Can you believe it? We’ve made it to episode 100! Our guest this week is Brenda Ice, the director of campus life at Scripps College in Claremont, California. The West Coast transplant oversees resident life, the office of student engagement, orientation, and leadership. Right now, Brenda is overseeing the overhaul of orientation. Brenda also implemented a program called Tu Well Be Well to benefit the mental health of resident advisors.
Episode 83 is with Wayne Glass, a Residence Hall Director at Macalester College. Although he’s now settled in Minnesota, Wanye has lived and traveled in many places across the country, and we chat about adventures in the US. Before the show was recorded, Wayne was preparing to present at the ACPA conference in Columbus, OH. We talk about his presentation, being on a committee, and even about next year’s conference!
Episode 60 starts off with a political spin, a passion of Dr. Ann Marie Klotz, Dean of Campus Life at NYIT in Manhattan. Having just visited New York City, Lougan shares his experiences in the Big Apple, and naturally we talk about ramen, but not the cheap kind that you boil in college. We transition to talking about higher education, of course, and how residence life seems to be the gateway job to a career in the field. Ann Marie shares her view on what a work/life balance really is, and we end the show with a glass of Lemonade.
Episode 47 welcomes recent graduate Brady Griffith, Life Coach at Maryville University. Naturally, we talk about Star Wars because Lougan had seen the new release since our last episode…more than once. Don’t worry, listeners, we cut out the spoilers. We determine that Lougan is in fact not a Star Wars uberfan, but does own a $600 lightsaber. We finally get around to asking Brady what a Life Coach really is, and he explained the relatively new concept in Higher Education and at Maryville. As a Maryville alumnus, Brady describes his transition from student to Life Coach, and how it benefits his new position. We’re excited to bring Brady back on the show to hear how the program has evolved!
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