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Leading from the Middle: Insights for Student Affairs Mid-Level Professionals Sep 24, 2026

Show notes

On the latest episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field podcast, host Dr. Jill Creighton welcomes the editorial team behind NASPA's new book, In the Middle: Leading as a Mid-Level Professional in Student Affairs. This conversation brings together C. Spencer Platt, Darryl B. Holliman, and Dr. Gigi Secuban for a rich dialogue about supporting, empowering, and reimagining what it means to thrive as a mid-level professional in student affairs. Main Themes: 1. Embracing Nonlinear Career Journeys: The editors bring decades of experience and candidly share their own career paths—often starting outside traditional student affairs roles and navigating into the field through academic advising, admissions, and cultural centers. A key message: there's no single "right" way to build a career in higher education, and each journey offers invaluable perspective. 2. The Importance of Representation and Networking: All three editors emphasize the necessity of building networks, not just for advancement but for mentorship and collaborative growth. Their own partnership was born from conference conversations, mutual aspirations, and the desire to uplift voices in the mid-level space, especially those historically underrepresented. 3. A Modern, Practical Resource: What sets In the Middle apart is its up-to-date take on pressing issues: political landscapes, diversity, equity, belonging, self-care, and evolving best practices in supervision. Mid-level professionals are encouraged to find themselves in the book—its chapters range from core competencies and intercultural resilience to the "politics in practice" of today's higher ed environment. 4. Permission to Grow—Or to Stay: A recurring refrain challenges the idea that everyone must "climb the ladder." It's okay—and sometimes ideal—to find fulfillment at a mid-level role. The editors encourage professionals to pursue authentic leadership and make choices based on passion rather than external expectations. 5. Prioritizing Well-Being and Authenticity: The panelists reflect on the importance of self-care, both for professionals and for those they supervise. They emphasize the value of kindness, community, and letting go of micromanagement—and remind us that supervisors can best lead others by bringing their whole, authentic selves to the work. If you're ready for honest insights and practical advice—whether you're a mid-level manager, aspiring leader, or simply interested in the evolving field of student affairs—this episode is a must-listen. Tune in to hear firsthand perspectives, learn about In the Middle, and find encouragement for wherever you are on your professional journey. TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]: Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts. Brought to you by NASPA, we curate free and accessible professional development for higher ed professionals wherever you happen to be. This is Season 15, Enhancing the Career Pathways and Well-Being of Student Affairs Professionals. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton, she/her/hers, your SA Voices from the Field host. Welcome back, listeners, to our next episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field. Today, we're introducing you to 3 editors of a brand new NASPA book called In the Middle: Leading as a Mid-Level Professional in Student Affairs. This book fits really nicely with our enhancing career pathways and wellbeing theme this season, and I'm really excited to introduce you to 2 new voices to the show and one returning voice. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:50]: Our first new voice is C. Spencer Platt, who is an associate professor of higher education administration at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Platt currently directs the Community College Leadership Alliance, and is the former director of the Center for Innovation in Higher Education at the University of South Carolina. He earned his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Science from the University of Dayton and a baccalaureate degree from the University of South Carolina. Dr. Platt has over 20 years of experience in teaching, research, student affairs, community engagement, diversity, equity, and academic affairs on college campuses. His research typically focuses on diversity, equity, access, and excellence in education with an emphasis on underrepresented students, faculty, and staff experiences at predominantly white universities. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:30]: He has secured over $1 million in extramural funds for research through the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His research is published in numerous books and articles, including the Journal of College Student Development, AERA Open, and the Journal of Negro Education. He has co-edited 4 books, the one that we're talking about today, another called From Boyhood to Manhood: Deconstructing Black Masculinity Through a Lifespan Continuum, a 3rd book called Multicultural Education in the 21st Century: Innovative Research and Practices in Higher Education, and a 4th book, Comprehensive Multicultural Education in 21st Century: Increasing Access in an Age of Retrenchment. He has presented his work at numerous national and international academic conferences and institutes, including the American Educational Research Association, the Association for the Study of Higher Education, the International Conference on Doctoral Education, and the International Colloquium on Black Males in Education. He's a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and a fall 1998 initiate of the Zeta Epsilon chapter at the University of South Carolina. Our second new voice to meet today is Dr. Gigi Secuban, who currently serves as the Vice President for Inclusive Excellence and Belonging at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland. She brings more than 25 years of higher education experience, including the inaugural vice president roles for inclusive excellence at Texas State University and Ohio University. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:47]: Previously, Dr. Secuban held leadership positions at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she oversaw the renovation of the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center, and at the University of Arkansas, where she served as senior associate director for the freshman engineering program, director of the Multicultural Center, director of student affairs and diversity services in the College of Education, and Health Professions, as well as an Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions. Her work centers on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion and belonging, DEIB, promoting student success, and fostering campus environments where all individuals are valued, supported, and heard. She's led initiatives focused on cultural and resource centers, inclusive excellence planning, DEIB fundraising and branding, and campus climate assessment. In March of 2026, Dr. Sukuban co-released a book with NASPA that we're talking about today, and she was also recently honored with the Outstanding Alumni Award for the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions recognition of her leadership and impact in higher ed. Dr. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:03:42]: Sukuban earned her Doctor of Education in Higher Ed Administration, Master of Science in Health Science, and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, all from the University of Arkansas. Soror Gigi is a proud 33-year member and Silver Soror of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Initiated into the Kappa Iota chapter on April 11th, 1993, at the University of Arkansas, Dr. Sukuban has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to leadership and service within the sorority. She previously held membership in the Epsilon Epsilon Omega chapter in Central Illinois, where she served as chapter hostess and is a charter member of the Phi Alpha Omega chapter in the Northwest Arkansas area. She also served as a chapter advisor to the Kappa Iota chapter for 3 years, mentoring undergraduate members and supporting their leadership development. Dr. Sukuban was selected in 2021 as one of 25 fellows in the sorority's inaugural Executive Leadership Academy, further strengthening her leadership capacity and impact. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:04:32]: She has served as a voting delegate at multiple national and regional conferences, and she actively contributes to the development of others through her participation in leadership institutes like the Great Lakes Leadership Experience and by facilitating workshops at regional chapter meetings. Our 3rd guest today is a voice that you got to know in the spring of 2026, Dr. Darryl B. Holliman, who is also our current NASPA Board Chair. He is a distinguished leader in higher education with over 3 decades of experience in student affairs, academic administration and institutional advancement, governance and board relations, and human talent management. He's worked at several regional and nationally recognized higher education institutions where he supervised collectively over employees and overseeing budgets of more than $300 million. His extensive experience, strategic vision, and unwavering commitment to student success and institutional excellence make him a transformative leader in higher education. His contributions continue to inspire and shape the future of academic communities. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:25]: Dr. Holliman has several articles and book chapters to his credit, and his research examines the way that disadvantaged groups develop and demonstrate their agency in educational systems, particularly within urban school settings. He is the co-editor of the book entitled From Boyhood to Manhood: Deconstructing Black Masculinity Through a Lifespan Continuum through Peter Lang Press. Welcome back, SA Voices. We are so glad to be here today with authors of a book that we're excited that NASPA has launched for you all. The book is In the Middle: Leading as a Mid-Level Professional in Student Affairs. And we're here today with our 3 editors, Darryl Holliman, Spencer Platt, and Gigi Sukuban. They are all with us today to tell us more about the journey of this book and how you might use it in your student affairs professional work. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:09]: So I'm so excited to welcome back Darryl. Glad to have you back on the show. C. Spencer Platt [00:06:13]: I'm glad to be back. Darryl B. Holliman [00:06:14]: Hi, NASPA family. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:16]: And Spencer, hello. First time on the pod. C. Spencer Platt [00:06:18]: Hi, Jill. Good to see you. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:20]: And Gigi, glad to see you. Dr. Gigi Secuban [00:06:21]: Hi, everybody. It's nice to finally work with you, Jill, virtually, and nice to meet everyone. And thank you for joining us today. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:28]: Before we dig into the book, which has so many rich chapters, I'm so grateful to have gotten a chance to read a bit of it before our conversation. We always love to start off our episodes by getting to know you more as a person and a professional with the question, How did you get to your current seat? And we'll start with Darrell, who has been on the pod just recently as last year as he ascended to the NASPA board chair position. So Darrell, go ahead and refresh us on who you are. Darryl B. Holliman [00:06:53]: Absolutely. Hi, I'm Darrell Holliman. I'm the current board chair for NASPA. Started my career about 32 years ago. And what is interesting is I didn't take a traditional pathway. I actually started as an academic advisor on the academic side. I had a wonderful conversation with a young man the other day. Hey, Kevin. Darryl B. Holliman [00:07:13]: And was sharing with Kevin a bit of my journey. And so I did not get into student affairs purist work until about 10 years into my career. And I became the Associate Dean Director of the Paul Robeson Campus Center, which really kicked off my career from that point. So that's my story. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:07:33]: And Darryl continuing his service in the NASPA Board Chair role for about another half a year. We're about halfway through that North Star project. that we talked about in our last episode with him. And Spencer, first time on the pod. How did you get to your current seat? C. Spencer Platt [00:07:47]: Yeah, so I'm currently an associate professor at the University of South Carolina, but I started out in student affairs. I started out at Horry-Georgetown Technical College in Conway, South Carolina, right beside Coastal Carolina, and worked there for a few months before heading to the University of Dayton for, for a master's degree, then University of Texas. to work in housing and eventually started a doctoral program, but, you know, worked in a number of different other capacities at the University of Texas before coming to the University of South Carolina. And I've been here since 2012. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:18]: What are you specializing in as a professor? C. Spencer Platt [00:08:20]: Higher ed is the field, but, you know, I do issues of equity and access. I do org administration governance issues. And a lot of my more recent research has been on faculty diversity, especially in engineering where it's been really difficult for, to diversify. And so we, we, we, we are thinking, you know, what helps engineering is likely to help everybody else, you know, if, if they're interested in trying to diversify their faculty. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:49]: Gigi, we're so glad to speak with you as well today. How did you get to your current seat? Dr. Gigi Secuban [00:08:53]: Hi everybody. So mine was similar to Darryl. I didn't know I wanted to do higher ed. And so my first job was actually in admissions. And so I was in on the academic side as well. And it all started with A director of advising had suggested that I go into higher ed. I just didn't realize that you could actually work in higher ed. I don't know where I thought all the people I worked with as an undergrad came from, but I started in admissions and started working my way through. Dr. Gigi Secuban [00:09:17]: So my first true student affairs job was really about 7 years later when I was director of the Multicultural Center. And then I continued to work at the University of Arkansas, total of 15 years. My last role was the College of Engineering, as Spencer had talked about. So I worked with engineers for about 5 years. And started my doctorate while working full-time as a single mom. And then after that, I decided I couldn't stay at Arkansas longer because I needed to expand my career. So, I went to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I was there for 6, and then Ohio University for 4, where I was the inaugural VP for diversity and inclusion. Dr. Gigi Secuban [00:09:54]: Took a jaunt to Texas before the anti-DEI bill. I was there for a couple years, and now I'm at Montgomery College in Maryland, in Rockville, Maryland, where I'm the inaugural vice president for inclusive excellence and belonging. So, that's where My son and I landed about a year ago. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:10:09]: How did the 3 of you determine that you wanted to work together to create this book? Dr. Gigi Secuban [00:10:13]: Oh my gosh. Let me just, I know Darryl will jump in, but we had been to a number of conferences and I don't know, Darryl, if it was the mid-level, but we were talking about it and the book had not been updated for a while. And so we were talking about with another colleague, Peggy, who was at, in Chicago, and we talked about how the book needs to be updated. And we'd always wanted to do a NASBA publication. We were all AVPs at the time aspiring to be VPs. And so we were even talking…

Full show notes at the publisher

Enhancing Careers: Inside NASPA's New Initiatives with Monica Nixon Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

Kicking off an energizing new season of NASPA's Student Affairs Voices from the Field Podcast, Dr. Jill Creighton sits down with Dr. Monica Nixon, Vice President for Community Access and Professional Pathways (CAP) at NASPA, to unpack the evolving landscape of professional development, belonging, and career advancement in student affairs. This episode is a must-listen for higher education professionals at every stage of their journey, as it paints a vivid portrait of both the personal and institutional pathways that make our field dynamic and inclusive. Dr. Monica Nixon shares her winding and authentic career story, starting as a first-generation college student with an uncertain path, moving through roles in both public and private higher education, and now leading a critical portfolio at NASPA. Her experience building inaugural programs and her passion for equity, diversity, and professional development are front and center, illustrating how meaningful student affairs careers are often forged through curiosity, mentorship, purposeful pivots, and community engagement. The heart of the conversation centers on the CAP portfolio at NASPA, a newly conceptualized area dedicated to providing intentional access to leadership, learning, and professional communities. Dr. Monica Nixon illuminates how CAP is designed to serve a broad spectrum of professionals—across job levels, institutional types, and backgrounds—by offering clear career pathways, mentoring opportunities, and accessible resources. The episode highlights upcoming initiatives, such as a new skills conference focused on in-demand competencies and the continued evolution of digital and in-person professional development tailored to members' unique needs. Listeners will appreciate the practical guidance for getting involved with NASPA, whether you're a newcomer or a longtime member. From joining knowledge communities and steering committees to leveraging the soon-to-be refreshed NASPA website for curated resources, Dr. Monica Nixon makes it clear that there's a place for everyone to belong and grow. Her gratitude for NASPA's volunteer leaders underscores the importance of collective effort in driving innovation and support across the field. Throughout the episode, themes of intentionality, inclusion, and purpose-driven leadership resonate. Dr. Monica Nixon offers tangible advice for supervisors and student affairs leaders: cultivate honest conversations about professional needs, support creative models for staff development, and embrace holistic approaches to wellbeing. Whether you're seeking inspiration, career advice, or a greater sense of community in student affairs, this episode is your invitation to jump in and explore what NASPA's evolving landscape can offer. Don't miss this illuminating discussion—tune in and discover how you can shape your own pathway while uplifting others in the profession. TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:02]: Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts. Brought to you by NASPA, we curate free and accessible professional development for higher ed professionals wherever you happen to be. This is Season 15, Enhancing the Career Pathways and Well-Being of Student Affairs Professionals. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton, she/her/hers, your SA Voices from the Field host. Welcome back to Student Affairs Voices from the Field. We hope you had an incredible summer and we're ready to kick off our next season of SA Voices from the Field. Monica is our very own NASPA Vice President for Community Access and Professional Pathways, also known as CAP, where she leads a team focused on providing access to leadership and career opportunities, supportive communities and mentors, and professional development geared towards meeting the evolving needs across the career lifespan in student affairs. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:55]: Previously, she served in student affairs, institutional equity, and administrative leadership roles at St. Joseph's University, Seattle University, Colgate University, the University of Puget Sound, and the University of Virginia. Dr. Nixon earned her BA in English in 1995 and Master of Education in Counselor Education in 1999 from the University of Virginia. In 2013, she earned an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Washington, where her dissertation focused on the positionality and agency of women of color chief diversity officers in higher education institutions. Monica co-authored a chapter in the 2012 NASPA-published book Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Higher Education: I hope you enjoy our conversation getting to know Monica. Monica, welcome to SA Voices. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:01:37]: Thank you. I'm so excited to be here with you. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:39]: I'm so glad to have you here. It's been a long time coming that we have this episode. We've featured many a NASPA vice president over the last few seasons, and you are one of the newest NASPA vice presidents, having risen as a staff member to now leading a major part of the NASPA portfolio. So looking forward to learning about your journey and the new area that you're leading. And we always love to kick off our episodes by asking, how did you get to your current seat? Dr. Monica Nixon [00:02:06]: Oh goodness. I think like many people, we are Gen Xers. We found our way into student affairs. So it wasn't something that I thought was a career option. I came into college not necessarily knowing what I wanted to be. I tried a lot of different majors. I thought I might be a journalist. I thought I might be a teacher. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:02:22]: I thought I might go into publishing. And I really didn't know what I was going to do. And some of my friends were applying to law school. So I thought, okay. I'll apply to law school. And I was ready to go. And about April of my 4th year, my faculty advisor asked me to meet with him and said, I just have a question, Monica. And he had written my recommendation, so he knew me. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:02:43]: I'd been in a few of his classes. And he said, can you tell me why you want to be an attorney? And I must have just had a flabbergasted look on my face because then he asked, do you know any attorneys? And I said, you know, I really don't. I'd never interacted with a lawyer. Nobody in my parents' circle was an attorney. And so he said, why don't I have you meet with a couple couple of them. So I did, and the way they described their jobs was not what I thought their jobs were. This was the time of LA Law. I thought I was going to be fixing the rights of the world. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:03:09]: So I thought, I just need to pause. And so I deferred law school, and then I told my parents and my mother. I was a first-generation college student. My mom was a first-generation immigrant. Me pausing going to law school was not in the plan. And so I ended up taking an internship at the school where I went, which is the University of Virginia. It was in the executive vice president's office. I'd gotten to know him through my work as a student journalist, and I found that I'm really enjoyed the work. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:03:35]: And I also got to talk with a lot of my mentors in a little bit more of a collegial way. And, and so I was asking them about their work, and I realized they actually got paid to be there. They didn't just show up and they were in an office every day. I don't know why I didn't think that was an actual job. So anyway, I ended up going to grad school part-time whilst maintaining that role. So I started as an intern. I ended up as a chief of staff after about 9 months. I was— Dr. Jill Creighton [00:04:00]: That's a huge jump. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:04:01]: It was a huge jump. I was 22 years old. I was learning so every single day. And I wanted to make good on the trust that the vice president had put into me. And so, I worked so hard, but I had this wonderful view of an institution at a very high level. So, institutional governance, athletics, working with the board, working with the state. And so, it was fabulous, and it was amazing, and it appealed to the learner in me. It appealed to the sense of purpose that I wanted out of my work. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:04:29]: I ended up going to grad school. Part-time. When I graduated, we had just started an orientation and transfer student and new student family programs office. And so I ended up working in that office. I was a part of the, the, you know, the task force that proposed that. And so I, so my first true student affairs role was in orientation. And, and that, you know, again, I got to work with the mentors who had really poured into me as an undergraduate student. And I got to then think about how do we design a program that introduces students and families families to all of what higher education can mean for them. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:05:07]: And so being able to start something new, it was wonderful. Working in orientation over and over again, I realized I need something— I like to create, I like new things. Doing the same thing each year didn't necessarily appeal to that. And so as an undergraduate student, I'd been really engaged with diversity and equity issues. I'd worked in the Office of African American Affairs. I'd been part of some different task forces. As an employee, I was also part of some of that work. And I realized that was also giving me a lot of, like, a sense of purpose. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:05:40]: And so I looked for jobs that, that could, where I could do that full-time. So as I looked for my first job search on a national scale, I searched for multicultural affairs jobs. And I also wanted to be in a different kind of higher education sector. I'd been in public higher education at that point for, well, I'd been in public education my entire life. So all of my schooling, my own education, the first part of my career. And so I thought, I wonder what I wonder what private higher ed is like. I wonder what working at a small school would be like. So I looked for multicultural affairs jobs at small institutions, and I ended up at a place that I'd never even heard of. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:06:17]: I actually interviewed at places that I'd never heard of, but I ended up at the University of Puget Sound, and I was in an inaugural full-time multicultural affairs role. So again, I got to start something new. I got to put in place structures that I wish I'd had as an undergraduate student and that I was hearing from students that they really wanted in terms of creating a sense of belonging and you know, a true sense that the institution, that they mattered to the institution. And so I got to do that. I did that for a couple of years. I had moved away from my family and was kind of missing them. I'd moved from Virginia to Tacoma, Washington, wanted to be closer to my family. So I ended up back on the East Coast. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:06:55]: I was at Colgate University for a little while. I worked in a couple of different kinds of roles, again, in student activities and also like a cultural center, directing a cultural center. As much as I loved being back on the East Coast, I had just fallen in love with the Pacific Northwest. And so I came back out to Seattle University to direct the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Spent 10 years at Seattle U, so I didn't think I would be out there for that long. And while I was there, I pursued a doctorate in higher education, educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Washington. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:07:26]: It's really hard not to fall in love with the Pacific Northwest if you've never been there before. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:07:31]: It's true. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:07:32]: Proudly, Washington is my home state, and there's every climate there except for tundra. So you get mountains, desert, rainforest. It's the only rainforest in the contiguous So from, from an environmental perspective, it's really, really hard not to love the PNW and it doesn't rain as much as people say it does. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:07:49]: It doesn't, though we don't like to tell people that. So, because then everyone will move here. No, I just came off a weekend of backpacking and I was reminded again of why I live out here. But anyway, I was at Seattle U, got my doctorate, was working as an assistant vice president of student development at Seattle U. And I had this moment where I realized again that The equity work that I'd been doing, it was a part of my role, but it wasn't central to my role. And I had actually been advised not to seek chief diversity officer positions as I came out of my doctorate by very well-meaning mentors who were concerned that I might be pigeonholed into— I'd done that work for 15 years. My dissertation focused on the experiences of women serving as chief diversity officers. And so the advice that I received at that time from some of my mentors who really know me well, was maybe think about something a little bit broader so that you have a more generalist background to bring to future searches. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:08:47]: So I did that for a couple of years, and then I realized I really do miss centering the equity work that I was doing. So I moved to St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, which is another Jesuit institution, and I was there as the chief diversity officer. Did that for a couple of years, and then a position at NASPA opened up, and I thought, I wonder— I had thought about association work previously in my career, but I was worried that I might miss the work that happens in building communities over time on a campus. And so I'd been engaged with NASPA. I knew the board chair at the time. I'd had the opportunity to meet the then-president, Kevin Krueger, and I thought this could be an interesting time to try working in an association. And so I started, so I applied and was fortunate enough to be offered the role to serve as the, I think the title was Assistant Vice President of Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:09:40]: And as had been the case at St. Joe's, I was, it was an inaugural So this is a theme, and I think the role changed quite a bit, and this happens with inaugural roles. An organization thinks, we're going to create this role, and then the first person who comes into it will help us develop it, implement it, figure out what fits. We were engaged in that work, and then the global pandemic happened, and our organization changed a lot in a pretty short amount of time. This happened across, I mean, obviously many, many sectors, including higher ed. And so our primary goal during that time was to stay close to our members. And so a lot of the work that I ended up doing during that period had to do with member engagement. How do we create, make sure that our members continue to feel that they belong, that they have access to the things that matter to them? And so as we were coming out of the pandemic, then stabilized as an organization, found some stability in the field, I think those threads of how do we help members create or feel a sense of belonging in the association? How do we make sure that all of our members feel that they can access opportunities, professional development, in ways that meet their needs. Dr. Monica Nixon [00:10:50]: That really then became the locus, the focus of the work that this role and portfolio has evolved into. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:10:57]: Well, Monica, I think this leads us nicely into what is included in the CAP portfolio within NASPA. It's a brand new area…

Full show notes at the publisher

SA Voices From The Field Is Back For Season 15 Sep 11, 2026

Show notes

NASPA's Student Affairs Voices from the Field Podcast is back for its fifteenth season, and hosts Dr. Jill Creighton and Dr. Christopher Lewis are shining a spotlight on two vital themes: the many pathways a student affairs career can take, and the importance of well-being for professionals in the field.

This season's central message is clear—career advancement isn't just about climbing the ladder. As Dr. Jill Creighton highlights, growth can mean leading from your current position, embracing lateral opportunities, or redefining success on your own terms. These conversations encourage professionals to consider fulfillment, impact, and personal satisfaction as key measures of progress.

Equally important is the focus on well-being. Dr. Christopher Lewis stresses the need for both practical professional development and support for mental and emotional health. The show promises insights and strategies for finding balance and sustaining passion throughout a career.

Listeners will hear from leaders like Dr. Monica Nixon and learn about resources such as NASPA's new CAP initiative. Above all, the podcast invites listeners to reflect, connect, and chart authentic, sustainable career journeys—making this a must-listen season for anyone in student affairs

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]: Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts. Brought to you by NASPA, we curate free and accessible professional development for higher ed professionals wherever you happen to be. This is Season 15, Enhancing the Career Pathways and Well-Being of Student Affairs Professionals. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton, she/her/hers, your SA Voices from the Field host. Hey, Chris, glad to be back with you.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:29]: Yeah, glad to be back. It is a New term, new fall, new season.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:34]: Your students just moved in. Mine come in a couple of days. How was your summer?

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:38]: It was very busy, and we've been working really hard to get ready for the students to head back in. And it's always exciting to be able to see them back on campus and see that energy return to campus as well.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:50]: I fully agree with you. And this year on my campus, we're doing something completely different and beginning with a first-year student retreat away from our campus. So that's been an incredible lift of the team that I'm working with to have this brand new experience. And I got to meet one of our students just the other day who told me they are super nerdy, geeked out, excited for this. So I hope that nerdy, geeked out excitement can stay with us here on the pod and energize our professionals that are listening going forward. But we're back with Season 15. Can you believe it's 15?

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:01:19]: I can't. It has gone by really fast and we've had so many amazing conversations over the years. And I am so excited for this season though, with our theme. It is, I think, going to really resonate with all of our listeners.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:33]: Many of you know that NASPA launched a new strategic plan recently at the last annual conference in 2026 spring. And so as we were talking with our great NASPA colleagues, Chris and I were able to land on a theme that both enhances the strategic plan as well as continues to bring forward your voices in ways that we haven't heard before. So our theme this year is going to carry forward the excellent work of the association. And this season, Season 15, is Enhancing the Career pathways and well-being of student affairs professionals. That's a lot of words. Chris, what are we talking about here?

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:02:09]: You know, I think for all of us, as we were looking at this, we were trying to think of all of us that are members of the association are at different places. And whether you're at the very beginning of your career, whether you're at the middle of your career, maybe you're a senior level, or maybe you're getting toward the end of your career, that there are things that we can provide as professional development professional development through the audio format to be able to enhance the experience that you have with the association, which is really what this strategic plan is all about. It's how do we enhance the experience that you are having with the association? And I am really excited about this plan that they are pushing forward and the work that they're doing right now. And I truly feel that this season is going to resonate well, as I said earlier, because of the fact that we're talking to people about things that are going to be meaningful, not only for their professional work, but also for their professional development.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:03:05]: We've already recorded a couple of episodes, and the theme that has already started to pop out for me, a theme within the theme, if you will, is that career pathways doesn't have to mean upward trajectory. There's lots of different ways that a career can progress. There's lots of different ways that a career can kind of move in advance, and that doesn't necessarily have to mean taking on higher-level titles or supervising more people or whatever it might look like to you. And so there's some really great conversations coming for you about what looks like to lead in your current place. Our very first episode is going to feature Dr. Monica Nixon, who is one of the NASPA vice presidents and one who we haven't heard from yet on the pod. She's overseeing the new area for NASPA called CAP, which is an abbreviation, which she'll share more about in terms of what that includes, what that incorporates, and how this new area within NASPA is supporting all of our career progression. So, something to look forward to.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:04:00]: Chris, anything else that we want our listeners to know?

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:04:02]: I would just say, as you're listening to this season, as you're thinking and reflecting back on your own experience within the association. If there are things that you have an interest in having us cover, if there are things that you want us to be able to think about as we're thinking about the entire year and moving forward, we want to hear from you. And I know we've said this before, but it means a lot to us when we hear your voices and we hear from you on the experiences that you're having, but also what you want to hear and what you want to learn from the podcast itself. So send us an email, savoices@naspba.org. We would love to hear from you and learn more about your own experiences.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:04:43]: And as always, we're very open to your casting suggestions. So if you would like to feature your own voice, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'll repeat that email one more time, savoices@naspba.org. Chris, I look forward to working with you on this season.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:04:57]: Same here. Looking forward to a great season.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:00]: This has been an episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field brought to you by NASPA. This This show is only made possible because of you, our listeners and our members. We continue to be so grateful that you choose to spend your time with us season after season. If you'd like to reach us here at the show, you can email us at savoices@naspba.org or find me on LinkedIn by searching for Dr. Jill L. Creighton. We welcome your feedback and your topic and guest suggestions. If you're interested in appearing on the show yourself, please do contact us.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:28]: We'd love it if you spend a moment to tell a colleague about the show and leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening from now. It really does help us in the student affairs community, as well as the podcasting community to help our show grow. This episode was produced and hosted by Dr. Jill Creighton. That's me. Produced and audio engineered by Dr. Chris Lewis. Special thanks to the University of Michigan Flint and New York University London for your support as we create this project.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:54]: Catch you next time.

Leveling Up: Raven Jemison's Guide to Authentic Leadership May 17, 2026

Show notes

In the Season 14 finale of Student Affairs Voices from the Field, powerhouse sports executive Raven Jemison joins Dr. Jill Creighton for a masterclass in authentic leadership, resilience, and self-advocacy. Whether you're an early-career professional or a seasoned leader, this conversation offers actionable insights you can carry into your next student affairs challenge. A Journey Shaped by Passion and Persistence Raven Jemison, now president of the Kansas City Current, didn't set out to break barriers in the male-dominated world of professional sports leadership. Originally on a path to optometry, she pivoted to sports business after following her heart—and a newspaper ad—to her first sales gig with the Florida Panthers. From there, her determination propelled her career through multiple leagues, culminating in her historic role overseeing the first purpose-built women's soccer stadium in the world. Leadership 'Cheat Codes' for Every Professional A highlight from the episode is Raven Jemison's discussion of her book, More Than the Cheat Codes to Your Own Seat at the Table. Drawing on the nostalgic spirit of old-school video games, she shares "cheat codes" for professional success. One standout tip? Every six months, take time to reflect on not just your daily duties, but the value you've added, and what new skills you need to keep growing. As Dr. Jill Creighton and Raven Jemison discuss at 08:52, this practice is just as relevant in higher ed as it is on the business side of sports. Boundaries, Balance, and Being Seen A recurring theme is the importance of protecting your peace, especially in high-visibility roles that demand constant energy. Raven Jemison candidly recounts a pivotal moment in her career when she asked for time off during an NBA All-Star event—a decision made from necessity, not fear, and met with unexpected support. Her advice? Set clear boundaries, advocate for your needs, and trust that your contributions—and your well-being—both matter (17:03). Building Genuine Connections and Communities Finding the right advocates, making friendships at work, and supporting others forms another pillar of Raven Jemison's philosophy. She urges professionals to know themselves first, then intentionally find and nurture supportive relationships, both inside and outside the workplace (21:18). Tune In and Level Up This episode is full of wisdom for anyone looking to move forward intentionally, serve students effectively, and lead with purpose. Listen to the full conversation for strategies you can apply today—your next professional "level up" may be just a podcast away! TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]: Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts brought to you by naspa. We curate free and accessible professional development for higher education professionals wherever you happen to be. This is season 14 continuing our conversation on the value of Student Affairs. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton. Sheher hers your Essay Voices from the Field host. Hey Essay Voices. Welcome back and today we're bringing you the final episode from the 2026 Annual Conference episode Series. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:34]: Today we're featuring Raven Jemison, who was one of the keynote speakers at Annual Conference. And at the conference she sat down with Dr. Amelia Parnell, our NASPA president, to talk about her book and her journey. Raven is currently the Team President for the Kansas City Current, which is a women's Major League Soccer team, and she also wrote the book More Than the Cheat Codes to Own youn Seat at the Table the Raven was appointed the team President of the Kansas City Current in January of 2024. She oversees all business operations and led the club while opening the inaugural season in CPKC Stadium. She joined the club after spending the previous four seasons as the Executive Vice President of Business operations for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks. Off the court, her leadership enabled the Bucs to produce impressive growth across all revenue generating departments while focusing on operational excellence and efficiencies. Her sports career began in the NHL as an inside sales representative for the Florida Panthers. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:28]: From there, she worked her way up the corporate ladder with the Pittsburgh Pirates in Major League Baseball, San Francisco 49ers in the NFL before joining the NBA's Team Marketing and Business Operations department. Beyond her executive success, Raven is the author of the book More Than the Cheat Codes to Own youn Own Seat at the Table, which is a memoir that chronicles her rise as a queer black woman navigating and reshaping the traditionally male dominated sports industry. In 2021, she she was named one of AD Week's Most Powerful Women in Sports. She was notably a 2022 SBJ Game Changer and in 2025 she became a KCBJ Woman of Influence, one of 10 NKC Innovators and Influencers, and earned the Women leaders in sports 2025 most resilient award. I hope you enjoy this conversation. Raven, welcome to Essay Voices. Raven Jemison [00:02:17]: Thank you. It's good to be here. Jill. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:18]: We're so grateful for your time and we know how busy you are running a major sports team and we're grateful to have you spend some time at the annual conference this year in your city of Kansas City as well as with us on the podcast now. And I see you repping the gear, Raven Jemison [00:02:32]: no question, every day, all day. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:34]: Well, for those of you who did not get to meet Raven at our annual conference, she is leading one of Major League Soccer's premier teams in the women's side of the league. And we just love to get to know all of our guests by starting with the question, how did you get to your current seat? Raven Jemison [00:02:49]: Yeah, I love answering this question, partly because it led me to write the book that I'm sure we'll talk about in, in a, in a minute. But I got here by being focused on the quote, unquote end goal, knowing that this is obviously not the end for me. Hopefully I have a lot more left in my career. But I actually started, went to college, thought I was going to be an optometrist and did all the things to become an optometrist except actually go to optometry school. I was accepted into optometry school and decided to defer a year because growing up as an athlete, growing up as the, the true tomboy that I still am today, loving sports, wanted to be in sports. Somehow I knew it wasn't going to be on the playing surface because I'm 54 on a really good day. But I always say I have 5, 10 energy and I figured okay, so there's no path professionally playing, so what can I do to just be close to the game, whatever game that might be. And sports business was creeping up kind of in the background. Raven Jemison [00:03:45]: I had done some internships at Auburn University where I graduated from, and it was just pulling on me. And I asked my parents if I could defer a year and I could defer optometry school and they said sure. I wanted to see if I could get a job in sports. Didn't know what that looked like, how I was gonna get there, but I was gonna do my darndest to get there. So I took the year, found one of my friends was in grad school in Miami at the time and I went to go visit her, opened up the newspaper and there was an ad for a career fair at the Florida Panthers. And I was like, don't know what career fair at the Florida Panthers means, but I know that there's all the sports teams will be represented and I'm just gonna give it my best shot. And this, this is a sign. So I went and bought an ill fitting suit from somewhere and hopped in line at career fair to talk to all four of the major sports teams down There. Raven Jemison [00:04:31]: And the last conversation of the day was the Florida Panthers. And I talked to their head of inside sales and convinced him that somehow I would be the best seller for him. Even though I'd never watched a hockey game live, didn't know anything about the sport. But I said that there was going to be no one that worked harder than me. So that was my first job in sports. $7.25 an hour deferred optometry school. Haven't looked back. As you can tell, I'm not an optometrist today. Raven Jemison [00:04:55]: So that was it. And I loved it. I love every minute of it. It was hard, but I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be. So, Florida Panthers to the Pittsburgh Pirates to the San Francisco 49ers to the NBA League office in New York, the Milwaukee Bucks after my stint at the NBA League office. And now the Kansas City Current. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:12]: You've worked for almost every major league sports league in the country? Raven Jemison [00:05:15]: Every? Yeah, every core four major men's sports. NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, and NFL. And now I'm in women's sports. The National Women's Soccer League, the nwsl, representing arguably one of the best teams in the league. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:28]: I was bummed I couldn't get to the stadium. The Current have, as far as I understand, the only dedicated women's soccer stadium in the U.S. that's right. Raven Jemison [00:05:36]: First ever purpose built stadium for women's soccer in the world here in Kansas City. We opened up in 2024. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:42]: So all of this rich experience. You have a book out, as you mentioned, which we'll talk about, but how did you end up at naspa? Raven Jemison [00:05:49]: It's a great question. I believe it was sequoyah. Mike reached out to our head of, Dani Welniak, who is an absolute rock star. And I got the email and I asked her, are you sure they're asking about the right person? Because not that I don't appreciate education, I obviously would not be here without it, but what am I gonna say that's relevant to them? And we had a conversation and we worked it out and it was a great conversation with Amelia on stage. And I would say the rest is history, but we're still talking today, so I love it. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:20]: I could just see you and Amelia, like, immediately sparking in the best possible ways, she's just a rock star in higher education and. And has, I think, similar identity journeys to yourself. As far as what I've seen in terms of being a woman of color leading in predominantly male spaces, bringing other marginalized identities to the table, being collegiate athletes, all of these things. Raven Jemison [00:06:41]: Yeah, absolutely. We hit it off right away. We, we are still communicating back and forth. We definitely have to get some time off the stage. Cause she definitely is a kindred spirit for sure. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:50]: Absolutely. Well, we were loving seeing you on stage and bringing the perspective that you do in leadership. We referenced the book quite a lot on that day. And so for those if you who haven't checked it out yet, it's called more than the cheat codes to your own seat at the table, released in 2023. I love the COVID as well. Like the 8 bit video game reference and the artistry of yourself as a hooping person. It's great. Raven Jemison [00:07:13]: Yeah, that's a shout out to Zelda. I told the store before I released the book, but I was thinking about how to identify the cheat codes or how to actually theme out what the book should be in terms of making it easy to read and have people attracted to it. And immediately I thought about the cheat codes of leadership. Like how do you get. Not that you want to cheat your way, but what are kind of the, the back channel ways to figure out how to get that seat at the table. And Zelda kept coming up in my mind the Legend of Zelda. And, and I tell this story in the lead up to releasing the book, but I was the person that was trying to beat the Legend of Zelda the right way. Like doing the whole going through all the levels. Raven Jemison [00:07:54]: And then one of my friends way, way to my house and had the Nintendo Power magazine that had all the cheat codes. And I'm like, well, wait a minute. And they had moved on past the Legend of Zelda. They were playing other games. And I'm like, wait a minute now. No one told me this. No one told me that there was this entire world of cheat codes. So that is the tie to the cheat codes to own your seat at the table, but also the avatar on the front. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:16]: I love it. That speaks to my millennial heart. Raven Jemison [00:08:19]: Love it, love it. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:20]: The Nintendo Power flashback. But for me, it was Super Mario Brothers 3. That was the one. Raven Jemison [00:08:25]: I love that. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:26]: But Raven, I think one of the things that you brought to naspa, which was a much needed voice, was real pro tips for how to engage in leadership and what that means to do that authentically from your own perspective, your own voice. But also some real practical tips around how you are very reflexive in your own leadership journey. So I want to start with one of those most practical tips that you gave, which was about checking in with yourself every Six months. So can we start there? Raven Jemison [00:08:52]: Sure. So this was something I learned years ago. And I want to preface this by saying in no way am I encouraging people to, when they get a job, immediately think about the next job and not do really well at what they're hired to do and excelling in their current role. The six month exercise is more about how I capture accomplishments and not duties. So what am I doing to say this past six months, what did I accomplish? How did I add value to the organization and how can I speak to that from an elevator pitch perspective? If I get a chance with the CEO, and this was early, earlier in my career that I started doing this, if I get a chance with the CEO and they don't know me and they ask me what I do, I don't want to say what I do, I want to say how I add value. So it was an exercise that I just picked up and I wanted to look back six months, but I also wanted to look forward six months to say, if I don't learn X, Y and Z in the next six months, I'm not doing myself a service, I'm not doing my team a service, I am not doing what I need to do to stretch myself. So the six month exercise kind of was born out of me wanting to ensure that my time wasn't being wasted. Thus I'm not wasting, wasting the organization's time for whom I was working with. Raven Jemison [00:10:04]: And what comes of that? When you write down, you really think about six months backwards, six months forwards, you really start to tailor that resume to hit on your value that you add currently or the value you can add for someone else. And so that's why I wanted to preface with what I said, it's more of keeping that resume fresh every six months so you're not having to think about, oh well, what did I do at this job, now that I have to look for another job, you don't want to be caught flat footed either. So it's being able to look for another job and prepare yourself for another job is a byproduct of that six month exercise. But it's really articulating that elevator pitch and articulating that added value that that six month exercise does for me that Dr. Jill Creighton [00:10:44]: really resonated with the NASPA audience. Cause I remember when you were speaking about this on stage, I could hear audibly around me, people going, oh, I should do that. It's a really good idea. And the chatter kind of began at that moment. Raven Jemison [00:10:54]:…

Full show notes at the publisher

Meet Chelsea Peterson: Elevating Communications in Student Affairs May 10, 2026

Show notes

In the latest season finale of "Student Affairs Voices from the Field," Dr. Jill Creighton welcomes a new leader to the NASPA community: Chelsea Peterson, NASPA's inaugural Vice President for Public Relations and Communications. This timely and inspiring conversation is not just an introduction to Chelsea Peterson's impressive background—it's a deep exploration of what makes the student affairs profession so essential in higher education today. Dr. Jill Creighton and Chelsea Peterson delve into the ongoing evolution of student affairs, the importance of community, and the powerful impact these professionals have on students' lives. Chelsea Peterson shares her own winding professional journey: from her days as a student-athlete and college basketball coach to leading award-winning marketing teams in student affairs at WashU—and now, bringing her vision and expertise to NASPA. This theme of growth, self-discovery, and purposeful change is woven throughout the episode, reminding us all that career paths aren't always linear, and every step brings value. A major thread in the discussion is the vital role of community that NASPA creates for student affairs professionals at every career stage. Whether you're a brand new practitioner seeking resources and support, a mid-level manager looking for ways to give back, or a seasoned leader craving connection and professional renewal, NASPA has something tailored for you. Chelsea Peterson candidly describes the ongoing work to clarify and communicate these offerings, recognizing that needs differ across entry-level, mid-tier, and senior professionals. She shares hopes for even more personalized member engagement and visibility in the near future. You'll also hear moving stories illustrating the value of student affairs—like the first-generation student-athlete Chelsea Peterson mentored, who, against many odds, became the first in her family to graduate. These stories speak volumes about the transformational nature of the field: It's about creating spaces where every student can find support, community, and a sense of belonging. Finally, the conversation touches on the importance of advocacy for student affairs and the ways communication (even AI!) can help cut through the "noise" on today's campuses, ensuring student support services are understood and valued. If you're seeking an episode that spotlights inspiration, community, and practical insight—don't miss this thoughtful exchange. Tune in to gain encouragement, clarity, and ideas for how you can engage more deeply with the NASPA community! Listen to the full episode and join the conversation on Student Affairs Voices from the Field TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]: Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts brought to you by naspa. We curate free and accessible professional development for higher education professionals wherever you happen to be. This is season 14, continuing our conversation on the value of Student Affairs. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton. Sheher hers your Essay Voices from the Field Host Hey Essay Voices listeners, it's my pleasure to bring you a new voice in naspa. Chelsea Peterson Chelsea has just joined the NASPA staff as Vice President for Public Relations and Communications and we're going to get to know her a little bit better today. She's a marketing and communications professional with over 15 years of experience in higher ed. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:45]: In this inaugural role, she'll lead strategic marketing and communications efforts, including increasing NASPA's brand awareness in public relations and membership spaces. Additionally, she will serve as a member of the Executive Leadership team, oversee the Association's Marketing and communications staff, and consult with NASPA stakeholders. She most recently served as the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Division of Student affairs at WashU in St. Louis. Joining WashU in the summer of 2018, she built the external relations functions within the Athletic and recreation departments before joining the leadership team of Dr. Ana Gonzalez, who was WashU's vice chancellor for Student Affairs. During her time at Wash U, Chelsea's marketing and communications teams have been recognized with over 25 national awards spanning digital communications, videography and brand. Alongside Dr. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:30]: Ana Gonzalez, she established the Student affairs and Marketing Communications Office, offering services to 28 departments and over 400 employees. Additionally, she oversaw the process for the division's rebrand and website overhaul and was highly involved in writing the strategic plan for the Student affairs division. Prior to Wash U, she spent over 10 years in collegiate athletics coaching and administration. She holds an undergraduate degree in Marketing Communications from Upper Iowa University, where she was a Division 2 basketball player. She received a Master's of Business Administration degree from Anderson University and just joined us here NASPA on December 3rd of 2025. Hey essay voices listeners, we are here already with our season finale episode and it's my pleasure to bring you a new voice in naspa. Chelsea Peterson Chelsea has just joined the NASPA staff as Vice President for Public Relations and Communications and we're going to get to know her a little bit better today. She's a Marketing and communications professional with over 15 years of experience in higher ed. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:27]: In this inaugural role, she'll lead strategic marketing and communications efforts, including increasing NASPA's brand aware in public relations and membership spaces Additionally, she will serve as a member of the Executive Leadership team, oversee the Association's Marketing and Communications staff, and consult with NASPA stakeholders. She most recently served as the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Division of Student affairs at WashU in St. Louis. Joining WashU in the summer of 2018, she built the external relations functions within the athletic and recreation departments before joining the leadership team of Dr. Ana Gonzalez, who was WashU's vice chancellor for student affairs. During her time at WashU, Chelsea's marketing and communications teams have been recognized with over 25 national awards spanning digital communications, videography and brand development. Alongside Dr. Ana Gonzalez, she established the Student affairs and Marketing Communications Office, offering services to 28 departments and over 400 employees. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:03:19]: Additionally, she oversaw the process for the Division's rebrand and website overhaul and was highly involved in writing the strategic plan for the Student affairs division. Prior to Wash U, she spent over 10 years in collegiate athletics coaching administration. She holds an undergraduate degree in Marketing Communications from Upper Iowa University, where she was a Division 2 basketball player. She received a Master's of Business Administration degree from Anderson University and just joined us here at NASPA on December 3rd of 2025. Chelsea, welcome to Essay Voices. Chelsea Peterson [00:03:47]: It's great to be here with you today, Jill. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:03:49]: We finally got the opportunity to meet in real life this last annual conference in Kansas City. It was so lovely to make the connection. And you've been with NASPA for how long now? Chelsea Peterson [00:03:59]: Since early December 2025 I guess. We're going up on what a whirlwind Dr. Jill Creighton [00:04:04]: entry to the association to come in like right at the end of the calendar year and then jump right into the biggest event for naspa. But you've been around NASPA for a while? Chelsea Peterson [00:04:12]: Yeah, I have been around NASPA for a while. I will touch on the first point and say that President Amelia Parnell, Amy Shopkorn and the NASPA team made my transition during the highest volume time of year for naspa Seamless. It was super enjoyable to connect with our Board of directors in D.C. in early December to meet my Marketing and Communications team with the NASPA staff. It was wonderful work together to bring all of our NASPA members who could travel to Kansas City together in person. It was a wonderful time in community. It was great to meet you and I have been around NASPA for quite a while. In 2021 I made the transition at Washington University in St. Chelsea Peterson [00:04:49]: Louis that I'll refer to most likely as WASHU for the rest of the time anytime I mention it. When Dr. Ana Gonzalez became the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. In the summer of 2021, she recruited me from our Athletic and Recreation department to do what I was doing for that department for all 28 in the division of Student Affairs. And shortly after I started, actually before I officially started for Ana Gonzalez, she recorded. We did a recording for Justice Sotomayor for the NASPA membership. And that was my first introduction to naspa. Later that year, Ana ran for the Board Chair position and I've been very familiar with NASPA ever since. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:27]: Well, you're our brand new vice President for Public Relations and Communications here at naspa. This is a brand new position. It's never existed before. And one of the ways we like to use the podcast is to help members meet the staff. So we're going to be doing that today and kind of talking more about what members can expect from interacting with you and interacting with the team that you're leading. You've touched on this already, but we always love to start our episodes with how did you get to your current seat? You've touched on WASHU student affairs, athletics, but what's the journey? Chelsea Peterson [00:05:55]: I'm happy to share the journey and hello all NASPA members who are listening. I would be remiss of me as a PR communications person not to share my thanks and gratitude and our thanks and gratitude to Jill and Chris for recording this podcast. That's great. Quality, quality. I listen to it, I tend to download it and then listen to it while I'm driving or walking. And you'll learn so much about student affairs, different perspectives of our members, and how the NASPA community really comes together for one another on behalf of our students. So if you haven't listened, I highly recommend you check it out on any of your favorite podcasts Download spaces. My journey has been incredible. Chelsea Peterson [00:06:34]: I'm extremely grateful. That's what I'll start with. I grew up on a family farm in eastern Iowa. I am one of five and I grew up with a beautiful mother who was committed to education. And we never had conversations in our household about if college it was where we were going to go. And I never remember that being any different. We read books together in bed every night. It was the best part of my day as a childhood. Chelsea Peterson [00:06:59]: When I think about five being five, my favorite time of the day was grabbing books and jumping into the what seemed it was only a queen bed, but it seemed massive when you're five with all my siblings and each of us got to read our favorite book before going to bed. And so education was intertwined from the very Beginning of my life. I fell in love with basketball when I went to my first practice in fifth grade. I didn't want to go, but my mom said I was shy at the time and super tall for my age. And the idea of going out and doing anything athletic on a court with a bunch of other kids who I didn't know was overwhelming. And I remember my mom taking me out underneath this beautiful tree in our front yard and saying, I just want you to try it once. If you absolutely hate it, you don't have to go back. And I said, okay, I can do that. Chelsea Peterson [00:07:42]: Went to the practice, absolutely fell in love with basketball and basketball and really became a foundation for my life in terms of taking me to places and on journeys that I never anticipated. Fast forward. I became very good at basketball and earned a full ride scholarship to Upper Iowa University. I had a lot of opportunities coming out of high school. What I've learned later in higher education is I really didn't know the lens to go through all of those opportunities. And so really my decision to go to Upper Iowa over at the time like an Indiana university, which seems silly hearing this now, is that it was close to home as a full ride and I knew that the family that had supported me so much could actually travel to games there. It was a great opportunity for me. So I became a four year standout basketball player at Upper Iowa. Chelsea Peterson [00:08:30]: And between my junior and senior year of college I did an internship with Indiana Sports Corporation. A shout out to my Uncle John for his connections and really mentoring young people and providing opportunities through his business career and connections. And I fell in love with athletics. From there I graduated, I did a national search, I ended up Anderson, Indiana as the assistant women's basketball coach while I finished my Master's of Business administration. I was there for three years. Then I moved to Pella, Iowa. I was an assistant coach at Central College for one year and then became the head women's basketball coach there. My life really took a transition to a different path in student affairs when I attended a conference in 2015 that was hosted by Now We Coach, which does programming for our all women's coaches in the country. Chelsea Peterson [00:09:15]: And I was sitting in that programming and it was for women coaches across all sports and all levels. And I had this thought that hey, like I actually think after hearing this that I should feel differently about this programming specific for coaches and I'm not feeling the way that I probably should about this. I actually don't think coaching is my long term path here. And I talked to the Then executive director, who's a dear friend of mine, Marlene. And she said, yes, Chelsea, like coaching is, if you take a sewing box, coaching is you pick up a needle. It's as specific as the hole you put the thread through. Administration is the whole box. You get to see how all of these things are working together. Chelsea Peterson [00:09:52]: And I was, it hit me, I was like, I really want to go into administration. There aren't a lot of opportunities for full time coaches to go to full time administration jobs in college athletics. So this is Assistant Associate ads, Senior Associate ads. And so I did a national search and I ended up going to Women Leaders in College Sports, which now it's Women Leaders in Sports and they are based in Kansas City, they're a nonprofit. They do all programming for women in sports globally. And during that time, one of my favorite projects was the Women Leaders podcast. And we would literally bring in D1 athletic directors, commissioners, D3 athletic directors, athletic personnel from across the country. And I typically would ask the guest, hey, could I have 20 minutes of your time either before or after the podcast? And during that time I ask a lot of questions. Chelsea Peterson [00:10:41]: And I really found where it was that I found my professional home or what I thought would be my professional home in the college athletic landscape. And through that process, Washington University in St. Louis posted again, you'll hear a theme in my background, a first time position, the Assistan…

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Fostering Civic Discourse: Tools for Campus Leaders and Student Affairs May 03, 2026

Show notes

If you're looking to better understand the evolving landscape of civic discourse on college campuses—and why it matters more than ever for higher education professionals—then you won't want to miss the latest episode of "Student Affairs Voices from the Field." Hosted by Dr. Jill Creighton and featuring guest Jill Dunlap, this episode dives deep into the challenges, opportunities, and innovative solutions for fostering constructive conversations and civic engagement in higher education. A timely conversation, the episode opens with Dr. Jill Creighton welcoming Jill Dunlap back to the podcast and noting the sea change in student affairs policy and engagement work since her last appearance. Jill Dunlap, who has been with NASPA for nearly a decade and now oversees policy and civic engagement, brings first-hand insight into how students are reacting to new policies, especially those affecting graduate student borrowing. As she shares, many students aren't fully aware of major policy shifts that could impact their future opportunities, underscoring the need for student affairs professionals to step up as guides and advocates. Central to their conversation is NASPA's upcoming "Civic Discourse on Campus Virtual Summit"—a brand new, fully online initiative designed to gather campus leaders, policy experts, and innovative practitioners to share tools, strategies, and research for nurturing robust civic dialogue in campus communities. Both Dr. Jill Creighton and Jill Dunlap stress the significance of equipping students to engage respectfully across political and personal differences, especially in a climate marked by polarization and the aftermath of the pandemic. Listeners gain an insider's perspective on what the summit will offer: keynote presentations, breakout sessions on measuring the impact of civic dialogue, facilitating deliberative forums, partnering with faculty, and more (06:12–13:14). Student affairs professionals at every level will find relevant content, whether they're administrating at the VP level or working directly in residence halls. Importantly, all sessions will be recorded and available for later viewing, making the summit accessible for busy schedules. This episode is packed with actionable ideas and authentic reflection on the responsibilities student affairs professionals share in shaping the next generation's civic life. As campuses brace for high-stakes election cycles, and as societal challenges spill over into collegiate life, the tools and support discussed here are essential. Whether you're a campus leader or an aspiring practitioner, tune in to be inspired—and consider joining the conversation at NASPA's Civic Discourse on Campus Virtual Summit this May. Listen now and get equipped for the important work ahead! TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]: Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts brought to you by naspa. We curate free and accessible professional development for higher education professionals wherever you happen to be. This is season 14, continuing our conversation on the value of Student Affairs. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton. Sheher hers your essay Voices from the Field host. Welcome, Jill, back to SA Voices. Jill Dunlap [00:00:29]: Thanks for having me. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:30]: We are live at the annual conference, so for our listeners, you might hear a little bit of different audio quality because we're trying a new setup, but we're also here in person. I almost never get to see our guests in person, so I'm very happy to see you. Jill Dunlap [00:00:41]: This is so great. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:42]: We had you on the POD almost four years ago now to talk about some of the work that you were doing around Title ix. And now we're back to talk about a brand new NASPA initiative called the Civic Dialogue Summit. I'm really excited to learn more about that, but it's been a minute since you've been on the pod, and since then your role has changed. Can you tell us a little bit more about you and how you got to your current seat at NASA? Jill Dunlap [00:01:03]: Yeah, absolutely. So I started at NASA. Oh my gosh, I think it's going to be 10 years this November. So I've been here a minute, and since the time that I last spoke to you all, I have added policy duties and civic engagement to my portfolio. And that was just due to different staff transitions and sort of me saying, hey, I'm available and would love to do some additional duties while I'm at NASA. I also teach political science as an adjunct. And so it's a nice way for me to bring what I'm learning here to the classroom and vice versa. And what my I'm hearing from my students about some of these issues to the work that I do at naspa. Jill Dunlap [00:01:33]: So I it's a really beautiful blend of work that I am, I am fortunate to be able to do. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:37]: So when you're teaching, what are you hearing in the world of students that you're bringing back to naspa? Jill Dunlap [00:01:41]: You know, they like just sort of what they're tuned into and what breaks through in terms of policy. I'm doing a presentation this afternoon at the annual conference talking about the new limits on graduate student programs. Right. And so their understanding of that, I think, is at the very infancy and so thinking about, oh, wow, what how do we, as NASA and especially in the policy space, guide student affairs professionals with Letting undergrad students know this is going to drastically change what fields you can go into, depending on what resources you have financially to be able to pursue the degree of your choice. And so these are some really significant changes, and I think some of those haven't broken through yet to students at the undergraduate level. And I think it's our job as student affairs professionals to help them understand that. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:21]: We just did a great episode with Melanie Story, who is the president of NAFSA on some of these policy changes. And just then on Saturday, I was co teaching one of our pre cons for the Public Policy Division and we talked all about the OB3 federal financial aid changes. OB3 stands for the One Big Beautiful act, also known as HR1. But what Jill Dunlap is referring to is really all of this information around new borrowing limits and lifetime borrowing limits for graduate students. And there's a different cap for professional students. It's very confusing. The long story short is that most students will no longer be able to borrow for the full cost of attendance in their programs, which is going to have an incredible ripple effect on who can access that type of education or on what those programs can cost where the list is really long, not even really sure what the impacts are going to be in full yet. We do know that they're going to take effect this year, next year in 27, and the last rules will be introduced in 28. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:03:15]: So it's just going to be a very different landscape. Jill Dunlap [00:03:17]: And it's all the more important for students to have civic agency. Right. And to be able to understand this and understand the power of talking to policymakers about these things on the front end and also in the implementation phase of what's happening around us. So very timely. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:03:31]: So let's talk about the NASPA summit that you're leading along with a couple of campus partners called the Civic Dialogue Summit. So why don't we start with what the basics of what is it? Jill Dunlap [00:03:40]: Yeah, I think, you know, this work has been happening for a really long time. So I definitely don't want it to seem as though NASA's jumping in and like leading the charge on this. I think what we've done with this event, and it's the first time we've done this, especially in the virtual space, is really trying to bring together all the partners that are doing really great work because I think campus campuses sort of buzzy and at this point really kind of bipartisan and we're clinging to things that we can do that are not raising alarm bells for policymakers. And this is one of them. And so I think both sides agree, both, you know, political parties agree that students ability to have challenging conversations with people who think very differently from them is an important skill. And so let's like come together around that and take this moment where we have an opportunity to move forward on some of those things where we may not in other areas and give campuses and campus professionals just the tools and resources and awareness of who's working in this space so that they can develop really robust programs on their own campuses. And so I think this is the culminating event where we're doing that and we're bringing together some really important thought leaders in this area. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:04:39]: This sounds like a really great opportunity for campuses to participate. Where is this going to be held? Jill Dunlap [00:04:43]: It is online, so anybody can attend. And I know that there are folks with different travel restrictions. And so to me, there's a real equality of opportunity to attend this. It is on Friday, May 8, and I believe that it starts at 11 Central so that we are not too early for our west coast partners. And it runs all the way through into the afternoon. And so we'll have one keynote kickoff presentation and then there'll be a series of breakout sessions. So folks will have different options to choose from throughout the afternoon. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:11]: Can you talk a little bit about how much this might cost for members? Jill Dunlap [00:05:14]: Yeah, I think it's a really reasonable cost for folks to be able to come. Early registration runs through the end of March, and for members it is 1, 99, and it is 2. 99 for non members. And also because we really appreciate and value the work of students in this area, there is a student rate of 70, $79 for early registration. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:29]: What might I expect from the participant experience? Jill Dunlap [00:05:31]: I think you can expect, like I said, a lot of thought leaders in this space who are doing really important work and really from a broad range of perspectives. So thinking about folks who want to host deliberative forums and what does that look like and how do you measure the effectiveness of those two? How are we capturing data about the impact of students who are developing these skill sets? How do you scale some of this work so that you can run it across first year experience programs or in residence halls? There's a session focused on how do we partner with faculty to infuse civic discourse into a wide range of curriculum. It doesn't just have to be the 101 classes that we can really talk about, some of the debates in our chemistry classes and the different schools of thought and how do we just really infuse this skill set throughout a student's entire journey at an institution. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:12]: I'm just taking a look at the schedule and what I'm seeing are a lot of really great external higher ed partners. And I think normally with a lot of NASPA events we see people coming from different campuses, but this is really exciting to see common ground here from some other external folks who are bringing their skill set into our world. So can you talk a little bit about any of the partners that are presenting? Jill Dunlap [00:06:31]: Yeah, we've partnered with all of these folks before in different capacities. So we have in years past had a place based civic learning and democratic engagement conference. Some of these folks have presented there. I think the reason that these folks were selected is that they are just approaching this from a really robust and diverse array of perspectives. And so again, you know, there's some folks who are working with faculty, there are some folks who are working with measurement and data and scaling up. And so to me, each of the folks that are represented and coming to present, each of the organizations that will be there are just a demonstration of really important work that's happening at the national level. We do have someone coming from a campus as well to talk about how do you do an entire class on civic discourse. And I think some folks are like, I could do that at my campus. Jill Dunlap [00:07:11]: You know, I'm a smaller campus, like what do I need to know to make that happen at my institution? And so I think we have a really good mix of both the campus level perspectives as well as the folks that are working at scale across a wide range of institutions across the country. So I think it'll be a really nice marriage of those different perspectives in a one day event. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:07:27]: And this event is both breakout sessions and keynote sessions throughout. So attendees will have some sessions where everyone's together, some sessions where people, people get to choose between two or three topics. So if I'm an attendee and I really want to go to one and it's happening at the same time as another, can I access them? Jill Dunlap [00:07:44]: You sure can. That's actually also the beauty of a virtual summit is that all of the sessions will be recorded. And so anyone who registers, even if you can't attend on the day of, which I know I shouldn't say that, because the goal is that you would attend the day of, because I do think some of the breakout sessions will have engagement opportunities in breakout rooms. And so if you're wanting to come and hear what other campuses are doing or connect with other people that are doing this work and you're thinking, I didn't know that there were other people that did these same things at other institutions, or I know that that campus is similarly situated to mine. It would be a really great networking opportunity for those who attend live. But if you wanted to see all of the sessions and you can't, you know, physically be at all of them, they all will be recorded and they'll be on demand and available for a year after the actual live event for folks who register. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:23]: If I am new to naspa, how is this different than maybe some of our other virtual offerings? Jill Dunlap [00:08:28]: Yeah, I think sometimes we get very specific in the virtual offerings. And to me, this is something that is really the. The purview or the responsibility of everyone. If you are working with student government, you want them to have civically engaged conversations. If you are advising student organizations and they are bringing controversial speakers and you have a different student organization that wants to protest that. And again, not that we're discouraging that, but really everybody has a responsibility, I think, from student affairs perspective, to help students figure out how to engage with one another. It is not just faculty, it is not just in the classroom. We see the body of activities that students engage in outside of the classroom. Jill Dunlap [00:09:01]: And to me, civic engagement and civic learning and especially civic discourse is the job of everyone in a student affairs role. So for me, this event, I think, brings together enough information that will be useful to, for decision makers at like AVP VP level, but also folks who are working in the civic engagement office or are in a res hall and they're like, how do I get roommates to talk to each other? I mean, there's really some very i…

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Empowering Student Success: The Impact of NASPA's TIAA Micro Grant Program Apr 26, 2026

Show notes

If you're seeking powerful examples of student affairs' impact and actionable ideas to support today's college students, the latest episode of SA Voices from the Field is a must-listen. Host Dr. Jill Creighton welcomes Alexa Wesley Chamberlain (Director of Research and Strategy at NASPA) and Dr. Kira Gatewood (AVP of Student Life and Dean of Students at University of Houston Downtown) for a conversation focused on the NASPA-TIAA Micro Grant Program and its transformative effects on campus communities. TIAA Micro Grant Program: Fueling Emergency Aid Initiatives Led by Alexa Wesley Chamberlain, the TIAA Micro Grant Program provides $10,000 grants directly to campuses as emergency aid for students in crisis. Alexa Wesley Chamberlain explains how this initiative, rooted in NASPA's longstanding research on emergency aid, addresses basic needs like housing, food, childcare, and sudden financial emergencies. By supporting five institutions (selected from over 350 applicants), NASPA and TIAA aim to spotlight interventions that boost student persistence and success. University of Houston Downtown: Serving Parenting Students A highlight of the episode is Dr. Kira Gatewood's detailed look at how UHD is using its grant to support pregnant and parenting students—an often-overlooked group facing unique challenges. With over 70% of UHD's students being first-generation and many juggling caregiving responsibilities, the grant has enabled direct financial support and, maybe even more importantly, fostered a sense of community. Through stories of resilience and solidarity, Dr. Kira Gatewood shows how the micro grant helped students navigate grief, celebrate achievements, and feel truly seen by their institution. Bridging Policy, Research, and Impact Throughout the conversation, Dr. Jill Creighton, Alexa Wesley Chamberlain, and Dr. Kira Gatewood emphasize the importance of connecting research to daily practice, sharing stories and data that advocate for the normalization of basic needs support in higher education. They call for student affairs professionals to apply for future grant cycles and, above all, to keep listening to students' evolving needs. Why Listen? This episode is a rich source of inspiration and practical advice for anyone working in higher education. Whether you're exploring emergency aid options, want to build inclusive student support networks, or are searching for a reminder of why student affairs matters, don't miss this candid, hopeful discussion. 🎧 Listen now to learn how emergency aid is shaping student success and discover strategies to bring back to your own campus! TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]: Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts brought to you by NASPA. We curate free and accessible professional development for higher education professionals wherever you happen to be. This is season 14 continuing our conversation on the value of Student Affairs. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton. Sheher hers your essay Voices from the Field host today on SA Voices. I'm pleased to welcome two guests, one from NASPA and one who's a campus based professional. Our NASPA professional today is Alexa Wesley Chamberlain, who's the Director of Research and strategy at NASPA. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:37]: In her role, she leads NASPA's research portfolio, manages grant funded research initiatives, and prior to joining naspa, she focused on federal post secondary education policy and institutional finance strategies through internships at the Lumina foundation, the Institute for Women's Policy Research and the US Department of Education. Alexa holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy and a Bachelor's degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park. Our second guest is Dr. Kira Gatewood, who self identifies as the educational architect. Dr. Gatewood is a dynamic force in higher education, serving as a masterful educational architect with unique talent for analyzing complex institutional challenges. She designs and implements creative, practical solutions that foster student success and organizational excellence. Her academic foundation, a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from Columbia College Chicago, an MEd from Loyola University Chicago and an EDD from Arizona State University, fuels her innovative approach. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:29]: At asu, she engineered the Landmark Endowed Gatewood NPHC Scholarship for Excellence and architected the Sankofa Early Start program, achieving a 94% persistence rate. Today, as the AVP of Student Life and Dean of Students at the University of Houston Downtown, she oversees a comprehensive portfolio and architects the Holistic Student Experience. Her division includes Student Leadership and Involvement, Veterans Services, Sports and Fitness, the Dean of Students, Office Counseling Services and Student Health Services. She strategically builds the ecosystem through grant funded innovation, expanding student advocacy, launching a first generation support system and constructing the Gator Resource center to address basic needs including the Gator Mart food pantry. Her most integrated design is the Gator Health Portal, a digital infrastructure that unifies the newly built Student Health center with its whole medical team and student counseling services. An accomplished author and the ASU 2023 Greek Advisor of the Year, Dr. Gatewood's designs are student centered, equitable and built to last. She doesn't just administer, she architects the environments where students and institutions thrive together. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:32]: KE and Alexa are going to be working together to tell us about the NASPA Mini Grant Program or the TIAA mini grant program and how that's influenced the University of Houston downtown. The grant cycle is about to open once again. So we hope that you enjoy this episode and learn a little bit more if you and your institution want to apply for the mini grant. Welcome to the show. Alexa. Alexa Wesley Chamberlain [00:02:52]: Hi. Thank you for having me. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:54]: And Kira, welcome. Dr. Kira Gatewood [00:02:55]: Good morning. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:56]: It's always such a delight for us to be able to feature NASPA staffers on the show. We don't get to hear your voices enough, but we know how hard you're working behind the scenes. And then today we also have Kiara, who's one of our amazing student affairs professionals who's currently working in Houston. Today we're talking all about the new micro grant program that NASPA has introduced and we have this great partnership in Alexa who is leading that program for NASPA and Kira who is one of the micro grant recipients. So we're going to be talking all about how that has affected the campus. But before we get into all of that, we'll start with our traditional opener. Alexa, we'll start with you. How did you get to your current seat at naspa? Alexa Wesley Chamberlain [00:03:31]: Sure, NASPA has been my professional home for eight and a half years now, which is so wild to say, so much life has happened at that time, but around how I got here. My internships are really still a big part of my bio, even eight and a half years into a full time role. But it's because they really do play a part in my story. So in undergrad one of those internships was at a university affiliated research consortium about counterterrorism and the power of communications with that like do words matter? How true is the idiom? Talk is cheap. And so I co did interviews there and really figured out I had a knack and interest in the social sciences space and particularly research in understanding and addressing social issues and the importance of data in informing strategies to overcome challenges. I knew I needed to hone my skills more and explore possible avenues for this. So I went straight into grad school for public policy, which is where I interned at the Institute for Women's Policy Research. I focused on a student parent success initiative. Alexa Wesley Chamberlain [00:04:25]: There I learned about on campus childcare financing strategies and all the challenges that come with that and of course the need for better supports for single mothers on campus in particular. I then narrowed my focus to higher ed where I interned at the Education Department. There I was exposed to policy conversations about things like college scorecard, consumer facing, information tools for students, what metrics are considered in policy considerations like around gayful Employment and then I led. This led me to the Lumina foundation, who's a funder of some of NASA's research today. And that's where I focused on things like today's student campaign and building awareness about who today's college students are. We all know there are so many often or so often part time students, students who work, students who are veterans, who are parents, who are first generation and the need for both policymakers and practitioners to really check assumptions when we're designing supports with these college students in mind. From there that I was introduced to the association world, which is where how I came across NASPA and how associations really are so critical in ensuring decision makers are aware about the needs of practitioners and students, how their policies are affecting them on the ground and what promising practices could potentially be uplifted and scaled nationally. So I'm really drawn, I was really drawn to NASPA given the focus on student centered supports in particular and how so much of the work that student affairs does is ensuring that students with marginalized identities are supported and centered in the work that we do. Alexa Wesley Chamberlain [00:05:42]: So my role has evolved. I'm not a little bit less on the policy side and more focused on connecting research to practice and understanding what resources our members are needing and what topics are top of mind like basic needs, supports and how to advance emergency aid really is a critical support in a broader student success strategy. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:57]: And Alexa, can you share with the NASPA members what you do on a day to day with naspa? Alexa Wesley Chamberlain [00:06:02]: Sure. So it really varies day to day. A lot of my work I section it into pieces. I think one part is the planning and conducting original research. So thinking through like I mentioned, like what are, what is top of mind for our members? What, what are they working, what barriers are they facing? What good work are they doing that needs to be elevated and how does that translate into what we can learn and elevate for the field nationally? So it's either conducting interviews or designing administrating surveys. It's thinking strategically about okay, now that this research is done, how do we get it out to the field? How do we really tailor our data into resources for specific professional levels and types? Even thinking about resources that make sense for community college versus how does this translate for a large public four year. So keeping audience in mind, another part of my work is supporting some of our grant funded research and projects like the TIAA grant that I know we're going to talk more about and thinking through how to how all this again, what are the implications here with gosh what do I say? How to connect again, research to practice as after we conduct this work, how do we ensure that it doesn't just sit on a shelf, that it's really actionable and has impact for our members. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:07:09]: And Kira, we're so glad to have you on the show as well. Joining us from the University of Houston downtown, how did you get to your current seat? Dr. Kira Gatewood [00:07:17]: Yes. So I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me. How I got to my current seat is that, you know, it all starts as a student worker. I was exposed to higher education as a profession, which was not something that I had considered before. I wanted to be on Broadway. So as a student of performing arts, I spent a lot of time just working on crafting that art of performance. And I had a mentor, Dr. Dr. Kira Gatewood [00:07:41]: Kimberly Weatherly, who mentioned to me at one point, what are your plans after graduation? What do you want to do? And I honestly didn't know. I had no clue. And she said, start with what you think you can do. And I naively said, I can do your job. She said, you need to get a few degrees for that. And so she really made it an educational moment for me and walked me through. This is what grad school is like. This is what the profession. Dr. Kira Gatewood [00:08:08]: This is how you get into the profession. This is how you develop yourself as a professional. And I think over time I've learned how to bring my authentic self to the job. But I always think back to that moment of saying the first thing that came to my mind out to Dr. Weatherly. And so I've spent a lot of time. I initially started out at Barrett, the honors college at Arizona State University. And I enjoyed my work with academically high achieving students and especially those who come from historically marginalized communities who find themselves finding community and really developing who they are and stepping into their own. Dr. Kira Gatewood [00:08:48]: And so after that, I ended up moving out of the academic college and into the university work in the dean of students office. And when you are sick, I had gotten Covid during the COVID times and sometimes you get a bit of audacity from your fever. And so from my fever, I applied to this position just kind of on a whim and I was surprised and they interviewed me and I'm excited to be going into my second year here making infrastructure that I think is going to be higher, highly impactful for our students here at uh. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:09:21]: I love that you can say with the level of fact that you becoming AVP Dean of Students was literally a fever dream. That's great. It was well we were all brought here today to really talk about the TIAA micro grant program, which is a fairly new initiative for naspa. This year's cycle has just closed, but there will be hopefully future cycles. Before we talk about specifically what UHD is doing, I'm wondering if Alexa, you can share with us what is this program? Alexa Wesley Chamberlain [00:09:46]: Yes. So I'm going to fit it in the context of our emergency aid portfolio. So our work on this goes way back. We issued a landscape analysis report all about emergency aid back in 2016 as part of an effort to really understand like what makes a high quality emergency aid program, what are those key components there, how our campus is delivering it, what are opportunities to really further the impact of emergency aid on student persistence. Since then we've continued to think about resources and the role of student affairs in the basic needs space. But now we're really revamping that work, I think in part after Covid and the higher education emergency relief funds being used for emergency aid, the use case and the use case for IMPACT and the need for institutionalizing emergency aid has really grown. For those who already have programs in place well before the pandemic, the work for them has really evolved and improved. So as it seems like it's being increasingly incorporated into campus strategic planning as we think about basic need supports as a really important piece of a broader student success conversation. Alexa Wesley Chamberlain [00:10:43]: And so last year we received funds from TIAA to award five inst…

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Flexible Work in Student Affairs: What Success Looks Like Now & Next Apr 19, 2026

Show notes

In the latest episode of NASPA's Student Affairs Voices from the Field podcast, the conversation dives deep into one of higher education's most timely topics: What does a successful flexible work environment look like in student affairs today and in the future? This episode, recorded live at the 2026 NASPA Annual Conference in Kansas City, captures a chorus of perspectives from student affairs professionals across the country and around the globe, each sharing insights on how flexibility is shaping the present—and the promise—of our profession. A key theme that echoes throughout the episode is the shift from the traditional 9-to-5 on-campus model to one that centers both staff well-being and student needs. Alan Thompson highlights this shift, noting that "the typical nine-to-five...is no longer going to work with the way the world is shifting around us" 00:00:50. Flexibility now takes many forms, from remote and hybrid work, to alternative scheduling, to using digital tools like chatbots for student support outside normal hours, as mentioned by Enoke J. Agyei. Supporting staff as whole people is another recurring message. Kerry Greenstein underscores the importance of supervisors who "are understanding and able to support their teams," allowing staff to do what they need to be their best selves for students 00:02:11. The theme of trust and autonomy surfaces in Mishka Murad's comments on letting employees choose their work settings and hours to find individual productivity and balance, so long as the work gets done. Many contributors advocate for meeting students where they are—digitally, asynchronously, and outside the office walls. Dan Volchek and Diana Sims Harris both suggest that student affairs professionals must adapt to students' diverse schedules and preferences, ranging from in-person to online interactions. At the same time, contributors recognize the challenge of designing flexible policies that remain inclusive, equitable, and responsive to both staff and student needs. From practical solutions like cross-training backups and honoring comp time, to broader reflections on rethinking institutional culture, the episode brims with wisdom for every level of the field. Whether you're a new grad or a seasoned dean, this conversation is a must-listen. It's packed with concrete ideas and heartfelt stories about finding work-life integration in student affairs. Tune in to SA Voices from the Field and explore how flexibility is not only redefining our work, but also sustaining our passion for serving students—today and into the future. TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]: Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts brought to you by naspa. We curate free and accessible professional development for higher education professionals wherever you happen to be. This is season 14 continuing our conversation on the value of Student Affairs. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton. Sheher hers your SA Voices from the Field Host welcome back to another episode of SA Voices from the Field Today is our third episode that was recorded live and in person at the Kansas City, Missouri 2026 annual conference. We asked you about the third focus area for the conference, which was about workforce trends and the future of the profession. The question posed was what does a successful flexible work environment look like in student affairs today and in the future? Here's what you told us. Dr. Alan Thompson [00:00:50]: Alan Thompson at the Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington Director of Academic and Career Advising Having a flexible work environment is so important to the professionals who work in student affairs today as well as the future. The typical nine to five, five day or six day work week that we were once accustomed to in years gone by is no longer going to work with the the way that the world is shifting around us, it is important that we as professionals have a work life balance and oftentimes that means that having a flexible work schedule, working different hours throughout the day or even various days of the week, being able to work remotely two or three days a week, is very, very successful in creating an environment in which student affairs employ, want to work and are available to work given the many complexities that we have outside of the typical work environment. Kerry Greenstein Kerry Greenstein, Sweet Briar College I'm the Dean of Student Life. A successful work environment to me looks like supervisors who are understanding and able to support their teams, allowing them to come late, take time, really do what they need to do to be there best selves so that when they are present and helping the students that they serve that they are really at their best and able to serve them as best as possible. Hi everyone, my name is Gada Endick [00:03:08]: Enoke J. Agyieu. I am a second year graduate student of the Student Affairs Administration Program at Michigan State University. I'll be graduating in May and I am glad to share my perspective as a new professional and a new grad. How I see flexible work environment is using technology and data to help students with services even without the physical appearance of professionals. With the age of AI, we can have chatbots and other technologies that can respond to student needs while professionals are not in their offices or they are not having a direct interaction with students and I think that is the way to go in the future as student affairs professionals. Be at the back end monitoring student trends and their concerns and how best students can be referred with in person and face to face services. So basically that is what I can share and I can see that profession have a great promise for some of us as early career professionals. Mishka Murad [00:04:23]: My name is Mishka Murad and I have worked in student affairs as well as worked as an adjunct instructor. I'm originally from Pakistan and I've worked in Pakistan, Thailand, Mexico and the US Online classes suddenly because of a snowstorm. And so just having that ab ability to be able to adapt, I think is a really important skill that we're able to then give to students as well. So I think a flexible work environment is that ability to say I need to work from home or I'd like to work from home because I don't do so well with a chatty environment and I really want to zone in. Or guess what? I wake up at 5am every day and I'm most productive at 5:30. And I definitely don't want to come into the office, but if I'm working from home, that's possible. So I think it's really understanding that it's all the work we really do for students, which is they learn in different ways, they, they need different kind of advising. We show up for them at different times, on different days. Just bringing that into the world of student affairs where the same is allowed for us. So I too can have that flexibility. I too can work a particular hour that I might work well. And more than anything, a successful work environment is not just saying you can do these things, but is trusting people that they will do these things and they are doing these things. And so I believe that it's not just what is offered to you by an institution, but it's the kind of faith your dean and your supervisor have in you. Gada Endick [00:05:14]: I'm Gada Endick and I'm the Assistant Dean for Graduate Student Life at Rutgers University. And we focus on creating an interconnected graduate student experience across our eight grad schools. So we're here to kind of improve the quality of life for graduate and professional students, serving their diverse needs, fostering a sense of belonging, and really helping them just make the most of the many resources Rutgers has to offer. So we do programming that's designed to connect students across their disciplines. We provide spaces for them to meet and gather, and we also focus on events and initiatives that celebrate their contributions, their achievements, and amplify their voices. A successful flexible work environment in student affairs today, I think recognizes that the work is both relational and adaptable. It balances the need for in person student connection with flexible options that support staff well being, productivity and trust. So in the future, the most effective environments, I think we'll focus less on where work happens and more on impact and empowering the professionals to serve students well while sustaining their own well being. Adam McCready [00:06:24]: Hi, I'm Adam McCready. I use him his pronouns. I'm an associate professor in higher education programs at the University of Connecticut. Again, if we need to meet students where they're at, part of that is realizing that the 9 to 5 workday and having folks in person on campus is not meeting students and supporting. We need folks who are going to be in those face to face roles at on campus events and programs, but requires flexible work hours. There are plenty of folks in our field who can do their jobs successfully remotely. And if we want to retain and support folks specifically who were able to do their jobs successfully through the pandemic and beyond, we need to recognize that the in person only work experience is not the realm of success in the future. And for students who are coming into higher ed and then moving on into work in our field, thinking about it through that lens of in person work does not meet the reality of their identities at this point in time. Andrew Finn [00:07:19]: My name is Andrew Finn and I am the assistant director for Graduate Student Programming and events in the center for Student Involvement at Northeastern University on the Boston campus. There's two approaches to this question. I'll look at it from a staff lens, but also a student lens from a staff lens. I think if we're talking about flexible work, I think it really comes down to staff being able to do the kind of work that they feel they can best do with students in a variety of different environments, not necessarily just an office, but outside of it. Not necessarily alone, but together in collaborative groups that are interdepartmental. Flexibility is not just about space though. It's also about getting a really wide perspective on what we can do as student affairs professionals to help students. And that perspective really comes from increased collaborative opportunities that are cross departmental and cross disciplinary. When it comes to, you know, students and flexible work environments, I think a lot of that flexibility is going to come simultaneously from bringing together asynchronous and synchronous engagement models, both digital and physical, in other words, in person and online, as well as hybrid and really using a lot of those models to quote unquote, meet students where they are when they're being bombarded with so many different engagement opportunities on so many different platforms simultaneously. I think it's important to understand that students have so many possibilities to connect with campus and those around them that we need to provide a lot of different avenues for them to engage in a lot of different ways, whether it's online or in person. That would make it as flexible as possible and help students ultimately connect more in the longer term. Dylan Dermeyer Hello, my name is Dylan Dermeyer. I am from Angelo State University and I handle clery compliance and student conduct, including academic misconduct. I think if you're going to be in a career for a extended, extended period of time, especially as many of us are in higher education with the pursuits of retirement in our universities, I think you need to make sure you are balancing a fair work life balance. And as we become higher in our positions within the university, it ultimately makes it harder for us to be away from the university. So I think part of that is training reliable backups, making sure that you have clear standard operating procedures so you can step away and have seamless transition periods. And ultimately when you come back, everything should still be right where you left it or even further down the road. And overall, I think it is important for people to get out side their university, see new things, take courses that may not be directed for higher education, but more the corporate world because these help us balance us as individuals and as a whole. So overall, I think it is important that people get out of the office, get time on vacation, get time at conferences and find a whole well round being and also definitely support your local sports at your universities. That is always a big one for me. Go Rams. A successful, flexible work environment in student affairs today and in the future I think heavily relies on communication and overall comfort in the office. I know with supervisors it's really up to them to kind of create that space and create that opportunity for their employees and supervisees to feel comfortable in doing their work. And I believe it's it starts with the environment that we work in that can help improve the students that we work for. Romando Nash [00:10:56]: Romando Nash Vice Provost for Student Affairs Washington State University I think a flexible work schedule is one that makes sure that we're providing the services that we need to provide for our students. Without doing that, then we're not doing anything right. I think that there's a mixture of remote potentially and then a mixture of folks having to be in person and figuring things out. But I also think that there's a need for us to shut down at 5 o' clock on most days while still being as in person and as present as we can be for the students that need us to be in that way and in that vein. Brianna Morris Hello, my name is Brianna Morris. I am from Richmond, Virginia and I currently serve as an Assistant Director for Student Conduct and Academic Integrity at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. A successful flexible work environment in student affairs it will look like prioritizing outcomes, well being and sustainability for a person while also prioritizing the student needs by doing like more of a flexible work schedule, prioritizing outcomes, well being and sustainability as a professional while also making sure that the students are learning what they need to learn more of a flexible schedule hybrid administrative work will be better because that will take away from the burnout that we do receive and professionals in student affairs. Hi everybody. Karin Gomez [00:12:19]: My name is Karin Gomez. My pronouns are they she. I am a student program coordinator at the University of Texas at Austin with the scholarship program titled UT for Me powered by Dell Scholars. I feel that a successful flexible work environment for today and in the future would consist of institutions really prioritizing the needs of the staff members. Some staff members are parents, some are single one income households, some have dependents and vice versa. And so some people need to work from home, some people need to work from another state at some point. Some people need to be able to have a space where they can retreat to that isn't necessarily campus or an office. And so having those as opportunities and availability and that freedom for them to decide, okay, today I think I really need to work from home in order to really focus on this project. Or I have a lot of student meetings and I would really prefer to have them in an online modality because I am immunocompromised or something like that. Of course it's not an all exhaustive list…

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Data, Tech, and the Future of Student Affairs Impact Apr 12, 2026

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Season 14, Episode 8 of NASPA's Student Affairs Voices from the Field podcast brings together a powerful chorus of perspectives from student affairs professionals, leaders, and educators, all answering a central, urgent question: How can student affairs use data and technology to better serve the profession? This episode is a must-listen for anyone committed to the future of higher education, offering both inspiration and practical insight for advancing our field. A tapestry of voices emerges, revealing several clear themes. First, the call for intentional and strategic use of data rings loud and clear throughout. Alan Thompson identifies the importance of keeping up with evolving technology to positively impact the student experience and emphasizes the critical nature of knowing who our students are and what support they need. Others, like Gada Endick, advocate using data not just for compliance or recordkeeping, but to proactively search for gaps in student belonging and to build more intentional communities. Second, embracing technology and artificial intelligence as tools for both efficiency and connection is a recurring thread. Dylan Dermeyer, among others, highlights how AI can free professionals from routine tasks, affording more quality time with students. This shift allows practitioners to focus on building meaningful relationships—the heart of student affairs work. Romando Nash encourages leveraging AI so staff can spend less time on paperwork, and more time face-to-face with students. Another consistent theme is the necessity of collaboration and data sharing. Several contributors emphasize that data must not remain siloed. Brett Peterson Bruner voices the need to share information across campus, advocating for collective wisdom and integrated decision-making: when student affairs, academic, and institutional researchers join forces, the whole campus community benefits. The importance of professional development and training is spotlighted as well. Michael Allensworth and Antonia McFarland argue that data and technology skills should be woven into graduate preparatory programs and ongoing staff training to ensure everyone in the profession can grow, adapt, and thrive. Finally, the episode calls for a human-centered approach to data. Mishka Murad reminds us that behind every number is a student story, and Dr. Rolanda Horn advocates using data as storytelling—a tool to highlight successes, identify gaps, and advocate for the value of our work. For those seeking guidance, inspiration, or a pulse on where student affairs is headed in a rapidly changing world, this episode delivers. Tune in to hear your colleagues grapple with the challenges and opportunities ahead, sharing strategies that can help us all lead with data, technology, and most of all, heart. Ready to dive deeper? Listen now to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, Season 14, Episode 8! TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]: Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts brought to you by NASPA. We curate free and accessible professional development for higher education professionals wherever you happen to be. This is season 14 continuing our conversation on the value of Student Affairs. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton. Sheher hers your SA voices from the Field host. Thank you for coming back for our next episode of Essay Voices from the Field. Today we're going to be featuring your responses to our second question that we recorded live and in person at the 2026 annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri. Our second question was about the focus area of data technology and return on investment in higher education and student affairs. We asked you how can student affairs use data and technology to better serve the student affairs profession? Here's what you told us. Dr. Alan Thompson [00:00:38]: Alan Thompson at the Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington Director of Academic and Career Advising the use of data and technology in student affairs student life is so imperative. The way that technology is shifting and growing and changing today, student affairs needs to stay abreast and stay par with the various systems that can have a positive impact on students experiences and so the use of data knowing who our students are, what services that the institution is lacking to support our students, but making sure that we are using that data is critical to the success of the profession. Cary Greenstein Cary Greenstein, Sweet Briar College I'm the Dean of Student Life. I would make sure that student life and student affairs staff are led to be senior Student affairs or senior cabinet members at any institution so that they could really have the authority to lead and run everything from CARE teams to student success and all the other things that are really needed to help improve student success. And so really it's about how we set the organizational structure. I would say that we can really use data to help serve the profession by really making sure that we have so much information, our platforms provide so much for us that we can use that to then better understand our students, better understand their needs and how we can better serve them and support them with whatever challenges they're having. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:47]: Hi everyone, my name is Enoke Agyei I am a second year graduate student of the Student Affairs Administration Program at Michigan State University. I'll be graduating in May and I am glad to share my perspective as a new professional and a new grad. Data and assessment is the way to go because it give us what we are not seeing, give us the hidden treasures of how we are able to support students and technology is here to facilitate our work with Predictive analytics for us to know the early signs, to come on board with proactive measures before students fall through the cracks. So I think the data and assessment should not be seen from that perspective of compliance, but rather to develop it as a culture to help a student. So more of helping students a proactive measure than to see it as compliance measure. Mishka Murad [00:04:04]: My name is Mishka Murad, and I have worked in student affairs as well as worked as an adjunct instructor. I'm originally from Pakistan, and I've worked in Pakistan, Thailand, Mexico, and the US when it comes to data, I will say I am a person who really values qualitative data. I really appreciate numbers, but I think what is crucial is to get the stories behind the numbers. And so when we collect data on things like belonging or collect data on student organizations and people feel like they're being represented in these student organizations, or if classes are the way that students want them to be and they're getting the sort of courses that they want to get, I think it's other than just numbers really, unpacking what those numbers are saying, where they are coming from, what are the stories that they're telling, and learning more about the student experience through these stories. I believe in the power. When we say data, I think people think of number, they think of percentages, all of these really fancy things that I am not very good at, like statistics. But I really appreciate the fact that I think education first and foremost and student success comes in the ability to learn lessons from storytelling and from experiences. That's what education looked like, you know, when our families would tell us stories and their families would tell them stories. And so really, to use more off that qualitative data, I believe is crucial. Gada Endick [00:05:15]: I'm Gada Endick and I'm the Assistant Dean for Graduate Student Life at Rutgers University. And we focus on creating an interconnected graduate student experience across our eight grad schools. So we're here to kind of improve the quality of life for graduate and professional students, serving their diverse needs, fostering a sense of belonging, and really helping them just make the most of the many resources Rutgers has to offer. So we do programming that's designed to connect students across their disciplines. We provide spaces for them to meet and gather, and we also focus on events and initiatives that celebrate their contributions or achievements and amplify their voices. Student affairs can use data to better understand where graduate students feel connected and where they may be feeling isolated. So looking at things like survey feedback and engagement patterns helps identify gaps in belonging across programs and student groups. When we use that insight well, we can kind of create more intentional opportunities for community and support. Adam McCready [00:06:13]: Hi, I'm Adam McCready. I use he, him, his pronouns. I'm an associate professor in higher education programs at the University of Connecticut. Regarding data Use technology. As someone who does a lot of work educating future practitioners in our field on assessment, we just have so much data already that is vastly underutilized in our field. And if you look at some of the work even from like Nick Bowman at University of Iowa with looking at the meal index or the M index or swipes, there's just so much more we can do with the data that we already have. And I think that we often think about that we have to collect more data. And I think part of it is just really better thinking about the data we've collected already and how we're utilizing it. That and the fact that we need to engage actively with artificial intelligence and think about how we are leveraging AI to improve our support of students and to meet them where they're at and support their success. And lastly, as someone who does social media research, we need to meet students in their reality. Their identities are ubiquitous, both in person and online, and to only think about in person engagement as a fallacy. At this point, we need to better engage students in the online realms, whether it be social media or other virtual platforms, in a way that meets them. And if we're bridge building, we need to meet them where they're at. Andrew Finn[00:07:02]: My name is Andrew Finn and I am the assistant Director for graduate student programming and events in the center for Student Involvement at Northeastern University on the Boston campus. Student affairs can become more data driven. I think student affairs could really stand to use data in a way that really captures a lot of different populations and all of their intersecting identities and backgrounds and beliefs. In particular, I think student affairs could use data in a way that really brings together stakeholders who do not work with a lot of these students face to face, and it can bring them together into the room with something like data to really look at the hard facts of what the student experience is like on the ground from those who work closest with them, and as such increase resources and support for those students earlier on. Dylan Dermeyer [00:08:19]: Hello, my name is Dylan Dermeyer. I am from Angelo State University and I handle clery compliance and student conduct, including academic misconduct. Ultimately, I think universities need to be embracing new technology, especially in the realms of artificial intelligence. I think we're seeing more students using these on their papers, on their work, and instead of being behind the times and trying to act as if these are unfair advantages. Rather be proactive and start realizing that these are the tools of the industry and in a culture and climate where budgets are already restrictive, using technologies can amplify each amount of work you do. Is somebody who's studied economics, I would say anything that can make us more productive is going to increase not only our value to our team, but also increase our bottom line. So overall, I think student affairs needs to take a more comprehensive approach into how to use artificial intelligence and other forms of technology that can make them more proactive in situation. I believe student affairs can use data and tech to better serve the profession by continuing to improve our outreach and the way that we interact with students on a daily basis and reach larger audiences. Dr. Romando Nash [00:09:50]: Romando Nash Vice Provost for Student Affairs, Washington State University we have to figure out ways to get AI involved in our profession. I think there's opportunities for us to allow it to help us do the things that are the things that frees us up to be able to provide our students more of our face to face time. And I think today's students definitely need that as well. Brianna Morris Hello, my name is Brianna Morris. I am from Richmond, Virginia and I currently serve as an Assistant Director for Student Conduct and Academic Integrity at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Honestly could better leverage data and technology by moving beyond simple reporting towards strategic predictive. I do know that many departments collect valuable data like conduct trends, engagement metrics, retention indicators, but that information is not always connected across systems. I do think that it's equally important to demonstrate the impact of student affairs work like showing programs, interventions, student engagement because it all contributes to retention, persistence and graduation. So just when the data tells our story clearly, it strengthens the profession and I think we could use technology a little bit better just to be more invested and intentional with students. Karin Gomez [00:10:55]: Hi everybody. My name is Karin Gomez. My pronouns are leishi. I am a student program coordinator at the University of Texas at Austin with the scholarship program titled UT for Me, powered by Dell Scholars. I believe that student affairs can use data and tech to better serve the profession by providing different rates of investment and showing us the return on investment, letting us know that matriculation rates dependent on student success resources, what's available at their institution, what kind of financial wellness was offered. We can kind of cross reference these different things and see what lines correlate with each other and try to implement further change that can best suit students in the long run to make sure that we're supporting students as much as possible. Michael Allensworth [00:12:00]: I'm Michael Allensworth From Michigan State University. Data and tech are incredibly important and I think one way that we can use them to better serve the profession is include some additional training in our master's preparatory programs. We need specific classes that help us consider and think about how data are used and how we can use artificial intelligence and other features to help better prepare us for our positions. Mirela Masalu [00:12:56]: Hello, my name is Mirela Masalu. I'm the Secretary General of the European University College Association. We are based in Brussels in Belgium. It's a European network of universities, colleges and halls of residences doing work trying to promote the student affairs profession in Europe. Regarding how student affairs use data and tech to better serve the profession, we can see that in Europe it's very slow. The integration of data and tech in our profession is slow and perhaps less creative than we see around the world. And, and we can dedicate more professional development funds, put the money where our mouth is, and provide more professional development for people to understand how to use data and tech. Jordan Payton [00:13:47]: Hello. Jordan Payton from Ohio State University, a third year PhD student in engineering education. I thin…

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Reimagining Student Affairs: One Change That Would Transform Success Apr 05, 2026

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In a special episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field podcast, host Dr. Jill Creighton invites listeners to explore a vibrant tapestry of perspectives on reinventing student affairs for the future. Recorded live at the annual NASPA conference, this episode brings together over 60 passionate voices—from seasoned administrators to emerging professionals—all responding to the essential question: "If you could rebuild student affairs from scratch, what's one change you would make to impact student success?" What emerges is an inspiring collage of themes, united by a commitment to student-centered change and innovation. One theme that resounds across so many voices is the necessity to break down silos—especially between academic and student affairs. Over and over, contributors envision seamless, integrated models in which faculty and staff collaborate to bridge classroom learning with co-curricular development. As Brianna Morris so succinctly puts it, "One way I would rebuild student affairs is by bridging the gap between academic affairs and student affairs to better serve our students." Another powerful current is the call to prioritize belonging and community. Gada Endick suggests designing student affairs programs "around belonging and community as the core drivers of student success, rather than the outcomes of programming." This means intentionally crafting spaces and systems where every student—especially those from marginalized or non-traditional backgrounds—can forge meaningful connections and thrive. Equity, representation, and accessibility surface as central pillars as well. Contributors emphasize representation within staff, the elimination of barriers, and the use of data to assess and adapt to the changing needs of today's students. Paul Rossi advocates for "co-creation" with students so that systems and supports are built alongside those who use them. The episode also highlights professional development, support for entry-level staff, and the ongoing need to make student affairs visible and valued across campus communities. These perspectives, from institutions nationwide and around the world, remind us that the work of student affairs is never static. It's evolving, dynamic, and fundamentally collaborative. If you're passionate about education, leadership, and helping students find their path, this is a conversation you won't want to miss. Tune in to this energizing episode and find out how you can help reshape the future of student affairs—one idea, one story, one change at a time. TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]: Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts brought to you by naspa. We curate free and accessible professional development for higher education professionals wherever you happen to be. This is season 14 continuing our conversation on the value of Student Affairs. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton. She her hers your SA Voices from the Field host. Welcome back to another episode of Essay Voices from the Field. Today we're going to be featuring first of three episodes that we recorded live and in person at the annual conference. Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:36]: We're so thankful to over 60 of you who shared your voices with us today. We were able to ask you three questions, one each on the conference focus areas and today's question is on the focus area of redefining the profession and student success. We asked you if you could rebuild student affairs from scratch, what's one change that you would make to impact student success? Here are your responses. Alan Thompson at the Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington Director of Academic and Career Advising One thing that I would change to have an impact on student success would definitely be making sure that the individuals, the professionals who serve the students reflect the population of students that they are meant to serve. That the faculty staff representatives mirror the student body so that the students who are coming to the campuses have a comfortable environment in which to be successful and ultimately thrive and graduate. Hi everyone, my name is Enock Agyei. I am a second year graduate student of the Student Affairs Administration Program at Michigan State University. I'll be graduating in May and I am glad to share my perspective as a new professional and a new grad have a more integrated approach of how our profession collaborate with student affairs. I think the contemporary student come to a campus with more complex needs than academic affairs and student affairs to have individual outcomes and individual ambitions. I think if we we have a more integrated approach as to how both academic affairs and student affairs can collaborate and help students overcome challenges and do some proactive things to make student life better. I think that's what I'm going to do because from the inception of the profession, some of our founding documents just give the clear distinction between our field and academic affairs, which make field a bit subordinate to academic affairs, which is not meeting the need of our contemporary student. Mishka Murad [00:02:20]: My name is Mishka Murad and I have worked in student affairs as well as worked as an adjunct instructor. I'm originally from Pakistan and I've worked in Pakistan, Thailand, Mexico and the us. And for me, what's really crucial about this question is that I've heard over the number of years that I've been in this work, the frustration sometimes with the similar mistakes that students are making over and over again. And so if I could rebuild student affairs from scratch, I think I'd like to remind folks that there is a life cycle for students. And so even if we're hearing similar things or similar mistakes, that they're coming from different students and that each student is experiencing it differently and that we should be experiencing it differently and remember to see that humanity in students as well. And so I think when it comes to student success, instead of labeling them as problematic or as repeating behaviors, we realize that with each of these behaviors that might be problematic is an opportunity for them to do better and be better and not to give up hope, because we might have been in the profession for really long and we might feel a certain way about it, and to maintain that ability to really believe that at any point a student can change and can make a difference in how they move forward into the world. Ghada Endick [00:04:00]: I'm Ghada Endick, and I'm the Assistant Dean for Graduate Student Life at Rutgers University. And we focus on creating an interconnected graduate student experience across our eight grad schools. So we're here to kind of improve the quality of life for graduate and professional students, serving their diverse needs, fostering a sense of belonging, and really helping them just make the most of the many resources Rutgers has to offer. So we do programming that's designed to connect students across their disciplines. We provide spaces for them to meet and gather, and we also focus on events and initiatives that celebrate their contributions or achievements and amplify their voices. If I were building a student affairs programs from scratch, I would design it around belonging and community as the core drivers of student success, rather than the outcomes of programming. So that means intentionally creating structures where every student, especially grad students, has meaningful connections with their peers, their mentors, and the institution. When students feel they belong, they're far more likely to persist, thrive, and fully engage in their academic journey. Adam McCready [00:05:29]: Hi, I'm Adam McCready. I use him his pronouns. I'm an associate professor in higher education programs at the University of Connecticut. So student affairs from scratch. I would recommend that if we could do one thing to impact student success, I think we need to combat it from a more of a community wellness approach. And part of that from a community approach means that we need to be. Historically, we've talked about collaboration in our field. I think collaboration and Community oriented approach requires folks really communicating at a professional level. I think it also requires engaging more holistically with students and their communities on campus and their communities outside of campus, families, friends and the like. If we really want to impact student success, we have to understand their realities, their communities and the like and move away from approaches that are really thinking about student success from an individualistic approach and come at it from a more community oriented mindset to support them in their wellbeing. Andrew Finn [00:06:07]: My name is Andrew Finn and I am the Assistant Director for Graduate Student Programming and Events in the center for Student Involvement at Northeastern University on the Boston campus. If I could rebuild Student affairs from scratch, something that I would really focus on is really building interdisciplinary community from the get go rather than having it be something that students are left to discover on their own over time. I find that the best and most meaningful connections that students often make, but not always, are those that are explicitly outside of their discipline early on because it expands the possibilities for how they view themselves and the way that they can impact the world through their professional development pathways. As such, students become more successful through a holistic lens rather than through a narrower and more carefully defined one early on. Dillon Duermyer [00:07:36]: Hello, my name is Dillon Duermyer. I am from Angelo State University and I handle clery compliance and student conduct, including academic misconduct. If I was to read Rebuild Student Conduct and Student affairs from Scratch, ultimately what I would want to do is create a unit that has cross collaboration. I think it is oftentimes in our department where we're seeing that areas get siloed and ultimately we're not talking and communicating effectively across the departments. Although everybody answers to the vp, each of their sub departments can often not be collaborating in a full effort that helps us understand understand the problems that students are facing as a whole. Because often I think as we see as administrators in student affairs is problems in one area tend to lead to problems in another area. My name is Kathryn DeMarinis and I am a residence hall director at Stony Brook University. If I could rebuild Student affairs from scratch, that could help change the impact of student success. I would want there to be more vulnerability in professional staff. I think that when students see us being level with them and breaking down barriers for ourselves, they find it easier to do it for themselves as well. Romando Nash [00:08:52]: Romando Nash Vice Provost for Student Affairs, Washington State University I think I would rebuild just how we approach everything. I think that there's a need for us to become a lot more realistic in the things that we do, how we do stop being as prescriptive as we generally have been and really begin to just move things forward in the way that we should have been doing over the years now. Hello, my name is Brianna Morris. I am from Richmond, Virginia and I currently serve as an assistant director for student conduct and academic integrity at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. One way I would rebuild student affairs is by bridging the gap between academic affairs and student affairs to better serve our students. I do feel that there is a gap in between and they usually work separately and not really together. And I do think that there is importance of both working together, especially to better help the student. We're all here to help students and so in order to make that transition more easy for the students, I think working together with academic affairs as student affairs will be perfect when it comes to the technology student affairs. Keren Gomez [00:10:04]: Hi, everybody. My name is Keren Gomez. My pronouns are they, she. I am a student program coordinator at the University of Texas at Austin. With the scholarship program titled UT for Me, powered by Dell Scholars, we are able to benefit all students from all backgrounds, regardless. Think of it as a holistic way of rebuilding it up because if we are able to support our most. Our students who have the most need just from the beginning, then we're able to execute better things in the future for all students. Michael Allensworth [00:10:58]: I'm Michael Allensworth from Michigan State University. When I think about rebuilding student affairs from scratch, one thing I would do is consider how can we bring vital resources to students, particularly in residential campuses, those who live on. So how can we have academic advising, health services, mental health services, right in the neighborhoods or the residence halls where students are living so that these folks can work with housing staff and other student affairs professionals to better support the students who are on our campuses. Hi, I'm Taylor Cercone. I work at Eastern Kentucky University as a residence hall coordinator and housing and residence life. One change I would make to impact student success would be bridging the gap between residence life and academics, student activities, anything like that that involves students on campus. As a residence hall coordinator, I believe that we have more of an impact on students success in college. Mirela Mazalu [00:12:01]: Hello, my name is Mirela Mazalu. I'm the Secretary General of the European University College Association. We are based in Brussels in Belgium. It's a European network of universities, colleges and halls of residences doing work, trying to promote the student affairs profession in Europe. And I would say that if I could rebuild the student affairs from. From scratch, one change that I would do in Europe is to really have a holistic approach to building learning outcomes to think about the student experience. Have the student affairs professionals in the room promoting student affairs with our academic colleagues. Make student affairs part of the mission and vision of academic success. Hello. Jordan Peyton [00:12:50]: Jordan Peyton from Ohio State University, a third year PhD student in engineering education. I would allow students to really understand how their data is being used in student affairs to inform certain practices. And what I mean by this is when we look at collecting like Asian data, really disaggregating that and speaking to those communities about what kind of changes they see happening in their own data to best inform what changes are actually being made based on the data to help that community move forward in education, through education in higher education systems, really to impact positively the student success of those student groups. My name is Dan Maxwell. I serve as the Vice President for Student Success and Student Life at the University of Houston Downtown. To think about the future of the profession, if we could kind of take a step back and maybe begin from the very, very beginning, I would worry less about the silos and more about the blurring of the lines. I have the ability right now in my position to work with both academic support services such as testing and tutoring and supplemental instruction and success coaches, along with our testing center and accommodations, along with all the very traditional student affairs work.…

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