AIMHO Angle May 2017

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THE

AIMHO Angle May 2017

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OVERVIEW The AIMHO Angle is the official publication of the Association of Intermountain Housing Officers (AIMHO).

The AIMHO Angle is published on a quarterly basis throughout each year and includes submissions and articles by staff and students of the region. The AIMHO Angle is compiled and distributed by the AIMHO Marketing Committee.

The purpose of the AIMHO Angle is to provide additional, year-round, out-of-conference opportunities for associated members to share information and learn. All members of AIMHO are encouraged to write for and submit articles to the AIMHO Angle about topics such as passion areas, research, hot topics in housing, projects happening on their campus, and best practices in the field.

If you are interested in submitting to the AIMHO Angle, learn how to on AIMHO Angle website at http://www.aimho.org/?page=SubmitAnArtlcle. You will also find previous issues of the AIMHO Angle on the website for your reference and to download. If you have any questions, please email aimhoangle@gmail.com We look forward to receiving your submissions!

MARKETING COMMITTEE Catherine LaRoche (Chair) - Arizona State University Cory Shapiro (Co-Chair) - Arizona State University Hannah Baley - Montana State University - Billings Jordan Garceau - Montana State University Megan Letchworth - Prescott College Matthew Linton - University of Arizona

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CONTENTS 3-5.......PRESIDENT'S CORNER -Richard Clark 6...........MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNTS -Sara Agostinelli 7-8........AIMHO GIVES -Jeff Rosenberry 9-11.......2017 AIMHO CONFERENCE -UNLV (Sawyer Spackman) 12..........2017 RAppin' CONFERENCE -UNR (Stephanie Jones) 13-19....FEATURED ARTICLES -Marijuana: A look into Colorado Policy (Tricia Timney) - An AIMHO President's Odyssey (Richard Clark) - Leaving Gracefully (Sara Holtzman) 19...........AIMHO 360 Webinars -Sara Agostinelli 20..........Spring 2017 New Hires

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PRESIDENT'S CORNER WHO WE ARE AND WHERE ARE WE GOING? By: Richard Clark, AIMHO President The Association of Intermountain Housing Officers (AIMHO) held their first annual conference in 1956 at the University of Wyoming (Laramie). The Association's purpose is to work for continual improvement and coordination of housing and food service operations for students and staff members in institutions of higher learning. Membership within the Association is open to all housing officers of institutions of higher education. An annual conference is held (November) at which time Association members meet to exchange and distribute professional information and ideas relating to the administration of physical, financial, social, and educational phases of housing and food service programs in colleges and universities.

Association of Intermountain Housing Officers (AIMHO) represents member institutions in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Saskatchewan, Canada.

AIMHO MISSION We provide members opportunities to learn, collaborate, and network for the advancement of best practices in the stewardship of college and university residential communities.

AIMHO CORE VALUES STUDENT CENTERED: Students are at the center of our professional practice INCLUSIVITY AND INVOLVEMENT: AIMHO actively includes and involves all interested members in its programs, committees and leadership of the region.

COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL JUSTICE & RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP: AIMHO is committed to social justice and responsible citizenship in our programs and practice.

DATA INFORMED LEADERSHIP: AIMHO employs data informed leadership to advance our association, members and the profession.

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PRESIDENT'S CORNER CORE ASSOCIATION GOALS - On-going promotion of the mission and values of the Association - Institutional and individual member outreach, recruitment and engagement - Provide year-round learning opportunities for all individual members within the region Create a culture of investment As you can see from the aforementioned, AIMHO has been guided by a strategic plan for many years. The current strategic plan began with a series of meetings at the June 2012 Summer Business Meeting in Billings, Montana and later shared broadly with the AIMHO Region for review, discussion and adoption. Since 2012, our strategic plan has played an important role in our association by providing direction and guidance to the Executive Board, committees and direction as a whole. While our current strategic plan has served us well, it was necessary to develop a new plan that will guide and inform us for the future.

In the spirit of our current Mission, Core Values, and Goals, AIMHO has embarked on a journey of discovery as we approached our strategic planning process this past year. The approach is called Appreciative Inquiry (AI) and focusses on the best of AIMHO. It began with a presentation at the 2016 Summer Business Meeting asking for approval, quickly moving to committee formation made up of 10 members representing not only housing professionals, but also a member of our Corporate Partner Advisor Committee. Once the committee was formed, a 2-day training program was hosted in Las Vegas in early September followed by interviews with regional colleagues at the Annual Conference, phone and campus visits.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Appreciative Inquiry Process and since the strategic planning process falls under the President’s area of responsibility, I wanted to use an approach that I was familiar with, is transparent, inclusive of members at all levels and provides new opportunities for members to learn something new. Unlike traditional SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis, AI assumes that every organization has something that works and change can be managed through the identification of what works, and the analysis of how to do more of what works. In short, focus on what we do well and continue to do more of it while minimizing what we don't. It has a strong Strengths Quest bend to it and helps us tell our story. The table below illustrates key differences between the traditional strategic planning approach and Appreciative Inquiry.

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PRESIDENT'S CORNER

The AI process is typically described as the “4-D” Cycle. It begins with the Discovery phase (our current phase). This phase begins with mini-interviews will all (or as many as possible) members of the association. Key themes and change agenda items are identified by the AI Core Group. Phase two looks to visioning the association’s future by Dreaming of what will be. The Design phase is the establishment of association goals. The final phase is Destiny and this is the time when the strategic plan is created. Annually, an Appreciative Inquiry Summit will be convened in order for the association to reflect on and continue to modify the strategic planning document.

So, what’s next? The AI Core Group Committee has competed interviews with members who chose to participate, consolidated those interviews into a 170-page report which is now being reviewed by committee members. During these interviews, affirmative topics were used. An affirmative topic is a statement or question that defines the area you want to improve, in a way that is most likely to engage people, get them thinking in productive and creative ways, and lead to a successful result. Questions designed by the committee focused on the following affirmative topics: meaningful engagement, innovative education, authentic relationships, holistic development, and intentional inclusivity.

Currently committee members are identifying common themes for each affirmative topic, the best stories for each affirmative topic, and the best quote for each affirmative topic. Finally, the Core Group will identify the systems AIMHO has in place to support/maintain each Affirmative Topic. Once this is complete, the committee will create a letter that contains all this information and send to all the AIMHO members for review and comment.

I hope all of you will continue to participate in the AI process in one way or another. I would also encourage you to refer to earlier AIMHO Angle articles outlining AI and committee make up. If you have any questions, please let me know.

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MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNTS In the height of hiring season I wanted to remind you of the importance of keeping your AIMHO membership account updated with current information.

Through a program called YourMembership (YM), AIMHO members are able to set up accounts that allow them to register for webinars and conferences, post job openings in the Career Center, and receive emails from the association.

How YM works is every college and university that is an AIMHO member school sets up one Institutional Membership. This is the membership that pays AIMHO dues. Institutional Members can have up to 999 Individual Memberships within their membership. It is through these Individual Membership profiles that AIMHO members can access all the benefits of being an AIMHO member.

If you do not have an AIMHO Individual Membership, talk to your Senior Housing Officer. They can either give you the ‘direct link’ to create an Individual Membership, or from inside the YM Institutional Account send you an email that will allow you to create an Individual Membership.

There are step-by-step guides and YouTube videos available on the AIMHO SignIn page of the AIMHO website.

If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to Sara Agostinelli, AIMHO Technology Coordinator, at sara.agostinelli@mso.umt.edu or 406-2435095.

- Sara Agostinelli, University of Montana

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AIMHO GIVES ACUHO-I members recognize that the education, knowledge resources, community, and advocacy they receive from ACUHO-I truly matters. That’s why they have chosen to invest their time and their funds into the ACUHO-I Foundation and, in turn, invest in the future of the campus housing profession.

In return, the ACUHO-I Foundation supports resources and programs that further the development of individuals involved in campus housing around the globe. As a responsible steward of financial resources to support the profession and its future, it helps to provide opportunities and access to resources for all individuals involved in the campus housing profession.

The ACUHO-I Foundation works to ensure that every person has access to the resources to help them and their organization succeed, and that they are inspired to invest in its future.

The Association of Intermountain Housing Officers has long since been a benefactor of the Foundation, proving that when “AIMHO Gives” the members within our association also receive funding and support. In fact, since 2009 AIMHO members have received nearly $20,000 in support for internships, Best Of programs, NHTI and New Professional awards.

I invite you to learn more about how your donation makes a difference by visiting the AIMHO Gives webpage. Currently the information on this page provides information about how to donate to the ACUHO-I Foundation, but in the future this page will continue the highlight the AIMHO members who benefit from donations.

In the coming months the Foundation will offer even more interactive ways you can get involved and give back to you…our members.

For those attending the 2017 ACE conference please stop by and visit at the ACUHO-I Foundation Booth to say hi and learn more. The ACE conference will also showcase the annual Silent Auction. If you would like to make a donation to the Silent Auction click visit http://www.acuho-i.org/foundation/cid/6308?portalid=0.

-Jeff Rosenberry, ACUHO-I Foundation Regional Representative

AIMHO GIVES Members who have received financial support since 2009 include: 2009: Joshua Hill, Jessica Crombie, Eric Neilson, Njeri Pringle, Scott Mangino, & Matthew O'Brien 2010: Wendy Wallace, Palmer McDonald, Jayme Lloyd, Evan Saperstein, & Nicole Fagundo 2011: Rachelle Fisher, Nelson Rodriguez, Nathan A. Cole, Samantha Harbison, & Matthew Duguay 2012: Susan Sherbak, Jeff Rosenberry, Michael Applegate, & Matthew Duguay 2013: Jennifer O'Brien, Deb Moore, & Nikki Wee-Moretto 2014: Edgar Anya, Nick Sweeton, Jeremy Moore, & Megan Pepper 2015: Sue Belatti & Jeffrey Rosenberry

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2016: Jay Stokes, Justin Singleton, Brittney Schreiner, Kelsie Merchant, Michael Schilling, Timothy Nickels, Tyler Bean, Nikhil Enugula, & Jeanne "Michelle" Vidrine

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2017 AIMHO CONFERENCE

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2017 AIMHO CONFERENCE

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2017 AIMHO CONFERENCE

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2017 RAppin' Conference

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FEATURED ARTICLES MARIJUANA: A LOOK INTO COLORADO POLICY By: Tricia Timney, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Colorado. Mountains, wild flowers, camping, ski slopes, hiking, 300 days of sun, starry nights; these are the things I think of when I think of the state that I live in. To everyone back home, they only think of one thing: marijuana. As I write this, it is April the 20th… better known as 4/20 or the pot smoking holiday. I find that many people do not have a basic understanding of the Colorado laws and how that applies to students. As a conduct officer in the middle of Colorado, let me tell you about how our campus handles marijuana.

The use of recreational marijuana was passed into legislation (Amendment 64) back in 2012, and Colorado’s first marijuana store opened in January 2014. Prior to that, it was decriminalized in 1975 and then approved for medical purposes in 2000, but as I moved out to Colorado in July 2014, I knew mostly about the recreational movement. My first surprise was that marijuana stores are not everywhere. In fact, towns vote on if they want to allow dispensaries to be built in their respective areas.

In both of the towns in Colorado that I have lived in, only medicinal marijuana was available, so students do have limitations on where they can purchase marijuana.

As I started my conduct training, I learned more about the laws surrounding the little green plant. There is an age limit for use; you must be 21 years old to purchase and use marijuana. You can apply for a medical card at 18, but outside of that you need to be 21 to even enter the shops. Luckily most of the students living on college campuses are not 21, so it is illegal for many to use or possess while on campus.

Another aspect of the law is where people can use it. Marijuana may only be consumed in private areas and away from public view, regardless of whether you are smoking or eating it. This means that in amusement parks, sporting venues, bars, ski slopes, national parks, and school property, it is illegal to consume. This makes it very clear cut for conduct officers; marijuana is strictly prohibited on campus.

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FEATURED ARTICLES What do we do when students are smoking or consuming marijuana in the residence halls? We still have to call the police. Although recreational marijuana is legal in the state, students forget that because our institution is federally funded, we need to abide by national(federal) laws. Marijuana use is prohibited in the code of conduct and violates our housing policies, and many of our students are possessing it illegally due to age and location. Our campus police officers are required to confiscate the substance and paraphernalia. Our students receive a warning their first time and are referred to housing.

One of our conduct officers then hears the conduct case, taking the police report and resident assistant’s report and more times than not the student admits to violating a housing policy. When a student accepts responsibility, we generally send them our Dean of Students Office for students to complete an educational sanction known as CHOICES. Educational approaches are used in hope to educate our students on the physical and social consequences of recreational marijuana use and reduce the number of repeat violations.

Some of our biggest challenges surrounding this area is that our out of state students are often times unaware of the laws and campus policies surrounding the substance.

There is a similar challenge even for our in-state students who do not have a full understanding of Amendment 64, and if they do have an understanding of the law they totally disregard their illegal use of recreational marijuana. In Residence Life, we strive to educate all students in the first floor meetings about the housing policies, to ensure students know that smoking on campus is unacceptable.

Hopefully this article clears up some of the unknowns about marijuana use in Colorado. Although marijuana is legal here in Colorado, there are still plenty of regulations and laws to abide by. For all of you on-call, in Colorado or elsewhere, may the calls be few and far between.

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FEATURED ARTICLES An AIMHO President's Odyssey By: Richard Clark, AIMHO President/University of Nevada, Las Vegas Last fall, I committed to visiting schools in the AIMHO Region. My goal was to by personally visit our colleagues to gain a better understanding of how AIMHO can be of service. Since our time in Westminster, Colorado, I have had the privilege of visiting schools in Utah, South Dakota, New Mexico, Arizona, Navajo Nation, and Tohono O’odham Nation. So, with 1 oil change and 3200 miles later…yep, 3200 miles. Our Region is HUGE. After the AIMHO Annual Conference I flew into Salt Lake City and drove up to Utah State University as they hosted the annual IACURH Conference and heard Whit Milligan call for “IACURH cheers be done at AIMHO Conferences”. This was a special conference for me personally and professionally as it was UNLV’s first IACURH after switching from the PACURH Region to better align our student leaders with the AIMHO Region. It was also my first opportunity to work with IACURH and advisors to advocate for advisors to have more access to ART Level I training who may not have the resources to attend conferences in order to complete the ART program.

Since my time in Logan, I took a 3-day road trip in January to Arizona and the Tohono O’odham Nation where I was hosted by Rosemary Ramirez at Central Arizona College while visiting her staff along with an opportunity to participate in CAC’s staff training. I even made a new friend while at CAC…a grey cat that followed me everywhere. The following morning, I left for a daylong visit with Annamarie Stevens at Tohono O’odham Community College where I met with staff and students. On my finally day in Arizona, I had a great lunch meeting with Nick Sweeton from the University of Arizona at the Bisbee Breakfast Club. Thank you again Rosemary for hosting me and sharing your time.

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FEATURED ARTICLES In February, I left sunny Las Vegas for snowy Spokane, WA to attend the NWACUHO Conference. Craig Whitton, NWACUHO President and the rest of their team were awesome host inviting me to pre-conference sessions, meetings and “a beer” in the Presidential suite. Our friends in NWACUHO welcomed our colleagues in Idaho through a reciprocal registration agreement that allows AIMHO members to attend the NWACUHO Conference at their member rate. In November, AIMHO will reciprocate allowing NWACUHO members to attend the AIMHO Annual Conference in Las Vegas. I look forward to showing our colleagues from NWACUHO, AIMHO hospitality.

In March, I had the honor of attending the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) in Rapid City, South Dakota. While at AIHEC, Sharon Begay (Dine’ College), Blue Tarpalechee (Institute of American Indian Arts), and I had the opportunity to do presentations for our colleagues at Tribal Colleges regarding facilities management, emergency preparedness and student development. Before flying home, I decided to “pop in” and visit John Ginther at Black Hills State University. John was a bit shocked when the AIMHO President walked into the Housing and Residence Life Office looking for him. Thanks John for the tour.

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FEATURED ARTICLES During UNLV’s Spring Break, I took the opportunity to visit Northern Arizona University. During my time at NAU, Sue Belotti and Rich Payne showed me campus and assisted me in visiting with staff and members of the Native American Cultural Center. Later, Rich took me on a tour of their housing facilities before going to dinner at a local restaurant. After dinner, I headed to Two Arrows Casino for the night. I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of a guy from Las Vegas staying at a Casino on the Navajo Nation. I was probably the only person in the place more interested in the room amenities than the casino floor. The next morning I was up at 4:30 a.m. and headed to Dine’ College where I would spend the next three days. On my way to Dine’ College, I saw an amazing sunrise, some of the most beautiful county in the southwest, and had time to think. Sharon Begay and her staff were gracious host as I visited Dine’ College and met with their student staff. On Friday, Sharon accompanied me on a 2 hour drive each way to Navajo Technology University on the Navajo Nation and introduced me to the staff. After touring Navajo Technology University, we headed back to Dine’ College where we met with Dawayne Bahe to continue planning out training programs for the Tribal Colleges and Universities Summer Meeting in Pablo, MT. Thank you again to everyone who hosted and took so much time out of your busy schedules to meet with me and show me your homes.

My travels have served as a reminder of all the great colleagues we have in our region.

People eager to assist a colleague, share their experience, and welcome you into their home.

This summer I’m planning to visit Utah and Montana this July. While I don’t have a game plan for Utah yet, I will be attending the Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) Conference in Pablo, MT. During my time in Montana, I plan to take 2 -3 days to visit a few more schools and roll up a few more AIMHO miles.

Finally, I want to thank my supervisor, my staff, and my family for allowing me the opportunity to not only visit schools and colleagues, but serve our association this year. Without a supportive team and family back home, none of this happens.

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FEATURED ARTICLES

Leaving Gracefully

By: Sara Holtzman, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Some would argue a shelf life to housing and residence life careers. I am not trying to support or discredit the claim. As with any positon, we function with our regard for our determination, persistence, and resiliency. I believe your proverbial “cup” needs to be filled, your why? need to be clear, and your attitude needs to be in check. In the following excerpt, I attempt to offer some guidelines in decision-making regarding futures and explore the seductive idea of leaving gracefully.

We recently witness an UPROAR in the Student Affairs community in response to Dr. Ann Marie Klotz’s blog piece mentioning happy and whole professionals. I have spent a number of months ruminating on the responses and trying to calculate my own feelings. It was not until I was deep into a conversation with a colleague about the importance of filling one’s cup that AMK’s words clicked with me. By no means do you need to “have it together”, you do NOT need to be in a “perfect” or “ideal” state of mental and physical health, “broken” does not mean useless; however, there should be joy in what you are doing. We all know our positions, especially those in residence life, are not meant to be forty-hour weeks. Our long days are taxing, our students take so much, and we need a constant recharge. The reality is that if your work doesn’t bring you joy (on most days) and you’re finding it impossible to be happy and healthy in your work – maybe it is time to consider a position that will allow you to be happy and healthy. Perhaps it is a matter of finding a hobby or taking the time to have a hobby. Perhaps it is focusing on the parts of your work that brings you a smile. I know that when I am shaken large student events always make me smile, or going on a hike, or baking a pie, or hitting the boxing gym – I have a few recharging methods, as I recommend you do too.

That being said, if a “why” does not resonate within your spirit, perhaps there is not much reason to fill your cup. We constantly share those narratives – oh my supervisor told me I would be good at this, I love students, I was bread like a phoenix out of the fiery depths of a residence hall crisis response and am prepared to offer my services to never have another student experience that type of tragedy again. All joking aside – each of us probably share similar tale(s) or find some sort of satisfaction in the long hours, the pseudo-counseling, the midnight breakfasts. If you do not, how do you find the motivation to keep your head up and continue forward? I live for the student interaction and more importantly influencing policy to make their lives livable and productive – without it I don’t know that I would be willing to put your pants on in the morning. So I beg of you, take a private moment to reflect on your why. Is it strong? Are you living it? Does it correspond with what "fills your cup?"

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FEATURED ARTICLES

Finally, let us have a frank conversation about attitude. If you are rolling your eyes at every new directive, not thrilled about your daily to-do list, and/or you find yourself saying, “I just woke up hating life” more often than not, perhaps the fit is no longer working. Bad attitude(s) sink so many ships, incredibly quickly, so please, ask yourself – am I the one filling this boat with water? I understand and respect the fact that we all have bad days – we are allowed, we cannot be constant unicorn princess throwing confetti and cheeks freshly rouged. Sometimes our lives, our jobs, our responses become messy and hard. It is in these moments in which your why and your recharge are so important, but even more so your attitude can allow you to remember both of those things.

Perhaps you attitude is no longer sparkling, maybe your why has become muddled, maybe your cup has a crack in it – you have a choice. Fix it or help yourself and your department by moving on. As a field, I think it appropriate to claim that we are a rather understanding group and more often than not, we care about our people. Trust – someone has noticed a change in you, now it is your move. If you decide to move on, please allow yourself and your department time to process and move forward.

Believe in yourself and if you decide to jump, actually jump and if you need a friend to call – you are welcome to holler. We have hard days, develop a support network, figure out how to fill your cup, re-spark your why, and perhaps find a positive mantra. I believe in you.

AIMHO 365 WEBINARS Did you know that in addition to providing webinar opportunities AIMHO 365 and other AIMHO community members have teamed up to ensure that learning can be at your fingertips all the time?! We are excited to remind/announce that you may find a wealth of knowledge through our YouTube page: AIMHORegionVideos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB1pSgFr0335OICtn-JIeQA Here you can find some great onboarding material for new folks in the region, become more acquainted with AIMHO, and even learn something new about subject matter varying from bedbugs to selection processes. Some of our featured YouTube Videos include: • Creating Individual Membership Accounts into AIMHO • Adding Individual Memberships to an Institutional Account • Getting Things Done: Managing New Information • Managing the Creepy Crawlers: Bedbugs

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SPRING 2017 NEW HIRES Arizona State University

• Bradley Bolin is the new Assistant Director of Residential Life working with the Engineering Residential College.

• Jason Bortness is the new Business Analyst.

• Courtney Braxton is the new Coordinator of Occupancy Management, Sr. • Emma Daberko is a new Administrative Assistant.

• Jennifer Gene is a new Data and Billing Coordinator Sr. • Rachel Gianini is a new Data and Billing Coordinator Sr. • Jodie Gutierrez is the new Assistant Director of Guest and Conference Housing.

• Karissa Morgan is the new Assistant Director of Administrative Services.

• Yumi Urata is the new Business Operations Manager, Sr.

University of Arizona

• Andy Aslaksen is the new Senior Associate Director for Strategic Initiatives • Chris Caskenette is the new Office Specialist, Sr. for Student and Guest Services • Analia Cuevasis is the new Program Coordinator, Sr. for Student Assistance and Behavioral Education • Page Dunn-Albertie is a new Assistant Director of Residential Education •Amanda Kammer is a new Community Director • Jamie Matthews is the Associate Director of Residential Education • Stephanie Rench is the new Accountant, Sr. for Business and Accounting Services • Nick Sweeton is the new Executive Director of Residence Life If you want to see your institution's new hires on the next edition of the AIMHO Angle, please email aimhoangle@gmail.com!