ACUHO-I News Blog

Amanda Wallace, of  the University of Alabama, and Anne Stark, from Purdue University, are researching the challenges of advising student groups and the ways a professional advisor can help make the relationship work. If you’ve had experience in this area, please help your colleagues by completing their short, 16-item survey.

Please pass this on to anyone who can assist. There’s always a need for more research in student housing, and this is an easy way to help!

Happy Thursday, folks!

I’ve been getting a flurry of questions about RA hiring, evaluation and supervision lately. It’s RA-recruitment season, after all. Unfortunately, there’s no single resource that covers this topic thoroughly. (Hint, hint, if you’re in the mood to research and write a book or paper.) If you’re not up for that, post your tips and resources here!

One member asked about RA qualifications.  I looked at what others are doing. I searched for institutions who specified RA qualifications on their websites beyond the usual good-GPA-and-good-disciplinary-record stipulation.

Here are a few of them:

Brigham Young
Carnegie Mellon
Kent State University
Carleton College
University of Oregon
University of Montevallo
University of Central Florida
Towson University

I also found some scholarly articles on the topic. Here’s a a sample list of citations:

• Wu, M.B. & Stemler, S.E. (2008) Resident Advisor General Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Personality Dimensions, and Internal Belief Characteristics as Predictors of Rated Performance; NASPA Journal (Online). 45 (4); 528-59.

• Servaty-Seib, H. L. & Taub, D. J. (2008) Training Faculty Members and Resident Assistants to Respond to Bereaved Students; New Directions for Student Services 121; 51-62.

• Healea, C.D. (2005) Character Education with Resident Assistants: A model for developing character on college campuses. Journal of Education, 186(1); 65-77.

• Elleven, R. K.; Allen, J. & Wircenski, M. (2001) Resident Assistant Training: A southwestern perspective. College Student Journal, 35 (4); 609-15.

…that is, the wrong person viewing your Facebook profile (or your profile on another social network).

Faculty, administrators and staff usually try to keep their private and professional lives separate, though that’s very hard when you are, say, a live-in area coordinator.

A faculty member at East Stroudsberg University recently got into hot water for her Facebook postings about her students and class frustrations. The commentary on Inside HigherEd largely derides her comments and the fact that she has a Facebook profile at all. A few pointed out that Facebook sometimes suddenly and quietly changes users’ privacy settings, so users must re-set their limits on who can see their profiles and status. Several commenters on Inside HigherEd display disgust towards social media; one declares Facebook is only for the friendless and exhibitionist. However, for younger faculty and staff, giving up social media entirely might seem somewhere between burdensome and completely unrealistic.

How do you strike a balance? Abandon Facebook? Self-edit your postings? Double-check your privacy settings weekly?

International Hall Staff Appreciation Day does not, for reasons unbeknown to me, come pre-printed on the blotter calendars that are delivered to my office each year by the local furniture vendor representatives. Each year it sneaks up on me in the midst of staff selection and room lottery seasons, a seemingly innocuous Wednesday in mid-February.

There are traditions for this day in my world. They involve rallying the Community Council, oversize signs on staff member’s doors, a Dairy Queen ice cream cake at staff meeting just when the staff has reached their threshold with my full agenda. They are small things, to be certain, but they are things that highlight my appreciation of these undergraduate students who step up and demonstrate leadership in their community. We know from our own experiences that it can be a thankless job, and while we do our best to demonstrate continued appreciation to student staff, it falls off the to do list amidst all of the other responsibilities we have.

I am reminded of celebrating the same day a decade ago when I was a resident assistant. Having the dining hall’s premiere and rarely served dessert at a staff meeting seemed indulgent for a Wednesday night; the decorations on my door reminded all of my residents that even if they were mad at me that week for enforcing policies, I was appreciated by someone on campus for doing my job.

(more…)

I regularly get queries from folks who are assessing the benefits and perks for their Hall Directors and similar live-in/live-on positions. Usually these folks are wondering about the ancillary benefits: Do other institutions allow pets? Which ones? Is a meal plan included? Fortunately, there’s a great answer for this: Rich Horowitz’s Live-in/Live-on Report, an annual compilation of this data. But don’t just use the report, contribute to it too, and help keep this resource vital! Horowitz is an associate director of residential life at Vassar College.

In many of our jobs we have to deal with a wide variety of people. Bosses, administrators, co-workers, the community, employees and students. While I always like to assume the best from most people, and take them at their word, it sometimes comes back to punish us for being naive.

How can you tell when an employee is really sick when calling in for a shift? What about when a student is late on their rent and seems to have one story after another, mostly believable but you have that nagging feeling that the truth lies somewhere in the middle?

Most of the time I find myself at work primarily dealing with people issues. I do some accounting spreadsheets, write some contracts, but the bulk of the time is spent talking and dealing with people. I wonder if I am a good judge of character, and can trust the people I’m helping and work with. I wonder if judging character is a skill that I can develop and work on to improve. I wonder, will I become tired and jaded after hearing the same excuse for the 100th time, or the 1,000th time?  And when that happens, as is human nature I suppose, will I treat the person with the old excuse differently than I treated the person the first time I heard the excuse? Will I even recognize that I’m treating the two people differently?

At some point, the younger less seasoned employees become wise old veterans. I hope that we don’t lose our enthusiasm and optimism while gaining life and work experiences during the transition. And I hope that the next student story I hear is original. Please, let it be original.

Have you ever wondered how your institution’s compensation and benefits for live-in/live-on pros–hall directors and the like–compares to that of other institutions? Where are domestic partners welcomed? Who allows pets? Which pets? Are their meals covered? All these answers and more are in Rich Horowitz’s Live-In/Live-On Report, an annual survey of young professionals’ benefits and compensation.

Do you have invaluable resources for research or benchmarking? Let us know what they are.

Hiring from within can be an economical solution to the need to fill an empty position in tight economic times, if the other circumstances that go along with internal hiring are right for your institution.

According to an article in Inside HigherEd by Lucy Apthorp Leske, internal searches work best when:

• The usual hiring protocols are followed when the decision to hire internally is made, and the reasoning is clearly explained to all constituents.
• It’s important for the hire to have a quick understanding of the issues as only an insider can.
• An insider offers skills or experience that are uniquely suited to the position.
• A quick transition time is desired.

If these conditions apply, an internal hire can easily save $10,000 and a lot of time, thanks to a shortened interview period and avoiding the expense of visiting candidates and relocation expenses.

An internal hire is less attractive if the department needs a fresh perspective, internal politics would compromise the hire’s effectiveness, or if the options for hiring internally are limited.

“Advice to a New Department Chair” in the Careers area of the Chronicle of Higher Education may at first not seem relevant, but there’s certain elements of the workplace, learning how to manage and be managed, that are true no matter your domain. The author offers some wise suggestions for being diplomatic and getting things done.