Episode 45 is with Brian Proffer, Assistant Manager for University Activities Board at Michigan State University. We start by chatting about the thing that’s most important in life – binge-watching television shows on Netflix. Brian is watching, and tweeting about his journey through the Friends series. At MSU, Brian works with students to fundraise for a programming budget; a unique challenge considering no student fees are allocated to campus programming. Brian shares the successful events on campus that act as fundraisers, and some just for fun! We give a shoutout (a few of them) to Alaina Wiens, reminding us how small the field of higher education really is. We wrap the show with a discussion about something else that’s really important to life: bacon, breakfast and…Amazon Prime Now.
Episode 36 is with Anna Mahalak, Coordinator of Planning and Outreach at George Washington University. Anna is a part time graduate student in GWU’s Higher Education Masters Program, and through her new position, gets an interesting glimpse at marketing, fundraising, and student affairs simultaneously. We talk about having senior leaders on campus having a strong presence on social media, such as GWU’s vice provost and dean of student affairs, whose Twitter presence is known throughout the college community. As we know, social media has the potential to greatly impact a large fundraising campaign, and Lougan and Anna swap ideas from recent initiatives they’ve tried out. We spiral down the rabbit hole of social media on campus, discussing commencement, Snapchat, and finally, Periscope.
Links to cool stuff:
#ColonialChats with Peter Konwerski, Vice Provost & Dean of Student Affairs at GWU
Episode 35 welcomes Aaron Tomassini, a Graduate Student at Canisius College, back to the continental US from his summer long internship at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. We kick off with another ice breaker and learn about Lougan’s new cat Stewart, who used to be named Phoebe. Naturally, the conversation steers in the direction of moose, Denali, and the Northern Lights, as Aaron explains his unique opportunity in a state which is often confused for having only eskimos and ice fishing. Aaron’s summer internship with Conference Operations meant that he was faced with nearly 20 hours of daylight each day, and we chat about how each of us would be able to handle extended hours of light and darkness. Of course, we end the episode with an interesting history lesson from Lougan, about Icelandic history.
Episode 34 finally features Robin Brown, Assistant to the Office of Judicial Affairs at University of California Santa Barbara, after weeks of trying to connect! We chat about Robin’s title and using the word “judicial” in a department name, and what that can mean regarding students’ perception of the
Judicial system at their institution. Of course, now that we have the internet and, more specifically, social media, we talk about how that all comes in to play for current students. We disclose some deep secrets that may still exist about us on the internet today, and chat about twentysomething problems as compared to the older than twentysomething problems we face online. Although we are not a science podcast, we have another science lesson as it relates to the current drought in California, and we wrap the episode with Jackie singing, yet again.
Episode 32 congratulates new first-time dad Tom Southard, Director of the Wolfington Center at Cabrini College. We talk about birthdays and zodiac signs, but on a more interesting note, about civic engagement and social justice on campus. Cabrini College has a unique program for all students, encouraging them to become involved throughout their time in undergrad. Although a lot of in includes lobbying (oh, yeah, Tom was a lawyer at one point), we talk about the potential that students have when it comes to the surrounding community, and the world. Naturally, our conversation devolves from a large higher education topic to a random discussion of Serial, from the eyes of a Baltimore native and lawyer.
Episode 29 kicks off with Dr. Tom Priester, Director of Transitional Studies at Genesee Community College, talking about a fun new way to use all those free college shirts we get from campus events. Coming off the Fourth of July holiday weekend, we chat about summertime, BBQ, and research laws regarding owning fireworks and firing them off. We do talk Higher Ed, though, when Tom brings up his summer project: the final edits on his textbook, Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom, which will be released soon as an open-source textbook through Open SUNY. We end the show with an incredibly interesting story from Tom, as he explained how he ended up in Attica Correctional Facility, and will be heading back.
Episode 45 is with Brian Proffer, Assistant Manager for University Activities Board at Michigan State University. We start by chatting about the thing that’s most important in life – binge-watching television shows on Netflix. Brian is watching, and tweeting about his journey through the Friends series. At MSU, Brian works with students to fundraise for a programming budget; a unique challenge considering no student fees are allocated to campus programming. Brian shares the successful events on campus that act as fundraisers, and some just for fun! We give a shoutout (a few of them) to Alaina Wiens, reminding us how small the field of higher education really is. We wrap the show with a discussion about something else that’s really important to life: bacon, breakfast and…Amazon Prime Now.
Episode 32 congratulates new first-time dad Tom Southard, Director of the Wolfington Center at Cabrini College. We talk about birthdays and zodiac signs, but on a more interesting note, about civic engagement and social justice on campus. Cabrini College has a unique program for all students, encouraging them to become involved throughout their time in undergrad. Although a lot of in includes lobbying (oh, yeah, Tom was a lawyer at one point), we talk about the potential that students have when it comes to the surrounding community, and the world. Naturally, our conversation devolves from a large higher education topic to a random discussion of Serial, from the eyes of a Baltimore native and lawyer.
