Soundings Spring 2012 by Andrew Rogers

the soundings the official nwacuho newsletter

northwest association of college and university housing officers

SEATTLE, WA PORTLAND, OR MAHLUM.COM

executive committee President Elaine Ames Operations and Marketing Manager, UHNSP Central Washington University 400 E. University Way, MS 7513 Ellensburg, Washington 98926 509.963.1838 amese@cwu.edu

Treasurer Micheal Seraphin Coordintor of Purchasing Willamette University 900 State Street Salem, OR 97301 503.370.6055 mseraphi@willamette.edu

President Elect Kelly Ammendolia Assistant Director of Residence Life University of Puget Sound 1500 N. Warner St. #1003 Tacoma, WA 98416-1003 253.879.3317 kammendolia@pugetsound.edu

Secretary Jenni Chadick Resident Director University of Puget Sound 1500 N. Warner St. #1003 Tacoma, WA 98416-1003 253.879.3317 jchadick@pugetsound.edu

Past President Steve Fitterer Director Residence Services Mount Royal University Alberta, Canada 403.440.6279 sfitterer@mtroyal.ca

Newsletter Editor Andrew K. Rogers Residence Life Coordinator Seattle Pacific University 206.378.5290 andrewkrogers@spu.edu Website Administrator Patrick Cunningham Application Develoer University of Oregon 541.346.4281 pcunning@uoregon.edu

Products and Services Coordinator Esther Gaines Area Coordinator Gonzaga University 502 East Boone, MSC 2515 Spokane, Washington 99258 509.313.4103 gaines@gonzaga.edu

British Columbia Representative Lawrence Lam Residence Life Coordinator University of Victoria. PO Box 1700 STN CSC Victoria BC V8W 2Y2 250.853.3136 laml@uvic.ca

Alaska-Yukon Representative Maria Bonifacio Associate Director of Residence Life University of Alaska Anchorage 3700 Sharon Gagnon Lane, Suite 101 Anchorage, AK 99508 907.751.7448 mariab@uaa.anchorage.edu

Oregon Representative Erik T. Elordi Assistant Director of Family Housing & Conference Services Southern Oregon University 1250 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 541.552.6229 elordie@sou.edu

Alberta Representative Judy Eyben Res Life Facilitator Lakeland College 5707 College Drive,Vermilion, AB T9X 1T2 780.853.8480 Judy.eyben@lakelandcollege.ca

Washington State Representative Michelle Primley Benton Conduct & Compliance Specialist University of Washington Housing & Food Services 206.221.7712 mprimley@hfs.washington.edu

the soundings the official nwacuho newsletter

northwest association of college and university housing officers

NWACUHO 2012 conference update

NWACUHO Defines Our Future

Training the Trainers

Best of Northwest: It’s A Dog’s Life

State and Provincial Updates

the soundings the official NWACUHO newsletters soundings editorial board The editorial board is comprised of volunteer members throughout the NWACUHO region. Duties include assisting in the development of an editorial schedule, submission of interest articles, and soliciting articles and feedback from the members of the association. If you are interested in being a member of the editorial board, please contact your state or provincial representative or the newsletter editor. editorial and submission policies Deadlines for publications are based on distribution needs, and therefore it is important that members honor the established deadlines. Material not received on time, or not used due to space limitations will be considered for use in the next issue. Because soundings is the official publication of an educational association and reflects the professional standards of its members, necessary revisions will be made to ensure publication quality. soundings also reserves the right to edit submissions for space requirements. Authors bear full responsibility for references, quotations, and data accuracy of publications submissions. Authors also hold NWACUHO harmless from any liability resulting from publications of articles submitted for printing. Be sure to clearly indicate the author(s) and institution(s) on all submissions. Permission is granted to reproduce portions of soundings’ contents with proper attribution and credit to soundings. Advertisements in the soundings should not be considered an endorsement. For information on exhibitor advertising rates please contact: Esther Gaines, Product & Services Coordinator at gaines@gonzaga.edu or 509-313-4155. Please send all submissions (articles, letters to the association, updates from around the region, and announcements) to: Andrew Rogers, soundings editor at arogers@spu.edu **Please attach articles using MS word document or type the submission into an email.

NWACUHO 2012

! D E K C

2012

soundings

2012 NWACUHO conference wrapup Elaine Ames

For those of you that were in Ashland, Oregon for our annual conference, it was wonderful to see you. All of us on the executive board hope you had a great time. For those of you that were unable to attend, we missed you and I thought you would like to hear a bit about the conference. Ashland, Oregon was the perfect location for our 50th anniversary celebration. “Golden Opportunities” were given to reconnect with past presidents, friends and colleagues while new friendships were made. Many new friendships were made. With Southern Oregon University hosting, Ashland providing many unique and outstanding culinary delights and the Ashland Springs Hotel providing customer services that rivals the Four Seasons, the conference was a remarkable success. There were 36 programs in four primary areas – Operations, Facilities and Housing Services, Supervision and Advising, Organizational Development, and Core Purposes. It was also a golden opportunity to discuss the NWACUHO history with the 12 past presidents in attendance and to recapture information that may have been lost over the years. If anyone has documents, photos or other information from previous years that you would like to share with the historian, Mike Bowers, please contact him mbowers@ewu.edu. (continued on next page)

NWACUHO Soundings While everyone at the conference had a chance to sign up for task forces or the mentor/mentee program, please know that if you were not at the conference we need your participation as well. Contact your state or provincial representative if you have questions or would like assistance in contacting task force chairs. Continue to watch for the First Friday Webinar information or drive-in conferences that are being planned. Remember, NWACUHO is a vibrant active organization because of everyone’s participation throughout the year. The master plan for the upcoming five years was also unveiled in the town hall meeting. The executive board desires to make sound and informed decisions. The

master plan is designed to look at five focus areas with specific objectives to be completed step by step. This allows us to look at where we currently are and provides a means to move forward in a very intentional and methodical manner. The objectives are prioritized and we will be working on them throughout the year to position ourselves to move to the next level in 2013. To read the complete master plan, it is on our NWACUHO web site at www.nwacuho.org and click on New NWACUHO Master Plan in the box in the right hand corner. I would also like to extend an invitation to our NWACUHO folks to attend the regional receptions at ACUHO-I in Anahaim, CA on July 9, 2012 beginning at 5:45

until 7:15 pm. We will have a combined reception with AIMHO and WACUHO, and always have a great time with them. Join us! It was great seeing everyone in Ashland, OR and we look forward to seeing you in Anaheim, CA in July and Tacoma, WA in February 2013. Watch our web site for more details for upcoming events throughout the year.

Conference Award Winners The Best of the Northwest Program: “Live-In Professionals: It’s a Dog’s Life” presented by Craig Whitton , University of Alberta. The New Professional Scholarship for Canada: Craig Whitton The New Professional Scholarship for the US: Samantha Callister, University of Alaska, Anchorage. Graduate Student Scholarship Recepient: Nicholas Martin, Oregon State University.

Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Roger Frichette with Kay Rich.

Case Study Competition Winners: Chris Moe, Crystal Hon, Nicholas Grainger, Richard Arquette Housing Operations Award: Ron Ewanchuk Roger Frichette Excellence in Service Award: Michelle Primley Benton David B. Stephen Award: Richard DeShields Kay Rich Lifetime Achievement Award: Roger Frichette

the soundings

Richard DeShields, recipient of the David B. Stephen Award, stands with David Stephen.

spring 2012

2012

soundings

Josh Gana

University of Washington

At the Town Hall Meeting of the 2012 Annual

NWACUHO Defines Our Future As one of his last tasks before leaving the executive board, former NWACUHO President Josh Gana helped outline a stategic vision for the future of the orginization and its members.

Conference in Ashland, the Northwest Association of College and University Housing Officer set the stage for an engaged future through the release of a Vision Statement, Association Master Plan, and Tagline. These foundational statements and documents reflect collaborative work over the past year to define the nexus of “Who We Are” and “What We Do” as an Association. We’re proud to share these outcomes with you. Simply put, the NWACUHO Vision Statement defines what the Association strives to be: “Be the higher education housing industry’s

Focus areas and intended outcomes of the Association Master Plan include:

Core Purposes: We envision a situation where there is continuity between Association programs and core purposes, mission, and vision. Financial Stewardship: We envision a situation where NWACUHO will have sound, codified financial practices and procedures in place that exemplify non-profit industry best practices. Governance: We envision a situation where efficient, effective, functional, and inclusive governance and operating structure for the Association is present. Member Engagement: We envision a situation where a culture of long term engagement and continued contribution is present, and opportunities for progression of involvement and participation at Partnerships: We envision a situation where strategic partnerships exist that add value to the association, are related to core purposes, and demonstrate return on investment.

leading regional association by providing professional enrichment that enhances the residential environment.” Supporting the new vision is a tagline, intended to describe NWACUHO programs and activities in a pithy way: NWACUHO: Enriching the Housing Profession Upon formalizing these critical pieces of the NWACUHO identity, the next phase of the master planning process involved defining the current reality in a number of key focus areas, identifying the ideal reality, and developing a five year road map to ensure success in each focus area. The results have been formalized in the NWACUHO Association Master Plan, which includes specific action plans which will be updated on an annual basis for the next five years.

For more information on the Association Master Plan and the resulting action items, please visit http://nwacuho.org/2012/02/new-nwacuho-master-plan/.

spring 2012

NWACUHO Soundings

training the trainer

How to get your veteran student-staff more engaged in Fall training by Eric Sorensen, University of Oregon Returning student staff often feel that Fall training is not for them. Our returning student staff would become bored with some training sessions, their minds would wander, and they may check their phones or engage in side conversations, which distracted them and those around them. At the University of Oregon, student staff were reporting that they felt like they were in the same training year after year, and while they were respectful in sharing this information, they had a perception that training was meant for the new staff members, and they were there in a support role, not learning anything new themselves. In receiving this feedback, we would adjust our training somewhat each summer for the following year, but we were sensing a need for a more significant change. Several of our full-time staff members got together to discuss training philosophy, based on trainings in which we had participated, and the conversation turned to a training the trainer model, which has found significant success in the health care education industry, among other fields. As we discussed this further, we felt that this could be an ideal model for student staff training. Our returning student staff could present topics to new staff, which would engage the returners in a more intentional way, as well as solidify their own understanding on a particular topic. As we moved toward this model of student staff presenting to one another, we anticipated a need to offer facilitation training so that student staff would understand how to offer an effective, experiential

training to new student staff. We hosted this training as an optional training the day before our student staff training began, and we addressed topics including multiple intelligences, general facilitation skills, creating a fun and interactive training, and delivering a skillsbased training. We provided outlines for the student staff so that their focal point could be delivering the training, and not in planning the training from scratch. After our Fall Training, we provided a survey to the student staff who completed the facilitation training, and they reported a very high level of enjoying the training, feeling valued as returning student staff, learned the material presented to them well, and that they felt well prepared to facilitate a training session. We met with student staff who presented training topics, and debriefed their training session, as well, and we were consistently impressed with the level of training that they were able to provide. This training model was very successful for us, as our assessment data suggests. We continue to adjust the training according to the feedback that we received, and offering it to our incoming returning student staff this Spring Term. In the short time that we have offered this training, our student staff have had the opportunity to hone their facilitation skills, which have aided them widely within their student staff role. If you are interested in our training curriculum that we offer for the facilitation training, please contact me at Sorensen@uoregon. edu.

spring 2012

Five Tips for a Successful Training 1. Involve your returning student staff in all steps of the process – they are your experts! 2. Assess, assess, assess. Know where you have been, where you want to go, and if your interventions are effective.

Walsh Construction Co. Building Smart • Building Green • Building Community www.walshconstructionco.com Located in Washington & Oregon Walsh Construction Co. is a general contractor specializing in student housing, academic facilities, affordable mixed-use and multi-unit housing. Renovation, historic preservation and high-end resorts round out the Walsh portfolio. University of Washington Nordheim Court

3. Reach out to your network – we were able to pull many wonderful ideas from other schools to develop a stronger training. 4. Focus on experiential and interactive opportunities to ensure accessibility and engagement for the entire audience. 5. Choose your presenters wisely. Find good facilitators to be strong role models during their training, and make sure they understand the learning outcomes of your program.

NWACUHO Gold Corporate Sponsor

spring 2012

NWACUHO Soundings

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s A Dogâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Life Craig Whitton discusses life with his dog - in the resdence hall - and why other universities should consider adopting pet policies for live-in professionals.

2012 A few years ago, I decided to make a total career change, from the insurance industry to Residence Life. I really disliked my job in Insurance but thankfully, my best friend kept my spirits up. Her companionship had an immense impact on my emotional health. Of course, she was also a bit of a barrier for me working in residence life: That best friend was my dog Addi. I knew a career change meant her not living with me as many universities don’t allow dogs in residence (My Fiancee planned to keep her in a near-campus apartment). Fortunately, the University of Alberta made the exception for me, and life was good.

nights lying on my couch after a coming home from the insurance company. And then I remembered there was one more tool I hadn’t yet tried. Turns out, that resident loved dogs, and with his permission I brought Addi in. Within 15 minutes, his scale dropped from an 8 to a 3. Addi did in a matter of minutes what I could not do in hours. In many ways, She was an incredible support tool. In fact, Addi helped save that young man’s life. It was after that incident that I opened my eyes to the power that an animal can have on a person’s emotional and psychological well-being. Why aren’t

for

more Student Services groups using

I got a call about a resident who

elder care facilities have used animals

But

the

same

wasn’t

true

everyone. was involved in self-harm and was suicidal. It was not my first case, but it was the most challenging. For hours I tried to bring the resident down to a safe place. I asked him how he felt on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being that he wanted to die right now. He was consistently an 8-out-of-10. For hours I tried. For hours, I failed. I was scared. Something

about

this

student

reminded me of myself and all those

soundings

this tool? Everything from prisons to in one way or another to assist in the care of their charges, yet this presence is absent from most of Residence Life. But, let’s face it – dog ownership is seen by our culture as very highimpact. When was the last time you wished your neighbor would stop their cat from meowing every time a car went by? Or had to call a by-law officer from all the gold fish messes in your yard?

spring 2012

NWACUHO Soundings But having a dog in

professional staff member

benefit. I suggest you do

behavioural expectations

residence doesn’t have to

will last a year or two

both.

around

be high-impact. The key

longer because he or she

to managing that impact

was allowed a dog? The

ways

can rest in your ability

fact is, most of us don’t

costs, but they are all

things. Also, make sure

to write a robust and

last very long in these

different

depending

to build in a process to

comprehensive

policy,

roles before we change

on your specific living

ensure complaints can be

that your institution can

things up anyway due to a

situation. The main focus

addressed in a safe way

use to inform decisions.

high entry-level turnover.

here

the

(For example, what if there

Operationally, plans and

unit to an allergen-free

is a complaint about the

expectations to replace

environment

live-in staff member’s dog,

In the crafting of your policy,

ask

yourself

this question: given the aforementioned

issues

and high negative impact, why

would

director

(or

equivalent)

approve

dog

ownership

professional staff?

are

countless

decrease

restoring (there

the

are

and

animal,

the

owner

for

those

responsible

and

Increasing the benefit is where we, as an industry, have some learning to do.

that

hold

typically

students

go to that professional to file complaints?). Given how often we work at

live-in

professionals

plenty of resources out

reducing impact – impact

regularly are already in

there with tips on how to

of campus construction,

place,

do this – filters, security

of weather, of transitions,

The default argument

months or a year onto

deposits,

etc. – reducing the impact

in favor of dog ownership

costs are for more than

contractors,

and policy change has

the benefits.

reducing

been “If I can own a dog, I’m more likely to stay”. Does

There

that

mean

adding

six

So, this leaves you with two

and

options:

Decrease

the cost, or increase the

cleaning etc.) the

and

of an animal should be

impact

fairly easy for us to codify

the dog will have on the community. It’s perfectly reasonable

include

in a policy. Increasing the benefit is where we, as an industry,

spring 2012

2012 paradigm into that light,

simply want the ability

all kinds of possibilities

to own a pet? If that is

open up. Of course, the

the case, the retention

question is “WHY would

argument coupled with

you ‘require’ dogs in your

some research on stress

residence?” Well, let me

levels of employees may

tell you, Dear Reader!

do the trick. A dog in

Service

are

residence doesn’t have to

used all over the world

be a luxury – it can be an

support

integrated and marketable

and

reduce

recent

Dogs

study,

animals stress.

reported

there. Instead, think of

to think of pet ownership

this on a continuum. On

as a binary scale. It’s not

one end, you’d have “No

“yes, dogs are allowed”

Dogs Allowed”. But on

versus “No, dogs are not

the other end, think of it

allowed”. In fact, these

as “Dogs are Required”—

are not even close to the

when

you

shift

your

program,

and

the

30th, 2012, states that

residents are enormous.

Greensboro,

found

I encourage people not

life

potential benefits to our

only two possibilities out

feature of your residence

by CBC News on March a study done by a firm

have some learning to do.

soundings

that

N.C.

And who knows, it may help you save a life.

employees

If you are interested in

who were able to bring

learning more about pet

dogs into work reported

policies for professional

significantly

reduced

staff, including common

cortisol levels (Cortisol

pitfalls or resources to

being a hormone that is

address concerns, please

a key indicator of stress

don’t hesitate to contact

levels) then those who

me at

did not.

ualberta.ca.

whitton@

So when you sit down to craft your own pet policy,

what

you

want to achieve? Do you

Missed NWACUHO? Catch up on upcoming Webinars by

Maria Bonifacio, University of Alaska Anchorage

Monthly webinars have become a primary focus for the Communications Taskforce. Beginning in February 2011, the Taskforce has solicited and created webinar presentations while moderating every First Friday of the month. There have been many great webinars presented in the past year and a half, with more informative and exciting presentations to come in the future! The Communications Taskforce currently is looking for webinar content for May, June, July and August.

If you are interested in gaining some experience through presenting via webinar, please contact myself, Maria Bonifacio (mariab@uaa.alaska.edu). Also, we are pleased to announce Junelle Mah from University of the Fraser Valley is the new Chair for the Communications subcommittee of Webinars. We are still seeking content and presenter ideas from within and outside the Residential Life realm and can include areas such as facilities, desk services, student services, etc.

spring 2012

NWACUHO Soundings

state and provincial updates

Alaska

Alaska Pacific University Submitted by: Tim Flynn Spring is coming to Alaska, and we are still 3 inches away from the all time record for snowfall for an entire winter. But we have been productive during this long winter and are excited about longer days and more sunlight on the heels of some amazing displays of the Northern Lights recently. The brand new Robert B. McMillen student center was completed in February and opened for student use. This long awaited finished project opened with a formal gathering, followed by a concert and dessert for the students. A fireplace, 2 large screen TVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, student art, and new furniture all highlight some of the improvements that were added to make our students feel more at home at APU. Our students participated in the annual Running of the Reindeer for the Fur Rondy festival and APU hosted an

Iditarod watching party as students were introduced to the sport of dog sledding. The students and staff were able to watch the teams come right through campus after the ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage and even got to meet some of the famous mushers as we cheered on one of our own graduates who was entered in the race. On the heels of our Sustainability institute we held in the fall, action plans have been established and several departments have been hard at work, making positive changes towards becoming a more sustainable and environmentally conscious workplace. As a result, APU held a University wide summit, to take a closer look at the values and mission of APU and to jump start some initiatives for the future. The campus community met over two days to discuss

the student experience at APU, our core curriculum, and how to improve our overall effectiveness as faculty and staff. The student input was phenomenal and APU came out of the summit with come clear action items and ideas to implement for the near future. A short time ago some of our students proposed and created a Sustainability House on our University Row, which will focus on being more environmentally friendly and utilizing some of the local Alaskan resources. The students will work to conserve energy, collect rainwater for use, and create a garden to help offset their carbon footprint. This pilot house will hopefully catch on and encourage other students to embark on similar projects in our upper classmen housing.

University of Alsaska Anchorage Submitted by: Maria Bonifacio Spring is coming to Alaska, and we are still 3 inches away from the all time record for snowfall for an entire winter. But we have been productive during this long winter and are excited about longer days and more sunlight on the heels of some amazing displays of the Northern Lights recently. The brand new Robert B. McMillen student center was completed in February and opened for student use. This long awaited finished project opened with a formal gathering, followed by a concert and dessert for the students. A fireplace, 2 large screen TVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, student art, and new furniture all highlight some of the improvements that were added to make our students feel more at home at APU. Our students participated in the annual Running of the Reindeer for the Fur Rondy festival and APU hosted an

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2012

Alberta

soundings

University of Calgary Submitted by: Dave Vaughn Residence at the UofC is proud to launch its new Civic Engagement Living Learning Community in the Fall of 2012. This community, located in the firstyear building of Kananaskis Hall, will encourage residents to be more than just community volunteers; it will serve to help students understand the barriers to social change through various workshops on activism, social media advertising, and grant proposal writing. The community will plan and fundraise for one local project in the city of Calgary and one international project; this year with a small Canadian organization, SchoolBOX. What’s fresh and different about this program is the

legacy component, graduates of this community will return in later years to run workshops on their experience and skills they acquired through being a part of this living learning community. The Civic Engagement Living Learning Community is proud to be partnered with the University of Calgary Centre for Community Engagement which we are working closely with to develop a service learning course for first year students and form a committee to establish a studentled service learning conference. We welcome you to follow the progress of this program on twitter @CE_LLC.

SAIT Residence and Canadian Campus Communities Submitted by: Jesse Corriveau SAIT Residence and Canadian Campus Communities had a great start to 2012 by having two new staff members join the team. We welcome Natasha Rogers as our Resident Director. Natasha is originally from Ontario and has worked with the University of Waterloo and Queen’s International Study Centre in England. We

also welcomed Anna Woronoski as our Leasing and Conferencing Coordinator. Anna comes to us after graduating from the University of Saskatchewan and is responsible for our Conferencing program at SAIT. Internally, Stephanie Woods has been given the role of Assistant General Manager, responsible for Leasing

Operations. We are excited about the highly anticipating grand opening of the new Trades and Technology complex. The new complex will contain 700,000 square feet of additional training space, and allow SAIT to expand and welcome over 8,000 more apprentice students in the fall.

been full of wonderful programming initiatives and we are looking at a strong end to the term. Along with the ending of this semester, we are saying goodbye to one of our Residence Life Coordinators. Alyssa Graham has been a strong and positive member of the Residence Team

here at Mount Royal for the past two years and she is embarking on a new adventure. Alyssa has taken a Residence Life Coordinator role at Humber College in Toronto, Ontario. We wish her the best of luck in her new role and all of her future endeavors.

both the Vermilion and the Lloydminster campuses. There was a record number of applicants this year and next year’s team looks fantastic! A number of residents won awards this month. The winners of the RLPA Leadership Society Award are Tyler Kueber and Rebekkah Miller. The Residence Life Leader of the Year awards

were presented to Shauni Rechenmacher and Richard Ellens. The Resident of the Year awards were presented to Tara Brandsen and Nicole Graf. It has been a great semester at Lakeland and we are once again looking forward to a summer full of conferencing.

Mount Royal University Submitted by: Brianna McElroy As the academic year comes to a close at the end of April here at Mount Royal University, we are looking forward to a busy conference season and celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede. The winter semester in residence has

Lakeland College Submitted by: Judy Eyben

The academic year is quickly coming to a close. Over the past two months, there have been numerous residence activities. A Ladies Night and a Men’s Night were held for the students. These evenings provide students with an opportunity to relax during a stressful time. Residence Assistants for the upcoming academic year have been hired for

spring 2012

NWACUHO Soundings MacEwan University Submitted by: Clint Galloway Hello from MacEwan University! Things in Edmonton are rolling along as the snow is now gone and spring is finally in the air (hopefully to stay this time). Folks at MacEwan University have been quite busy the last few months and it is hard to believe that the end of school is a mere few weeks away. As students begin to prepare to write exams and move out, it makes one wonder where does the time go? Wasn’t it just last week when they were all moving in? I guess if being busy is a good thing, then we have had a great year at MacEwan University! The last few months have been filled with plenty of campus change, student programs, and recognition of our fantastic staff. New President In July of 2012, David Atkinson took the helm at MacEwan University, becoming only the fourth president in the history of the institution. He has been a fantastic leader and has made an immediate impact on our campuses (we have four in the city), bringing forward new ideas

and a new organizational vision. David is dedicated to moving forward on the plan to consolidate our four campuses to one single sustainable campus that will be located at our downtown City Center location. Student Programs For the third consecutive year, students from MacEwan Residence participated in our Alternative Spring Break program. This year’s team of students fundraised all year for their trip to South Carolina in late February. Rather than spend their Reading Week (ie Canadian Spring Break) on a beach in Mexico or Hawaii, these 12 individuals travelled to Georgetown, SC to work for Habitat for Humanity assisting with a variety of projects. All participants reported having an amazing experience through this program. Staff Recognition The month of March proved to be the month of recognition for our Residence Services Team at MacEwan University. o Residence Life Coordinator Laura Huxley was this year’s recipient of the

Residence Life Professional Association’s award for Outstanding New Professional. Laura was presented the award at the RLPA’s Annual General Meeting, hosted at Mount Royal University on March 8 & 9. o Residence Life Coordinator Tim Lade was accepted into the ACUHO-I James C. Grimm National Housing Training Institute for this coming June. Tim is one of only 30 participants that were selected for this year’s institute hosted by the University of Georgia located in Athens, Georgia. o Coordinator of Tenant Services Ron Ewanchuk, was nominated for and won the NWACUHO Operations Award for 2012. Our Alberta rep accepted the award on Ron’s behalf at the regional conference in Ashland, Oregon this February and it was presented to Ron later in March. These are just a few of the many highlights from the last semester. From all of us at MacEwan University, we wish you all the best as the semester winds down and hope that your student move-out and student exam period go fantastically well!!

For the third year in a row, students from MacEwan Residence Life participated in the “Alternative Spring Break” program, doing service work for Habitat for Humanity in Georgetown, South Carolina.

spring 2012

2012

soundings

Medicine Hat College Submitted by: Glenda Staples Medicine Hat College Residence held its second annual “Rez Has Talent” show this past Friday. It began with a roast beef dinner in the cafeteria and then moved to the campus pub for the talent show. We had a total of 8 entries all of which were outstanding. The first place winners did a melody of languages, Korean, English and Chinese. The second place winner did an optical illusion act, the third place winner a piano piece, and the honorable mention was given to “Cassie” an English setter show dog. Our judges consisted of the The first place award went most important to students who sang in individuals that are multiple langues.

employed here at Medicine Hat College. We had the Vice President Academics, Vice President Student and College Sevices, the Chief Financial Officer and “Fred the cook”. According to the students, of the panel of judges, Fred rated the most important as he is the one that has fed their gravy addiction for the past year.

The luminaries on the “Res Has Talent” judges panel included several VPs, the CFO, and Fred the Cook.

Along with the “Rez Has Talent” show we also awarded a number of prizes to units and individuals in residence. The group

pictured above received an award for the best mentorship pairs. This semester we initiated a mentoring program where Canadian students were paired with International students. Once the initial contact was established the students where to spend time together, whether it be having coffee, going shopping, or whatever activity they chose. Other prizes that were awarded was for “the unit with the most fruit flies”, the “unit having the most strangers wondering through” (it is the unit we use to show prospective students), and numerous other categories. Overall the evening was a huge success and we will certainly be hosting another “Rez Has Talent” next year. Maybe we will even throw out a challenge to other institutions (Lethbridge College??) to see which Rez has the most talent.

Residence Life Professional Association Submitted by: Clint Galloway The Residence Life Professional Association (RLPA) is a sub-regional organization that includes residence life members from Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. With 27 member institutions, the RLPA meets regularly twice a year to discuss residence life trends and issues, network with regional colleagues, select new board members and participate in a half day professional development session. This year’s RLPA AGM was hosted by Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta on March 8th and 9th. A big thank you to Steve Fitterer, Brianna McElroy, and the rest of the Mount Royal folks for being amazing hosts and planning a fantastic two day meeting. Plenty of topics were discussed including assessment, summer operations, educational sanctioning, and strategies for dealing with mental health issues. In addition to rich discussion and dialogue, the group took time to recognize the efforts of two members by presenting Laura Huxley (MacEwan

University) the 2012 New Professional Award and Brianna McElroy (Mount Royal University) the 2012 Josie Lamonthe Award for Outstanding Service to the RLPA. Congratulations to both Laura and Brianna for their accomplishments. After the conclusion of the RLPA AGM, the CHO’s from Alberta met separately to discuss RLPA’s role in their latest efforts to address provincial legislation related to the levying of property taxes by municipal governments. Currently Alberta is the only province in Canada that grants municipal governments the option to levy property taxes against residences of post-secondary institutions. The institutions themselves are exempt, however, property taxes against student residences results in over $1.8million dollars being spent collectively throughout the province. The RLPA is moving forward on their plan to lobby the Alberta provincial government to repeal this legislation that will hopefully result in those student dollars being spent back on students.

On the behalf of all of our RLPA colleagues I would like to wish you all the best as we wind down the school year and prepare for students to move out. May all of your transitions to spring and summer be flawless and relaxing.

2012 RLPA Executive Board: President: Clint Galloway (MacEwan University) President-elect: Glenda Staples (Medicine Hat College) Past President: Chris Fukishima (University of Alberta) Treasurer: Rob Ford (University of Alberta- Augstana Campus) Secretary: Laura Terry (Lethbridge College) Conference Chair: Brianna McElroy (Mount Royal University) Communications Coordinator: Angi Eddy (University of Alberta)

spring 2012

NWACUHO Soundings

Washington

Eastern Washington University Submitted by: Josh Ashcroft & Toni Taylor Staffing changes Our hall director search is nearing completion. We have a great team of returning ACs and HDs so only in need of one new HD this coming year. In fact, we’re replacing our only Graduate position with a full-time HD so will now employ only full-time professional staff in buildings. Facility projects We’re pleased that the bond issuance was officially approved by the BOT so we no longer need to hold our breath with regard to the construction of our new 350bed residence hall slated for a fall 2013

opening! The general contractor is Leone & Keeble and groundbreaking is mid-April. Summer projects are being defined with emphasis on bathrooms and wrapping up wireless in all buildings. New Initiatives We’re excited to implement RoomSync this year. RoomSync is a Facebook App which empowers residents to choose their own roommates using Facebook. Our Re-Application theme this year is “Living On Campus: It’s Legen…wait for it…dary!” For those who don’t know, it’s a takeoff of Barney in How I Met Your

Mother. Professional Development EWU had a presence at NWACUHO and expect to see more of us! ACs Gina Ondercin and Mike Bowers and HD Whitney Meyer did a presentation titled, “Help! Everything’s Changing! How to Effectively Manage Transition” and followed with RT facilitation. Gina co-presented at NASPA, “Recommendations for Interim Leaders from the Staff Perspective”. Mike Bowers is serving as Historian for NWACUHO this year.

RD, has moved into a new role within the Housing & Food Services umbrella as the Student Services Manager, creating a second opening in our RD search. While we are sad to see Jennifer go, we are excited to keep her as part of the HFS team, and look forward to the opportunity to add an additional new face around the table next year. Rounding out a time of transition, as we prepare to open two new buildings this

Autumn, we are beginning the interview process for two Administrator positions. Outside of the selection realm, we are in the final planning stages for the opening of Alder and Elm Halls this fall, and look forward to welcoming students with a brand new fitness center, grocery store, and auditorium, among other amenities. We are looking forward to the changes ahead and finishing strong as we head into Spring Quarter.

Living Learning Fellow have been hired for next year. We are interviewing to hire 2-4 Residence Directors and 2 Graduate Residence Directors as we speak. We have started planning fall training and

are looking forward to implementing some exciting changes including a new assessment process.

University of Washington Submitted by: Michelle Primley Benton Seattle is heading into Spring Quarter preparing for transition and closing out the year. We are in the final stages of our RA Selection process, with approximately 140 students enrolled in our RA Training class this spring, taught by our Resident Director staff. In addition to selecting RA staff, we are in the midst of interviews for our two confirmed Resident Director openings. Jennifer Connors, our Cedar Apartments

Gonzaga University Submitted by: Esther Gaines Gonzaga is in the process of wrapping up the year and transitioning current staff out and excited about bringing a new staff in. The 79 Resident Assistants, 6 Assistant Residence Directors, and 1

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Search for “NWACUHO” under Groups and ask to join. You can share photos, engage in discussions, or connect with friends from the region.

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spring 2012

2012

STUDENT HOUSING soundings

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Contract spring Seating 2012

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spring 2012