Talking Stick - July/August 2018 - 40

Roelf Visser Global Initiatives Award

Edwina Ellicott
University of Wollongong

dwina Ellicott is the marketing
and occupancy manager for accommodation services at the University of Wollongong and has worked at
UOW since 2007. Her role also includes
managing housing services, conferencing and student admissions. She is an active participant in the UOW mentoring
program and has mentored new managers for over seven years
Ellicott has been a member of
APSAA (Asia Pacific Student Accommodation Association) since 2007 and
was appointed to the APSAA committee
in 2010. In 2013 she was elected president and held this position until April
2015. In this capacity she represented
APSAA at the annual ACUHO-I Conference in Minneapolis (2013) and in
Washington DC in 2014 where she presented several papers. Ellicott has served
as a board member of APSAA from
2017 to 2018 and has traveled extensively throughout Europe and the U.S.
visiting and collaborating with student
housing operations.
Her role as chair for ACUHO-I's
Global Initiatives Network (GIN) has
seen her work closely with both the
former Globalization Director Colin
Marshall and the current Director, Bes
Liebenberg to assist in expanding the
global activities of ACUHO-I. Some of
these outcomes include planning the
2018 International Symposium as well
as promoting global member participation to increase engagement from global
members via the online global commu-

nity. She also has increased participation from global members in Australia,
Belgium, Canada, and England in the
recent Campus Housing Index and has
encouraged networking and engagement from global members to participate in the many ACUHO-I voluntary
committees and workgroups. She also
has served as a global faculty member
to deliver the Roelf Visser South African
Student Housing Training Institute in
South Africa in 2017 and 2018.
What is the first memory that jumps
into your mind when you think about
your career in campus housing? When
I saw my job advertised I thought, that's
interesting, I wasn't aware there was an
industry in student housing, I'll give it
a year. Well, 11 years on, here I am and
loving it.
When do you first remember being
aware of ACUHO-I?
I was first aware of ACUHO-I when
I joined AACUHO in Australia (now
called APSAA). Once I joined the
AACUHO committee I was hooked and
have always loved working in a volunteer
capacity. I joined the APSAA committee
and was working with some incredibly
enthusiastic professionals who were so
dedicated, smart and fun. The next thing
I knew I was Vice President, then President. I was fortunate enough to attend
an ACUHO-I study tour and conference
in Texas, and then Minneapolis and
Washington, D.C. I got to know more of
the ACUHO-I staff and volunteers.
It was a natural progression to get
involved with ACUHO-I and I've always
had a strong interest in anything international. The professionalism, dedication, motivation and sense of fun that

exists in Australia is a global thing, I see
it in ACUHO-I in the U.S. and in South
Africa. It's an honour to be associated
with such an amazing group of people.
Who were your mentors and influencers when you first got started? How did
they assist you?
My colleagues in accommodation services at UOW are amazing, hard working , supportive and have great senses of
humour - I've learned something from
every single one of them.
Colin Marshall from Federation
University - who convinced me to go
for the president role of AACUHO - always has great advice and great jokes.
In recent years it has been Patty
Martinez, from the University of Alabama and Mike "Global!" Schultz. I
learned so much from them when I was
part of the faculty for the RVSHTI
What were the major issues in the field
during the time you were on the executive board / most involved with the
association? How do they differ from
what practitioners face today?
Many issues are still the same: increasing demands on staff, students' changing
needs and as an industry how we adapt,
managing mental health for students,
efficient use of scarce resources, reacting and responding to world events.
Having a global network is so valuable,
being able to share ideas and connect.
Technology is evolving so quickly, it is
helping us to connect more and more -
especially globally.
In six words, how would you describe
ACUHO-I?
Inclusive, informed, aware, diverse,
global! (Sorry only managed five.)

Talking Stick - July/August 2018

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