Advisor As an Information Source
Alicia Vest – Appalachian State
This is the introductory course to the Adviser Recognition and Training Institute (ART). Course content includes information that the adviser of a residential student organization should be aware of for their campus as well as state, regional, and national residence hall student organizations. We will discuss best practices, campus information, departmental issues, state/regional/national RHA organizations, general information (travel requirements, financial structures, etc.) and a brief discussion about the development of the ART program. This session will also address how to present the structure/organization of the student group to others in your department/institution.
Track: ART-CORE
Technical Writing for Student Affairs
Adam Ross Nelson – East Carolina University
This program, in hands-on workshop format, will present a range of intuitive techniques suitable for technical writing projects common in student affairs administration; recommended for anyone involved in writing operational manuals, staff manuals, policy, procedure, etc. Participants will learn when to chose which “person” and “voice” for specific writing projects. This presentation also discusses electronic mail, letter drafting, incident/narrative documentation, and the notion of written “memorialization.”
Transitional Leadership
Shannon Nelson – UNC Greensboro
When your team is in transition, what can you do as the supervisor to be the glue that holds it together? Come explore a framework for effectively handling team dynamics after a staffing change within Residence Life. During these transitions we need to consider the needs of the entering RAs, the remaining RAs, and the leaving RAs as well as our residents to ensure the success of our current community. We will engage in a conversation to examine the aspects of a transitional period, the needs of everyone involved, and how to rebuild your team back to full effectiveness.
Track: Graduates
Assessment of an LGBT Student Blog: Impact, Identity, & Informed Decisions
Jess Evans – UNC Chapel Hill
In this program, we will explain how we explored intersectional approaches to identity development by assessing a student blog (with 81,000 hits in 23 countries) with the goal to answer our research question: What impacts identity development of high achieving lgbtq students at a highly selective university? This presentation will walk participants through what is not only an interesting subject, but also provide the needed steps to replicate the process in their realm of work.
A Lion in the Rough: Institutional Crisis Response
DeAndre Howard & Mindy Bliss – Mars Hill University
Mars Hill University, an academic community rooted in the Christian faith, challenges and equips students to pursue intellectual, spiritual, and personal growth that is: grounded in a rigorous study of the Liberal Arts, connected with the world of work, and committed to character development, to service, and to responsible citizenship in the community, the region, and the world. Within the past year, Mars Hill has managed a sequence of critical incidents including a student death, student conduct issues resulting in media attention, and a residence hall fire. We will discuss individual and cumulative effects on the staff and the institution. Other colleges and universities will be encouraged to share any best practices utilized by their respective institutions.
