Talking Stick - July/August 2017 - 8

VISION

Diving Into Data
Last month, as I was preparing my comments for the 2017 ACUHO-I Annual Conference & Exposition, it hit me; I have reached the halfway point in my ACUHO-I presidency. The time has just flown by, and it has been an honor and a pleasure to serve
in this role. During this time, I have been excited by the new projects that further our
strategic plan, strengthen our research focus, and provide information and resources
that will allow all of us to be stronger advocates for the influence of campus housing.
This has been particularly true with the Campus Housing Index.
I fully own up to being fascinated by information about our profession. When it comes time to make a decision, I am always asking to
see the data. The Campus Housing Index truly delivers, as this collection of benchmarking data explores all aspects of housing operations
and compensation. If you have not yet dug into this gold mine of
information, you are missing out.

i Fully OWn
uP tO Being
FasCinateD By
inFORMatiOn
aBOut OuR
PROFessiOn.
WHen it
COMes tiMe
tO Make a
DeCisiOn, i aM
alWays asking
tO see tHe
Data.

There were 308 institutions that originally entered data, representing the full range of campus housing and residence life. The system
currently is open again for you to update or enter your own data. It's
important to note that once you answer half of the questions it is free
to explore the results, see median averages, and more. You will want to
spend hours discovering how your operations compare against others.
It has also been rewarding to see results from the research grants
the Association and ACUHO-I Foundation have provided. They help
us answer many important questions, but we also know there are
bigger questions out there - ones that speak to the overall effect of the
work we do and the role on-campus living plays in students' success.
That is why I'm incredibly pleased to announce that ACUHO-I,
with the support of the ACUHO-I Foundation, will dedicate up to
$180,000 over the next three years towards a holistic, multi-campus,
representative scholarly study. A team from Indiana University will
combine multi-institutional data from the National Survey of Student
Engagement, enrollment records from the National Student Clearinghouse, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
data, and results from the ACUHO-I Campus Housing Index. This
comprehensive dataset will allow a detailed analysis of the relationship
between first-year and sophomore students' living arrangements,
their engagement, and their likelihood to persist in college. When
completed, we will be able to illustrate definitively the impact of
campus housing.
The last six months have been jam packed, and there's still much
more to come. Keep an eye out for more news about the research project, the Campus Housing Index data collection, and other initiatives.
The best is yet to come.

talking stiCk

Beth McCuskey

 @BethMcCuskey

ACUHO-I President

 Beth McCuskey

 bmccuske@purdue.edu

 Beth McCuskey

talking Stick
Symbol of International
Friendship
Talking Stick magazine
takes its name from the
symbol of international
friendship presented
to ACUHO-I in 1973 by
the Ohiat Band of the
British Columbia Indian
Nation. The talking stick,
or speaker's staff, is
hand carved, and the
inscription explains, "It is
a sign of authority carried
when proclamations
are to be made or a
meeting of chiefs is in
session. It is a token
of common heritage
both to Canadians and
Americans."

On THE
cOvEr

The Disability
Cultural Center at
Syracuse University
provides resources
and training for their
campus community.
See some of their
activities in the
feature on page 58
and read an interview
with the authors
of the new book
Disability in Higher
Education: A Social
Justice Approach.
Photo Credit:
Disability Cultural
Center at Syracuse
University

Talking Stick - July/August 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - July/August 2017