ACUHO-I News Blog

In this last installment in our what-to-do-in-Charlotte series (what to do other than attend our conferences, of course) we’ll focus on the area immediately around the Westin Charlotte, our host hotel.

Actually, we’ll start by  talking about the Ember Grille, which is the Westin’s restaurant. Hotel restaurants get a bad rap, and sometimes this is for good reasons. Not so with the Ember Grille. It’s not cheap; entrees are $15-$22 for lunch, $18-$36 for dinner, and $18.99 for the breakfast buffet, but online reviewers, including the Yelp crowd, say Ember is generally worth it. Ember offers American food; sandwiches, steaks, fish, plus appetizers to share or for a light entree (hummus and veg, for example).

For cheaper eats that require no silverware, look to Matt’s Chicago Dog, at 435 Tyron Street. The address is a bit deceiving; Matt’s is located in a greenspace between several buildings and Tyron and College streets. To find it, go east from the Westin on College Street — a left turn from the front door. The greenspace will be in the block between Stonewall Street and East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Reviewers praise the all-beef hot dogs and noticeably fresh produce toppings. There are sandwiches available as well.

Sushi and Asian fusion can be found at Room 112 at 112 Tyron Street. Make a left out of the Westin onto College Street, turn left on 4th Street, then make a right on Tyron. Note, Room 112 is closed on Sunday. If sushi isn’t your thing, there are soups, salads, noodles and wok dishes as well.

Just want a treat and willing to walk a bit for it? Go to Crave Dessert Bar, 500 West 5th Street. Turn left from the Westin on College Street. Turn left on 5th Street, then go five blocks. There’s a full bar in addition to a menu of salads, sandwiches, and of course cupcakes, cakes and cheesecakes, in addition to other yummies.

Are you looking for something–a wine bar, a show, a decent bagel? Let me know, and I’ll try to find a place that’s handy to the Westin Charlotte.

In this second installment of our what-to-do-in-Charlotte posts, we’re going to talk about the yummy noms that can be had in the area. Specifically, we’ll discuss the greasy spoons. we’ll worry about the silver spoon places on another day.

Our meetings and events manager, Lisa Martin, has made several trips to Charlotte while planning the 2010 conferences. She recommends Mert’s for their award-winning soul food. Mert’s is less out-of-the-way than some of the options below, so if you’re limited for time, this is a good option. At 214 College Street, it’s a straight 10-minute walk northeast from the Westin. Lisa warns that speed isn’t Mert’s selling point, but taste more than makes up for it.

My source for this list is RoadFood.com, a site maintained by Jane and Michael Stern, who travel the country looking for out-of-the-way places to enjoy hot cuisine, not haute cuisine. How do they make this dream life work? By telling the rest of us about it. They have written books and articles about their finds, and won three James Beard journalism awards for their work. Here’s their recommendations for Charlotte:

Bar B Q King: At this drive-in eatery that allows you to never leave your car, the Sterns recommend the fried seafood, in every form the restaurant offers. It gets a “worth planning a day around” rating.

Bill Spoon’s Barbecue: Spoon’s is known for its yellow mustard slaw, which adds color and crunch to pulled pork sandwiches. It seems the Sterns and their followers rate every menu item highly, from the barbecued chicken to the banana pudding. It is really hard to type “banana pudding” without having any of that yummy stuff handy.

John’s Country Kitchen: Breakfast is the way to go here; pancakes, fried livermush and grilled biscuits are popular.

Lupie’s: This is one of those places where macaroni and cheese is, somehow, considered a vegetable. However, vegetables are also vegetables, and very tasty at Lupie’s. They have a vegetarian chili, in addition to the meat version, which the Sterns recommend. If you follow the link to the Sterns’ website, you can see one of the most beautiful photographs ever taken of a bacon cheeseburger.

Old Hickory House: There was no energy wasted on the ambiance here, but after sampling the slow-smoked pork butt, crispy-oily hushpuppies and goopy, meaty Brunswick stew, no one seems to care.

Penguin Drive-In: Have you ever wanted to eat a burger as big as your head? The Penguin Drive-In offers you this opportunity. The burger will be tasty too, as will the fries and deep-fried pickle chips. Once again, clicking the link will show you pictures of beautiful, massive burgers. The Penguin Drive-In also gets the Sterns’ highest rating: “Worth driving from anyplace.”

Price’s Chicken Coop: Not surprisingly, the fried chicken is recommended, but the Sterns also enjoyed the sweet potato pie, fried apple pie (in case regular apple pie was too healthy for you) and the Cheerwine available from a vending machine. There’s no place to eat-in, and aside from eating your car, the only other handy option is to sit on the side of the road with your cardboard-packaged chicken dinner. But it seems to be worth it, as Price’s also gets a “Worth driving from anyplace” rating.

When I was a young(er) professional, it was role modeled for me that I should give back to my profession. My supervisor in my first professional position was serving as GLACUHO president as I entered the field. I saw other entry-level staff volunteering on committees and hosting student staff conferences. Mentors made it clear to me that identifying my talents and skills was important and, most important, was determining how I could use them to assist within my department, division, university, and professional organizations.

As I’ve grown in the field, I’ve been fortunate to have opportunities to serve that combined my skills, talent, and passion. Writing is an important piece of who I am; the opportunity to blog for ACUHO-I and several other professional blogs is an easy, fun way to contribute. I love social media; volunteering to teach people how to utilize Twitter at the conference was an engaging volunteer opportunity. Making connections and meeting new people is important to me; volunteering at registration was a good use of my time on Saturday morning.

Throughout the conference as I was thanked for things like those mentioned above, I noted that my reaction was almost always surprise. I’m surprised that people thank me for what I consider to be the opportunities given to me. I feel like I should be thanking them in turn (and often do) for what’s been given to me as a vehicle of professional and personal growth. I’m appreciative of these opportunities – they’ve helped me both expand and define who I am in our field.

I wrote last week about the 362 days a year that members of ACUHO-I aren’t at the Annual Conference and Exposition. I encouraged all of us – whether we attended ACE or not – to make the most of those 362 days and stay connected to our association. I’m taking my own challenge and intend to spend Day One demonstrating my gratitude by using time on the flight home from ACE to write thank you notes to the people who give me opportunities.

How will you spend Day One?

ACUHO-I is mentioned in this Cronk of Higher Education article about conference romances. If there’s anyone out there mourning an Annual Conference romance (or friendship, or fling), perhaps this piece will be soothing:

ACUHO-I Conference Romance Ends Abruptly

If you feel like you didn’t represent yourself well, this article may be helpful:

Blistex Executive Makes Fool of Himself at Lip-Balm Conference

I’ve sat down to write a blog post about the Annual Conference and Exposition no fewer than five times. It’s difficult to find a few minutes alone at the conference and, for me, harder to switch gears from active learning to written reflection. I’ve snagged a few minutes at the hotel coffee shop this morning before sessions start to jot some notes (in true ACUHO-I ACE fashion, as soon as I typed that sentence, my former supervisor sat down with me and started chatting).

You’ve probably heard the analogy that ACE is like a family reunion. This does not do justice to the enthusiastic, emotional reunions taking place all over the hotels and convention centers. Former classmates, staff members, supervisors all converging in one location lends itself to lots of reunions, many of them involving two or more people rushing at each other across a room to hug. Just like a family reunion, there are the loud uncles, the crazy aunts, the wound-up cousins… and you love them all for the character they bring to the event.

We all have a residence life and housing family. If we’re lucky, they have stayed in the field and are at conferences with us. They are the people who know our professional history and hold pieces of our stories. They reflect back to us how much we have grown as people and as professionals. They are invaluable to our own journey and development.

During her keynote speech, Dr. Bertice Berry said, “Everybody in this room is not your competition. They are the only people who understand what you do.”

As we grow in this profession, our families should, too. By introducing friends and colleagues to other friends and colleagues, we expand our networks and tighten our bonds. We create overlapping support systems for one another and ourselves. I smile every time I overhear someone say, “Have you met…” because I know a new connection was sparked.

It’s an incredible feeling to feel so supported by people whom I only met this week. With every story of a challenge or problem I’m facing, people are quick to offer not only suggestions, but support. Business cards are stuffed in the back of my name badge from new connections and there are notes jotted in my program book of presenters with whom to follow up.

It’s an amazing thing, this network of support we’ve created, and more amazing to see it in action in Austin this week.

On an October afternoon in 2007, I sat in my office thumbing through archived issues of The Talking Stick. If you’ve never had the opportunity to do this, I highly recommend it. The historical perspective of our association is fascinating, particularly in the years pre-dating electronic communication. At any rate, I found an article submitted almost 20 years ago by Lee E. Bird, then of the University of Arizona (a quick Google search tells me that Lee E. Bird is now Dr. Lee E. Bird and she is the Vice President for Student Affairs at Oklahoma State University). I wrote this quote down because the GLACUHO Annual Conference was around the corner. Over the weekend, I stumbled across it again in my Facebook notes, just in time for the ACUHO-I Annual Conference and Exposition in Austin.

“Perhaps no profession, save the Widget Makers Union of America, has a more desperate need for a professional organization than do college and university housing officers. For never has a profession been so misunderstood for so long by so many. Yet, there is hope. For three or four days a year we can associate freely with similarly inclined [albeit masochistic] individuals and avoid ‘that look.’ In the bosom of our peers, we can feel sane, normal, warm, and accepted. We can swap hall horror stories, cry over diminishing budgets, celebrate victories in our programming, and discuss the present and future of higher education all before lunch the first day.” (March 1991)

In the next few days, more than 900 registered members of the association will descend on Austin, Texas, from around the world. Certainly we’ll embrace the opportunity to exchange ideas, create new partnerships, and move our profession forward. But this quote is also a timely reminder that our association is more than the Annual Conference and Exposition. We spend three short days together; during the other 362 days a year, it is up to us to be ACUHO-I and all that it represents on our own campuses and in our regions.

For those of you not joining us in Austin, stay tuned to this space throughout the conference for updates (I’m planning to blog my way through my first ACE). Log in to Twitter and search #ACUHOI to find out what the hot topics area (and join the conversation)! Take a few minutes to check the rest of the ACUHO-I website for upcoming professional development opportunities, resources, and additional ways to connect outside of ACE.

Well, it’s almost time for ACE! I’ve had a blast writing these posts and introducing you to my home.  I thought I’d provide some last-minute bits of information to help you plan your trip to Austin and to have a successful conference.

Airport Transportation: ACUHO-I has arranged for a 10% discount with SuperShuttle.  Look here for more information. Taxi fare will run you approximately $25 one-way, so SuperShuttle will definitely be the most economical choice. Reserve a spot online and then check in at the counter next to Baggage Claim #1.

Evening Activities: don’t forget to buy tickets now to the shows – this the only way you’ll guarantee to get in.  Check do512.com for a list of events happening over the next few days.  I’ve also added some events to my list on Google Docs and will keep adding to the list as I hear of new events.  Once you get to the conference, your complimentary copy of The Austin Chronicle will help you find fund stuff to do.

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While working at UNC-Chapel Hill, I quickly earned the nickname “Tour Guide Lynn.”  Whenever there was a trip, especially to a conference, I would take it upon myself to find entertainment options in the town.  I always drafted an itinerary to serve as a starting point for the trip – if something else came up that we wanted to do, we’d just substitute and go. But, there was always an itinerary to serve as a foundation.

My friend Kayla Hamilton (Emory University) is coming in a few days early for the conference and, of course, Tour Guide Lynn has a basic itinerary planned out.  Here’s a taste of what we plan to do (some of this will sound familiar to regular readers of my posts):

Wednesday, June 23: Kayla arrives; Geeks Who Drink pub trivia quiz at Waterloo Ice House

Thursday, June 24: While I’m in class, Kayla’s going to go to the Walter Cronkite exhibit at the LBJ museum

Friday, June 25: Shopping at the Prime and Tanger outlets in San Marcos before meeting some Tweeps for dinner; possible Glee-Along to follow

Saturday, June 26: Quick trip to San Antonio before the Opening Reception

Once the conference starts, we’ll be attending great sessions during the day and then hitting receptions in the evening.  We’ll wrap our conference experience up with the First Annual ACUHO-I Tweet Up on Tuesday after the closing banquet (more info to come on Twitter via #acuhoi, the conference hashtag).

If your itinerary includes some live music, theatre or other special events, you should start planning now.  I’ve started a list on Google Docs of events around town from June 23-30.  I recommend checking this list now and then before you leave so that you can buy tickets to any events you’d like to attend.  It’s entirely possible that events like the Anthony Bourdain Q&A, Mingo Fishtrap and the Justin Timberlake Sing-Along will sell out – getting tickets now will ensure that you get in.  If I hear of other cool events, I’ll add them to the list.

Most of the events were pulled from the Austin American-Stateman’s excellent city guide, Austin360.  There’s a ton of information on this site about events, restaurants and other happenings in town.  The Austin Convention and Visitor’s Bureau has an events widget powered by do512.com that provides live music shows by date. Do512.com’s event listings are incredibly diverse and I’m sure you’ll find an awesome event there.  All ACE attendees will get a copy of the Austin Chronicle, which will also help you plan your evening activities.

Once you get here, the Local Arrangements Committee will be happy to answer your questions or to make suggestions.  We’ll announce each day how you can identify the committee members.  I’ll leave you with this tease: tie-dye is involved.

Have I mentioned that Austinites value supporting local businesses? That certainly extends to the local food scene. We have our share of high-end restaurants (both locally-owned and major chains) in the downtown area. We also have our share of “joints” where you can get a true taste of Austin.

Foodies should be in absolute heaven in Austin. The Austin Chronicle prints restaurant guides and has a comprehensive restaurant guide online that allows you to filter results by neighborhood and by cuisine. Some of the restaurants you’ll find within a six block radius of the hotel include:

• Carmelo’s Restaurant (Italian – $40+)
• Iron Cactus Mexican Grill (Tex-Mex, $10-$25)
• Chez Nous (French, $25-$40)
• The Old Pecan Street Café (American Cafe, $25-$40)
• Paradise (American Café, $10-$25)
• Fogo de Chao (Brazilian steakhouse, $40+)
• Finn & Porter (steak and seafood, $40+)
• Eddie V’s (seafood, $40+)
• PF Chang’s (Chinese, $10-$25)
• Mongolian Grille (Chinese, $10-$25)

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Thanks to Texas Longhorn Athletics, attendees to this year’s Annual Conference & Exposition will have the opportunity to view the Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium during the Opening Reception. It’s really impressive and features the Godzillatron; one of the largest scoreboards in all of college football at over 7,000 square feet. Additional stadium renovations were recently completed, bringing the total seating capacity to more 100K. And, I’ll give it to the Longhorns, most games it’s filled with the fans.

Of course, if you want to see the Stadium of Champions, you’ll need to head about 700 miles east to Tuscaloosa and Bryant-Denny Stadium, the home of the Alabama Crimson Tide (oh, yeah! I said it! ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!! WOO-HOO!!!!!!).

But seriously, it’s a very cool stadium and well worth checking out during the Opening Reception. The reception will be in the Alumni Center, which is directly across the street from the stadium. Between 7:15-8:45 on Saturday the 26th, you can go over at your leisure to view the stadium by entering through gate 14. The viewing will be accessible.

It’s going to be a fun night at the Alumni Center and this is just the icing on the cake!

When we last left our Tweeps — that’s Twitter slang for “your peeps” — (old man editor’s note: “peeps” is slang for “friends or allies”) we’d finished setting up our Twitter accounts and teaching the ins and outs of searching and hashtags. You’ve had a little more than a week to get comfortable with your Twitter account and maybe even send out a few messages to the universe.

(Still working up the nerve to send your first tweets? Here’s more “get started” material, courtesy of Ed Cabellon, director of the Campus Center at Bridgewater State College.)

But why would anyone want to follow along with the #ACUHOI tag when they aren’t at the 2010 Annual Conference and Exposition? Or, for that matter, when they are and the other people tweeting are in the same room as them?

Picture the last conference you attended. Think about your favorite program session that you attended. You were enthused and excited. You couldn’t wait to share the ideas with people on campus or colleagues from other institutions. As you left the room, you eagerly started chatting with the people who were in the room about the presentation. You shared resources and generated new ideas.

Multiply that energy by all of the people at the conference and all of the people following #ACUHOI from their offices.

Using Twitter as a back channel at conferences isn’t something entirely new, but it’s growing particularly in higher education and student affairs. Throughout both the ACPA and NASPA conferences, as well as The Placement Exchange, attendees tweeted and added the hashtag relevant to each conference. What resulted was a national dialog about individual program sessions, highlights from keynotes and large sessions, debate about the potential merger of the two associations. Referred to as “live tweeting,” the sharing of information, thoughts, and resources while attending a session can be hugely beneficial.

The back channel discussion continues where program sessions leave off and include more people. They expand on topics in ways that conferences themselves limit, especially when you factor in the thousands of people who won’t be in Austin at ACE this year but can join the conversation on Twitter. And from those back channel conversations, new conversations are generated. You may connect with someone new or learn more about a seedling of an idea.

It can feel uncomfortable to have your phone or laptop out during a session. After all, how many times have speakers asked us to silence our mobile devices? But silencing our mobile devices doesn’t have to mean silencing ourselves. Share your thoughts, share your resources, and share the energy.

There will be on-site assistance at ACE for those of you getting started with the Twitter. Volunteers will be on hand in the hospitality lounge on the fourth floor of the Austin convention center. They will be the ones sitting in front of a large screen broadcasting ACUHO-I Tweets and ready to help coach anyone new to Twitter. If you’re not attending ACE and want assistance getting hooked in, feel free contact me via Twitter or e-mail. I’m more than happy to set aside some time for a Twitter tutorial (a twutorial, if you will) or I can connect you with others who are also happy to help.

In one of my first posts, I mentioned that the famous “Keep Austin Weird” slogan is now part of a marketing campaign for local business owners. It works. I don’t know if I’ve ever been someplace where there is such pride in supporting local businesses. When Borders bookstore planned to build on the corner of 6^th Street and Lamar Blvd (coincidentally, right across from local book and record stores), we fought back and Borders changed their plans. You, too, can be weird and patronize local businesses while you’re in Austin.

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Are you using Twitter? I know you have an account. Most everyone created one when the word “tweet” entered our vernacular. But are you using Twitter?

As the ACUHO-I Annual Conference and Exposition rapidly approaches – we’re only about a month away –it’s time to think about how Twitter is going to change the conference experience. Wait, you’re not going to the conference? Don’t close this browser window – this blog post is even more important for you!

(Okay, okay – if you don’t have a Twitter account, go set one up here. It’s free and easy. Click here for a video tutorial on setting up your account. Quick recommendation: Make your username something that identifies you as a professional rather than the cute nickname your partner calls you. This social medium means business).

Now that you’re all set up with your account, it’s time to start following some people. Odds are, you’ll be surprised by the number of colleagues — on your campus and around the world — that you know who already are using Twitter or at least getting their feet wet just like you are. Do you know @StacyLOliver (that’s me!), @JPKirch, @TorryBruce, @LynnEllison, @kmorian, @wepps, @chacharon, @EricStoller, @chadtweets, @LaurieABerry, @danoltersdorf, @annmarieklotz, @BiceJr, @jesscrombie, @meridethlar, @TBump, or @ACUHOI (editor’s note: that’s me!)? You might not recognize them by these handles, but they are just a sampling of the housing and student affairs professionals who are sharing news, information, pep talks, and more on a daily basis, all via Twitter.

So how will you know who else is talking about housing or ACE? Twitter utilizes “hashtags” to steamline conversation topics. Hashtags are terms or categories set off with the # sign, and usually tacked on to the end of a message. The official hashtag all things related to ACUHO-I, including the conference, is #ACUHOI. Enter that into your search box and you’ll find ongoing conversation about housing-related topics, the conference, idea sharing, and on occasion, haiku related to end of year closing processes.

Send out that first Tweet and get excited about conference. Attending for the first time? Not able to attend but still want to connect with people who are to share information? Get that first message out there with the #ACUHOI hashtag and see what happens.

Check back next week for information on how we plan to use the hashtag at the conference and the benefits of following along even if you can’t be in Austin.

Not only does Austin provide plenty of opportunities for fun and frivolity (and a little freaky-ness, if that’s what you’re into), but you can also learn a couple of things. Austin is home to excellent museums and tours within a short distance of the conference hotel.

If you’ve got kiddos with you, head eight blocks southwest to the Austin Childrens’ Museum. “The Big Game,” featuring oversized family games will be up and running during the conference. It’s open 10 am-5 pm Tuesday-Saturday and noon-5 pm on Sunday. Admission is $6.50 for everyone ages 2+.

The Mexic-Arte Museum is the official Mexican and Mexican American fine art museum of Texas. The current exhibition on Rubén Herrera is making its United States premiere as part of the Mexic-Arte’s year-long celebration of the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution and the Bicentennial of the Mexican Independence. The museum is four blocks west of the conference hotel and is open Monday-Thursday 10 am-6 pm, Friday and Saturday 10 am-5 pm, and Sunday noon-5 pm.

The Austin Museum of Art is a fairly small museum, but always has come interesting modern art exhibits.  Beginning May 22, selected works by Chris Jordan will be on exhibition. According to his website, each image “a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on.” This one looks really interesting and it’s on my list of things to do this summer. AMOA is about 10 blocks northwest of the hotel and is open until 8 pm on Thursdays, 10 am-6 pm on Saturday, and noon-5 pm Sundays.  Admission is $5.

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Well, the time is finally here. This is the blog where I fill you in on the places to get some true Texas barbeque. Sorry, vegetarians – there’s not going to be a lot for you in this posting.

But, first, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page in terms of what “barbeque” means. According to Wikipedia there are five kinds of Texas barbeque: (Editor’s Note: I’m still trying to figure out if we should spell it “barbeque” or “barbecue” and now you tell me there are different kinds?)

East Texas: The beef is slowly cooked to the point that it is “falling off the bone,” typically over hickory wood, and marinated in a sweet, tomato-based sauce.

Central Texas: The meat is rubbed with spices and cooked over indirect heat from pecan or oak wood.

West Texas: The meat is cooked over direct heat from mesquite wood giving it a somewhat bitter taste.

South Texas: Thick, molasses-like sauces that keep the meat very moist and barbacoa (often prepared with parts from the head of a cow, such as the cheeks).

In Austin, you’ll see mostly Central Texas barbeque. I’m not usually a dry rub fan, but if the barbeque is cooked well, the meat is so moist and the dry rub provides just the right amount of flavor to the beef . . .  Sorry – I got distracted. Anyway. Barbeque is typically sold by the pound and can include brisket, ribs, chicken and sausage links. For me, Texas Barbeque means “brisket.” The brisket is sliced as it’s ordered, so it will still be incredibly juicy. At the old-skool joints, they’ll just toss the barbeque and a couple of slices of white bread on some butcher paper and hand it to you. Then, you’ll pick up some sides such as beans, potato salad or slaw. Notice I haven’t mentioned sauce yet. Sauce is available on the table, but I often find that I don’t need it because the beef is so juicy and flavorful.

Now that we’re all hungry, I’ll highlight some places around the conference hotel where you can get some good barbeque, as well as some great places in surrounding towns that could be well worth the price of a rental car.

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