Talking Stick - November/December 2008 - 53

institution but also allowed me to share with other colleagues at the institution the importance of residential living and the benefits of forward thinking with regard to residential facilities. exciting when you feel you have such a stake in your institution and you have the ability to make a significant impact on the culture. get great returns and responses from our students. Plus it creates ownership in our housing program. Michelle Ballew Safewright: The fact that you can build so many bridges with the faculty and academic affairs at a small institution is something I find very rewarding. We have many ongoing projects here such as our first-year experience, which includes members of the faculty, student development and admissions, and the student intervention team that assists in student retention – this group includes faculty, academic affairs, and student development. It’s very much a team approach to ensuring student success – it’s not just the responsibility of one division over another. Larry Christenson: We do what we do because we know it makes a difference in the lives of students. My staff cringes when I tell others on campus that “we” can take care of it. We all know that the dedicated and limited staff we have available to us work hard and have to work very closely to allow me to answer with “we”; our departments are not fractionalized but have to work as a team. Jim Wiltgen: Over the past two years I participated in the ACPA Residential Curriculum workshops. It was during this experience that I realized how fortunate I was to work at a small institution. I realized that I could bring the concepts of the workshop back to my campus, and we had the ability to integrate those concepts within our division and the institution at large. It’s Center: Working at a small institution has provided me the opportunity to get to know students and work with them on a more personal basis. It also allows me to see a number of projects through to completion. In some of my experiences at larger institutions, I often found myself putting out one fire, just to run to the next, with little time to get to know residents … or even colleagues at the institution. For me, working at a small institution has afforded me the type of opportunities I value on a day-to-day basis. Safewright: I’ll agree with that. At a small institution you get to see the impact of all your investments in projects. You can see day to day how the work that you do impacts many students, and when something isn’t working then you get to hear that directly too. Casey: You’re right about that, Michelle. Accessibility means being around when all is well and also when there’s a concern. Our students seek a partnership with the college in developing programs and in addressing concerns. Thomas: Occasionally I struggle with the lack of student involvement in (housing) projects, but I still have to sell the building to the residents. I would have to admit this is one aspect of the smaller school setting that can be frustrating at times. Lately I’ve started to involve our students, via student surveys about adding amenities and extra items. I Center: Chip touched on an excellent point about the sometimes frustrating aspect of struggling with the lack of student involvement. I find that, with a small student population, finding enough students with desire, time, or initiative to seek out RA positions or other student leadership positions on campus can be quite challenging. Often, student debt or other costs incurred with seeking a college education dictate that students work in order to simply meet their financial obligations. This, unfortunately, leaves little time for the type of extracurricular activities that students could participate in, which would continue to enhance our university community. Wiltgen: At small colleges we have the opportunity to connect to colleagues in other departments and in other divisions. There is an opportunity to create partnerships that transcend the whole institution. There is a culture of connection that I don’t think you are regularly able to find at larger institutions. The interconnectedness can also be a little frustrating at times because you are asked to blend varied missions and values. However, most hybrid programs prove to be stronger over the long run. You give up some control, but you have a broader perspective. Thomas: That’s clearly been my experience with crisis management. We have not had to deal with anything CONTINUES 64 53 November + December 2008

Talking Stick - November/December 2008

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