked about the contribution and, and as Susana, I already said being restorative, and I want to acknowledge that like we are joining conscious conversations that have been going on.

Heather Shea:
So we’re, we’re elevating and hopefully giving an opportunity for folks to listen to multiple perspectives on topics that are facing our work and on a campus like Michigan State, where we’re going through a fair amount of organizational change, something like student affairs now provides this opportunity to get free professional development resources, join conversation, and then spark that, learning with other people on our campus. So I have I, you know, I am somewhat of a like, Oh, I’m like, as Susana had said, as I’m walking around, I’m thinking of things I’m talking to people and then I’m like, Oh, you should listen to Susana’s episode on Beyond Land Acknowledgements or, Oh my gosh, did you listen to the episode that Glenn hosted on trauma? And I think that’s probably the biggest thing is that I, you know, I’m building a resource library for my colleagues on campus and I think that is a huge contribution. So I’m, I’m grateful to continue to be a part of the project. Keith, what about you? What have you, what have you learned in your involvement?

Keith Edwards:
I love to learn and I love to learn about student affairs. I love to learn about identity. I love to learn about practice. I love to learn about all these things. And so what I’ve been learning about this is now I understand all the back ends of podcasts and Apple connect and servers and Word Press sites and all these things that frankly I don’t care very much about, but just learning something new that I have no familiarity with has been really great. And of course I love learning from the guests. And one of the things in my role getting to work, not just on one campus with multiple campuses is I hear so often from folks who think the challenges or the conversations they’re having on their campus are unique to their campus. And sometimes they are, but sometimes every campus is having those same conversations.

Keith Edwards:
And I think this was a really great way for folks to say, Oh, other people are thinking about that. Other people are struggling with that. Other people are confronting those things, but they’re talking about it in this way. And we’ve kind of got stuck in talking about it this way. So I love kind of bringing people from lots of different identities and functional areas. We’ve tried to have a good blend of practitioners and faculty perspectives and scholars and people doing the work. So I really enjoyed that and I always loved the conversations and the connection, right? The connection is great to connect with the four of us every week has been, has been wonderful. Bringing folks back into my life has been really great but also connecting with guests. And as Glenn mentioned, I love reconnecting, having an excuse to reconnect with people who I’ve known in other venues or connected with, at a conference or used to work at another institution.

Keith Edwards:
But I also love, Hey, you should talk to this person. I’m like, I don’t know who they are and they’re great. And then you get to know them. And so the relationship building is a really it’s a great perk and one you wouldn’t necessarily think of is thinking about hosting podcasts is building relationships, getting to that.

Keith Edwards:
So that’s a little bit about what we’ve gotten from our involvement. Now maybe we’ll move into some of our greatest hits. So we’ve had all these conversations from the ones you’ve hosted to the ones you’ve listened to from others. But what are the biggest lessons? What are the biggest learnings for you as a student affairs person from the episodes so far, so far and Susana, we’re going to put you on the spot right away?

Susana Muñoz:
Oh, I think the hard part about this question is that there are so many lessons. And so I one of the things that I, that resonated with me in particularly the trauma episode was this notion that your profession is not your identity. It’s your job. I’ve had to repeat that to a lot. And I was thinking about like how I was socialized, you know, in my faculty role and you know, and to sort of give, give, give. And I think you know, that episode really hit a nerve for me because it’s, that is my challenge. That isn’t, that isn’t really my challenge and I’ve had to, and I, I get it, I’ve had to repeat this to myself because it’s like, it’s so hard to separate for me. And it’s really about me not being able to maybe set good boundaries for myself.

Susana Muñoz:
And so I think that that was a huge takeaway in terms of like, you know, how do I maybe role model my profession differently for those that are coming behind me as faculty members. And, and the other episode that I had, my aha moment was Larry Roper, Oh my gosh. Like that, I don’t, I just, like, I felt that episode so much. And I, and I don’t know whether it was because it was at a moment that I just needed to hear the, his words, but I just you know, the humanity, he brought to that episode, the whole notion of justice as relationship building and giving forgiveness to those that have caused harm and how do we bring them into the conversation? I was just, that just, just reached my soul. And I think it was it definitely needed to hear that because of, you know, we’re living in a time that it’s so polarized, right.

Susana Muñoz:
It’s so divided. And, you know, these elections were, you know, making my blood pressure go high, you know, and, and I think about it and ways of us and them and this language, and not necessarily thinking about the we. And and so I think you know, his, his notion of the forgiveness is not for them, but it’s for us, I don’t know what, what it was about those words, but I just needed to hear, I got very emotional listening to that because I think I just needed to hear, hear that. And that was very healing for me, so that those are, were just little tidbits that I took up on episodes were awesome. I’ve also had the reflect about just, you know, being an immigrant here and what does that mean with my relationship to the land? And I have never thought about the land that I left behind and how I ties to the land.

Susana Muñoz:
And so there’s, again, it’s, it’s just a lot of thinking. I’m so grateful for the, the content that we produced. And so, yeah, it’s a lot, right.

Keith Edwards:
That is so great to Susana. I’m tempted to like, I’m, you know, you’re making me emotional. I’m tempted to emphasize it with a curse, but we’ll try and keep our clean rating for this episode and not do that, but thank you. That was awesome. Awesome. Heather, what have been some of your takeaways?

Heather Shea:
I don’t know how I follow that. I am I’m stunned. I have, I have no words. You know, I, I want to pick up on the theme that Susana just mentioned at the end, because the episode Beyond Land Acknowledgements really brought home for me, the ways that you know, certain practices like providing a land acknowledgement at the beginning of our programs and events is becoming very performative and to the conversation that troubled that was really powerful. And as a as a long time, I’ve worked all my entire professional career at land grant universities except for one year. So all the way from undergrad till today I won’t tell you how many years that is, but have, have been entirely at four different land grant institution. So, you know, I always thought kind of land grants play an important role in higher education and the ways in which they provide access and are supposed to be about serving the population of the state.

Heather Shea:
And from that episode and from some other resources that people have been sharing through MSU land acknowledgement I’ve learned a lot about the ways in which you know, who, where did, where did that land come from? Right. The land grab universities, I think, is what they, they referenced in that episode. And now when I think about the land acknowledgement, I think about how it’s tied to our institutional history is not just that we occupied this land, but that our, our institutions were complicit in the theft of that land. And so that episode just really struck, struck me as something that is really powerful. And then I want to speak about one other episode that I learned a lot from, and part of it has to do with, you know, I think all of the topics that we’re trying to cover, we want to be perennially useful, right?

Heather Shea:
So anybody can pick it up at any point in time and have some use of it, but Glenn’s conversation around technology. And maybe it was because we are living in such a different world regarding our relationship with technology, our relationships with students as mediated through technology, our learning environments you know, I’m watching my children go to school on zoom upstairs. And so I think that episode was just super timely and also perennial. And so I, I learned a lot also about the mental health effects and the ways that are you know, again, we’re performing right through our screens every day. And what are some of the things that we can do to kind of mitigate that? And I think one of the takeaways I’m moving into next year with is just a commitment to be a little kinder to myself regarding that, that performance. So both of those episodes just really, really hung with me. So thank you to both Susan and Glenn.

Keith Edwards:
Yeah. I love that. And one of my big takeaways too, was from the Beyond Land Acknowledgements and really has pushed me to, to not just do land acknowledgements, but how do I extend that and not leave it at that and be a checklist and both in how we do that at the beginning of events and how I build that in with the work that I do and workshops and virtual things that were they are in one place and I’m in another, but also what, what are the ways that my whole mindset about knowledge and learning and education is in a settler colonial mindset and how what would be the cool things that would happen to unpack some of that and decolonize some of that. And I think sometimes the, that sounds like kind of a bummer, but I see so much liberation in that.

Keith Edwards:
Like, what are the different ways of thinking about knowing what are the different ways of thinking about learning that that would be so cool and so interesting. And so that’s been a great that conversation really kind of pushed me to be more active in exploring that. So I appreciated that and then my other takeaway is less from a particular episode, but just the theme I keep hearing over and over again in multiple episodes, whether it was with Larry Roper or the Identity Conscious Supervision, but the, the both/and of tending to our individual liberation and societal cultural institutional liberation. We get stuck in the either or like, we can’t care about my resilience and my self care because we got to put focused on oppression. Well, yes, let’s not ignore oppression, but also like how do I navigate through today? And I think that’s just been coming up for folks.

Keith Edwards:
How do you, how know another podcast, not one of ours Lama Rod Owens said, “I need to be free while I’m working to get free.” And I think that question about how do, how are we going to be free, not wait until the world is the way we want it to be, but how am I going to be free while I’m also working to get free and the both and of the individual transformation and societal institutional cultural transformation is a really powerful thing that I’m thinking about in so many different contexts. And then I can’t ignore the episode I got to do with Susan Komives. You’ve mentioned Larry Roper, which was a treat. We set the all-time record for laughter on that episode with Susan and I, and so many stories. And she, she just really brilliantly brings she’s so smart and so wise, which are very different things. And she’s so personal too, about her challenges and experiences. It’s just really a wonderful gift to give yourself if you haven’t listened to that one yet, that would be a great one to do. Glenn, how about you?

Glenn DeGuzman:
Well, I, you know, the big, if there’s a, I don’t know if I can answer the biggest lesson because it almost feels like every episode I’m taking away something, right. There’s so much there’s so much complexity within each singular episode. And what’s interesting for me is, you know, and, you know, for our, for the folks listening in or watching when we plan these topics or when we start scheduling these topics, we come in with a, you know, a curious question or we want to explore a certain topic, but what’s fascinating to me is then when you, when you hear, or in some cases, see the end product, the complexity within each one you know, so to me, greater themes have just been for me, like, wow, there’s just so much that I’m still learning. And how things are evolving.

Glenn DeGuzman:
You know, we’ve been in this, all of us have been in this field for a long time, but we’re starting to just see new emerging perspectives ideas. And I think also hearing it from different lenses, different identities. It’s also fascinating to me specifically, some of the episodes that stick out for me. You mentioned that I enjoyed listening to your conversation with Dr. Komives. That was just funny. There are just some wonderful stories. I was just laughing a lot. So that was really kind of neat to to hear sort of those backstories, particularly someone I’ve always respected. I remember when I was a younger professional, I sat on a panel with her and I was just in awe. I was like, Oh my gosh, I’m on a panel with her. So it’s just amazing to kind of kind of get some more background on her.

Glenn DeGuzman:
I think for me for professionally and this is kind of interesting cause you know, we come in and we come in with a question and of what we want to answer, but doing that episode on trauma and burnout was very timely for me because I work at UC Berkeley. You know, obviously COVID has had a huge impact on all of us, but within my department trauma and stress and burnout is real. And so having that conversation, I found myself almost not wanting to be the person asking the question, but rather just listen. I just wanted to keep listening. And, and I think there was so many tips and advice and it also tells me how there’s so many shared experiences that we’re all having and just the forum and being able to talk about it in a, in a shared space gave me a lot of insight and actually helped me make some decisions and how I wanted to connect with my department on how to support and help them. So those were some of the the lessons that I gained from, from some of the episodes.

Keith Edwards:
Awesome. Thanks, Glenn. Well, we’re, we’re just in the midst of our retreat, sort of our end of the year 2020 looking back and 2021 looking forward planning. So as we think about the podcast going forward, some of the things we have planned, what are you most looking forward to Heather? What’s? What are you most looking forward to with the podcast in the coming year?

Heather Shea:
Oh my gosh. We talked about so many great topics today that I think will be fascinating to hear. And people who I think have so much to say contribute. So I’m, I’m really excited about all the topics. I don’t know how many of them we want to specifically mention, but I do think one of the key pieces for our planning going forward is that we continue to release episodes weekly so that consistency will continue to happen and that we’re looking for ideas. So we are open to hearing suggestions from our community of listeners with what are the topics and who are the people who you want to hear from and what are the ways that we can also, you know, make the topic containable within an episode? Right. the other thing we talked about in our retreat was like not dissertation level topics, but like what’s the question, you know, what’s the smaller slice.

Heather Shea:
And some of the, some of the episodes end up being those, those big umbrella topics. But I I am also excited about episodes that end up kind of mashing up two topics and putting together, you know, what do we know? So for example, today later today, I’m recording an episode about imposter syndrome and graduate school. So like, what are those two things as, as combined and how do we think about that? So this, this episode will have aired already by the time you listen to this podcast. But I do think the way that we can think about these things and problematize and, and consider those are some of the things that I’m most interested in not very specific, but those are the things I’m excited about for 2020.

Keith Edwards:
I think I’m most excited about just not particular episodes that we talked about exploring and are going to be reaching out to folks to be on. But really I’m just so proud of the breadth of episodes, the breadth of topics, the breadth of panelists. The variety that I imagine our audience who look week to week would have no idea what’s coming next. And I love that because it gives us freedom to pursue our curiosities. And I, I think I’m most looking forward to the unexpected. We had a couple opportunities to host some events. So I’m kind of curious what other events might come along that we can, we can host and provide that service, but then also be a part of the podcast. I think that’s a really interesting dynamic and way to bring things in. And then just further connecting with our audience and who’s listening? How do we grow that? How do we hear from you and build a community? We do love your suggestions for episodes for guests, for other folks. Have you thought about this? So I’m really looking forward to you to engage and connect people in lots of different ways. How about you Susana?

Susana Muñoz:
Well, I think, you know, it’s going to be exciting for, I feel like having one season under my belt, I feel like, Oh, okay. Like what, what can we do that, you know elevate her to what we have been already doing, but I feel like I’m excited about just sort of like the, the criticality that we bring to our topics. I feel what I love about us is that we, we ar like thought partners for each other and we’re like, okay, here’s the topic that I’m thinking about? And, you know, we pose questions to each other around like, okay, like, you know, what is the angle here? But also like you know, thinking about what, what are some voices that, you know, don’t necessarily get privileged, you know, on this topic and how we can center those that have historically been on the margins of this topic.

Susana Muñoz:
And so so I I’m, I’m continuing to be inspired and really excited about our process and how, you know, we come up with topics and you know, like I, you know, I want to shake it up and, you know, like how do we continue to do that? And and how do we also listen to you know, what our listeners have to say about, like, what, what are we missing? You know, what, what are some topics that maybe we’re, you know, we need to also delve into. And so so that’s one of the things I really appreciate about, and I’m excited about next, our next season is that, you know, we’re ready. I want to go it’s going to be, it’s going to be good.

Keith Edwards:
Yeah. Well, and I think you’re not, we’re trying to include not just voices and people from the margins, but also topics from the margins. What are the things that we tend not to talk about. Glenn, how about you ?

Glenn DeGuzman:
You know, that retreat was amazing because it reinforces what Susana spoke to the process of how we, how we work together, how we’re producing, how we’re exploring new ideas and timely topics I think is what’s incredible. And I think that some of the things I’m looking forward to are some of the the potential panelists that we’re going to be bringing on that we’re hoping that we’ll agree to come on. Some of the topics to me are timely. I think what’s fascinating particularly is the fact that, you know, obviously a lot of the episodes we’ve been filming, there’s been a lot of reference to COVID because obviously that’s a very timely piece and, you know, and it’s forcing us as a profession to think about how we do a work differently. So I think that as we look into 2021, as we start talking to folks who are doing innovative things, we’ve tested out things. I’m looking forward to hearing some of the things that I’ve been there they’re doing on, and how are they engaging on how are they, how are they actualizing many of the different things that we are raising or we’re asking questions about. So in a way it’s a, it’s a learning thing for me. I think it’s a learning thing for many folks. So those are some of the the immediate things I think about particularly after our retreat. So, you know, I’m, I’m just excited.

Keith Edwards:
Awesome. Well we’re going to try and keep to our listeners time here. So we’ll come to the end of our time. And our last question as we alluded to is we call this podcast student affairs now. So we always like to end with hearing what our guests are thinking about now, whether it’s this moment in time, this moment in life, this moment in career, or maybe just at the end of the conversation we just had. So, Glenn, what are you thinking about right now?

Glenn DeGuzman:
I’m thinking about scheduling my next podcast. I actually, it really ties into my my last response. I’m looking forward to the collaborations. I think that one of the interesting things that we talked about was just, just as we do this, we’re realizing how many folks are out there, who, who have their own podcast, or who have their own areas of expertise and the intersections of these topics and potentially collaborating. So those are that’s what I’m looking forward to in the future.

Keith Edwards:
Yeah. So a podcast about podcasts. So meta.

Heather Shea:
So meta.

Keith Edwards:
Heather, what about you? What are you pondering, troubling thinking about now?

Heather Shea:
Yeah, so I’m, I’m going to take it outside a little bit of the podcast particular role, but so I just finished my first semester, teaching is the master’s in student affairs program at Michigan state. And I teach a one credit professional development seminar that is designed to bridge theory and practice. And this one credit seminar that students take every semester during their two years in the program. So four semesters of this class I think has so much potential, but one of the things I think fell short this semester and me being a new faculty member was just how we bring in different modes of learning and have conversations that are, you know, not only enriching and not just about feelings, right? I mean, we are, we are all kind of processing this moment. But what’s, what is the way that we can articulate the way this work impacts us, the way that we connect with students and we build communities of belonging. So I’m also thinking about like the relevance of this podcast to the professional preparation of the next generation of student affairs student affairs educator. So I think we mentioned this on our very first episode, the four of us all have the same master’s degree from Michigan State University

Heather Shea:
and the student affairs program. And like, I think about, you know, what kind of contribution do we want to make to folks who are just learning what it means to be, or are getting that formal degree after having worked in the field for awhile. And so how do we, how do we make sure that this podcast is relevant and adds a contribution? So that’s some of the things I’m thinking about, both problematizing how my semester is wrapping up and also what are the, what are the things that this might do to accentuate that in the future?

Keith Edwards:
That’s great. If you can take the real challenges that we’re facing and then think of what do I want to learn? What do I want to know, what am I going to do better? I think many people are having similar experiences, Susana what’s what’s on your mind now.

Susana Muñoz:
Oh, okay. So besides sort of like the 50 papers that I have their grade before I can consider like the, it winter break for me, I feel like, you know, this, the, what I’m thinking is about the sort of the restoration, right? And so a lot of what I spent this semester thinking about was how we have all navigated a semester or semesters, you know, that is unprecedented, right? That we’ve, we’ve never necessarily imagined, and not only with COVID, but just sort of the racial injustices that we’ve also witnessed. And the things that we continue to work on in terms of adjustments in equity, on our campuses. And so I think what I’m thinking about mostly is how we care for our bodies in this work. And I think that has been much more apparent, you know, now than any other time in my professional career, because of the the enormous amount of weight and responsibility that we take into did care for others, but also at times for getting to care for ourselves in that process.

Susana Muñoz:
And so I feel we’ve, we’ve embodied so much, we have endured a lot, and I know we need to all sort of be mindful about how that lives in our in our body and how that, what does that manifest into. And so so, you know, to, to you all and to my colleagues out there and make sure you’re taking opportunities to also restore your body, mind and soul during these times, and I will continue to think about this because I know I’m tired and I know my students are tired, and I know that we need to, we’re, we’re, we’re being asked to keep moving. But I think, you know, taking some time to just thinking about like, okay, what am I going to do for the next two weeks that are going to be restorative to my soul? What is it, you know, that I can do restorative to my health. So, so you can catch me on my Peloton.

Keith Edwards:
I don’t think we can catch you on your Peloton.

Susana Muñoz:
Doing some reading and reading for fun. There’s some books that I want to delve into and to feed my, my mind and soul a little bit more differently. So, but yes, that is where, where my mind is the part for her right now.

Keith Edwards:
I love that. I think the lesson here is don’t follow Susana because now I just can’t stop thinking about that because I’m thinking about our bodies around COVID from working from home, from not being able to working from home and having to go to campus from sitting in the same chair from being on zoom meetings, but also just seeing racial violence. What does that do to our bodies living in fear of the furloughs and the layoffs and the cuts what does that do to our bodies? I think there’s so many things that, that we that not just happened to our bodies, but also that we do to our bodies. And, and how do we restore? How do we recover? It reminded me of a great quote is that our woundedness can do harm, but our processed woundedness can help us be healers.

Keith Edwards:
And so how do we process our woundedness so that we can help others heal? Rather than you know, I see so many of us doing harm from our wounds, which is understandable, but how do we, the restoration is really great. I think the thing that I mentioned earlier, the community and engagement and hearing from folks what they want, the thing I’m doing strategic planning with a group and they sent me an article from EDUCAUSE about IT and the question was, are you on the other side of this, are you going to return to what it was? Are you going to evolve a little bit, or are you going to completely transform? And that was very much talking about IT, operations on college campuses, but I tell you, I’ve been, I’ve said that in like 13 conversations this week, are we talking about returning to what was, or transforming or evolving in your life, in your relationship, in work, your organization, how you lead.

Keith Edwards:
And I don’t think there’s a universal answer to that. What, what in our lives do we want to return to? What was, and what do we want to evolve and learn a little bit and move along and what do we want to completely transform and never go back to anything and what aspects of our lives, our work, our student affairs practice, how these institutions operate what do we want to return to? What do we want to evolve and what do we transform? So that’s the thing that I, I continue to ponder and re-ponder and re-ponder in so many different contexts.

Glenn DeGuzman:
Keith, is that a future podcast.

Keith Edwards:
Maybe we’ll do it as an episode. I hadn’t thought about it.

Glenn DeGuzman:
Write it down and capture it.

Keith Edwards:
All right, I’ll write that down. We’ll get that out.

Heather Shea:
That’s a good one, put it in the spreadsheet.

Susana Muñoz:
That needs to be a t-shirt too.

Keith Edwards:
I love it.

Susana Muñoz:
Return, evolve, or transform with a little question mark.

Keith Edwards:
See folks, this is the problem, right? This is the problem. When we get together, is someone says, something, everybody else chimes in, and now we’ve got this whole to-do list and all these great ideas, and we have no shortage of episodes and ideas, and maybe even t-shirts to go with, so this is how, this is how it works, right? This, as Susana said, thought partners, helping each other think. Well, thanks to each of you for not only being great guests today, but also great hosts, colleagues and friends. I’m so grateful for your generosity, your critical thinking, and your hard work, making this podcast possible for the audience and to our listeners.

Heather Shea:
And to you Keith.

Keith Edwards:
You can receive reminders about this and other episodes by subscribing to the Student Affairs Now newsletter or browser archives at StudentAffairsNow.com Thanks to our sponsor today, Anthology formerly Campus Labs, and please subscribe to the podcast, invite others to subscribe, share on social or leave a five star review. It sounds cheesy, but it really does help conversations like this, reach more people and build an audience. So we continue to make this free. Heather, you wanted to get in there before I close this out. Go ahead.

Keith Edwards:
I just want to say, and thank you to you, Keith, for hosting us today for making us better for stepping in and transcribing episodes when we don’t have time this has been really a passion project. And I’m so grateful for all four of you. So all three of you. Yeah,

Keith Edwards:
Four of us, three of you. That’s been one of our rules, keep this a passion project and we’re working really hard at that. So thanks to all of you. Again, my name’s Keith Edwards, I kind of got to host today. Thanks again to the fabulous guests and hosts and to everyone who’s watching and listening, Make it a great week. Thanks all.

All:
Thank you. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thanks.

Episodes referenced

Larry Roper

Susan Komives

Moving Beyond Land Acknowledgements

Navigating Trauma and Burnout

Technology Trends in Student Affairs