Why Do I Work at Southeast?

Over this semester I have been fortunate to be in a position to hire new people and to be in the less fortunate role to say good bye to talented professionals who leave for positions at another higher education institutions. Throughout this process, both as someone interviewing people and when listening to someone share what they enjoyed (or did not enjoy) about working at Southeast, I often find myself asking the question why do I like working at Southeast? This always comes up when someone is interviewing for a position here so I’ve attempted to try and put in writing my reasons for making Southeast my current employer of First Choice:

• As a first generation college student myself, I personally relate to the challenges many Southeast have to deal with.
• Within Residence Life I get to work with multiple other professional staff who have a similar commitment to students and with more than 100 student RAs. It is a unique opportunity (thank you social media) to see these students as RAs and then see what happens to them after they graduate. I get to watch as they move into their careers, travel the world, get married, start families, etc.
• The education cycle, as I call It, allows you to plan your work and by extension your life around a set number of events/dates. We know when our busy times are; we know when our students are more likely to have issues or when their parents are more likely to have issues. This predictability is a real benefit of working in higher education.
• I believe the University provides me an opportunity to try some new and some might say crazy things. How many housing offices would be given the latitude to build a Habitat for Humanity House on campus and then haul it away to be lifted by a crane onto it final foundation? We get to put on what is arguably the largest and most well attended cultural exchange program on the Southeast campus, Carpe Diem. This kind of professional freedom to try new things cannot be easily everywhere!
• Contrary to claims by some, I do think the compensation paid by the University is fair. We can always find an example of where someone has it better, but we need not look too hard and we will see multiple examples of people who have it worse. 
• I like being part of an institution that is growing. While we may not have every issue perfectly worked out, the growth in students, facilities, and programs is a very positive thing. I prefer the problems of having too many students in the residence halls then having too few.
• Southeast affords me the opportunity to expand me and my staff member’s professional development. Residence Life is an active part of many areas of campus and this includes having a seat on committees and other areas of campus where decisions are made.
• I believe my decision making is trusted by the University and while I have been “corrected” on things over my career, I have never found these “corrections” to be an effort to micromanage my efforts. Of course there are cases where I disagree with a decision, but I would never go about writing about them… J
• I get to step into the classroom. From teaching in UI100, PS103, or PS014 I enjoy the opportunity to move from a staff member to a faculty member for a few hour each week.

I am sure others might claim some of the same things I value about being at Southeast, they either disagree with or they have not experienced.  I am not making any claim about things being the same across campus for everyone. I can only share the view from where I stand/sit. That being said I am one of those who believe you can influence how others impact your life/work. If you wait for something to happen, then you can’t complain about how it impacts you. If you try and influence what is happening then you get the opportunity to impact the environment and the impact it has on you! 

Please note these comments are that of one humble Bruce Skinner and are not endorsed, supported, repudiated, or in any way even know by anyone at Southeast (unless they are blog creeping on me). In which case thank you for trolling my blog posting.

Why Dearmont (because IMHO it is the best hall)

Every year there is a debate of sorts about where is the best place to live. Of course this is a difficult question because factors such as cost, proximity to different areas of campus, preference for dining options, etc. all play into each person’s decision.  In addition to these factors, the simple issue of demand for space in certain buildings must be considered. In many cases no matter how bad someone wants to live in a specific building, sometimes there just is not space. The best example of this is Towers North. Each year we get more than three requests for each bed in Towers North. With approximately 260 beds and almost 1,000 people who request Towers North as one of their top choice, there are hundreds of people who do not get to live in North. I have had people threaten that they will not attend Southeast if they cannot be placed in Towers North (or some other hall). In these cases, I wish the person well at their new school and offer to cancel their housing contact so we can work on the other housing assignments. 

 

After the question (How likely can I get into a certain hall?) the next common question is “what do I consider the myths about Dearmont”.  Now I can speak from two points of view on Dearmont. As a student, I lived in Dearmont room 3110 and my girlfriend (now my wife) lived in 2109. In addition, I served as a Hall Director for Dearmont and now as the Director of Residence Life so I have spent a good amount of time with this mythical building.

If I could make it happen, I would setup all residence halls on the Southeast campus like Dearmont. The first thing I would share is the rooms are setup in a way that really encourages people to engage with one another. In Dearmont you really cannot hide in your room and not become part of your floor and residence hall community.  Students at Southeast, and at schools around the nation, often find the ability to get involved and connected to others a key factor in how well they enjoy and succeed in college. Our own student satisfaction surveys consistently show that students living in Dearmont enjoy their college experience at higher levels than students living in halls that are considered nicer. The reason for this is that community style residence halls provide more social interaction than apartments or suite style residence halls. 

In terms of the facility, Dearmont was built 1958 and opened in 1959. When Dearmont was built it did not have air conditioning in the rooms or other spaces in the building. I often run into students who share information they learned from a Southeast alumnus who still assumes the same Dearmont they had from 1959-2008 will be same residence hall it is today. Yes, the rooms are the same size, and yes the building layout is the same, but changes have been made to improve the residence hall.

Several days ago, I spoke with a parent who commented that she lived in Dearmont and her son could not live there because the hall did not have air conditioning. This was true until 2009. Since this time, we have installed air conditioner units in each room.  This allows the Dearmont residents to have control over their rooms and this does not happen in any other hall on campus. After I explained this mother, she asked if I could place her son into the same room she lived in when she was a student at Southeast.  The mother lived in Dearmont when it was all female hall and now half the building is for males.  It turned out that we were able to place her son into the same room she lived in a few decades ago. 

While there always is a great deal of stress about where they live, a FAR MORE IMPORTATANT issue is their roommate. I encourage each of you to use the Roommate Gateway program through the Office of Residence Life or make an effort over social media to meet people and work on finding a roommate. If you do not find a suitable roommate that is not a problem, as more than half our students let the Office of Residence Life choose their roommate. My point is that if you are going to spend time worrying about where you live next year, you should refocus your energy on considering whom you live with and what kind of roommate you will be. If you want to give a little more thought on the roommate question check out my other entry: How Roommates are like Hell’s Kitchen http://seorl.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-roommates-are-like-hells-kitchen.html

Confessions of an Introvert in Student Affairs

One thing I have always been a little jealous of (with my extrovert friends) is how well some of them can work a room or how well they can strike up a conversation with someone after only meeting them seconds earlier. For many years, including those as an entry level professional in Student Affairs, this was a part of the job that was difficult for me. Even as I advanced in my career, now serving as Director of a Residence Life system, and advancing through and earning my doctorate in Educational Leadership, I have never been what I would label as anything more than proficient in small talk or how to work a room. Now, if you change the topic to something I have a strong background in, for example cycling, I can manage the conversation pretty well and my level of comfort goes way up. 

A few years ago I was provided an opportunity to participate in a training program, and I want to make a shameless plug for my introvert friends in the higher education field, especially those of us in Residence Life. The program I have become a champion of is the Dale Carnegie Human Relations program. I am currently assisting in teaching the course, and I am fortunate to be in a position to have had two years to reflect upon its lessons. I am as convinced now as I was then of the program’s value. For me, the difference can be reduced down to application vs. theory. As someone with “Dr.” in front of my name and a degree from the University of Missouri that reads “Doctor of Education” under my name, I am pretty fluent in the theory of leadership, and the theory of organizational development and change. My dissertation focused on how decisions are made by people in power (a great read, I must confess, as well) but in the end the application of these theories in the one on one or in those small group settings is where my success as a leader is forged. In order to advance the agenda for the organizations I am a part of I have to find ways to better manage my ability to interact with people. For me, someone who is an introvert, this remains an issue. While I am fortunate this aspect of my personality has not greatly hindered my career or work, it is an added problem I have to focus on.

The Dale Carnegie Human Relations program provides an opportunity to develop, learn and PRACTICE the strategies to better engage with others. From lessons on becoming better with names, how to get people talking and how to be more effective in your interactions with people, I found the Dale Carnegie Human Relations program among the very best professional development experiences of my career. The other two professional development programs I would consider as beneficial in my career to date are the Chief Housing Officer Training Institute offered by ACUHOI and the Aspiring Senior Student Affairs Officer Institute presented by NASPA. 

While it may be outside the normal areas we Student Affairs people look for our development, I believe that the Dale Carnegie programs have many things to offer our profession. For anyone looking to improve themselves in areas involving personal interactions with others, I strongly encourage you to consider the Dale Carnegie Human Relations program. 

http://www.dalecarnegie.com/

For anyone with Dale Carnegie who happens across these comments, I hope you find them consistent with principles 2 and 28! I also owe a shout out to my trainer, Mr. Rhett Hendrickson, a talented and effective Dale Carnegie man.

Best of luck to a talented colleague, Mr. Troy Vaughn

For this blog I want to take a little time to say a special thank you.

One of the most difficult aspects of being a Director for a Residence Life office, or really a professional in any field, is when you see good people who leave to take on a new opportunity. A few days ago, August 31, a talented professional left Southeast Missouri State University to tackle the Director of Recreation Services position at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale (SIUC). This talented professional is Troy Vaughn, former Director for Recreation Services at Southeast, who brought many positive improvements for the students, faculty, and staff of our campus. 

I still remember my first impressions of Troy. From his first days on the Southeast campus Troy worked to advance two ideas, at least two stuck out to me. First, was a focus on professionalism. From name tags for his staff, a focus on cleanliness, signage, and multiple other examples, Troy worked to present his facilities, his staff, and his programs as a professional operation. In my opinion there can be a belief that just because something is focused or targeted at students there is less of a need for a high level of professionalism. While this may be the case in years past, it is no longer acceptable to treat students in a manner where they are taken for granted. Troy’s commitment to professionalism is an important step in making sure the students of Southeast are provided the best possible facilities, programs and recreational opportunities possible. 

Second, Troy has a true passion for working with students. On many occasions Troy was at the front of asking about how students benefit (or don’t benefit) from decisions being made. These were constructive and important questions as they force people to make sure they are factoring in how things impact our students. For example, the Student Recreation Center is often called upon to host events or requested to close part of their facility for some event.  While these events are important, Troy was very disciplined in making sure that events did not trump the individual students (who pay for the Student Recreation Center) from using their facility. 

As Troy begins the Director position at SIUC I have a great deal of confidence he will be successful at his new University. While I am pleased Troy has been afforded this new opportunity, I am disappointed to see him go. One advantage Southeast does have is that Troy leaves the University with what Dr. Dennis Holt, Dean of Students at Southeast, described as “a very deep bench.” As I consider this deep bench I do not find myself at all surprised. Troy took the development of his staff, both professional and student, as a critical part of his role as Director. Many years ago I heard that the best leaders are those who train people to take over for them. I was always struck by this commitment of a leader to develop people who could challenge them for the very position the leader currently occupies. As Troy departs Southeast he has certainly lived up to this definition of a leader by training those around him to assume leadership roles within Student Recreation Services. 

On behalf of the many faculty, staff, and most importantly our students, I want to thank Troy for his work at Southeast. You have left a positive impact on our campus and that influence will have a lasting impact. I am thankful I was able to be his colleague during his time here, and I count myself as fortunate to remain his colleague as he assumes his new role.

My best advice for a new college student... only one thing

I ran into an incoming student and his parents this weekend.  The mother recognized me from the First Step speech and came up to me to ask a few questions about living on campus. All of the questions were easy to answer and after I had responded I asked her son, Ryan, if he was looking forward to starting college. Ryan was quick to say yes and he was ready to move to Cape Girardeau, a city much larger than his hometown. Ryan then commented that he was most excited about moving away from home and “being on his own.”

Whenever I hear a student say, in front of their parents/guardians, they look forward to being on their own, I do two things. First, I watch the face of the parent/guardian to see if they either roll their eyes or make some other expression. Second, I remind the student that they are only sort of on their own and I follow that up with some questions that drive home this point. After I asked Ryan some of these questions about just how “on his own” he really was his mom asked me if I had any advice for Ryan to help him stay out of trouble. I said I did and went on to share what for me is among the best advice I ever received while in college.

Don’t do anything you would not want on the front page of your local newspaper or something you would be embarrassed to have to share as part of a job interview. I use this same advice as part of my role as a fraternity adviser. I am fortunate to be a product of the Greek Life system at Southeast (maybe I should blog about this sometime) and I am lucky to serve as the Alumni fraternity adviser, called the BB, for my home chapter. As part of this responsibility, I work with the chapter on a variety of issues. Among the most important is the issue of risk management. Each semester, I visit this issue with the men of the chapter and I use this example of the front page of the newspaper to drive home this point. College, especially attending college while living on campus, provides you with countless opportunities to make decisions. Sometimes these decisions involve selecting between choices that, if they go wrong, will potentially damage your academic career, your personal life, or both.

Being both a college student and being 18 years of age (or older) is in many ways an entire new life. Things that just months ago might have been minor issues (pun intended in terms of age) are now issues that can have lifelong impacts. Your decisions on what to do, what events/parties to lose control at, the comments you post on Twitter, and thousands of other decisions leave a trail. This trail tells people about the kind of person you are and the level of maturity and critical thinking/decision making skills you have. If you have any doubt about if something is a good decision or not, simply ask yourself: “If I do this or if something goes wrong and my mother had to read this on the front of the newspaper, would I be proud or humiliated?” If your mother would not be proud, then take that extra second and rethink your decision.

How roommates are like Hell's Kitchen

The other night while watching Hell’s Kitchen I began to think about how much this show (which I am a big fan of) was sort of like the roommate experience for some students. For those unfamiliar with the show, it is a reality TV program where 18 aspiring chefs live and work together in hopes of being the one chef left at the end. The winning chef is given $250,000 and a job by Chef Gordon Ramsey.   There are of course many other elements to the show, but the basic drama of the show rests on how complete strangers are thrown into a living and working situation and having to perform in very stressful situations. This stress leads to multiple arguments and lots of drama between the aspiring chefs.  Small things, like how someone looks at another person, or if someone does not answer back fast enough, often lead to name calling and back stabbing. From a rational point of view this is all way over the top, however, I am confident for the people in Hell’s Kitchen these are very real feelings and their decision (and it is a decision) to scream and fight with one another is really the only way they feel they can be heard in this pressure cooker (pun intended) of a reality show.

I can see some striking parallels between this show and how some people react to roommate conflicts. While not all, in fact very few, roommates end up with some kind of major conflict, they do occur. In many cases, just like on Hell’s Kitchen, the issue is more about how someone responded to some action or that person’s perception of being disrespected than the specific action that started the entire problem. This is a major point, because the offending roommate will often claim they don’t understand what the big deal is. For example I worked with roommates who fought when one roommate used the other person’s cell phone to make a call. The roommate whose phone was used was very upset that her roommate had disrespected her by just assuming she could use her phone. The roommate who made the call could not understand (at least that is what she claimed) why this was such a big deal because the call did not cost anything and she did not mean to upset the other roommate. In the end the roommate who made the call failed to grasp the issue was not the phone call at all, it was the assumption by her that she could just use her roommate's stuff without the courtesy of asking first.  Just like Hell’s Kitchen, the roommates were fighting not over the original issue, but over the issue of being respected. This inability to agree on what the conflict was about became the most frustrating part of the conflict for both of them.

If there is any advice I can give people when planning on being roommates, it is to be respectful. This means you have to respect that while you are individuals, just like the 18 chefs in Hell’s Kitchen, you are interdependent with your roommate (suitemates). This interdependence requires you to at times think beyond just yourself and recognize your actions have an impact on someone else. You have the choice of what kind of impact this will be. If you end up in a fight with your roommate, first stop to make sure you are both fighting over the same thing. While you think the issue might be the phone call, your roommate is really upset that you did not respect her enough to ask before using her things. 

Ok James…. Let’s open Hell’s Kitchen.

Greek Alumni Focus Groups Summaries

Meeting Date: May 20th and 21st, 2012

Meeting Locations: Cape Girardeau and Saint Louis

Greek Alumni Focus Groups Summaries

What was your experience in Greek housing?

• Greek community dining hall was a great way to socialize and interact with Greeks
• Everyone enjoyed their experiences in Greek life at Southeast, but are very aware of the changes in Greek culture since then; Now the standards for members, housing, programs, etc. are much higher

What do you think of current Greek housing?

• Location is perfect for recruitment and connections to campus life
• Housing feels institutional and doesn’t create a sense of ownership and connection to camps for alumni
• Facilities appear old, run down, and not sustainable
• Lack of space for alumni events
• Chapters are losing members to newer housing options on campus, don’t have unit types that are appealing to upperclassmen

What should Southeast do to improve Greek housing?

• Detached structures to build a sense of ownership and community among a chapter and to build a connection between generations of students
• Allow for personalization of new houses and use of chapter funds to do so, but need assurance that money used won’t be lost if chapter loses rights to their house (i.e. gets kicked off campus)
• More space for alumni events; to reflect social nature of Greek organizations
• Some fraternity chapters expressed interest in financing the construction of their own chapter house. However, most fraternity and sorority chapters were not interested in, or did not have the ability to finance, the construction of their own chapter houses.
• Include small prep/catering kitchen, chapter meeting space, quiet study space, storage space, conference room for executive board meetings, tech area (computers, printers, etc.)
• Suite-style (private bedroom and bathroom); singles for board members/seniors/ juniors and doubles for new recruits in order to compete with new residence halls on campus
• Increased security of housing: key card access, DPS patrol to site
• Outdoor space: front and rear porch, common quad/green space/pavilion

Two potential sites were identified for future Greek housing – one site located near the Show Me Center (aka “Pig Lot”) and another site located near the intramural fields at the intersection of Sprigg and Bertling streets. What are your thoughts on the proposed site locations for new Greek housing?

• Show Me Center site is preferred because it is perceived to be closer to campus and has existing parking.
• Sprigg and Bertling site is perceived to be too far away. Also, there were concerns about the availability of a dining facility.
• Many like the current Greek Hill location, but see the value in a new location with brand new facilities
• Either location should have a Greek dining facility to facilitate chapter meals and dining needs
• Alumni expressed an understanding that distance is largely based upon perception. Several commented that when Greek Hill was constructed, it was considered to be far from campus.
• Additional expansions to the Cape Girardeau campus will likely move north towards the identified sites.

Would new facilities change the level of participation for alumni?

• Yes, definitely. Alums wish the chapter house was the thread that tied alumni and current members together; this is not the case with current housing
• Some expressed knowledge of housing corporations and willingness to help with this type of program (primarily fraternities)
• Alumni would be more willing to give money if they knew their chapter would have ownership/control of building (fraternities)

What traditions need to be maintained from Greek Hill in a new location?

• ·         The flagpoles and letters of each chapter are important
•        Proximity to other chapters is important to support and maintain the Greek community

  What besides Greek housing could change for the better?

• Support from the administration for Greek life, Greek alumni, and Greek leaders
• Public acknowledgement by administration that Greek life has a positive contribution to campus culture.