eighteen and life

This is not the blog you're looking for...

2011-02-22T21:07:00.004-06:00

Looking for eighteen and life? I finally moved to my own domain. Please update your RSS feed and visit my new site, http://debrasanborn.com

Design Thinking and Learning

2011-01-23T09:41:00.009-06:00

In a seminar course required of students in my doctoral program, we spent a day on problem solving and creativity. Professor John Nash took us through an exercise that originated with the Stanford d.school where we used problem solving and then design thinking to create the perfect wallet for a student partner.

Our exercise included:

Interviewing a partner to engage them and gather insights about wallet use
Defining and articulating a point of view based on the interview insights
Sketching new alternatives based on the point of view
Testing ideas with our partner to gather feedback
Acting on the feedback and building a wallet prototype from art supplies

This was a fun exercise that I think can be adapted for use with student leaders to encourage bigger picture thinking and processing. You can read more about the exercise and view a student interview at Nash’s blog.

Winter's craggy light (Taken with instagram)

2011-01-07T17:14:00.003-06:00

TMI?

2011-01-01T14:33:00.006-06:00

Ever wonder if you share too much on Twitter? Andrew Careaga introduced me to a clever little application that creates a cloud of your Tweets. (He knows a lot about music too, you should follow his blog if you are not already.)

Reviewing the most frequent word of my last year in Twitter, student, has me pondering a career in student affairs. Any thoughts on that?

Happy New Year!

Patron saints and appreciation

2011-01-01T11:29:00.001-06:00

In student affairs as in many professions, you have your ups and downs. Long hours, short budgets, and late nights are just par for the course. But then when least expected, an appreciation for your efforts appears from nowhere. And although things do not usually end well for patron saints, I love a challenge.

Thank you, Sebastian!

@DebraSanborn So the Vatican is gonna recognize you as Saint Sanborn: The patron saint of college students.less than a minute ago via websebastian niles
sebbyniles

'Twas the night before finals

2010-12-16T20:25:00.009-06:00

Twas the night before finals, and all through the college,
The students were praying for last minute knowledge...

I passed a blurry eyed student as he was on his way to a final exam this week. He was gripping a Red Bull in each hand. And I was reminded of this final exam diagram shared by one of our peer mentors.

Happy Finals to All and all a Good Test!

Type links in student success

2010-11-30T19:22:00.006-06:00

I am currently exploring research directed toward identifying if Psychological Type preferences affect student success at a research university. My interest is in determining if there is correlation of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) preferences as a gauge of academic success in college. This idea originates from my work as a type practitioner and instructor of a first-year seminar course. Through my annual lectures introducing the MBTI to link personal preferences and learning styles, I quickly detected that my student population was overrepresented in some type preferences in comparison to national samples. Additionally, I found a higher number of students with specific type preferences demonstrating academic difficulty in the first college year.

My personal experience with type is that early in my career, I began to detect interpersonal roadblocks and miscommunication, particularly in the workplace, related to what I later learned were my type preferences. As I further researched type and my own preferences, I began to see opportunities for enabling students to understand more about themselves in the transition to college. As I was already an experienced first-year seminar instructor, I sought academic training to become a type facilitator to add type education in my course. I began administering the introduction to MBTI in my first-year seminar class and to date have assessed the type preferences of more than 700 students in the seminar course during their first semester of college. My goal is to complete a longitudinal study of the academic success and graduation completion of students administered the MBTI in their first year to determine if students with specific type preferences have more academic difficulty in their path to a degree. Ideally, this information will provide early identification for students who may require enhanced programming to meet their academic needs.

Related to this research, I have found type awareness to be extremely helpful in my own relationships, work, and communications. Type has become a touchstone for me, a frame of reference that allows me to dissect and review difficult relationships, expectations, and communications that may occur with others. My knowledge and use of type has been therapeutic in allowing me to recognize that we don’t all interact, process information or produce decisions in similar manners. And our differences make us stronger.

November reign

2010-11-17T21:38:00.003-06:00

November always seemed to me the Norway of the year. ~Emily Dickinson

That Emily. Always a kidder.

My nose is buried in school work and budget forecasting. Until I survive those tasks, enjoy this charming video. It made me smile. Be sure to stick with it, the best part is at 0:45.

Happy Anniversary eighteen and life

2010-10-26T13:04:00.009-05:00

Happy Second Anniversary to the eighteen and life blog! Traditional anniversary gifts of china or cotton are now being accepted. Or not.

Thanks for your encouragement. And thanks for sticking around and reading.

A countdown of your top-5 favorite posts of the last year:

5. Gridiron Challenge and Support

4. Laws of Physics and College Transition

3. (Go to) Class Investment

2. Happy Anniversary #SACHAT

1. Digital Storytelling: Adventures in the First-Year Experience

New socks. Two socks. Whose socks?

2010-10-22T06:27:00.012-05:00

There are some days that throw us off balance. How we react to those days is how we define ourselves.

We are in the midst of a One Week of Twitter assignment in our first-year seminar class. This is my favorite tweet of the week (so far).

May you wear no socks in the shower today.

Rainbow Connection

2010-10-12T15:58:00.011-05:00

I am uncertain what it means when a rainbow ends right in front of you, but I think it is pretty good.

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
and what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
and rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we've been told and some choose to believe it.
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection.
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

Happy Anniversary #SACHAT

2010-10-06T21:50:00.006-05:00

We celebrate a year of #SACHAT this week, our regular water cooler gathering of student affairs colleagues. Each Thursday we take time to pause in our busy workday to share thoughts, ideas, best practices, gripes, and whatever else in 140 characters.

It has been transforming (and frequently laugh out loud funny!) to read the touching accounts of our community members reflecting on their #SACHAT experience. I recall the blank stare that I likely gave Tom Krieglstein when he pitched this brainstorm over a cup of coffee in late summer 2009. The path that we have traveled in such a short time is amazing.

I was certain that I would expound something about MBTI and Type here, but really, at #SACHAT, we are about sharing resources. We are about Challenge and Support (shout out to Nevitt Sanford). And most of all, we are about community. So it is easy to connect what we do to Ernest Boyer and his six principles of community.

The #SACHAT community is…

Purposeful: We share goals to develop our colleagues, our students and ourselves.

Open: Freedom of expression is uncompromisingly protected and civility is affirmed.

Just: Individuals are honored and our differences are what make us great.

Disciplined: Individuals accept their obligations to the group and guide behavior for the common good.

Caring: #SACHAT is a place where the well being of each member is supported and where service to others is encouraged.

Celebrative: We know why we ritually gather around computers, laptops and Smartphones each Thursday at Noon and 6:00 p.m. CST for this goat rodeo™ which has become our student affairs tradition. It is why we celebrate this entire week. And it is why we don't believe anyone who claims social networks have "weak ties".

Lurk, Learn, Drink the Kool-Aid.

Love to you all,

Debra

Earning respect.

2010-10-05T22:27:00.007-05:00

Delaney: Why are you doing this thing, Mom?

The research project? It's part of my degree. Getting a Ph.D. means learning to do research and find out new things.

Delaney: The Ph.D. means I can call you Dr. Mom?

Yes, it's the highest degree that I can earn and it is well respected in my work.

Delaney: That's perfect for you, Mom! You are already well respected.

Thank you, Delaney.

You say snow, I say sno.

2010-09-19T18:53:00.004-05:00

Volume 2 of the "It's nice to know that I have something to fall back on if this Student Affairs gig does not work out."

(Go to) Class Investment

2010-09-05T14:43:00.011-05:00

A student of mine missed class last week. After some checking, I found that a family emergency resulted in his missing at least two days of classes. And this was just the second week of the semester.

Lynn O’Shaughnessy discussed the phenomenon of students voluntarily missing class and featured the Skip Class Calculator on her blog. The calculator helps a student determine the cost of missing a class based upon class meetings per week, attendance history, and upcoming exams. A cursory glance at the Skip Class tool found one factor missing; the money invested in missing a class.

Running an estimate based on the full-time cost of attendance at our university, an in-state resident student invests $53 to attend an hour of class. For non-resident students, the amount increases to $86 an hour. Miss 10% of classes for a semester and a student can easily waste a grand or more.

At an institution where student loan debt at graduation is among the highest in the nation and as electronic course attendance systems become commonplace on college campuses, skipping class is pouring money down the drain.

Laws of Physics and College Transition

2010-08-23T07:58:00.009-05:00

There is an amusement park near my home that has one of those lose your lunch inducing rides that spin faster and faster until the floor drops out. It leaves you stuck to the wall until the ride slows and you gradually resume your footing on solid ground. The science of this phenomenon is centrifugal inertial force.

My university is welcoming 4,356 new students to campus as we begin the fall semester; colleges across the country are welcoming thousands more over the next few weeks. Imagine the inertial force as these students navigate classes, new roommates, and campus cultures that are frequently in contrast to their personal experiences.

Now, imagine your campus as a giant spinning disk with a student planted firmly in place by centripetal force, moving along the curved path of the disk, going with the flow. All is fine as the student survives residence move-in, deciphers a schedule, and maneuvers the dining center. But soon the campus disk is spinning faster and the centrifugal inertial force can become greater than the centripetal friction force holding the student in place. A failing quiz grade, roommate argument, financial difficulties or homesickness can all be triggers to send our students flying right off the college ride.

As we in student affairs greet our new students and those who are returning, it is important that we keep these laws of physics in mind. Know what resources you have available to address student concerns. Advocate for your students when university networks are difficult to follow. Listen carefully for clues that a student may be struggling.

Understanding F = mv²/r may just save a student.

Worth the Price of Admission?

2010-08-13T19:40:00.013-05:00

I never expect to see perfect work from an imperfect man. ~Alexander Hamilton

Middlesex University (U.K.) was in the news this week for falsely sending 2,500 admission acceptance letters to students who had not yet been accepted. I began my student affairs career as an enrollment services professional, serving as director of admissions for two small private colleges. On several occasions, I likely admitted a student that never should have been in college. I am not perfect. But I am certain that I never mistakenly notified 200 students or 29,000 students that they were admitted to college. Our students deserve better.

Cornell University sends email welcome to 550 rejected students

UC San Diego mistakenly congratulates 29,000 rejected students

2,700 University of North Carolina applicants receive email mistake

Vanderbilt University faultily accepts 56 international students

200 George Washington University applicants receive erroneous email acceptance

Would you like fries with that?

2010-08-03T22:10:00.006-05:00

It's nice to know that I have something to fall back on if this Student Affairs gig does not work out.

Transition to College

2010-07-26T19:34:00.007-05:00

Jacques Steinberg shared gems of wisdom for soon-to-be first-year college students in The Choice column with Advice on the Transition From Applicant to College Student. It included a recommendation from my friend, W. Houston Dougharty, who advises students to live in the moment and less in their social media updates.

As frequently happens in columns such as this, the best words of counsel came from experienced students who remind first-years to treat college like a full time job and learn to do their own laundry.

Tornado Watch: Assessments for Student Retention

2010-07-15T08:02:00.002-05:00

As a resident of tornado alley, there is a summer tradition of dusting off the Twister DVD while scanning the afternoon skies for possible wall clouds. The film takes place in Oklahoma, but was filmed near my current home in central Iowa. The story follows a team of meteorological students and scientists as they attempt to place weather sensors in the path of a tornado to measure readings inside of the storm. After many failed attempts, injuries, and even fatalities, our protagonists successfully launch the sensors and save humanity. Err, save their research. As the flick can also be caught at least three times a week on cable during the summer, I catch up on all of my favorite lines.

Jo: [cow flies by in the storm) Cow.
[cow flies by in the storm]
Jo: 'Nother cow.
Bill: Actually, I think it was the same one.

Watching the segment as the sensors rise into the F-5 tornado and begin generating data, I am reminded of our students, particularly those in the first-year. If we could read their minds and extrapolate the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions, surely we could develop better methods for student success and retention. Fortunately, there are a variety of assessments to assist in this process.

The College Student Inventory™ (CSI) from Noel-Levitz allows students to answer questions regarding their strengths and challenges before they even arrive on campus. I ask my incoming students to complete this assessment after summer orientation and use the information to frame our beginning of the year 1:1 appointments. The student and advisor reports are handy for discussion and the group summary reports provide great information for planning our first-year seminar course and programming topics.

MAP-Works® offers a similar tool to discover student transition issues early in the semester. Students develop a personal profile based on their initial campus experience that is measured for potential barriers to success. A web-based report is generated immediately for students and faculty or staff advisors that compares with all first-year students on our campus. Campus resource services are suggested where needed.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) helps demonstrate theory that there are distinct patterns to individual psychological types even though persons exhibit these patterns in different ways. Helping students to understand their type preferences and how they affect personal learning styles provides a common ground for understanding differences and the transition to college. I provide an MBTI learning styles assessment for each student in our first-year seminar each fall. Students do not always grasp the type concept, but do find meaning from discussion of the transition to university style learning.

It is common knowledge among student affairs practitioners that students enter the college or university with varying degrees of emotional intelligence. Additionally, those familiar with retention issues will cite non-academic challenges as the frequent impetus for student attrition. Assessing emotional intelligence using the EQ-i® allows students to see potential areas for growth that may enhance adaptation and coping skills leading to academic achievement. I find the EQ-i particularly helpful for students seeking direction in their academic or life plan.

While no assessment tool can foresee every difficulty faced by our students on the path to graduation, I have found these tools to be helpful for communication, planning, and advising. Not a certified MBTI or EQ-i user? Check with your human resources office for recommendations.

Have you tried these assessments? Other tools you suggest?

Enjoyed Twister and need a good summer read? Check out The Stormchasers.

Certain Unalienable Rights

2010-07-04T10:57:00.003-05:00

Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom. ~Albert Einstein

Climb Every Mountain

2010-06-29T09:25:00.008-05:00

I make a semi-annual pilgrimage to central Colorado to visit family and stare at the awesome wonder of giant mountains. Mostly, I mountain gaze because traveling 7,000 feet into the sky from my home on the plains leaves me sucking wind after a walk across the street. This is Mount Princeton rising 14,197 majestically into the clouds. The view puts things into perspective.

Here are some words of wisdom for your mountain gazing.

Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was. ~Dag Hammarskjold

To live for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top. ~Robert M. Pirsig

There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same. ~Chinese Proverb

It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves. ~Edmund Hillary

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way! ~Dr. Seuss

Tortoise and the...Tortoise

2010-06-14T15:54:00.005-05:00

Unlike the hare of Aesop’s Fable lore that mocked and ridiculed the slow tortoise before losing a race to him, the tortoise featured in this video knows what it means to help someone when they are feeling down. Or upside down.

Our work in student affairs, particularly in the first-year, is about up righting students when they need it and giving them a nudge in a new direction. Some days it is not about the race, but instead it is about the journey and who we can help along the way.

Be a tortoise today.

First-Year Experience Prep: The Quiz

2010-06-11T12:26:00.010-05:00

Our dean of students office contributes to sessions throughout the university's fifteen summer orientation programs including a welcome, faculty panel, family program and resource fair. Prior to the faculty panel that I facilitate most mornings, our orientation staff shares a list of discussion questions, a quiz of sorts, for parents and families to share with their student on the ride home from orientation. This quiz is a handy tool for any prospective first-year student and for the families they leave behind.

What is something you learned at orientation that surprised you?

What are your academic and social expectations for the first semester of college?

How will you handle things if your expectations aren’t met?

How often do you think we’ll talk and communicate during your first semester? What
will be the best times for us to connect?

How do you feel about your class schedule? Are you excited about your major?

What will you do if you get yourself into a jam?

How we should approach discussing money while you’re at school?

What information will we share through third-party access at the university?

What kind of meal plan do you think will be best for you?

How will we prepare for move-in day?

What will it be like to say goodbye?

When you think about beginning your first day at the university, what are you most excited about? What are you most nervous about?

What other topics should first-year students and their families discuss before the fall semester?

Oh, The Places You'll Go

2010-05-09T09:23:00.006-05:00

Congrats to our new Hixson Scholar graduates and everyone else celebrating their academic achievements this month. Special props to one of our 2004 award recipients, Tyler Dohlman, who just completed his DVM.

But the unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life, is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective. The paths are infinite and the results uncertain.

~Jon Stewart (2004 commencement address to The College of William and Mary)

So...get on your way!

photo credit Christopher Gannon/TheRegister

I've gotta feeling...

2010-05-04T12:32:00.005-05:00

There was a day last week when my work day began at 5:45 a.m. with a two and a half hour drive to a meeting and concluded fifteen hours later in a final class meeting with our very talented peer mentors. And I was smiling. Because on days like that, I've gotta feeling that I have the best job in the world.

Little Engine That Could

2010-04-25T20:23:00.009-05:00

April is what it is in Student Affairs.

Without doubt, it is one of the most challenging thirty day stretches

that those of us in the field face annually.

A holiday, one campus festival, and an out of town soccer tournament.

I think I can, I think I can.

57 graduation notes to send.

I think I can, I think I can.

Three budget forecasts to review.

I think I can, I think I can.

Two graduate assistants to hire.

I think I can, I think I can.

Two annual reports to complete.

I think I can, I think I can.

One birthday party to plan.

I think I can, I think I can.

562 scholarship applications to read.

I think I can, I think I can.

One research paper to write.

I think I can, I think I can.

Token of Appreciation

2010-03-31T22:24:00.008-05:00

The peer mentors that work with our scholarship program make me exceedingly proud. They are a selfless, giving, hardworking bunch, doing what they do for recogntion only. They are students of character.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired and success achieved. ~Helen Keller

April is the cruelest month?

2010-03-30T07:17:00.003-05:00

In the next thirty days, I will read more than 550 scholarship applications and help 100 students afford a college education. April is my busiest month, and by awarding nearly $1.5 million in scholarship dollars, also the most significant. We find students who wish to fulfill their dream of a college education. Every minute counts as we finalize application files, review FAFSA information, and crunch through committee reviews, all before May 1.

Ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu has a good reminder for me this time of year.

Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

Finding your Student Affairs compass

2010-03-22T07:15:00.000-05:00

We speak a lot about the meteoric rise of student affairs professionals communicating on Twitter. Within #SACHAT, our participant numbers have grown 500% since our October 2009 debut. We have so many colleagues engaged that we had to add a second chat time three months into the venture. Our #SACHAT meet-ups are occurring around the spring professional conferences and organically as our student affairs family find themselves in similar locations.

I had an opportunity to meet several of our #SACHAT friends in conjunction with the ACUI conference and spent some time exploring New York City with one of those friends. We made a day of it, walking and sharing stories, stopping for lunch, shopping a bit, and before you knew it, found ourselves uncertain how to make our way back to the car. We stood at a busy street corner, attempting to get our bearings. We asked a passerby for directions and then headed off to find our way. After covering quite a few more blocks and not yet seeing any landmarks leading to the car, it dawned on me that I could use the map function on my phone to aid our quest. This handy little GPS tool is not essential for navigation in my small Midwest city, so I had forgotten that I had it.

We determined our present location, entered an address for the parking garage, and lo and behold, walking directions were magically provided. So, we started out again in the direction of our vehicle, enjoying the city scenery, chatting, and enjoying the day. Only to miss a turn and get off track, again. Ah, but this time we had the map and directions. We backtracked, paid more attention to our map, and finally made our way back to the car.

Early in my student affairs career, I found easy ways to network with colleagues. I joined professional organizations, served on committees, and chatted regularly with colleagues at other institutions as we planned trainings and conferences. As I advanced in my career, it seems that I lost some of those opportunities, as my own work required more of my time and focus. At some point along the way, I lost track of most of my network, also losing the community that helped me brainstorm and recharge with energy and new ideas.

Then along comes a social networking tool like Twitter and fun little communities such as the Student Affairs Blog and #SACHAT. Once again, I am linked with other professionals, sharing ideas, and learning new ways to do things. I am engaged in building a community that challenges and inspires me. It is a community that grew through social network technology and like a GPS, helped me find my way.

My highest aspirations

2010-02-22T20:14:00.003-06:00

Mondays being what they are, I found a bit of inspiration today in these wise words from Louisa May Alcott.

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.

Spending too much time on Facebook?

2010-02-21T22:38:00.005-06:00

Is your Facebook habit out of control?

Help is available.

Triple Lutz Scoring in Student Affairs

2010-02-21T20:10:00.015-06:00

It’s Winter Olympics time and we in the U.S. cheered as Evan Lysacek won the gold medal in men’s figure skating. The reigning gold medalist challenged him in this event, a Russian skater that burst onto the ice with a dynamic performance that included several complicated jumps. In the end, it was Lysacek, with a clean, consistent skate, who earned the most points. Juliet Macur explains that Lysacek used a new scoring system to his advantage, while his major competitor did not. The new figure skating scoring rewards bonus points for any jumps landed in the second half of the program. Lysacek landed five of his eight jumps in the second half of his program, while the Russian skater landed the bulk of his jumps in the first half of his program. This gave Lysacek an edge in points and ultimately the gold medal.

Institutions of higher education are facing critical financial situations and are changing the scoring as well. The University of Nevada Reno absorbed $33 million in budget cuts in the past year and is facing more. The Louisiana Community College System has lost $24 million in funding in the last two years. A $100 million budget gap is being faced at Dartmouth University. Very few colleges or universities have been unscathed in our recent recession. Institutions are revising budgets, raising tuition, eliminating staff, faculty, and programs. A new scoring system is at hand.

What is the new scoring reality in student affairs?

Think about your school’s strategic plan. When was the last time you read it? Does your program or unit align with the goals and desired outcomes of the plan? Find it, read it, know it. Your program mission statement should reflect the goals of your college or university. Use citations in your annual reporting to demonstrate how the work that you do meets these goals.

Think about how you measure success. How do you determine productivity? Do you collect student evaluations? Do your students achieve higher grades, improved retention, or higher graduation rates? Is your institution getting a return on investment from your salary, benefits, and program dollars? Programs that survive the next round of budget cuts are the ones able to show clear data supporting their value to the institution.

Think about why you are where you are. What service or leadership do you provide? Is it being provided elsewhere on your campus? Is someone else doing similar work better, stronger, faster? With whom do you collaborate? Be certain that you know your allies for support and funding. Build your community. Be certain that you are not the only one who can provide positive public relations for your programs.

There is a new scoring system throughout student affairs and higher education. Make certain that just like a new generation of Olympic athletes, you are using the scoring to your advantage.

Digital Storytelling: Adventures in the First-Year Experience

2010-01-31T22:56:00.018-06:00

Like many institutions, my university participates in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to measure programs and activities that enhance student learning and personal development. The purpose of NSSE is to help identify areas to improve the undergraduate experience in and out of the classroom.

The scholarship program that I coordinate hosts a first-year seminar course each fall for the 100 recipients of the award. The course is loosely based on the University 101 model framed by John Gardner when he was at the University of South Carolina. It follows an orientation and transition format and includes community-building activities for our program. We have a large group lecture for one hour each week and students meet in recitation groups of a dozen students for a second hour weekly.

In the NSSE spirit of enhancing the course experience and engaging our students, we try to integrate fun and a bit of technology for student projects. Our latest adventure was digital storytelling. Staff and peer mentors selected random movie genres, and a student from each recitation section drew from the genre options. We shared examples of digital storytelling and creating storyboards. We suggested task assignments such as videographer, actor, writer, and film editing to help the project go more smoothly. We made certain to review campus computer labs for the appropriate editing software in advance and provided this information to students. Finally, we stocked up on sale priced Flip Camcorders and gave this assignment to students:

Create a media project that embodies the transition to college and your first semester experience.
Final Project: No longer than 5 minutes and must include a flash mob.

The final productions were screened during our class “Film Festival” complete with popcorn and soda. Students were encouraged to vote for “Best Picture” and create award categories to fit the projects. Winning productions were featured on our student-run cable news channel.

There were a few bumpy roads throughout the ten-week project, but overall the response and student evaluations of the project assured us that students were engaged and most importantly, community was achieved. On an unexpected side note, our first semester grade point average rose to the highest level in five years, with no change in entering student academic profile. Of course we already look forward to repeating the project with our next student cohort.

Check out the final productions and let me know what you think.

Crime/Gangster Part I and Part II

Zombie

A day in the life of a student affairs grad student...

2010-01-23T13:03:00.004-06:00

A day in the life of a student affairs professional...

2010-01-18T09:13:00.006-06:00

Like a box of chocolates

2010-01-17T12:52:00.019-06:00

Like many of my colleagues in student affairs, my first job in the profession was the result of a student leadership experience, student tour guide to be exact. My work as an admissions tour guide as an undergraduate later led to a position as an admissions recruiter for a small private college. I like to think that working in admissions, helping students with their college decision-making, is where I honed facilitation skills that are critical to my current work. I had a couple of gigs as a director of admissions before turning my sights to program coordination.

Stanford business professor Robert Sutton suggests employees need predictability, understanding, control, and compassion. As anyone who has spent even a few months in a student affairs position can tell you, those items are few and far between. You learn early in your career that student affairs hours include nights, weekends, and other duties as assigned. The concerns of an 18-year old in college differ from year to year. Reactions to course assignments or program activities may not communicate their message or be perceived as useful. Faculty and academic units question the value of student affairs programming and services, particularly in challenging financial times. Student affairs professionals do, however, provide predictability, understanding, control, and compassion…for our students.

The graduate assistants who have worked in my unit over the years have enhanced my work and life. They went from grad to pro and are now high school teachers, logistics managers, academic advisors, independent consultants, and campus activity and orientation coordinators. Each of these individuals had an opportunity to make a difference in student lives. They used their creativity, energy, and enthusiasm to make our university a better place for students. When I think of my colleagues at the Student Affairs Collaborative, you may find us in campus activities, student union management, leadership development, residence life, career planning, scholarship programs, and consulting. Those paper titles do not include the personal counseling, financial advising, academic enhancement, and other duties as assigned that we provide on a daily basis.

I borrowed the title for this post from a former graduate assistant who is now blazing trails of her own. She used the analogy that Student Affairs is like a box of chocolates for a course assignment and it really stuck with me.

Student Affairs is:

Being a generalist in helping, listening, organizing, and facilitating, while a specialist in your position.
Never growing up as you surround yourself with 18-22 year olds.
Spending your life by the academic year calendar.
Justifying your existence with the belief that higher education is also about the out-of-classroom experience.
A real profession.

Student Affairs professionals work hard to make our colleges and universities more welcoming, engaging, and understanding for students because we believe in higher education and all that it offers. We get up every morning and face the day with a smile, because we never know what we’re going to get.

How do you define your work in student affairs?

Shined in 2009

2009-12-31T08:55:00.004-06:00

Your favorite posts at eighteen and life in 2009 were on the friendly discussion that ensued when a training course for Facebook was offered at our university of science and technology. I wrote about my incredulousness of this topic requirement and then captured a similar Twitter conversation between an IT director and professor on our campus. Enjoy.

Use of abacus and slide rule encouraged

Facebook is not rocket science?

Divine 2009...Zen 2010?

2009-12-30T16:00:00.011-06:00

Reflecting on 2009, there is much to celebrate, but many more reasons to be excited for the year ahead.

Adventures in student success and the first-year seminar: I may have mentioned a time or two that I work with the best students in the world. They challenge and inspire me every day of the year. I love my job.

Road trip with 120 students
Digital Storytelling Project
Blogging
Tom Krieglstein

Vernon Wall
Marshmallow Wars

Adventures in Student Affairs: With tight budgets and reduced funding, most of my professional development in 2009 did not cost a cent. I interact daily with wonderful student affairs professionals and treasure their connections.

#SAChat

The Student Affairs Blog

Twitter

NASPA Website to Watch

Began a PhD

Class with John Schuh

Adventures in Type: I made inspiring connections through MBTI and the Association for Psychological Type International (APTi) in 2009 and volunteered for some new professional duties.

APTi Conference

Vice President for Professional Development, APTi eChapter

Director of Communications, APTi

Collaboration with Dan Robinson

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. ~Hal Borland

Mission of First-Year Programs

2009-12-21T22:39:00.003-06:00

First-year programming on most campuses originated from the topic of retention of students to the second year of college and persistence to graduation. Specific reasons are related to resources and the direct relationship between retention to enrollment and institutional income. With that in mind, most first-year program mission statements are framed around increasing academic performance and retention. Ball State, University of South Carolina, and Appalachian State are among those recognized as Institutions of Excellence in the First College Year. Their first-year program mission statements reflect this retention theme.

Ball State University’s Freshman Connections mission is to accelerate the process for new students to learn and succeed at Ball State. The program “seeks to deepen the contact new students have with faculty, staff, and fellow students in order to improve learning and persistence to graduation”. Fostering academic success, helping students to discover and connect with the university, and preparing student for responsible lives are the tenets of the University of South Carolina’s first-year learning outcomes. They fall under the overarching goal of helping new students make a successful transition, both academically and personally. Appalachian State’s Watauga Community is “structured to develop students’ expertise in the skills to evaluate and integrate relevant and quality information from different knowledge sources through individual and collaborative processes”. With focuses on connections and building community membership, each of these first-year mission goals strives to enhance retention and promote student success.

A History of First-Year Experience Programs

2009-11-28T20:52:00.015-06:00

As the first-year college experience is a lot of the discussion here at eighteen and life, I thought you may appreciate a little historical reference.

College orientation, or programming focused on the student adjustment to the new academic environment, is recognized as the precursor to first-year experience programs. Early programs grouped students by housing and assigned advisers to guide new students in their education quest. Johns Hopkins University had formed a system of faculty advisors by 1877 and Harvard University had a board of freshman advisors on record in 1889 (Gordon, 1989). First-year seminar courses were later added to the early orientation structure to more fully develop the first-year experience. A first-year course initiated at Boston University in 1888 is recognized as one of the first organized orientation courses while the first orientation course for credit originated at Reed College in 1911 (Gordon, 1989). More than 82 first-year courses were available by 1925-26 with topics ranging from adjustment to college, study skills, current events, citizenship, and reflective thinking. A third of all colleges and universities offered these courses in the 1930’s and by 1948 a survey reported that 43% of institutions had required orientation courses in the curriculum (Gordon, 1989).

Faculty objections to course credit for non-academic orientation courses soon led to the downfall in their offering and fewer courses could be found on the college campuses of the middle to latter half of the 20^th century. The political unrest of the 1960’s and early 1970’s resulting in campus demonstrations and protests led to an even wider divide between students and universities. The University of South Carolina is credited with acknowledging this rift and initiating a plan to link students with the university in the first-year. This led to resurgence in the popularity of the first-year seminar and other first-year student programming (Saunders and Romm, 2008). In addition to addressing the needs of new direct from high school students, first-year programs also attended to the “new college student” as students transitioned from individuals of financial means to more adult, first-generation, and less-academically prepared students. Higher education professionals again “sought ways of helping freshmen make the transition from high school or work to the college environment” (Gordon, 1989, p. 188).

Throughout the 1980’s, first-year experience courses and programs grew and evolved as institutions gave consideration to the transition experience of a growing diverse student population. Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, Whitt & Associates (2005) reported that many of the DEEP (Documenting Effective Educational Practice) institutions are skilled at guiding transitions for student success in college and frequently require first-year experience courses or provide additional programs and activities that serve this function. First-year programs including summer orientation through seminar courses are now widely ingrained on the college and university campus and are promoted as important retention strategies common in the student transition to college.

Gordon, V. N. (1989). Origins and purposes of the freshman seminar. In M. L. Upcraft, J. N. Gardner, and Associates (Eds.), The freshman year experience: helping students survive and succeed in college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J. Schuh, J. H., Whitt, E. J., & Associates (2005). Student success in college: creating conditions that matter. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Saunders, D. F. & Romm, J. (2008). An historical perspective on first-year seminars. In B. F. Tobolowsky & Associates, 2006 National Survey of First-Year Seminar: Continuing innovations in the collegiate curriculum (Monograph No. 51, pp. 1-4). Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.

Gridiron Challenge and Support

2009-11-14T17:53:00.014-06:00

Nevitt Sanford (1967) developed his theory for student development based on providing a balance of challenge and support. Too much support with too little challenge creates a cushy environment for the student, where development is unlikely to occur. However, the opposite of too little support with too much challenge also makes development an impossible and negative experience.

One of the "other duties as assigned" in which our dean of students office staff has the opportunity to participate is football game duty. We partner with the athletics department in an effort to keep the student seating section a safe and fun place to enjoy the game. Each home game, a few staff sign up to attend the game and join our students in the stadium. We arrive before the gates open and greet students who stand in line for hours to race down the stadium steps for a seat in the front row. When seated, we distribute wristbands to the students who made it to the front so that they are able to maintain those seats throughout the game.

Our students are big fans. For the most part, if you have been standing in line for four or five hours, you haven't been taking part in other extracurricular activities that historically take place prior to a football game. So, we work the crowds, meeting students, helping with body paint, and taking photos for students posing with the school mascot.

I call it friend-raising. It gets us out with the people that really count, our students. The ones that we want to be successful and graduate from the university. It's also about providing support and encouraging students to make good choices. Because that is what we do in student affairs.

Photo note: Yes, that is a photo of someone in the stadium press box today with a copy of Student Development in College. Yes, he may be an even bigger student affairs geek than me. I never take my books to the game.

Sanford, N. (1967). Self & society: social change and individual development. New York, NY: Atherton Press.

Second star to the right and straight on till morning

2009-10-28T10:34:00.007-05:00

The flying public had a bit of a scare last week when it was discovered that a flight from San Diego to Minneapolis overflew it's destination by 150 miles and was out of radio contact for 90 minutes. The pilots were apparently engrossed in a new scheduling software on their laptops. Their lapse in judgment cost them their pilot licenses and will likely result in the loss of their jobs.

At about the same time the media was publicizing the revocation of licenses, I was boarding a United Airlines jet in Denver, bound for a meeting in Los Angeles. Shortly after the cabin doors closed, the pilot, Captain Berner, could be seen making his way though the plane. Any frequent flier knows that this is a bit unusual directly before departing the gate.

Captain Berner stopped to chat with passengers every few rows discussing the turbulence we would likely encounter in route and our estimated flight time. He joked that we would make it to L.A. in two hours where as if we had decided to go by horseback, it would take us six months. After traveling through all the rows, he headed back to the cockpit to get us up in the air.

A quick survey of the passengers in my vicinity confirmed that none of us had ever had a pilot welcome after boarding any plane. So what was this? Likely, it was an United Airlines email memo to pilots on restoring trust with the flying public that had just been circulated. Cynicism aside, it had us smiling and perhaps just a bit more confident that we would arrive at our appropriate destination.

What have you done to reassure your students today?

All it takes is faith and trust and a little bit of pixie dust. ~Peter Pan

A Year of Reflections on the First-Year Experience

2009-10-25T22:27:00.018-05:00

Thanks for joining me this past year at Eighteen and Life for reflections on the first-year college experience and building a career on the wisdom of 18-year olds. Today, this blog is one year old. Although my work in student affairs is certainly not exclusive to first-year students, they are the students with whom I spend the majority of my time. The transition to any college or university can be a challenge. Each day, I get to help ease that transition in my little corner of the higher education world. We've come a long way.

The word freshman first appeared in the English language in 1550, when it was used to describe a newcomer or a novice in any field of endeavor. Only in the 1590's did the word come to have specific reference to first-year students in an English university. The term was carried over to America in the next century. The first American freshmen, of course, were at Harvard. Harvard also inaugurated the first system of freshman counselors to ease the young man's transition from home to college. ~John Orr Dwyer in The Freshman Year Experience

Catch and Release

2009-10-23T20:37:00.006-05:00

The story of an Italian family who so smothered the social growth of their 12-year old boy that they are now being charged with child abuse was featured in Time Magazine this week. The boy had the motor skills of a toddler and had been so overprotected that that he could not mentally or physically keep up with children his own age. The article also cited a recent psychological study finding that 37% of Italian men from the ages of 30 to 34 still live with their mothers. Which makes me think that perhaps the hovering helicopter parents that we encounter in U.S. higher education are not all that bad.

In my student affairs work with first-generation college students and their families, I am frequently reminded of the Chinese Proverb,

Give a person a fish, and you feed them a day. Teach a person to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime.

Parents will call or email with questions regarding a program, service or special campus event. They are not seeking information for themselves; they are questions for their student. Although the intent is well meaning, I will generally invite parents to have their student contact me. My reasoning is that it is critically important for students to build their own networks of resources, on campus and in life. The “teach a person to fish” proverb is essential in all matters related to a college education. There is a lot to think about for an 18-year old in the transition to college. Parents and families need to set the teaching example, not just do the job for students.

Eighteen and Life: NASPA Website to Watch

2009-10-11T18:50:00.012-05:00

Celebrate good times! Tooting my horn that Eighteen and Life was featured among Websites to Watch in the Fall 2009 edition of Leadership Exchange, a NASPA publication. As the first anniversary of this blog approaches, it's flattering to know that others find value here. I look forward to sharing more with you in the months to come. Thanks for reading!

The Dreaded 'P' Word: How Productive Are We?

2009-09-30T23:18:00.014-05:00

The Dreaded 'P' Word: An Examination of Productivity in Public Secondary Education seeks to identify common indicators for determining productivity among institutions of higher education. Using an analysis of available funding resources, including state appropriations and tuitions revenues, in comparison to the production of graduates, author Patrick J. Kelly ranks the states based upon their ability to graduate students with degrees that have value in their state. Kelly’s argument for this research is that little progress has been made at the state level to gauge the return on investment in postsecondary education in comparison to other states. The report seeks to provide a productivity measure that is comparable across institutions.

This report highlighted an area that is lacking in higher education assessment, the ability to adequately measure states’ return on investment in postsecondary education. Kelly states that higher education is “not equipped with a wide variety of productivity measures that are directly comparable across institutions." He adds that institutional missions may contribute to the lack of measurability and acknowledges that graduation rates may vastly differ based upon the socio-economic status of the student population. Kelly’s conclusion of the research is most telling in that “there is no evident relationship at the state level between resources and performance.” Some of the best performing states have the lowest resources, while some of the least productive have the largest resources.

Kelly suggests that it is important for states and systems of postsecondary education to identify benchmarks for productivity because only then can productivity be measured between states. At the same time he encourages more analysis of productivity levels of education so that overall productivity can be measured among states and against other countries. The report suggests that it should be an impetus for more research in postsecondary education, a beginning to the conversation that must occur about degree production based upon available resources.

How institutions spend resources and the outcomes they achieve require measurement if we are to continue advancing our postsecondary education systems. If institutions focus on indirect goals of productivity such as increasing graduation rates as opposed to increasing graduation rates in fields of study resourceful within the state, we will continue to be a nation challenged in this arena. In higher education, we cannot be afraid to seek the funding that is essential to support our students and institutions, but we must be willing to identify why it is needed.

Decision Making in Student Affairs

2009-09-30T14:30:00.013-05:00

I was approached last week by one of our peer mentors who had scheduling difficulties with leadership responsibilities he had in other organizations. As the discussion progressed, my graduate assistant and I listened, nodded, and were ready to address how we could work with the student to find some scheduling middle ground. To our surprise, the student felt it was best that he resign from his position. I could tell he had given this a lot of thought, so I confirmed his intent, thanked him for his candor, and upon his departure, immediately jumped into action.

"Pull the updated course schedules of all peer mentors," I quickly instructed a student assistant as I began scrolling through my cell phone numbers to contact the student's co-leader. While schedules were being printed, I sent a text to the co-leader for a meeting after her classes. As I dashed between offices, checking class time availability and sending text replies, I stuck my head back in the door of my office where my graduate assistant was still seated.

"Do you want to sit down and process this so we can decide what to do," he asked?

Sandy McMullen addresses questions like these over at Personality Plus in Business. Sandy, an artist and consultant, shares that the MBTI decision making functions of Thinking and Feeling have equal worth even though the quick deciding "Thinkers" are frequently valued in the workplace. She discusses the linear, logical processes utilized by those with the Thinking preference are in contrast to the more subjective review of values and merits required for those with a Feeling preference. Recognizing and using both of these processes can actually benefit our decision making.

Acknowledging that my graduate assistant was using his Feeling preference and was still in processing mode, I took a few steps back to invite a discussion as to what our next steps should be, even though, with my Thinking preference, I had already arrived there. We were able to have a good chuckle over viewing our preferences "in action".

What does your decision making function look like?

Twitter me this...tools for campus

2009-09-15T06:53:00.006-05:00

Found a great list of tools for utilizing Twitter in the classroom this week. Many of these applications would be fun for first-year seminar activities, but I think I may do some investigating for adding a dimension to our peer leadership course.

What is your experience with Twitter in the classroom? Any favorites on this list?

Have the time of your life!

2009-08-24T06:45:00.004-05:00

Congratulations to the 2009 Hixson Scholars who begin the first day of their college career today. You should be very proud of the accomplishments that brought you to this point. There are a lot of people at home and here on campus who are really pulling for you, so make this opportunity count. There are fifteen peer mentors in our program who are as eager to meet you as I am. They are some of smartest student leaders with whom I have ever worked, so I know they will be great resources for you.

Don't worry about dropping your tray in the dining center, getting on the wrong CyRide Bus, or getting lost on the way to class. Those things happen to everyone and we all survive. Focus on the big picture, the adventure on which you have embarked. See you in class tonight!

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you have the time of your life.

~Green Day

Celebrating Persistence

2009-08-21T20:09:00.009-05:00

While introducing myself during our new student festival today, it occurred to me that it is the anniversary date of my career at Iowa State. I actually began working in my first student affairs job in August as well (back in the Stone Age), so lots to celebrate this month. It's my half-birthday today too!

Professor and blogger Delaney Kirk celebrated her 28th year of teaching with a wonderful poem, so I was inspired to share a favorite quote with you.

Learning is finding out what we already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. You are all learners, doers, and teachers. ~ Richard Bach

College Students & Money: No new car, caviar, four star daydream

2009-08-18T20:59:00.012-05:00

It's handy having a international expert on financial literacy around when counseling first-year college students about managing their resources. Iowa State professor Tahira Hira is recognized for her work on consumer spending including debt and bankruptcy. As our graduates leave campus with some of the highest student loan debt in the nation, I feel an obligation to discuss personal finance during our first-year seminar.

Dr. Hira's three main principles for college student financial well being:

Live within your means.
Spend less that you make.
Be mindful of borrowing, including consumer credit or students loans.

Spending plans are key to managing finances and Hira shares these tips for students:

Give yourself an allowance that fits your budget.
Balance your checkbook regularly.
Leave your credit cards at home to avoid impulse buying.
When going out for an evening, take only as much cash as you can afford with you.
Eliminate casual shopping.
Reduce stress with exercise, hobbies, or community service; versus shopping.

Our financial aid office partners with a great online tool called CashCourse that offers financial planning tools and economic tips. I utilize CashCourse for a personal finance assignment in our seminar course.

Quarters

2009-08-16T08:20:00.004-05:00

Twenty-five cent coins met their demise in our Residence Halls several years ago when laundry room washers and dryers moved to digital payment via student ID cards. Students no longer hoarded rolls of quarters before moving to campus or worried about jammed coin dispensers. Now students are able to monitor machine availability and check if the wash cycle is finished, all via the internet.

Quarters used to equal the gold exchange rate in the residence hall. How will students shed the dreaded first-year fifteen if not running up and down stairs to check the nuclear baking cycle of the dryer? Will student engagement suffer when no one is negotiating over the next available washer? Sadly, it appears quarter status has been relegated to drinking game only.

It's nine o'clock on a Saturday, the regular crowd shuffles in...

2009-08-08T21:12:00.010-05:00

It's the last full day of APTi 2009, the conference for all things MBTI related. I have an early flight tomorrow and even with my clear preference for extraversion and love for all things social related, I am exhausted and focused on my auxiliary introverted intuiting (read: quiet down time).

Preparing for a travel day, I headed for the hotel gift shop to stock up on granola bars. Not wishing to navigate the crowded lobby again, I snuck up the back way through the conference floor to my elevator. Navigating the now deserted hallways of the conference area I was startled by the loud music I hadn't noticed earlier over the din of our crowded meetings. Turning the corner to the elevator I discovered it was not some lame recording but rather a fellow conference attendee, playing his heart out on the grand piano tucked into the corner. I could not tell who it was or read the name tag as I peeked into the room. Not wanting to disturb this impromptu concert I quietly crept back toward the elevator. Piano Man continued his performance, a contemporary piece, something akin to Handel's Water Music, but with more emotion, more oomph. I sat quietly by the elevator and listened for at least 20 minutes.

Who was this Piano Man? Another ENTJ like me or perhaps an ENFJ, finding balance in their auxiliary function from the extraverted thinking of the day? Or maybe someone with an introverted preference, spending some much needed processing time away from the crowd. Regardless of Type, it was a delightful surprise ending to my day.

Well we're all in the mood for a melody, and you've got us feelin' alright...

Higher Education Dialogue on Race

2009-07-31T18:41:00.024-05:00

A conference on race and ethnicity has become a hallmark program at our midwest research university. For the past decade, the Iowa State Conference and Race Ethnicity, or ISCORE project, has been our flagship program on all things affecting diversity, inclusion, and persons of color in higher education. Based upon the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE), ISCORE celebrated it's 10th anniversary in March. It has become a model program for other campus CORE programs. I wrote here about about this year's keynote, Michele Norris.

The Iowa State project sponsors a team of students, staff and faculty to travel and participate at NCORE each summer. Information gathered from that experience is reviewed throughout a fall semester course: Forum on United States Race and Ethnicity. Students then submit individual and group presentation proposals for ISCORE. Hundreds of Iowa State students and staff have been the beneficiary of this project grant. Thousands of students, faculty, staff, and community members have attended the campus conferences. Through lean financial times in higher education, ISCORE has continued to thrive.

Washington Post columnist and editor, Eugene Robinson, suggested in an MSNBC segment this morning that recent discussion on race in America is good for the country, but we rarely see it happen in the classroom. His comments were in reference to the arrest of an African-American Harvard professor by a white police officer that made national news. Robinson's column this week highlighted the incident and questioned the still very common racial double standard.

For at least one university, the discussion and dialogue on race and ethnicity is alive and well, and continuing.

What is your campus dialogue on diversity, race and ethnicity?

For many of the great, great successes of the world...

2009-07-16T07:40:00.014-05:00

For many of the great, great successes of the world, the background they came from was their great challenge. I'm trying to find those people. Those who may not have the highest grade point or a perfect family background, but who can be successful. These are the ones who will lend the helping hands in the future. ~ Christina Hixson

The Hixson Opportunity Awards began at our university in 1995. Since that time, I have read thousands of scholarship applications, hoping to identify the student who is most deserving and most needs our support. The student who will become that helping hand of the future.

I have instructed our students as they muddled through the first college year. We have spent endless hours counseling students struggling with a class, roommate, finances or the multitude of challenges faced by first-generation college students in the quest for a degree. Most importantly, we have helped to develop leaders and scholars through connections, resources, and occasional 3 a.m. phone calls. Our program focus of community, challenge and support has become a model for retention and graduation success duplicated at other universities.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first Hixson Scholars graduating from Iowa State, my good friend Steve Sullivan revisited many of the students he featured in stories over the years. Our students, and now our alumni, are the backbone of the Hixson Program. Take a peek at his Visions magazine feature.

Media Wisdom of 15-year olds

2009-07-13T12:46:00.003-05:00

Morgan Stanley's European media folks asked their 15-year old intern, Matthew Robson, to share his perspective on the media consumption of his peers and published the resulting paper. Although not data driven or full of new insights, the report does confirm a lot about the listening, viewing, and reading habits of the teenage audience. Texting wins out over Twitter, Facebook is still tops, and no one ever picks up a newspaper. Ever.

Read about it here: How Teenagers Consumer Media

Facebook is not rocket science?

2009-07-08T22:42:00.023-05:00

An interesting conversation unfolded on Twitter between two distinguished members of our university. It followed the announcement of a Facebook workshop for faculty and staff that seemed less than timely considering the declining trends of high school and college aged Facebook users, our primary market.

I captured this conversation between a director in the IT academic technology unit and a professor with expertise on K-12 school technology leadership, because it demonstrates the conflict many of us confront when introducing new media and technology in higher education.

[This was a ridiculous blog exercise and there must be an easier way to do this than with screenshots and I am now suffering from carpal tunnel from too much point and click, but I didn't want to lose such great dialogue!]

What are your thoughts?

Use of abacus and slide rule encouraged

2009-07-08T21:37:00.011-05:00

As a reminder that I work for a university of science and technology, the following workshop was announced in a faculty/staff newsletter delivered to campus email accounts this evening.

After piquing people's curiosity about social networks in last month's IT seminar, we received requests for a session on how to use Facebook, one of the largest social networking sites. If you'd like to get started on Facebook (or want to know more), this session is for you.

In addition to a Facebook tour, this seminar will present how to register, establish your profile, and find your way around Facebook as well as information on its many features (the wall, groups, fan clubs, settings, photo options, finding friends, third-party applications, etc.). As time permits, you'll also learn about mobile use and its potential in an academic setting.

Attendees do not need to pre-register. Just bring yourself and your questions.

Dr. Scott McLeod, a professor in our Educational Administration program, summed up my response quite efficiently.

If you can read this, thank a teacher.

2009-07-07T23:01:00.004-05:00

Time for the quarterly weeding of my Google Reader. Separating the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. I currently subscribe to 177 feeds, 53 of which are classified as higher education. My other reading weaknesses are anything on Social Networks, Workplace Issues, Leadership, and Psychology. Yeah, I know. TMI. I suffer from what Breanne over at the mbti blog would refer to as FOMO or Fear of Missing Out.

If you have a favorite blog or column that you follow and simply could not live without, will you share it with me? I'm looking for some new voices. What's yours?

Celebrating Independence

2009-07-03T22:22:00.010-05:00

Happy Birthday America! Don your red, white and blue and grab your sparklers (with parental supervision, of course.) Enjoy these quotes on the patriotism of education (plus movie bonus!)

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. ~John Adams

In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. "Mankind." That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day! ~President Thomas Whitmore, Independence Day

Come for fun, stay for love...

2009-06-29T11:15:00.008-05:00

The fun thing about being enrolled again as a student at my institution is that you receive all of the specialty student email blasts and announcements from student organizations. Like this one.

SUMMER Speed Date Event
Find your summer love at our next Speed Dating Event! Instant Dating will again be hosting a 3-Minute Dating Event. You will go on up to 50 dates in one night!

Who: All Iowa State students

What: 3-Minute Dating hosted by Instant-Dating

When: Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Time: Starts at 7pm (you may come late or leave early as needed)

Where: 136 UDCC; First Floor Conference Room in the UDCC (below the dining services, down the hallway from the UDA hall desk)

Admission: $7

How it works: Everyone is assigned a "number-nametag" after signing in. You will then rotate every 3 minutes as you go on 'mini'blind-dates (It's like you're on your very own reality Bachelor or Bachelorette show!). At the end of the event, you can choose the "numbers" of people you would be interested in seeing again on a second date. Then within 48 hours of the event, an email will be sent to you containing all of your mutual matches with their name and email address. Good Luck! (NO pre-registration is required)

Take a break from studying! Come for fun, stay for love...

Sounds like a new theme for our first-year seminar and university retention efforts.

Come for fun, stay for love...

Declining access to higher education?

2009-06-27T08:01:00.010-05:00

I am fortunate to administer an endowed scholarship that flourishes even in these financial times thanks to careful foundation oversight and recent gifts from our generous donor. It is a partial tuition scholarship and most students also receive significant institutional and federal aid. So, I have concerns when I read that many scholarship providers are pulling back support.

Full cost of attendance at my university this fall (tuition, fees, room, board, books/supplies, personal expenses) is $18,370. The average financial need (cost of attendance minus expected family contribution) of my new class of 100 scholarship recipients is greater than $15,500. More than half of the students have need within 1% of the full cost of attendance.

With less money thrown off by endowments and contributed by donors, scholarship providers must make difficult choices. Should current scholarship recipients have their awards renewed, at the expense of new applicants? Should scholarship amounts be reduced so that the same number of students can benefit? Should the size of awards be protected, but their number cut? ~Jonathan D. Glater

Access to higher education becomes even more important in challenging economic times. Here’s hoping that scholarship providers can keep their focus on priorities.

Bonfires of Vanities

2009-06-13T10:05:00.007-05:00

Joined the rush to get my new Facebook vanity URL of http://www.facebook.com/DebraSanborn. Regretfully, I cannot set one up for my scholarship program or student exchange program groups as I do not have a fanbase of 1,000 or own trademarks on these names. Hope that Facebook will soon see the advantage of allowing all groups and pages to customize their URL.

Some choices we live not only once...

2009-06-07T07:57:00.006-05:00

Our university town has been struck with two tragedies in the last week. The circumstances of these events were live changing and in one case, life ending.

The first, an out of control post-high school graduation party, resulted in a local all-state football star disarming a police officer. The 18 year-old, a recent graduate, now faces four felony charges. The second incident involved a 19-year old visiting friends in a high rise apartment next to campus. He fell seven floors to his death in an elevator shaft.

These situations were framed with bad decisions, wrong choices; choices that could likely have been avoided. In student affairs, we work with students every day who when faced with opportunities to self-regulate independence, do not have the experience or maturity to make wise decisions. Decisions that follow and frame their lives.

Sadly, I guess that is part of what keeps us in business.

Some choices we live not once but a thousand times over, remembering them for rest of our lives. ~Richard Bach

Life is like one big Mardi Gras

2009-05-25T14:31:00.004-05:00

I enjoy the gems of wisdom from celebrity commencement speakers each graduation season, particularly when they are authentic and from the heart.

This year's entry from Ellen Degeneres made me smile.

Life is like one big Mardi Gras. But instead of showing your boobs, show people your brain. And if they like what they see, you'll have more beads than you know what to do with.

You can watch it here.

...To boldly go where no man has gone before

2009-05-12T19:30:00.006-05:00

Okay, so I exaggerate, men and women have gone here before.

Today, I embarked on the adventure of a PhD in Higher Education. Nudged along by my very wise mentor and adviser, Dr. Dan, I began the first class in my program and had an energetic day with an exciting group of professionals in education. Pretty soon I will be able to use univariate, bivariate, and multivariate categorical data in a sentence. And it will be wonderful.

I also got a discount today on my iced mocha at Caribou for being able to name all the original members of the Star Trek cast. If you haven't seen it yet, make your aerospace engineering students proud and get yourself to a showing of the new Star Trek.

Pomp and Circumstance

2009-05-08T13:31:00.012-05:00

It is graduation weekend on our campus. Students are moving out of residences halls, parking lots are jammed, and families are arriving to join in the festivities.

My graduate assistant, Kari, will commence tonight and embark on her career in Student Affairs. She has made dynamic contributions to our program over the last year and we are excited about her new adventure.

The Hixson Scholars will welcome 42 new graduates tomorrow, bringing the total number graduated to 818 since the first graduating class in 1999. Their successes are many and will continue to warm my heart.

It's a great time to read some Graduation Wisdom. Here's one of my favorites.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. ~~Steve Jobs

Congratulations all!

Campus Freeze: A Facebook Social Experiment

2009-05-02T07:44:00.006-05:00

The week before finals on our campus is known as Dead Week, traditionally a time when no activities are scheduled and student stress crescendos to peak level in the days before exams. This week, however, an enterprising sophomore staged a social experiment to engage student brains in something other than the academic craziness of the end of the semester.

FREEZE ON CENTRAL CAMPUS!!! was organized in the spirit of events that Improv Everywhere have created around New York City. Several campuses around the country have planned similar events recently, including NC State. The Iowa State performance began as the Facebook Event post along with a supplemental group page to provide more specific instructions. It occurred for five minutes as our Campanile struck 12:00 noon on Thursday and the daily carillon concert commenced providing background music for the event.

The videos posted on Facebook include the carillon music. This edited version can be found on YouTube.

A new campus tradition?

Higher Education Priorities

2009-04-29T20:29:00.007-05:00

Just squeaked through crunch time of awarding $1 million private scholarship dollars to students entering our university this fall. The award is equal to one-half tuition and fees for four years. Most of the students receiving this award have significant to full financial need in meeting the cost of attendance for resident students, so getting this envelope in the mail is a reason for celebration.

So why am I not celebrating?

Analysis of financial aid packages for these students show that those with stellar grades who are scrambling for outside scholarships may meet about half of their expenses through grant and gift aid, leaving $8,000 to $10,000 in loan or out-of-pocket expense. Considering that the Iowa median income is $47,000 and most recipients of this award fall below the median, how is a student to afford an education at a Midwest public research university?

Our students graduate with some of the highest student loan debt in the nation and have amassed a 58% increase in loan debt in the last decade. Our state legislature disburses 85% of the state's $3.4 million of need-based grants to students enrolled in private, not-for-profit colleges reserving only 6% for students enrolled in public colleges and universities.

Slow economic recovery and higher student loan default rates will not improve anytime soon. Tuition freeze? Loan forgiveness? I don’t have all of the answers. But it is time to prioritize the opportunity of higher education for all students.

Dreamed a dream of a college education

2009-04-19T10:36:00.026-05:00

The meteoric celebrity rise of a 47-year old church volunteer to online sensation lends credence that there are many diamonds in the rough waiting to be discovered. Much as Susan Boyle inspired the world last week by defying an unsuspecting talent show audience and its snarky judges, I meet students each year who despite amazing obstacles before them are able to achieve admission to a research university, and then piece together enough financial resources to actually attend.

Each April, I work with a team of scholarship application reviewers to identify 100 students in need of assistance to attend college. Most people never know the challenges these students surpass on their quest for an education. They are frequently the caregiver of younger siblings while mom or dad work extra jobs to make ends meet, giving up basketball or the debate club for family needs. They have faced catastrophic illnesses or disability, including cancer or the loss of a limb. They have survived the death of a parent, and sometimes both. They have overcome losing homes to flood, tornado, fire or financial difficulties. They have witnessed the tragedy of family substance abusers in all forms.

Here is an excerpt from one essay I featured in a discussion of college students in poverty.

Neither one of my parents went to college, nor did they graduate from high school. My mother had me five days after her 16th birthday. My dad is a laborer, so he never made much money. I have a brother four years younger than me; somehow we still had a childhood. Then the major problems started. My parents were both alcoholics and battled drug addiction with my dad ending up in jail. My brother and I both were taken from our parents and put into a foster home. Luckily we were allowed to move in with our grandmother, but with no steady income, we were moved to another foster home. Then we were again sent to live with our parents. Somehow dad went to jail again and then we moved in with our other grandparents. When dad got out, he came to find my mom and us. Together, their addictions got worse and it broke off our relationships with nearly everyone. Mom left and dad struggled to keep the up with rent at a house we got next to our grandparents. Dad got drunk just about everyday. I was forced to take care of my new one-year old sister. I remember missing a week of school to stay home and watch her since she was too sick to go to daycare and dad wouldn't stay home. I still kept my grades up and took honor classes that year. I didn't have one grade lower than a B. Mom came back to live with us, and all was good, until one night. Dad pushed mom and I jumped up and ran into the room to break up his actions. I was scared of him my whole life and now I stood up to him and was ready to take him on. I stopped dad from doing any more and I got my little sister. The cops were called and both of my parents were arrested that night. I made the decision to move back to our grandparents with my siblings.

Just like an unassuming woman from Blackburn, Scotland can rocket from obscurity to the headlines, I observe average students with little on their resume succeed in a college system that values star athletes and student council presidents. I watch as these students sometimes shine, sometimes stumble on the way to college graduation, amazing me with their ability, tenaciousness, and resiliency. I have seen them become teachers, college professors, attorneys, business owners, and engineers, whatever they set out to become. They remind me each year to always keep an eye on the underdogs as they frequently outclass their faster and flashier peers.

For many of the great, great successes of the world, the background they came from was their great challenge. I'm trying to find those people. Those who may not have the highest grade point or a perfect family background, but who can be successful. These are the ones who will lend the helping hands in the future.
~ Christina Hixson

Who is the next great talent on your campus? What have you done for them lately?

A funny thing happened at the awards ceremony

2009-04-13T17:54:00.017-05:00

We recently hosted a celebration for the learning community peer mentors on our campus. Our campus offers many learning communities linking courses and residence halls and this ceremony is an annual event to honor the student leaders in the academic units and courses. The mentors are nominated for the awards by their professors, course coordinators, and also their students.

As with many ceremonies, some students are able to attend, some have schedule conflicts. This year, we had an opportunity to honor a student who was a mentor last fall and then graduated at semester. At first he was not able to attend, but when he checked in and picked up his nametag, our committee made certain that his award was added to the program for presentation.

The student’s name was announced and he made his way to the podium while glowing praise was read from his award recommendation letters. He was one of the students who dressed up for the event, even donning a tie. The student accepted his certificate and paused for photos with the other student award recipients.

But it was the wrong guy.

You see, when the nominated peer mentor graduated last December, his university email account was closed. When notification was sent to award recipients, the email bounced to a student with the same name. This student with the same name believes he was nominated for and won an award, because we told him that he did. He then dressed up, attended the awards ceremony, and accepted an award to much fanfare and applause. If the learning community coordinator had not been there to discretely mention that he wasn’t the correct student, we would never have known.

Lessons to learn? Double-checking email addresses is pretty obvious. But what do we learn from a student who accepts an award that he has not earned? Is there a message here about the need to be noticed among a sea of faces on the university campus? I’ll take it as a special reminder that all of our students deserve recognition and appreciation. And perhaps they need it more than once a year at awards ceremonies.

Facebook for Orientation Webinar Recap

2009-04-10T13:37:00.011-05:00

This post originally appeared at The Student Affairs Blog.

I had the pleasure of joining a “Facebook for Orientation” Webinar with Jennifer Sherry of Virginia Commonwealth and Beth Oakley with University of Windsor. While my colleagues shared how Facebook can be utilized at the university and department level to communicate and engage students, I shared the use of Facebook in a first-year seminar for community building and networking within a specific program.

Much of my campus time is spent coordinating a scholarship program that enrolls 100 new students each year (I should be reading applications right now). These students have long been Facebook users, as I shared here. Inspired by ideas from Tania Dudina over at the Student Leader Blog, I took advantage of that Facebook comfort and created a social networking assignment for the course last fall.

To introduce the topic, I shared my own social networks and links for our program Facebook accounts, a group and a profile. This video explanation of social networks was helpful and moved the emphasis beyond Facebook privacy settings to the actual functions of a social network.

Social Networking Assignment
1. Identify and join a new social network. Try Facebook, if not already a member (98% were Facebook users).

A list of networks is available here.
Upon creating your new social network profile, identify 5 new friends or links. Make a screenshot of your new network homepage, save as a jpg, attach, and submit via email.

2. Now that you are on Facebook, locate an alumni/ae of the program with whom to link.

Interview your new alumni link regarding their advice for first-year students, favorite memories, motivational quotes or career choices.
Create a PowerPoint slide of your alumni interview highlights. Submit it as an email attachment.

Response to this assignment was favorable and students researched a variety of creative networks. Many of our alumni are new Facebook users and enjoyed the opportunity to link back with the program. Next fall we will include the alumni assignment and may introduce blogging and wikis. We’ll see where it takes us.

Many thanks to the folks at Swift Kick for coordinating the webinar!

Facebook for Orientation webinar

2009-04-07T06:21:00.005-05:00

I am joining a panel of student affairs folks for a webinar titled Facebook for Orientation today. Each of us will share a little about how we utilize the Facebook network for linking with our new students at enrollment and beyond. The webinar is sponsored by the very cool people at SwiftKick, creators of RedRover and founders of the Student Affairs Blog. It will be at 12 noon CST. Join us to share in the discussion!

Register here.

Telephone Game

2009-04-06T20:54:00.008-05:00

My first-year students have been busy requesting recommendations for summer jobs and internships and seeking out resume and interview advice. Seeking new job search resources to share with my students, I began following former corporate HR exec Kerry Sandberg Scott on Twitter and at her blog. She shares this advice on telephone interviews.

Find out how long the interview should take.
Make sure it’s quiet.
Use a real phone.
Disable call waiting.
Have a copy of your resume in front of you.
Change your clothes (my favorite tip!)
Don’t smoke.
Pace yourself.
Prepare some questions of your own.
Relax.

You can read more on these and other great tips for your own job search at Clue Wagon.

Tattoo You?

2009-03-23T20:43:00.007-05:00

Feeling honored that I was on the campus must-see list for a student who picked up some new ink on spring break.

Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos.
~ The Joker, The Dark Knight

Transcending feelings

2009-03-18T13:29:00.019-05:00

David Letterman isn't generally someone I look to for parenting advice, but last night in his discussion with guest, Julia Roberts, the joy and love that he feels for his son and for parenthood really came through.

Here's the other thing, if you want to get spiritual about it, why doesn't that feeling, that everyone on the planet has, why doesn't that transcend to keep us from killing one another?

Yeah. Why is that?

This video includes the discussion within the first 1:20.

Geography 101

2009-03-15T12:07:00.017-05:00

My fourth grade daughter is studying regions of the United States in school. The exams for each unit include a map where she identifies the states of each region on a map. Her spelling word list for the week always include the states and their capital cities. It is fun to study these with her as I have a geeky knack for naming state capitals and love U.S. geography.

Contrast this with my experience yesterday at an airline check-in counter, when I was ironically departing the Annual National Student Exchange (NSE) Conference. My conversation with the airline employee checking my bag, (to be fair, this person appeared and sounded to be of U.S. citizenry, although I could be mistaken), went something like this.

You're flying to Dezz Moin-ezz today? I'll need to see your passport.

Yes, Des Moines. I have my driver's license.

You need to show a passport for international flights.

I'm going to Des Moines. Des Moines, Iowa.

Hmmpf.

Has your school considered the benefits of membership in NSE?

Take your Vitamin C's

2009-03-06T20:59:00.020-06:00

Today was the 10th Annual Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity (ISCORE). I have been on the planning committee for this conference since year two, and it has been amazing to see our growth each year. We welcomed more than 800 faculty, staff, and student participants to this 2009 event.

Our conference keynote speaker was NPR's Michele Norris. In her SRO presentation, Race, Gender, and the Future of Leadership in America, Ms. Norris engaged us with observations of a year of political change through the storytelling for which she is known. She addressed our students directly by encouraging them to remember their Vitamin C's.

Collaboration. Change happens when individuals lock arms together and march forward. Engage those around you to follow your dreams and beliefs and be supportive of what they bring to the effort.

Cut. Eliminate one activity, one committee, one obligation. Build an hour back in your day. College students today do too much with too little time. Cut back and make time for yourself.

Camaraderie. Don't forget about your friends, they are the ones to get you through your day and your life. It's easy to become so focused on goals and outcomes that you forget the people that you really need.

When asked whether our country is capable of moving toward a post-racial society, Ms. Norris shared that recent political events lead some to believe we have already achieved a post-racial place in America. Norris said this compares to riding an express elevator to the top of a skyscraper. You have a great ride and get out on the observation deck where the view is wonderful. But you fail to stop at the floors on the way up where the view is not so great.

What's Your Fortune?

2009-02-28T08:42:00.015-06:00

At the Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience, I picked up some great classroom activities from Loriann Irving, of Kutztown University. Loriann has built a creative portfolio of interactive exercises for use in her first-year seminar course.

She shared this activity for test or assignment review titled Fortunate Questions. Supplies needed include strips of paper (large enough for writing) and individual fortune cookies from the Asian foods aisle at your grocery or a specialty foods store.

Provide each student with a fortune cookie and strip of paper. Highlighting a textbook chapter, article, or other project, ask students to review pages or portions of recent assignments that will be on the next exam or are important in the course. Request that they write questions on the strips of paper. Collect the fortune papers in a basket, mix them up, then have students draw one from the basket. In a go-round, ask students to read the question they have selected and respond for the class.

Eat fortune cookies.

What would we do if we really loved our students?

2009-02-14T09:19:00.017-06:00

What would do if we truly loved our students? Those two questions were from Edward "Chip" Anderson in a presentation I attended a number of years ago, I can't even recall which conference. Chip used that message to develop his work in Strengths-Based Educating, or building upon the natural talents of an individual versus improving deficiencies. Those powerful questions and their meaning have defined the work that I do.

On this February 14th, instead of waiting for flowers and chocolate, it is more important to share the love.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Getting to know you? Create a cover story!

2009-01-11T12:25:00.012-06:00

Here is a great idea for getting to know a new class of students at the beginning of the semester: ask students to create a magazine cover! It comes from Barbara Nixon, an assistant professor at Georgia Southern. I follow Barbara's blog and on Twitter because she is always sharing great gems such as this assignment for her Public Relations course. I may utilize the concept to introduce our peer leaders to new first-year students, still letting the idea percolate.

Of course, I am partial to magazine covers. The image above is the birth announcement for my son (created without the handy-dandy website!)

Self-handicapping behaviors of college students

2009-01-11T12:02:00.008-06:00

This NY Times article indicates that ego protection and lowered expectations are the reason some college students protect their failures through a behavior called self-handicapping. Using and creating excuses for poor academic performance allows students to plan for and evade success. If unchallenged, self-handicapping behaviors frequently carry over into the workplace, stereotyping individuals early in their careers. This is a great reference for students needing to take responsibility in their college education. Read more at The Student Affairs Blog.

Peer Leader Prep Talk

2009-01-05T21:02:00.012-06:00

It was energizing to be back in the office today and begin preparations for the semester. We teach a leadership development course each spring for the students selected as peer mentors in our program for the upcoming year. The course introduces concepts of peer leadership enhanced with student development theory and personal discovery through MBTI and EQ-i assessment.

We selected a new text for the course after five years, so winter break has been spent defining the chapters and assignments for the syllabus. The new book offers interesting case studies with each chapter to utilize for group discussion assignments.

In addition to work on the syllabus, I have been rereading Delaney Kirk's Taking Back the Classroom. It has great ideas for preparing peer mentors for the reality of the classroom. Coincidentally, Dr. Kirk posted 6 Tips For The First Day of Class on her blog today. Here's a list, but be sure to check out the details.

1. Develop Your Philosophy of Teaching
2. Establish Your Credibility
3. Determine Your Class Culture
4. Be Clear about Your Expectations
5. Use the First Day of Class Wisely
6. Handle Discipline Problems Right Away

How do you develop peer leaders on your campus?

Resolutions for a New Year: Where will you go?

2008-12-30T15:57:00.025-06:00

With the approach of a new year, messages of being proactive and creating resolutions challenge us to make ourselves over, try new things, and be an all-around better person in the next 365 days. As I reflect upon the dynamic students with whom I work and my wonderful network of professionals, I am certain that the next semester and entire year will be full of opportunity because of these people. I know they will keep inspiring me to be more and do better.

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. ~Hal Borland

Where will your shoes take you in 2009?

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go... ~Dr. Seuss

Try these shoes if your year will require that you be more expeditious.