Talking Stick - July/August 2018 - 42

Robert P. Cooke Talking Stick Article of the Year

Vicka Bell-Robinson & Erin Slater
Miami University
working within housing and residence
life taught me to expect the unexpected and reminded me the importance of
meeting students where they are in their
journeys, both lessons I have brought
into my work in student conduct."

n their award-winning article "Outside the Bubble" Dr. Vicka Bell-Robinson and Erin Slater offer insights
about strategies for integrating current
events, politics, and social movements
into staff supervision. As they state in the
article, "Current events, politics, and social movements affect our students, our
staff, and us as professionals. Though it
may be easier to ignore these events, we
must not only acknowledge that they are
occurring, but also integrate them into
our supervision and community leadership... . By doing this we better prepare
our student staff to work with their residents and better prepare ourselves for
moments when conflicts from differing
viewpoints arise." To accomplish this,
they later add, "we cannot be afraid or
too busy to discuss politics, current
events, and social movements that will
affect them long after they leave the Ivory Tower."
The article's lead author, Bell-Robinson, has 15 years of higher education
experience and currently is the director
of residence life at Miami University.
Prior, she held positions at North Central College and Ball State University.
She has a Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Illinois,

a Master of education in College Student Personnel from Grand Valley State
University, and a Doctor of Philosophy
in Educational Leadership from Miami
University. She is well versed in diversity
and inclusion, facility management, assessment, staff selection, training, and
development, as well as establishing effective campus partnerships.
When the article was published,
Slater was a graduate resident director
at Miami. Today she serves as a conduct coordinator in the University of
California Berkeley's Center for Student
Conduct. In this role, she works with
students, student organizations, and
campus and community partners to investigate, adjudicate, and resolve violations of the Code of Student Conduct.
She also is a member of the Graduate
Student and New Professional Review
Board for NASPA's Journal About Women In Higher Education. Though no longer directly working in campus housing,
she states that "the functional area will
always be dear to me" adding that "my
first professional student affairs position
was within housing and I completed an
ACUHO-I internship at the University
of Washington between my first and second years of graduate school. My time

What is your first memory of your campus housing career?
[Bell-Robinson] My first year of college,
I learned being an RD was a possibility. I
was sure I wanted to do it because I liked
helping students, leading groups, and
making a difference.
When do you first remember being
aware of ACUHO-I and why did you get
involved with the association?
I've always been a person who is involved in volunteer endeavors and leadership opportunities. I jumped at the
chance to join a GLACUHO committee
and the rest is history.
Who were your mentors and influencers
when you first got started? How did they
assist you?
I was definitely directly influenced by
a variety of professional staff members
at the University of Illinois. To name a
few: Jack Collins, Irene Kendall, Jennifer
Yearsley Bennett. I was also influenced
by supervisors at Grand Valley State
University, namely Andrew Beachneau,
Janet Walls Steinbacher, Brenda Mitchner, and Sondra Dennison. Beyond my
institutions, I learned from professionals in GLACURH, IRHA, and GLACUHO, including Patty Martinez, Julie
Payne-Kirchmeier, Cathy Bickel, and
Deb Schmidt-Rogers.
How would you describe ACUHO-I?
This is where you belong.

Talking Stick - July/August 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - July/August 2018