The Pulse August 2015

THE PULSE THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ONTARIO ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY HOUSING OFFICERS

AUGUST 2015

WEL COME

OACUHO HALL

TO RESID ENCE

15/16 Board of Directors PRESIDENT Julie West | University of Guelph jwest@uoguelph.ca

MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR Andrew Quenneville | Western University aquwnnwv@housing.uwo.ca

PRESIDENT-ELECT /FINANCE DIRECTOR Daryl Nauman | York University dnauman@yorku.ca

CONFERENCE DIRECTOR Sara Wills | Carleton University sara.wills@carleton.ca

PAST PRESIDENT Laura Storey | Carleton University laura.storey@carleton.ca

CORPORATE PARTNER RELATIONS DIRECTOR Jordan McLinden | Carleton University jordon.mclinden@carleton.ca

COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR Brian Cunha | University of Waterloo b2cunha@uwaterloo.ca

SENIOR-LEVEL MEMBER AT LARGE Chris Alleyne | Western University calleyne@housing.uwo.ca

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Victoria Gadon | Queen's University vmg2@queensu.ca

MEMBER AT LARGE Diane Rawlings | University of Windsor rawlin1@uwindsor.ca

MEMBER AT LARGE Meaghan McNeil | Humber College meaghan.mcneil@humber.ca

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President’s Message

That Time of Year “

I

I think of the excitement and hope a new year brings and the challenges and the learning that will be accomplished.

”

t’s hard to believe that the summer is almost over and our students will be returning en masse to campus in the next days/weeks.

Every September since I was young, I think of the excitement and hope a new year brings and the challenges and the learning that will be accomplished. It truly is a great >me of year!

This issue of the Pulse is packed full of informa>on and we recognize it comes to you at a busy >me. I hope that you get a chance over the next couple of weeks to take a few minutes to chill, have a coffee/tea (and maybe a treat of some sort), and catch up with news and informa>on from across the province.

Best wishes on a great opening and a new year!

Julie West OACUHO President

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Board Activity

New Board New Direction

At a recent face-­‐to-­‐face mee>ng of the Board, we shared our goals for the year and looked for commonali>es and differences. Obviously we all have our own porMolios, but there were some common themes and trends that came about as we ar>culated what we each want to achieve.

We took the opportunity to try also to ar>culate our overarching mission or big audacious goal for the year.

As many of you may have read the ACUHO-­‐I strategic plan, it begins with an ‘envisioned future’ and internal and external visions and big audacious goals associated with each.

We looked at what we want our year to be known for – we looked at increases in membership, broadening of the membership, tangible offerings, diversifica>on, engagement, assessment, PD and so it went to include 16 items that we want to achieve. When we tried to boil it down to a goal, we found ourselves with three prongs or foci.

The 2015-­‐16 Board will: 1.

Purposefully and inten>onally engage its diverse membership;

2.

Ar>culate the value of residence; and

3.

Increase knowledge in emerging topics.

A^er coming up with this goal, we reflected on our individual goals and tried to categorize them under the above. I’m happy to say that we all have at least 2 of the 3 goals within each of our own porMolios.

Over the next weeks, you may receive a phone call, an email, or have an opportunity for a group discussion to help us be`er understand your needs and how we might be able to work together to meet them. Please take some >me to reflect and provide some thoughts.

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Affiliation with ACUHO-I

A

t the recent ACUHO-­‐I

Conference and

Exposi>on in Orlando, OACUHO signed our affilia>on agreement at the Go Global recep>on. Pictured (from L-­‐R) are: Colin Marshall (Globaliza>on Director for ACUHO-­‐I) and Tom Ellet (who was ending his Presiden>al term) and Julie (OACUHO President).

OACUHO is a regional affiliate of ACUHO-­‐I and as such benefits from this partnership through various means – par>cipa>on on the Regional Associa>on Task Force, the Regional Leadership Conference Calls, and through the work of many individuals on commi`ees and networks. There is no ques>on that without these connec>ons to the greater housing community, we would not be the vibrant associa>on that we are.

What is ACUHO-­‐I The Associa>on of College and University Housing Officers-­‐Interna>onal is more than 1,000 member campuses, as well as more than 250 product and service providers, all dedicated to crea>ng educa>onal and enriching residen>al experiences on campuses located around the world. ACUHO-­‐I empowers these efforts through informa>ve events and programs, invaluable resources, and an invigora>ng professional network. (h`p://www.acuho-­‐i.org/)

OACUHO Board of Directors Changes There have been some Board changes that have occurred since the Spring Conference. Colin Ryrie has taken a new posi>on at Brock University as Rela>onship Manager, North American Markets. This necessitated Colin to resign his posi>on as Corporate Partner Director. Congratula>ons Colin, it’s been great working with you over the past year and I know you’ll be great in your new posi>on.

Jordon McLinden has moved from his current posi>on of Member-­‐At-­‐Large into fulfilling the remainder of Colin’s term. Thank you Jordon for your support of our Corporate Partners.

This also necessitated replacing Jordon’s Member-­‐At-­‐Large porMolio and I’m pleased to announce that Meaghan (Meg) McNeil (Humber College) has agreed to be part of the Board. Welcome Meg.

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RA Hiring Study

Recrui>ng and selec>ng RAs is a process that requires a substan>al >me and resource commitment. Wouldn’t you like to be sure that the effort you’re puing in is worth it? This is the proposal I made to University of Guelph Student Housing Services in the summer of 2013. As a graduate student researcher and consultant, I knew that I would be able to help provide them with an answer to that ques>on. Since then, we have worked in partnership to conduct a research project to that end.

ques>on. In addi>on, the ques>ons were linked to a pre-­‐defined set of competencies that were revisited throughout the year (e.g., collabora>on and teamwork, self-­‐management).

Second, scores on the group ac>vity were also posi>vely related to future performance. This is likely because in addi>on to the task being designed well, the assessors used ra>ng scales with detailed descriptors to assess candidates on their performance (a good best prac>ce for interviews as well, I might add!).

The main goal of the project was to examine how RA candidates’ performance during the carousel process was related to their future performance on the job. For a selec>on system that is working well, you want candidates’ scores on selec>on procedures (e.g., their interview score) to be posi>vely related to their later job performance (e.g., supervisor ra>ngs of job performance). This would indicate that the individuals who performed best during the carousel are in fact the superstar performers that you expected them to be.

Finally, we had some disappoin>ng results. Role play scores were not indica>ve of later performance on the job. I suggested to Student Housing Services that they use more advanced staff as assessors for this task, because it involves managing a lot of informa>on at once (not only are you assessing the candidate, but you need to make sure you’re playing your role well). Also, having a pre-­‐hiring calibra>on mee>ng where you discuss the use of the ra>ng scales and how assessors will act during the role play is essen>al to making this task work. Again, having this type of mee>ng is a best prac>ce across all types of selec>on procedures.

To examine this ques>on, I first asked for candidates to give me permission to access their scores on RA selec>on tasks in the Winter of 2014. The tasks that candidates had to complete were an interview, a role play ac>vity (i.e., a mock RA chat), and a group ac>vity where they designed and presented a program. I also followed up by collec>ng job performance ra>ngs for the candidates who were hired in the Fall/Winter of 2015.

As a whole, engaging in this research project was rewarding from both par>es’ perspec>ves – I was able to conduct meaningful research, and Student Housing Services now has more insight into what aspects of their RA selec>on process is working well and what could be improved. We hope that you can take some of our lessons learned and apply them to your selec>on system as well. Please feel free to reach out to me with any ques>ons, or to let me know how these changes worked out for you!

An analysis of the data uncovered a number of interes>ng findings. First, scores on the interview were posi>vely related to later performance on the job. This was not surprising to me for two main reasons. The University of Guelph uses structured interview ques>ons that ask about past behaviour (e.g., “Tell me about a >me when…”), which are supported by research to be the most effec>ve type of interview

Jason Verhoeve ( jverhoev@uoguelph.ca) Leann Schneider (lschneider@jacksonleadrship.com)

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Ontario Association of College and University Housing Officers 312 Oakwood Crt, Newmarket Ontario, L3Y 3C8 
 Telephone: 905-954-0102 Fax: 905-895-1630