ACUHO-I News Blog

I’m reading a book, The Three Pound Enigma, about the function of the human brain, written by a medical student.

While she was in medical school.

And I was pretty impressed with myself because I’m reading a book about the function of the brain. (It’s quite interesting so far, if you have time to read something non-student-affairs-related.)

My Internet research tells me author Shannon Moffett is now  married to a man with a demanding job of his own, has young twins and a residency as an emergency-room M.D. in an inner-city hospital. In an essay written when her twins were toddlers, she says “It seems to take me twice as long to ‘get’ new concepts as it used to, and I never feel like I’m functioning at top speed.” So that’s what it takes to slow such a highly productive person down. In that case, twins might leave me unable to eat food unaided.

I was ruminating on this, and my own lesser productivity, when I ran across this article, about  Carmen Twillie Ambar, president of Cedar Crest College in Allentown, P.A., and mother of triplets. Her husband–no slouch himself–says his wife wakes at 5 a.m. to exercise and doesn’t even drink coffee. She has assistants and the couple hired a daytime nanny, but still…coffee. There are times I’d tell family secrets for another cup of coffee. (Sorry Mom and Dad!)

Of course, I thought of ACUHO-I members too. Student affairs and housing are 24-7 occupations, even without considering duties for professional associations, such as ACUHO-I, work within one’s institution, and, of course, a personal life.

What are the advice and lessons we can pull from stories of high-achievers? Moffett slowed her progression through medical school to allow time for her book. Ambar relies on schedulers and other assistants, and a little flexibility in her schedule. If she can’t do something at 4 p.m. because of childcare duties, she’ll move it to 2 p.m., or 7 p.m. It will get done at some time in the 24-hour cycle.

What helps you manage it all? Did a mentor show you the way? Was there a book that helped? Have you always been a go-go-go sort? Let us know.

The biggest challenge for college students with Asperger’s Syndrome?

The residence hall.

This is according to Diane Rogers, the director of the Learning Differences program at Mercyhurst College in Erie, P.A. Mercyhurst has been working to make their institution more welcoming to students with Asperger’s.

Perhaps given the popularity of Glee, Yale University is trying the musical-theatre approach to recruiting. The production, created by current and former Yale students, touts the residential colleges too.

The musical-recruiting made James Baumann think of some other productions they could stage: West Quad Story, Joseph the RA and the Amazing Technicolor Pass Key; Quadspell; and The Phantom of the Study Lounge. That got me thinking: There’s A Cafeteria Line and Seven Credits for Seven Hours. If another university wishes to follow suit, they could try Oklahoma…State! If they wished to branch into plays, and reach transfer students, there’s You Can’t Take Those Credits With You.

Got any for us?

Are single-sex bathrooms a girl’s best friend? Is it okay to use “hostesses” to sell an institution’s football program? Do mentoring and female faculty influence students? Also, U. Mass modifies its ban on face coverings. These and many other important questions and answers, this week on Inside HigherEd!

A BATHROOM OF HER OWN: A student’s suit over lack of single-sex facilities raises the question: Do college women deserve some spaces where men won’t be disrobing?

BE THEIR GUEST: Investigation into U. of Tennessee’s football recruiting practices raises questions about the continued presence of “hostesses” — female students responsible for entertaining recruits– on some campuses.

PROOF THAN MENTORING MATTERS: Study of economists — complete with control group — shows impact of coaching women on the process or getting published and winning grants.

COLLEGE REVERSES VEIL BAN: Massachusetts institution adds a religious exemption to its rule barring face-obscuring head coverings.

ROLE MODELS AND STEREOTYPES: Study both backs up and challenges conventional wisdom about whether presence of female faculty members influences female students’ choice of major.

We’ll see you in 2010!

We hear a lot about the bad things going on at fraternities; the popular image of these organizations is not very good, at least as far as college and university administrators are concerned. What are fraternities doing right? Do the goods outweigh the bads? Does your status as a member or non-member of a fraternity or sorority color your opinion?

We’ll see you on December 28.

Have yourself a sordid little Christmas. (If you want.)

The Chronicle of Higher Educationtalked to Dr. George Kuh, and gleaned some of his thoughts on where assessment has been, and where it needs to go. While assessment has come a long way, Kuh says, it still is far from reaching its potential. He feels much of the data gathered is not used as comprehensively as possible, and that the full cycle of assessment–from assessment itself, to analysis of the results, to adjusting for deficiencies and assessing again–isn’t often attained.

The commenters on The Chronicle of Higher Education website offer other opinions on why assessment may not have come full circle yet: Faculty and staff are often wary of assessment, worried it will result in a dumbing-down of their work and firing and hiring strictly based on quantitative measures. How do you think this barrier can be overcome?

  Today, I’d like to tell you about a little 40-page booklet that could prove quite indispensable to you. It is the ISSA 540 Cleaning Times, available from ISSA, an association for cleaning and custodial contractors and vendors. (Originally, the ISSA stood for International Sanitary Supply Association, but in 2005, it was changed to ISSA: The Worldwide Cleaning Association, to better reflect their membership.)

The cleaning times booklet has estimations of the times it takes to do certain custodial tasks, such as: The time it takes one person to vacuum a carpeted hallway of a certain square footage; the time it takes to clean a certain number of restroom sinks; the minutes expended vacuuming a couch. They also include the tools typically used for a job. This can help you allocate custodial staff and supplies.

In the news at Inside Higher Ed this week, health plans and students, out-of-state students helping to balance institutional budgets, and a student blogger is sued by his school.

MOCKING THE HOLOCAUST: At Reed, a satire imagining the murder of Jews at another college leaves many students angry. Was the betrayal the article — or that it was shared with someone who isn’t at Reed?:

BELIEVING IN GOD AND EVOLUTION: A new movement is encouraging Christian colleges to embrace the teaching of evolution — without giving up professors’ or students’ faith:

STUDENTS MISSING IN HEALTH PLANS: Legislation moving through Congress seems to forget college students in its provisions:

OUT-OF-STATE DREAMS: Can more non-resident students (who pay higher tuition) balance budgets of flagship universities? A growing number of institutions think so. Some experts doubt the plans will work; others fear a shift in values:

UNIVERSITY SUES STUDENT BLOGGER: Butler U. says anonymous critic engaged in libel and defamation. He turns out to be an undergraduate writing about his stepmother’s removal as department chair:

Editor’s Note: October is Careers in Student Affairs month. In recognition of that, Ellen Heffernan of The Spelman & Johnson Group is acting as a guest blogger and offering advice applicable throughout job search process. In this post she covers, well, cover letters. You can read about resumes here.

Cover letters are exercises in marketing and remember the basic concept of marketing: The ability to identify your audience and reach out to them with your message! So, when you create a cover letter for a position you MUST consider your audience.

Your cover letter should be specific to the institution and the position and as you craft your letter you should ask yourself what does the institution/division need in this position? What are their challenges? What, specifically, do I bring to the table that might interest them or get them excited about my application?

The mechanics of the cover letter include:

• The Four Basic Paragraphs: 1)State the purpose; 2) Summarize your skill and knowledge areas – highlight some solid, measurable accomplishments; 3) Briefly state what you know about the institution/position; 4) Indicate why you are a good match for institution/position
• Speak to the position description/advertisement
• Speak to any special situations that you may have
• Personalize your letter! (use the web to look things up)
• Proofread, don’t just spell check. Ask a friend to read the letter. Sometimes it helps to read it backwards so you ensure you have included every word.

A good cover letter should not be more than two pages in length; it does not rehash what is in your resume, and it indicates that you have knowledge of the institution to which you are applying as well as the position you are applying for!

For more tips on crafting a strong cover letter visit the SJG website! For questions on your cover letter, just e-mail us!

A dust-up at Tufts University has stirred the questions of who is allowed to make fun of whom, the limits of political correctness, the value of satire and the potential offensiveness of satire as well.

Alice Pang, a candidate for Community Union Senate, created posters advertising her campaign. “ALICE PANG” is printed across the top and beneath this, “small person. big ideas.” Pang’s picture is below this next to “Hurrah!” in parenthesies, and below that, “2013 senate; vote on thursday.” In an effort to poke fun at the what he percieved as excessive political correctness on campus, In-Goo Kwak, a student from South Korea, made a similar poster featuring his name and photo. He’s not running for Community Union Senate though. His tagline is “squinty eyes. BIG VISION.” Next to his picture is (“Kimchi!”) and on the bottom of the poster is “Prease vote me! I work reary hard!”

Predictably, many Tufts students are upset by Kwak’s poster. A number of organizations signed a letter denoucing Kwak’s action, and the director of the campus Asisan Center called him to complain on behalf of other students. Kwak seems bemused by the whole situation, noting that none of the offended students spoke directly to him (in fact, he attended a meeting on the subject unrecognized so he could hear what students thought of his parody). Kwak said he appologized to Pang, and she graciously accepted. He also finds it odd that many students expect him to be punished for an action he feels is protected by the First Amendment.

For its part, the Tufts administration has been taking a watch-and-wait stance, letting students discuss the situation without interference.

Have you faced issues such as this on your campus? Where’s the line between free speech and hate speech? Is that line a blurry one? How did you (or your administration) handle the situation?

Higher education institutions have shown interest in greening their own practices; constructing efficient buildings; using environmentally-friendly groundskeeping methods and cleaning chemicals and going trayless in the cafeteria. But what wbout the students themselves? Some institutions are now offering classes, certificates or degrees in environmental topics. While some of these are stand-alone degrees or courses, others combine with majors the institution already offered, to provide a sustainable lens through which to view one’s career and life’s work. These programs can be combined with many other majors, meaning architecture, interior design and hospitality students can graduate with knowledge about how to utilize sustainable elements in their work.

That’s what I’ve started calling the Beloit College’s Mindset List. It’s supposed to be a helpful tool for those who work in colleges and universities, but really its true purpose–and effect–seems to be to make anyone who isn’t 18 or younger feel old. Old. Older every year. Perhaps Beloit’s counseling services get a little bump after the list is released, thanks to middleagers who had a crisis after realizing they clearly remember the car they were driving when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister; the day they traded in a tube for a flat screen, or watching Saved by the Bell. This writer is too old to even have a Mindset List of her own; the first produced was for the class of 2002. (Ohio University, BSJ, 2000)

Yes, even our cheerful computer-girl up there seems to be saying “Ha ha! I’ve never used a card catalog to find a book!”

In a way, it’s funny that our culture reveres a lack of perspective and ignorance of societal touchstones (Jack Kevorkian, the KGB, a unified Korea), that this naivete is actually honored in our society, but this isn’t a sociology or philosophy blog, so take a big breath –sigh!–and read the list. 

After that, women can cheer themselves up by watching the excellent Sarah Haskins take on advertising’s view of aging women (men will likely find Sarah amusing too). After all, there’s only one alternative to getting old, and it’s not a good option.

The Post-9/11 G.I. Bill is confusing. The Montgomery G.I. Bill works the same for each recipient: $1,321 per month, per veteran, regardless of where he or she goes to school or what he or she is studying. This system is imperfect in many ways, but one of its strengths is its simplicity. It’s very easy for a veterans to calculate their benefits and select an institution based on that.

The Post-9/11 G.I. Bill attempts to fix some of the flaws in the Montgomery plan (a public undergraduate degree in New York state will probably cost more than the same from South Dakota), but of course, this makes it more complicated as well. This Inside HigherEd article gowes through some of the details, and what the military is doing to counsel students-to-be. The Department of Veterans Affairs has a website to explain the benefits as well.