Rachel Messenger

Bob Rodda

Julia Zimmer

Lowry Center & Student Activities

The College of Wooster

• Run a "brown bag" series of professional development programs

• Series could include:– Colleagues providing updates from areas

– Professors and graduate students presenting on research topics and/or findings

– Individuals developing a conference presentation

– Attendees sharing activities from professional associations

– Individuals debriefing from professional activities

– Others

• Consider purchasing lunch for the presenter/facilitator

• Keep track of who attends

• Provide an incentive for attendees

• We’re not talking Oprah’s Book Club here. What we

are talking about however are the benefits that come

from a group of colleagues reading the same book.

In addition to reading the book, a date is arranged

where everyone meets to discuss the book itself.

This allows for thought-provoking conversation and

brainstorming among colleagues.

Books to consider:

• Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual

Lives of Adults

• Binge: What your College Student Won’t Tell you

• The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good

People Turn Evil

Ohio Link is a GREAT way to finding good book titles!!

Use your university library to find books of

interest that you can check out for FREE!

• A different staff member or group of staff members

present a certain topic/chapter at each book club.

• This allows for studying new concepts as well as

honing presentation skills.

Try these reads:

• In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best Run Companies

• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap…And Others Don’t

• Strengths Finders is a book and ideally a facilitated activity similar to MBTI that is a personality assessment.– Focuses on strengths rather than deficiencies.

– Can bring in a trained facilitator to do it.

– Use someone on campus who has done the research.

The Career Center is a good place to start.

• Look for books on the topics you are interested in learning more about.– Topics like service learning, leadership development,

educational theories, student employment, or a hundred other topics.

• Buy them and read them. – Be sure to check customer reviews to make sure you are getting

what you are looking for.

• Check out the ACUI Bookstore on-line or at the Annual Conference. Many titles carry a discount.

• Join forces with faculty at your institution and gather during the summer

prior to the new academic year

• Discuss the book assigned to first-years.

• Not only will each of you interact with one another and build relationships

through the reading but you will also provide a foundation of commonality

with incoming freshmen.

Consider these ideas:

•Attend first-year book related activities planned on-campus.

•Discuss the book with new students and others.

•Replace books with journal articles or case

studies to keep things exciting and different!

Read professional journals to stay current

Read professional association magazines

like ACUI Bulletin

Subscribe to and read the Chronicle of

Higher Education.

• Rotate responsibilities at staff meetings by

having different people facilitate the meeting,

lead an ice-breaker, or select and develop the

program.

• Host a Panel. Build in time for a Q & A.

• Hot Topics

• Students

• Faculty/Staff

• Find someone’s passion and exploit it!

• Tap the talent on your own campus and community.

• Invite a faculty or staff colleague, especially friends, to present on your campus.

• From your campus or a nearby campus

• Cost – maybe a slight fee, mileage and a meal

• Get staff and student employees together to

discuss what everyone wants to learn more

about as a staff.

• Pick a few topics and then learn about them.

• Come back together to share/discuss lessons

learned.

• Run by experienced personnel

• Discuss hot topics, current trends, and “big” picture

items at your institution or in higher education.

• Participate in reflection and evaluation

• Use to educate staff without traditional Student Affairs

background.

• Audit a class. Learn and gain insight into the

classroom experience.

• Advise a student organization of interest.

Collectively, they may allow you to expand your

involvement and participation on campus

beyond your job. They may also facilitate

enhanced relationships with students.

• Professional organizations:

– ACPA, NASPA, NACA, APCA, ACHUHO-I, ACCED-I,

NAFSA, NACAS, NCLP, NIRSA, NODA

– OASPA, OCPA, GLACHO, and NEOHO

• An intriguing opportunity is to attend a program

of an association that is NOT your primary one

or related to your specific job to hear different

perspectives.

• Local Chambers of Commerce may offer a "business skills series".

• Topics may include: – Customer Awareness: Exceptional Service

– Discovering Waste in Your Workplace

– How To: LinkedIn; Networking: How to Work a Room

– Team Building=Improved Performance (parts 1 & 2)

– Budget Principles & Practices

– Healthy Habits During the Workday

• Register for ACUI’s monthly Hot Topics virtual roundtable phone session. – Held Second Wednesday of the Month

– Noon to 1 pm eastern time.

• Focus on an identified topic with presenter/facilitator; potential for unlimited participants on campus.

• Format may include a short presentation but allow for question and answers.

• Upcoming Hot Topic Virtual Roundtables– December 8: Student Organization Officer Transition

– January 19: Peer Supervision

– February 9: Breakfast Programming

ACUI Webinar• Participate in an ACUI Webinar via an on-line

conference call. – Gather a group of people around a speaker phone.

• Cost ranges from free to $200.

• Topical categories include: – Sustainability

– Civic activity

– Fund development

– Student leadership

– Assessment

– Student employment

– Renovation and construction

Next Webinar: Assessing Leadership Programs

December 9 at 1 pm EST

Archived ACUI Webinar

• Purchase an archived ACUI Webinar

• Use it for personal or staff development

• There are currently 34 of them.

• Cost: $99

• ACUI, ACPA, NASPA, etc…

• Post a question to get help and

suggestions, share resources, or start an

idea exchange.

• Monitor replies on all topics.

• Research online resources and develop a

file for various topics

– Look at other institutions’ websites

– Look at associations’ resource libraries

• Design and conduct a research project.

• Connect your research to an ACUI priority and apply for support from the ACUI Research and Development Team.

• Present your findings on campus or at a conference.

• Publish your results in the Bulletin or in a separate publication (ACUI or not).

• Lead your working group through the SWOT exercise

– Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

• Identify your current situation

• Establish priorities for action and set goals to work toward

• Lead your working group through the

SPAR exercise

– Services, Programs, Advocacy, and Research

– Identify your current situation

• Set goals to work toward

• Lead a staff meeting to share something you know or facilitate a group discussion on a relevant topic.

• Present or facilitate a session

– At a Student Retreat

– At a Conference

– Through Human Resources

• NEOHO (NorthEast Ohio Housing Officers) is currently trying to pinpoint people within the regions that are experts (or near-experts) on given topics.

• This allows us to have connections to people on an array of topics that can train us/present to us for those subject areas.

• Volunteer and serve on a department or institutional committee or task force.

– Examples might include: First Watch, Judicial, Alcohol, Assessment, Commencement, Orientation, Family Weekend and more.

• Form a professional development committee for your department or institution.

• Actively engage in volunteer positions for community endeavors.

– Examples might include: Community clean-up after community disaster, 4th of July celebration, and First night events

• Participate and/or volunteer to present during Admissions events for prospective students and their parents.

• Chance to learn about what is on the mind of high school juniors and seniors as they consider colleges and especially their perceptions of your school which could help in thinking about future planning.

• Hold meetings via telephone to discuss

ideas and issues with fellow colleagues at

different institutions

– Conserves money

– Utilizes the little time you have in a day

• Take time to discuss an issue on campus over

wine and cheese.

A great way to take things out of the office

without going too far.

Depending on taste, refreshments could be

tea and crumpets, salsa and chips, beer and

brats, or caviar and champagne.

Could also be a picnic lunch or over a potluck

dinner

• Involve the entire staff

– including students

• Keep an Open Process

– Generate ideas and priorities

– Discuss in depth at staff meetings

– Finalize only after buy-in from all staff

• Eliminates (reduces) the mystery with resource

allocation

• Establish a Search Committee Membership includes classified and student staff

Task include advertising, screening, interviewing, and hiring

Everybody learns something new and develops by-in to the

process and the new hire.

• After a staff member has served on a

couple of search committees, ask them to

chair a search committee. For example, student activities staff have chaired searches for

the building service staff.

• Volunteer to participate in on-campus interviews of applicants. Look at top-level administrators to hourly employees.

• Learn from each situation. What to look for in candidates? How to conduct oneself in an interview? Learn about the different jobs and their responsibilities.

• Offer your opinions and insight about the candidates.

• Become a mentor to a new or young professional.

• Seek a mentor yourself!

• Supervise a practicum student.

• Eat lunch with someone you don’t normally eat with and swap ideas.

• Identify key people on campus, in your local community, and in professional associations who can share their skills, wisdom, and connections with you. Devise a way to meet them.

• Volunteer for a position in ACUI or another professional

organization

• Regionally

• Leadership Team

• Education Councils

• Internationally

• Board of Trustees

• ACUI Program Teams- many have application process

• Task Forces- many have application processes

• Write on a subject for a professional

publication.

• ACUI’s opportunities

– Feature article in the Bulletin. Researched

and documented.

– Book Review

– Union Spotlight

– Profile

In Your Community:

– United Way

– Leadership Wooster

– Advise Sorority/Fraternity

– Coach Sports Team

– At Church

– Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts

– Civic Events

– Others

• to present at a

• Join one or more of the ACUI Communities of Practice

– Small Schools, Social Media, Auxiliary Services, Facilities and Operations

• Chance for networking

• Talk about issues of mutual concern

• Primarily email exchanges

• Meetings and dinners at the annual conference

• Facilitate a Community

• Create and Facilitate a New Community

• Identify a New Topic to Pull Colleagues

Together

• Support from the Central Office

• Arrange with a recommended colleague to shadow them for a half or full day. Maybe share a meal.

• Learn what it is like in someone else’s shoes.

• Have a chance to talk about professional values and style.

• Get new ideas.

• Allows for inspiring, competent colleagues talking with young professionals with outcomes that seminars can’t achieve.

• Swap positions/offices for one day with

other staff.

• Learn hands-on the responsibilities of

fellow staff.

• Invite other institution’s staff to your

campus.

• Give a tour and offer refreshments or

lunch.

• Sit down and talk.

• A great way to build relationships and feed

off of each others ideas.

•Contact other professionals at nearby schools and

arrange a visit.

•Bring a list of questions about how that colleague

handles specifics and about general institution

philosophy that informs decisions.

•Find similarities and differences between

institutions and look for ideas that could potentially

be adopted.

• Visit an Institution (near or far).

• Have a specific operation or program you want to see first hand.

• Return with several new ideas for how to do things differently (better?).

• Invite a few colleagues to meet at a convenient

location for a 1/2 day brainstorming, idea

sharing, and interactive discussion.

• Include lunch, campus/office tour, laughter,

encouragement, and rejuvenation.

• Tour other schools that are within easy driving distance, even visiting several campuses in one day.

• Take a vanload of people along.

• Plus, the staff at the host institution can learn from their visitors as well as have an opportunity to show off their programs they have pride in.

• Invite others to conduct a program review.

Reviewers could come from your campus

or from other campuses.

• Walk the building and make observations

• Ask for insight on particular programs and

services

• Meet with local/regional colleagues on a regular basis to swap ideas and build relationships.

• Easy to do in big cities and on big campuses.

• Arrange regionally.

– Examples include small schools in NW Ohio, GLCA (Great Lakes College Association) schools and Ohio 5.

• Host your staff retreat at a different student

union each year.

• Schedule a meeting with the staff at the union

and take a tour.

• During your retreat, develop annual goals and

combine goal-development with some type of

staff development exercise (StrengthsQuest,

Myers Briggs).

• Attend regional conferences

• Network within your area while meeting

educational content goals

• Carpool with close-by institutions and save

money in your travels

• Enter a marketing or promotional piece in the annual competition at the annual and some regional conferences.

• Visit the display of winners

• Review the winners when they are published in the Bulletin

• Cost: may include mounting, postage/shipping, and entry fees. At the ACUI Annual Conference, the entry fee for the first entry was $20 with $15 for each additional piece.

• Be part of ACUI’s premier student

leadership program

• Week-long summer program with two

sessions in many years.

• Work with a group of top-notch student

leaders from across the country.

• Free but there is an application process.

• Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute

(UIFI)

• Leadershape

• NACA Summer Institutes

• Others

• Attend a Drive-in Workshop

– Network with others from nearby schools.

– Volunteer to facilitate/lead a session.

• Organize a drive-in workshop

– For nearby schools

– Keep cost moderate

– Recruit facilitators from on and off campus to

present on areas of interest

• Below is the list of professionals who shared their experience and observations to this collection of ideas. Without their contributions, this list and program would not be so rich.

– Candy Holt, University of Montana

– Mark DeVibiss, Wittenberg University

– Claressa Morton, Shenandoah University

– Julie Long, The College of Wooster

– Kay Robinson, University of Central Oklahoma

– Mary Edgington, Pennsylvania State University

– Rich Steele, Georgia Institute of Technology

– Carolyn Farley, University of North Carolina, Wilmington

– Ann Claussen, Moravian College

– Gail Ferlazzo, Iowa State University

– Aaron Kuntz, The College of Wooster

– Helen Wood, Northwestern University

– Geoff Combs, University of Massachusetts, Boston

– Kate Leishman, Kalamazoo College

Feel Free to Contact Us

• Rachel Messenger: rmessenger@wooster.edu

• Bob Rodda: rrodda@wooster.edu

• Julia Zimmer: jzimmer@wooster.edu