Keith Edwards:
Hello, and welcome to Student Affairs NOW. I’m your host. Keith Edwards. Today we’re celebrating our 100th episode with a super fun, special student affairs. Now social hour, we’ve invited members of our learning community to join us. We also have all of our host joining us and our production assistant Nat Ambrosey. The gang is all here. We’re gonna dive into some deep thoughts, some real wisdom and some rapid fire questions and hear from so many great folks who are joining us here today. This will be fast-paced and maybe a little chaotic, so buckle up, but first some business. Student Affairs NOW is the premier podcast and online learning community for thousands of us who work in alongside or adjacent to the field of higher education and student affairs, we release new episodes every week on Wednesdays. Find details about this episode, or browser archives at studentaffairsnow.com. This episode is sponsored by LeaderShape. Go to leadershape.org, to learn how they can work with you to create a more just caring and thriving world. Today’s episode is also sponsored by Simplicity. A true partner, Simplicity supports all aspects of student life with technology platforms that empower institutions to make data driven decisions. As I mentioned, I’m one of your hosts today. Keith Edwards, my pronouns are he him, his I’m a speaker consultant coach, and you can find out more about me. Keithedwards.com. I am broadcasting from Minneapolis, Minnesota at the end, at the intersections of the ancestral homelands of the Dakota in the Ojibue peoples welcome. Everyone. Let’s get to this. I’m gonna turn it over to Nat Ambrosey our production assistant. Who’s going to kick us off with introductions and our first questions over to you Nat.

Nat Ambrosey:
I am so, so excited to be with our full team here of hosts, as well as all of our guests that have been on previous episodes. So welcome to all of you. To kick us off. Let’s get started to the host. I want to send you off on a question, please introduce yourself as well as share a guest that you’d really love to have on the show. So if you could pick any colleague, any friend, anyone that you can just say like, hey you, who would that be?

Keith Edwards:
Yeah, I’ll go first. Keith Edwards, my pronouns, are he him, his. I’m a speaker and consultant. The guest that I always wanted to have on was Bell Hooks, who I had a fascinating airport ride with without really realizing it. But unfortunately, Bell Hooks or Gloria Watkins’ past. So my new answer would be Adrian Marie Brown, who wrote emergent strategies and pleasure activism and some other things.

Glenn DeGuzman:
Glenn DeGuzman associate Dean of students at UC Berkeley use the hehe pronouns recording this from Livermore and the unseated territory of the Pelman tribe of the Aloni peoples and the guest that I would’ve loved to have come on was my mentor, Dr. Keith Meiser. I think we did a couple episodes where we, we got to talk with just people who’ve been inspiring and Keith has been a big part of my professional career, so I would’ve loved to have had him come on, but he passed away not too long ago. In terms of who I would want to, that’s a secret. I am not going to share that. So I’m going to pass it on

Raechele Pope:
Right. I love the secret though. And now I’m going to be wondering forever. Raechele Pope, I’m the senior associate Dean for the graduate school of education at the University of Buffalo. I use she, her, her pronouns and I’m also associate professor in the higher education program. The guests that, oh, and I’m on the unseated Homeland of the people, the guests that I would like to have, and I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. And I fan girl about her all the time is Betina Love. And I have been scheming to try to get her to come on here and talk with us, but who knows, maybe.

Nat Ambrosey:
I’ll jump in here too. So hi everyone. My name is Nat Ambrosey. I, you, she, her pronouns. I’m currently in San Diego and I am the production assistant for student affairs now. So I am no longer in student affairs, but I’m still keeping my ties to it through listening to all the episodes and learning a lot of what’s going on in student affairs. If I could pick anyone to be on an episode, I’m going to call out my RA supervisor when I was a sophomore and a junior her name’s Alex Garney. She really got me into wanting to be in student affairs. And she now does community work. And so I think she’d be a really cool guest.

Susana Munoz:
Hey, Hey, Hey this is Susana Munoz, and my pronouns are she her hers, ella. And I am an associate professor in the school of education at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, which is the unseated homelands of the U Arapahoe and Cheyenne’s people. I was like, okay, who do I really want? I’ve been, I’ve been, this is sort of like a plot. Like, I’m hoping you hear this and you will say, okay, I’m coming on. And that would be Lori Patton Davis. Like, I feel like Lori, we need your wisdom. We need, we need all of you like your expertise. You know, critical race theory up in here is like all over the news. So Lori, let me know when you want to come on. So yeah, so that would be my, my wish.

Heather Shea:
I love it. I love it. I love Lori Patton Davis. Hello everyone. Heather Shea, she, her hers and my pronouns. I work at Michigan state university as the director of women’s student services, the interim director of the gender sexuality campus center, and a faculty member in the student affairs program. Michigan State is actually on the ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the three fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Ottawa, peoples. You can read a whole lot more about land grant institutions and their stolen land at landgrabu Keith, you, I bet you could guess who I’m going to say,

Glenn DeGuzman:
Paul Shung.

Heather Shea:
No, Nope. This is more famous person. Although Paul Shing is on the list. Brene Brown watching. Yes. I knew it. Oh my cat. Yes, no bene brown would definitely be my person. I, I actually had my final class of the semester today and I used a quote from Atlas of the heart, which I just finished reading. Oh my gosh. I would just be so like the fan girl all over Brene Brown. So yeah.

Glenn DeGuzman:
Yeah. I would definitely tune into that episode. All right. I got the question. Let’s turn our attention to our guests. Let’s start with, if you all can just give us a brief introduction, so name, pronouns, your institution, what you do and no pressure now, but your favorite student affairs now episode, and you got to do this and 30 seconds or less Rob you’re leading off.

Robert Brown:
So much pressure. Hi everyone. My name’s Rob Brown, he him, gender pronouns. I serve as a director of DEI for the school of journalism at Northwestern University. And I’m also a doctoral candidate at Colorado State. University’s higher ed leadership program. And my favorite essay now episode features one of my cohort mates, Autumn Wilke on disability. And I learned so much from Autumn and it was great to listen to her knowledge and a few other folks on that.

Chelsea Gilbert:
Thanks Rob. I can go next. Hi, y’all I’m Chelsea Gilbert. I use she, her pronouns. I’m currently a third year doctoral student at the Ohio State University where I get to work with the amazing Dr. Lori Patton Davis. So I’ll put in a good word for you Susana. And I’m on the land of the Shawnee Miami Lenape and peoples, I study higher education in student affairs, but before this, I was a practitioner for eight years. And my favorite essay now episode I think was re aired at the end of last year at features Dr. Jason Lynch and some colleagues and it focused on trauma and burnout. And I just really love the way that he and his colleagues talked about both practical strategies for practitioners, as well as systemic changes that need to be made near some of my own research interests. Yeah. Happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Dan Bureau:
All right. Thanks for having me. My name is Dan Bureau. I use he, him pronouns. I’m the assistant vice president for student health and wellbeing at Louisiana State University. And I am the immediate past president of CAS, the council for the advancement of standards, which I got my time off notification today that a year ago we released the episode on the Faldos. So I’ll put that out there. Not my favorite episode though. The trauma one Chelsea is certainly up there, but Susana, your episode would Craig and Trudy on identity conscious supervision. I know there’s a third person there as well.

Dan Bureau:
Rob. Nice job. Right. really, really enjoyed that one, but it was very important for all of us to bring that into our work. So thank you for doing that. Oh, good.

Aja Holmes:
Hi, I’m Aja Holmes and I am the assistant Dean of students and director of community living at the University of San Francisco. My pronouns, are she her and cis. I’m coming to you from the unseated lands of the Aloni people. And I have to say my, my favorite episode was the one about redefining the RD role because that got me like so much fan love. I went to conferences, I was on the street. People were like, oh my God, I saw this episode, you know, and they were like, he was just so real and kept it so real. Yeah.

Keith Edwards:
A lot of student affairs blasted me on that one. Aja great .

Aja Holmes:
I asked them too. As somebody who’s now working back at a religious institution, a Jesuit institution, I was looking for ways to kind of also continue to sharpen my saw. And so one that I have really looked into also too, is the religious secular and spiritual identities on campus. As I’ve just kind of engulfed myself now back into what it means to be a Jesuit in a at a Catholic institution. So that’s also been helpful to have resources like SA Now to produce podcasts like that. So that way I can kind of take and choose bits and pieces that fits the type of training that I need now.

Stephen Santa-Ramirez:
And I think I’ll go next. Hi folks good to be here. Stephen Santa-Ramirez my gender pronouns, are he, him, his currently an assistant professor of higher education at the University at Buffalo, which sits on the unsated territory of the peoples. I share a beautiful space with my awesome colleague, Raechele Pope here. And I would say, I mean, there’s a lot of good episodes that are all great. One that really stood out and caught my attention was actually facilitated by, by Raechele and that featured Annalyse Sing and it was racial healing and liberation on college campuses. I would say that that one really really stood out to me and it was a really important topic.

Neil E. Golemo:
Y’all go. Right. Okay, great. My name is Neil Golemo. I am I use my he, him pronouns and I am blessed to serve and learn from the very fined students of Texas A&M Galveston campus. I am the director of campus living and learning down here. And my favorite episode is the easy answer is the one with Dr. Laura Rendon. A book changed me for the better. And but I think also the one sticks with me because it blew my mind was it was the one on assessment. because towards the end they started talking, I believe it was the episode where they started talking about the native perspective on the nature of knowledge. And I just realized like, oh my God, knowledge, knowledge belongs to nobody. I’ve been wasting all this time on bibliographies for nothing. And so, so no that one really like I think about it all the time. So yeah.

Raechele Pope:
Well all of these favorite episodes bring back so much and there’s makes me want to go back and watch a couple of them again. I think that’s great. So I’ve got a couple of questions for you all that I’d sort of like you to answer altogether, just have at it. We know that you’re our favorite podcast. We just know that but if it wasn’t Student Affairs NOW, right. What’s your other favorite podcast so that we can give other listeners an opportunity to tune into something else that’s going on. The other is we have this pandemic has done so much to us and we have so much to learn from it and hopefully take those lessons and actually use them in the future. So what’s your best lesson from the pandemic and finally, what are your summer plans? So it’s a lot, whole mouthful of stuff, but we are just really excited to talk about this. Stephen, would you mind going first?

Stephen Santa-Ramirez:
Sure. Yeah. So in addition to Student Affairs NOW, like you said, crime junkie is one of my favorite podcasts that I’ve been listening to for quite a while now. Something that I’ve learned from the pandemic that I will continue to keep with me is the importance of being intentional with keeping loved ones, close, connecting and reconnecting with folks often. The pandemic really taught me about the importance or reminded me about the importance of staying close to family and loved ones and, and prioritizing them too. And I think for my summer plans, in addition to reading, writing and pushing out publications I anticipate some summer travels and hopefully a lot of those places will be situated on a beach because living here in Buffalo, New York we are still in like in winter so I’m looking forward to beach time in the summer. So thanks for the question Raechele. Neil.

Susana Munoz:
Hope you get this salsa dance too Stephen.

Stephen Santa-Ramirez:
Stephen. Yes. Salsa dancing on somebody’s beach. Yes

Neil E. Golemo:
I had salsa dance, maybe not well, but my favorite podcast is Radiolab. It is it’s wonderful. It’s the gold standard. If you ask me, they take the nerdous topics and make them fascinating for everybody and they just break it apart and I just I love it. Best lesson from the pandemic the status ain’t quote there’s nothing that can’t be broken and made better challenge everything. Absolutely. and everybody can change. So faculty members who would never, ever they’re old school and proud of it, all of a sudden figured out how to offer classes online and our students who had RA you know rheumatoid arthritis, all of a sudden, you know, they have more options and so on their bad days. So I, that just kills me and summer plans I don’t know, do we do anything over the summer, but just you take it easy, right? So no dissertation, like I’m obsessed and I’m really, really excited to have some time to, and I really do mean to like dig in and wrap this bad boy up. So yeah.

Aja Holmes:
Well I have a couple of podcasts. I’m going to just tell two, one is called nothing much happens. And that’s the one that puts me to bed at night with bedtime stories written by was it Elizabeth Nicolai and she gives us some things. She’s awesome. I found out about that one over here in a conversation in a Starbucks at where we were at the, ACPA in 2020 before the world shut down. I sure was, but that Starbucks line is that long. We make friends

Aja Holmes:
And then my next one is just, when I, I got into here is cultivating her space, uplifting conversations for black women, and that was started by a, a faculty member here. And also she worked in caps here at USF. She’s now moved on. And it’s really been a great space to be able to listen to that and hear things and how black women are navigating what’s happening to us right now in society. So I appreciate that there best lessons from the pandemic having an office home space is important. I did not have that at my first place, but now coming here at USF because I have housing included, I have that. And I knew way too much about TV during the pandemic. Like, you know, during the pandemic that’s when Duberry mall show started. And I was excited, you know, because I kept seeing commercials for it because I had to sit in my living room and work from home with just a lap desk.

Aja Holmes:
And so that I learned that too, but I also learned that work didn’t stop that we were able to pivot. And so this whole work from home thing can still be in existence. Now, this remote working, because work didn’t stop and folks need to realize that and places need to say every time I keep hearing, we need to go back to normal. That thing, let me know that you were not at all aware of what was going on and how normal was all, just having us have high anxiety. And so it worked. Didn’t stop. Now, if you need to tell me, you need to micromanage me, cause I need to be in the office, then let’s talk about that. Let’s get to the rear world deal. Why do you be in the office summer plans? This is for the first time, I’ll be able to take a lot of time off in June, just because of the way the nature of our university and that culture of that. And so I’m renting a car and mom and I are driving down the 101 to LA. And so for a co I have a book club conference in LA that I’ll be going to it’s called go on girl book clubs. So I’m excited to be down there for that. And she’s her first time attending and we’re going to drive down and see what we see and stop what we stop

Heather Shea:
Amazing.

Chelsea Gilbert:
And one of my favorite drives, it’s beautiful.

Nat Ambrosey:
Come visit San Diego, your two hours away.

Aja Holmes:
Three hours away. That’s not three hours. That’s two hours.

Nat Ambrosey:
It depends where in LA. Yeah.

Heather Shea:
meet

Aja Holmes:
You halfway.

Heather Shea:

Dan Bureau:
I did the one back in 2001 with my then aging parents. And it was an amazing trip. Like we did the entire west coast and wow. What a blessing to be able to do that. So have a great time doing it.

Aja Holmes:
Yeah. We’re just going to go from here to Long Beach and then we going to, that’s a good from here to Carmel. Is that how Carmel? Yeah, I’ve done that before, but we’re going to go all the way down.

Dan Bureau:
Well, I was going through my phone to figure out my favorite podcast. I only have 32 of them to which I subscribe. So it was kind of hard.

Keith Edwards:
Dan has listened to more episodes than any human being, including the host. He has listened to more of them for sure. You,

Dan Bureau:
And you know, the pandemic allowed me to do that. I was walking around, I have a two year old. And so I was doing a lot of walking midday with her stroller, listening to podcast, including Student Affairs Now, but you know the ones, a lot of politics, a lot of news. But I will say that the ones that I’m most interested in right now, this one called the quadcast and it talks it’s about mental health. It’s from the Mary Christie foundation. And I would encourage folks who are concerned about and working with mental health and typical health and wellbeing kind of things. It’s a great podcast. Very educational. The other thing I’ll say I discovered this morning was called heavyweight and Neil. You like that one? Okay. I love that one. So good second. Yeah, it’s my favorite. I listen to this one today about these four guys who spent two days in 1974, riding their bikes to like from New York to Vermont.

Dan Bureau:
And I had never heard of this and you know, how I learned about it by my two year old listening to cocomelon on Spotify. So that’s how I get to that podcast. but the, the lessons for me around the pandemic, I think really centering humanity as we work with people and creating flexible workspaces, I think is very important. I am showing up, this is my eighth month on the job, but I’m really showing up as the relationships person here. I think we need that in terms of this time of student affairs. So that’s what I would say. I’ve learned it’s less about the business, but it’s as much about the business, but also just as much about relationships and humanity and the work that we do summer plans. We, I have a seven year old that will be in camps and I will work most of the summer. I don’t have a lot of annually, but we will take some time to visit family in the Northeast, as well as see some family and friends in Memphis, as well as in the Nashville Franklin area. So excited for that this summer.

Chelsea Gilbert:
So I decided to focus on just one of the most impactful podcasts, because I’ve got many, many favorites. But one of the most impactful for me is called this land. It’s from crooked media and it was kind of a, a mini series that traced the story behind the, it was first 2019, then 2020 Supreme court case Carpenter versus Murphy, which was the case that kind of as a surprise affirmed the Muskogee Creek nation’s sovereignty over much of what we now know is Oklahoma. And I didn’t know anything about the case, but this podcast is I think it’s eight episodes and it is the perfect combination of historical perspectives, contemporary perspectives on indigeneity and the law. And it’s just really riveting and engaging. And I highly highly recommend it if you’re going on a long road trip and need eight hours worth of content when it comes to a lesson from the pandemics over the last two years, I think for me, it’s been how much I’ve come to love and appreciate solitary reflection time.

Chelsea Gilbert:
So COVID lockdowns kind of came at a point in the semester for many of us as practitioners that was super busy. So it felt almost like whiplash for me like, oh wow. Suddenly I actually have time and space in my mornings to go on a walk or write or mindfully drink my coffee, whereas before I would just, you know, kind of do it all on the way into work. And so that’s been really transformative for me and those have been habits I’ve tried to keep up in the years that have followed. And finally summer plans are really just to be outdoors as much as possible. That’s the gift I think of being a full-time student now. So I’ve got a couple of camping trips planned, lots of hikes I want to do with my dogs. I have a kayak rack. I can’t wait to put on my car. And I’ll also be beginning to draft my dissertation as I moved kind of toward my doctoral candidacy exams. So I’ll be right there with you, Neil.

Robert Brown:
I’m not alone. My favorite podcast, I think about like things that I listen to every single day and I work in a journalism school. So news is somewhat important to know, but I often feel overwhelmed by like a lot of news. So I love up first, it’s like 15 minute download of just the basics that I need to know to kind of get through a day and be somewhat fluent around what’s happening in the world. I also am a huge basketball junkie and I love the way that athletes are like taking back the reins who gets to like talk about and craft their own narratives. So one of my favorites is the knucklehead podcast. And one of the hosts went to college with me and then went to the NBA. And so it’s always, it’s just cool to see how he’s evolved from a very different person in undergrad to present day.

Robert Brown:
And then lessons from the pandemic. One, it is far more comfortable to wear sweatpants every day than get dressed, which is what I’m wearing right now. And then two just the importance of pausing and so much in my navigation of the pandemic at different points, dual pandemics are multiple pandemics felt. There are all these different moments of overwhelmed. And unlike I think prior to the pandemic, the way I chose to move and respond often prompted me to take a step back from different things or relationships or work in different ways. And in those moments of pause, I just found so much clarity. And so now I’m just trying to build that into my kind of everyday, every week habit. And incorporate that into my life summer, I will be working my dissertation proposal with deadline. I got to get stuff to Susana. So, you know, type it away and my son will turn one. So we have a very important first birthday to plan this summer, which we’re really excited about.

Susana Munoz:
I love it. I love all of this. I feel like, you know, the, the pandemic it’s really co caused us to really like slow down. Right. And just kind of like more so than what we have been in any, any time in our lifetime. And so I think this is the key is how do we, how do we sustain the slow in the pause? Right. So that’ll be the challenge for all of us, but yes, take me on your beach vacation. And Aja I’m really good with directions if you want to be like, I can have to say I can navigate. So, so I’m happy that y’all have taken some time off and, and doing some good things that bring you joy and sustain who you are. So, and you know, the writing too, I’m with all of you that are doing writing and dissert and I get the pleasure of reading some of those things during the summer.

Susana Munoz:
So I’m, I’m there, I’m there with you. So as always, we, we kind of run out of time in terms of like, you know, our, our time together, but this is Student Affairs NOW, and we always ended with, what are you pondering, troubling thinking about in terms of the field or just you know, what, what is it that you are just thinking about? I think you know, for me, well, one I’m going on sabbatical for a year, so that’s something that I feel like I’m excited about. And how do I not make it about productivity, right? How do I reclaim the things I’ve lost wrong away? So that’s sort of like what I’m pondering now. And I think all of you have really modeled for me sort of how to sustain the pause, the reflectivity, and, and to continue to just center ourselves in this work.

Robert Brown:
I’ve been thinking a lot about mistakes and I think or just not knowing . And some of that I think is just being a new parent and constantly not knowing what the next day would bring . But I’ve just talked to students and faculty and staff and just my own experiences and this navigation of mistakes and kind of reframing, you know, where are their opportunities for, for learning how valuable mistakes are versus I think some of the fear that I and other folks carry around that is something I’m wanting to shift and evolve around and you know, find ways to see just what’s what’s the new doorway or something new, right. New insight, new learning shift in behavior action is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

Raechele Pope:
Yeah. I, I think that’s such a deep, deep question, you know, I always do whenever it’s asked, you know, when am I thinking about now? I think that there’s a couple things that run around for me. And the first is I’m concerned about higher education. , I’m concerned that it has become an enemy that people are, you know, believed that there’s something wrong with education in general, and that we get to pick and choose what it is that is taught and pick and choose history and pick and choose who we are concerned about when they hear things that they don’t want to hear. And at the higher ed level, I mean, I think that those are the questions that are still being asked here, and I’m, I’m concerned that we’re not learning from our past, we’re not learning from other people.

Raechele Pope:
And we are more concerned about in many places making the news than doing what’s. Right, right. So anything to stay off of particular news channels, we don’t want any bad publicity as, instead of what’s the right thing to do here. And so that really concerns me. And I think we can change. This is the big thing for me. I think the pandemic particularly the COVID pandemic taught me and it actually exposed higher ed we’ve walked around with this myth that higher ed is very slow to change, and it takes a long time to get us from point A to point B it’s that, that huge ship analogy that we’ve been using. And we watched campuses completely change on a dime in in a week. Right. . And now that we know that higher ed can do that, let’s stop pretending that we can’t, you know, I have I’ve said in places that I think higher ed played itself, you know, it made it, it exposed the reality that we will change and can change when we need to. So that’s all wrapped up in that for me.

Chelsea Gilbert:
Thanks Raechele. I think kind of building off of that, I’m thinking a lot about the research that we do in higher education and student affairs specifically, and how we might be able to do that in more creative and more liberatory ways. This is also in my mind, because I was recently at AEA, which is like a big research conference in San Diego, actually Nat. And it was beautiful and I was at a panel where I was so inspired by the work of scholars, like Dr. TJ Stewart, who studies students who are employed in sex work on campuses, Dr. Adrian Burta, who studies current and formerly gang impacted students. And just studying these students who are at kind of the margins of the margins as Dr. Stewart puts it. I also heard at that conference scholars who are doing work kind of on the edge of qualitative research and visual methodologies and arts informed approaches that are really interesting. So part of what I’m thinking about right now in relation to my own work is how we can move the field forward, both in terms of the content of our research, who we’re researching for and with, but also the process and how we’re doing that in just more more creative generative and liberatory ways.

Glenn DeGuzman:
I’m going to build off what Chelsea just shared and also what Raechele was sharing. And it’s this appreciation and challenge of interacting with other people, right? And I have this, you know, every week I get to meet with my fellow co-host and we, we get into this mode where we’re talking about the topics that are out there and our topic list just continues to grow. And as, as folks are contacting us saying, Hey, can you cover this topic? We start to realize in our attempt to identify like trends and topics like, you know, supervision, the direction supervision, or, you know, we talk about the great resignation, just different things that people are talking about. We also addressing things that are emerging in the moment, whether it’s pandemic related, the Asian hate violence against black folks. And so on, we are trying to find balance. And there’s just so many topics to explore. There’s so many people that we want to check in with. So that’s the appreciation piece appreciation is that, you know, we’ve hit a hundred episodes and we’re, we keep on going. And I think as our list gets longer, we are tackling each episode as best we possibly can. So I’m just grateful and appreciative of that. And the challenge that’s in front of us.

Dan Bureau:
You know, Glenn, that’s really an important contribution to the field. And I think you all should be applauded for the work that you’ve done because the topics are covering are making all of us think the thing I will say that I’m troubling now, I came to this with kind of a funny one. So I’m, I’m going to put that aside. Cause I thought we were doing a happy hour, but

Glenn DeGuzman:
I’m, I’m happy. You’re happy.

Dan Bureau:
I’ll do my funny one and a meant, well, not funny, but like my, my real issue I’m thinking about is as people that care for other people and Robert, I mean, bless you for having a one year old and I’m 50 with a seven year old and a two year old. And so like it, it just weighs on you. So when you’re caring for other people, whether it be students or coworkers or people that you supervise or you’re caregiving for older parents or siblings, or you have children, you know, it’s a lot of hard work and we’ve been through a lot the last few years. So I’m always trying to think about how we throw our own terms like trauma informed and everything too. I just want to be better at that. I want to center people’s humanity. I want to center who they are, their identities and the work that they do and really create flexible work environments. My fun thing is I just can’t stop thinking about how good this is us is. And I’ll tell you that that show is, like I have a real serious top five TV shows and I’ve been committed to those five for a long time, but I’m thinking that this is us as getting in there. That show is off the charts. Good. So I don’t know who’s, I don’t know who’s watching that, but that’s what I’m really thinking about right now.

Keith Edwards:
Awesome. I, I have deeply committed top five and top 10 list of shows and I have not watched this as us, but parenthood and Friday night lights. It’s the same group that made that. So I’m a believer. The thing that I think about pretty much all the time is the attrition from the field of student affairs. And, and I think about that in, into, in three separate categories, I think there are people who are leaving student affairs that never really should have been in student affairs. I got talked into it by a mentor. Didn’t know what else to do. I got talked into it by a graduate program and they’re leaving and, and, and good there’s, there’s something better out there for them. I think there are people who are leaving that have evolved and grown and something else is better for them, some other role, some other contributions, something else, and great and good for them.

Keith Edwards:
And then I think we’re, we’re losing people who really do belong in student affairs and could make a powerful impact and a really great contribution. And because we’re not willing to change as some of you have pointed to we’re not willing to look at systems, we’re not looking to do something different than the normal. We’re not willing to tailor things to the role and the human being that we’re losing people who really matter to the field of the profession and our collective knowledge and our collective experience, but also ultimately to students. And so seeing, seeing that is fascinating and how we’re going to create something better is really energizing for me. I find myself way less interested in all the things that are broken in, what are we going to create? That’s better. What would that look like? How, what would that be? What would that would the policies, what would be the practices? So that’s the thing I’m, I’m thinking on about a lot. How about you? Nat

Nat Ambrosey:
Yeah, I, it’s interesting that you say the word broken, because that kind of is leading into what I was thinking about and Rob talked about failure. And so the other day I was on Instagram, I’m trying to stay off of it, but I was scrolling through my stories on Instagram and one of my friends put, it’s a word called Kintsugi, which is the Japanese art of repairing ceramics. So broken ceramics, they repair them and they put gold on them. So , it takes something that’s broken and makes it beautiful. And I think a lot of time, whether it be like with single use plastics or things within our life, we say, oh, that’s broken, this doesn’t work. This one thing happened. Like whether it’s a relationship, whether it’s, you know, an actual, you know, ceramic bowl. And then we just say, let’s just throw it out.

Nat Ambrosey:
Let’s get rid of it, but really how can we take those things that maybe once we’re used for something else or if it’s a relationship and really work on finding those mend’s and maybe those things don’t always need to be mended. But really like not just throwing out something just because it doesn’t work one time. And also I, I swim in the ocean all the time. I love the ocean and when we go and pick up trash on the beach and all the plastics and everything, now I’m looking more and I’m like, oh man, like there is so much out there. So I think that’s like a really big piece for me is how do we be sustainable and fix things that aren’t necessary broken, quote unquote, but could be fixable.

Aja Holmes:
I love that. I it’s been a goal of mine to find some of that and add to my collection in terms of some of the, the art with that cups and plates and things of that nature. I want to really kind of also highlight what Keith said about what he is, you know, pondering over I’m I’m looking at my scope of control and, and how can I respond to this great resignation, the great re stuff, or the great reimagined, whatever re we are calling it. And I I’m looking at how, what changes can I make as somebody who oversees the residents life part, you know, of this. And what does that look like? And then how that also lays a foundation for maybe my next steps in terms of where I’m next going. I am concerned about this reimagine or leaving or everything I’m concerned, you know, about that.

Aja Holmes:
I, didn’t never thought about it in the three categories that you listed, Keith, which that really did a good, different framing for me, you know, but I’m also like in the midst of this great resignation, you know, folks of trying to now introduce a certificate program that will then exclude more folks that will add more to it. And add this adds to the broken system that we, that we have here. And then we have already folks who, you know, are trying their best to pay for whatever graduate school they have here now. And now going to think that I can’t get a job unless I get this particular piece of paper or more things that, you know. And so we introduced this during a time where folks are leaving the field, you know, you’ve already been asking these people to do more with less, and we’ve shown that we can do more with less, and now you are wanting to introduce something that then has to then credentialize the work that I’m already doing.

Aja Holmes:
And I I’m just like, come on, read the room people, you know, and, and it’s just . And so I’m wondering, what does that look like as I try to be excited at these RD interviews and wanting that these people, I want you to stay in this field, you know, I don’t want you to leave. I want you to understand the transformational this you can have when you’re working with students. You know, so I’m trying my best to convey that to my current staff members and to these RD interviews that I’m, you know, in during this time, of the season of hiring, but those are some things that are, that are keeping me up as I’m, I’m looking at. And how do I navigate, you know, some of these things that are that are happening within this reimagine reshuffle re . I just don’t, there’s so many different words, you know, for it, but, you know, as you know, Raechele said, it’s broken. And, and we have shown time and time that we didn’t want to change, but when we had to, we did it. And so now let’s keep going and let’s do that momentum. , you know the other side of the house already thought, whatever they thought about us, let’s not give ’em any more ammunition, you know, let’s not give ’em any more reasons, and let’s kind of figure out how we continue to work together and not lose our folks, but also let’s not burn out the ones that we have.

Susana Munoz:
Yes. I needed to say, yes.

Aja Holmes:
Neil, what you think

Neil E. Golemo:
Constantly? I, you know, I, my background tells me like, you know, the best things are broken. Like the most interesting people you will meet have, you know, stained glass, right. The best things are broken and it’s really about, you know, what comes out of it. And so for me, you know, kind of rip, you know, vibing off of what you said, like, yeah, student affairs, you know, we made the shift, you know, we pivoted, we did a whatever, sorry, Keith, I saw you you know, grimmice, but, you know, we did it. And it was really, it’s very interesting to see like faculty who were like, oh, aren’t you guys, the pizza party. People be like, oh, you know they, they want the student experience. Students want the student experience. And so part of me wants to look at it and be like, okay, how did we let that idea get into place in the first place?

Neil E. Golemo:
You know, we, we are such, you know, and like, we, we, we do the work and then we move on to the next thing, you know, are we really putting the time into telling our story? But at the end of the day, you know, it’s, it’s hard because we we have a national focus all the time. We’re always keeping up and we have these big galaxy brain problems, but then we also have the student who needs help. You know, we talk about like cancel culture and everything, but then we got to remember that. Like, for most of us, you know, the typical student, you know, for better or worse is 18, 19 years old. And guys, when they screw up that’s job security, they knew what they were doing. They wouldn’t need us. So how do we balance, like them doing something very dumb and like us being educators. And so I think what I’m getting out of it all is, is like, you know, how are we going to get caught trying, like, it’s not always going to work. Can’t always work. It shouldn’t always work. If you’re not pushing the boundaries, you’re not trying, but how are we going to get caught trying? And I think that’s just kind of the thing that I’ve been sharing with my staff and the people that have taught me. So.

Stephen Santa-Ramirez:
Wow. That’s great. Neil. I think something that’s been sitting with me too, is like, there’s a lot of hate going on now. Right. And I think we’ve been engaging in some of that, like anti CRT anti black and brown immigrant policies and practices anti trans laws and bills that are being proposed in pass. Right. There’s a lot of sadness and anger that is going through my body on a day to day basis. When I hear these things, however, something that I personally been pondering and practicing is elevating those moments of joy and bringing those into my personal life, but also my professional spaces, right. Celebrating, accolades, celebrating the successful finishing of a class you know, and constantly bringing in these type of conversations in adjacent, too resisting and doing the hard work. Right. But also bringing in the heart work with people that’s around me and constantly reminding myself too, that I need to, I need to re remember to bring in those moments of joy and, and try to be that joyful person around other people that I get the opportunity to share space alongside. So those are some of the things that’ve been pondering on my mind and in my heart, as of late, what about you Heather?

Heather Shea:
Oh, Stephen. That was, that was a perfect meet in actually, because I was thinking about joy today and I teach a class of master students and Colorado States or sorry, Michigan States graduate program, like going back to my roots for a moment, because I was thinking a lot about actually my own grad experience and Susana and Keith and I were in the same cohort. At the end of our experience, there was this program called the toast to Fort Collins and it was a really important kind of transition moment. And as I was thinking about that today in my class that I teach, I was like, how can I create an opportunity for reflection and closure, but also acknowledging this transition right for the first years, from their first year to their second year for the folks who are finishing their second year and going off into their first professional roles and they’re all together in my class today.

Heather Shea:
And so I was really, I was recalling my own master’s experience and also knowing I was going to get this opportunity to talk with you all tonight. And that this is really about a chosen family. This is really about the people who bring us joy and building those kinds of relationships that sustain us over decades at this point, right. We won’t even say what year we graduated from Colorado State SAHE program. But it was a while ago. so I’ve been thinking about that a lot. And then the other thing you mentioned, Stephan that really also strikes me is that, you know, for some of our students, their chosen family are their campus communities. Right. And we just celebrated a transition you know, experience graduation experience MSU a couple weeks ago through our lavender reception. And so for, for students whose whose family members have not been there for them and have not accompanied them on this journey through higher ed, like how critical are spaces and, and the communities that we’re able to develop are for them and, and then connecting them with each other. Right. and so I’ve been thinking a lot about transitions, you know, the process of coming to an adjournment or a closure and then just, you know, what’s next, right? So as we like embark upon our next 100 episodes, right? Like this was our pandemic passion project, which is clearly taking past post pandemic. We’re going to just keep we’re just going to keep having great conversations and, and just really appreciative of all of you and your contributions to this field. And so everybody who’s listening today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Heather Shea:
Thank you all so much. This has just been a terrific conversation in honor, of our 100th episode. Thanks also to our sponsors of today’s episode LeaderShape and Simplicity. LeaderShape partners with colleges and universities to create transformational leadership experiences, both virtual and in person for students and professionals with a focus on creating a more, just caring and thriving world. LeaderShape offers, engaging learning experiences on courageous dialogue, integrity, equity, resilience, and community building to find out more visit www.leadershape.org/virtualprograms or connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Simplicity is a global leader in student services, technology platforms with state of the art technology that empowers institutions to make data driven decisions specific to their goals. A true partner to the institution, Simplicity supports all aspects of student life, including, but not limited to career services and development student conduct and wellbeing, student success and accessibility services.

Heather Shea:
To learn more, visit simplicity.com or connect with them on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, a huge shoutout to all of the other hosts on Student Affairs NOW, and especially to our production assistant Nat Ambrosey for all of the behind the scenes work to make us look and sound good. And if you are listening today and not already receiving our weekly newsletter, please visit our website and add your email while you are there. Please check out our growing archives. We are now at a hundred episodes. My name is Heather Shea. Thanks again to all of our fabulous guests and to everyone who’s watching and listening. Make it a great week, everyone.

This Land Podcast: https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/ 

Dr. TJ Stewart’s new book: https://www.routledge.com/Sex-Work-on-Campus/Stewart/p/book/9781032046518 

A new grant Dr. Adrian Huerta received to study gang-impacted youth: https://pullias.usc.edu/blog/lbcc-usc-receive-nearly-1-million-fore-new-innovative-education-program-for-gang-associated-youth/?fbclid=IwAR0drJ8PoboZdQnrUdrCjquG3YFGT3BO65uLzIm-nQehpFgj_xjzNhnJQtg