Talking Stick - January/February 2009 - 28

speCial FoCus Many of the senior directors we interviewed explained how current technology has made it even easier to interact with students. Deborah Schmidt-Rogers, director of residential education at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, admits to “keeping connected and staying fresh” through her self-proclaimed Facebook addiction. She enjoys learning about day-to-day issues affecting students and chatting with them about their recent successes, disappointments, and overall life changes. (Her 17-year-old son helps her stay connected with the Millennial generation.) Niendorf also finds Facebook to be a useful tool for connecting with recent Wellesley alums, and she used the medium to help organize a five-year reunion. Interactions with students can turn into a valuable learning experience for senior housing officers. Beth Moriarty, director of residence life and housing at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts, explains how a close connection with students often teaches her how to handle future problems. For example, two years ago Bridgewater State had to solve the problem of significant overcapacity by turning many double rooms into triples. Moriarty and her staff used special programming initiatives as a means of interacting with students and gathering information about their experiences in more crowded spaces, Becoming more closely which taught involved with stUdents hAs them how to manage severAl BeneFits, one oF which occupancy more is thAt this Kind oF involvement successfully cAn helP to BAlAnce the in the future. resPonsiBilities And PressUres Maintaining a close oF AdministrAtive demAnds. connection with students also helped her to resolve some of the problems related to renovating a number of their facilities while keeping the halls open. Moriarty and her staff involved many students in committee work, furniture selection, paint and flooring selection, updates and notices between administrators and students, Web communication, etc., and in the process they gathered important information about how the renovation impacted student life. As a result, she received fewer complaints than in years past, and students were excited that their opinions really counted. Supporting and complementing the institution’s academic mission is a hallmark of student affairs professionals nationwide, and it is also a valuable means for interacting with students. Joan Schmidt, associate director of residence life at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, elects to teach the university’s First-Year Experience 101 course. She enjoys the teaching role because it offers her an opportunity to have a semesterlong relationship with a consistent group of students. Because the courses are made up of a cross section of the student population, she learns a lot about how new students perceive the institution. Teaching also allows her to share different ideas related to her work in housing and residential life with an objective group of students. The size of an institution may influence how much a senior housing officer can interact with students, and institutions with a defined mission in serving a niche community provide many opportunities. Cathleen Raynis Meeker, director of student and residence life at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, maintains a high level of interaction with students and student leaders because of her intimate relationship with student affairs staff. Becoming more closely involved with students has several benefits, one of which is that this kind of involvement can help to balance the responsibilities and pressures of administrative demands. Meeker describes her interactions with students as a blessing; they continually inform her practice as she receives continuous student feedback through a variety of assessment tools and information interactions. She sees students throughout the process of training and selecting student staff and leaders, of participating in academic traditions at the conservatory, and of responding to special student concerns; and she appreciates how this interaction provides a healthy balance to the administrative tasks of her senior position. 2 Talking STick

Talking Stick - January/February 2009

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