Considering Outloud

Day 21 – Are You Administration or Faculty or Student Affairs? – #100DaysofHigherEd

I have a unique position in higher education. As many of you know I work in a space where I need to piece together projects that often require, I work with multiple departments with different foci and missions. This is on top of working with external partnerships and we have three universities in our Consortium. I have a lot to put together and it requires I wear all the hats. Just to give you an idea of how this works in my world here are the projects I am working on right now.

Day 20 – The Types of Higher Ed Friendships and what do they mean? – #100DaysofHigherEd

I have been thinking a lot about friendships and connections. The COVID Crisis has made it so many of us have not seen our friends for over a year now and connections is almost exclusively via text, zoom, or social media. Variants, spring surges, and relaxing restrictions aside we all know that the light is at the end of the tunnel. Even the most urgent of doomsayers are mentioning late summer as a time we will hit herd immunity and life can begin to return to a new normal. And when that does, we will all be faced with melting back into society and that includes our Higher Ed families. Knowing this is coming down the road fairly soon it would be a good idea to take stock on the current state of your friendships and to try to understand them better, so you don’t misrepresent yourself when you get back to those conferences and meetings.

Day 19 – What is my Favorite Article of Higher Ed Swag or Clothing – #100DaysofHigherEd

In higher education we love our swag. The polos, the stress balls, I do not think I have purposely purchased an ink pen since Prince’s 1999 was about the future. And the swag comes from everywhere, and there are categories, more on that later. But this post is bout my favorite piece of swag and for me that is simple.

So, when I took the job as Executive Director of the Florida Consortium one the first things, I did was to hire an Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing. I hired a woman named LaToya Hodge. One of the first things we did was to discuss how to properly market the Consortium and send the right kind and level of message using our promo items. We decided on two things above all – the first was a well-made folder. We wanted to make sure when we were presenting something there was a vessel to present it with class and simplicity. Also, since we were a collective group who was built on network improvement, we felt an item where we can deliver everything in one package was a bit symbolic.

Day 18 – The Difference between Urgent and Important in Higher Education – #100DaysofHigherEd

Back to the issue of time management. Here is the problem with time management. In many respects time is usually managed by those who have placed deadlines upon you in generally arbitrary ways. Also, there is a sense from outside forces that time is something that can be allocated by others without any real understanding on what this does to your personal timelines. Be it the ability to complete a task efficiently, your time on task, and, quite frankly, whether you want to complete the task in the first place.

Day 17 – Higher Ed Conferences – #100DaysofHigherEd

It is not going to be long now. Soon enough we will all pile into ballrooms and convention centers, remove our masks, and begin conventioning again. And I use the term conventioning because I believe it is a verb of sorts. The act of attending convention. And I LOVE a good convention. Every year I gear up and register for convention X because you know this one expert who was also feature in this one thing to talk about this other thing will be there. Also, I hear Cincinnati is lovely this time of year and there are so many great restaurants to choose from. I got a presentation as well; you know it is on this thing that I have been researching about. And my favorite part! The exhibit hall. A wonderland of free pens, business cards, and offers for services I will never contract with. Did you hear this year they are adding a sundae bar to get you there? Sign me up!

Day 16 – On Reducing Volume of Garbage in Higher Ed – #100DaysofHigherEd

This topic is one I have written on multiple times so I thought I would reduce the volume of garbage in Higher Education by repurposing a blog post I wrote five years ago with some updated information and ideas. So, enjoy!

It was a symbol of excess and waste in 1980s New York City. The massive 2,200-acre Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, N.Y., was once the largest garbage dump in the world.

And it smelled.

Day 15 – Three Things I want out of the rest of my Higher Ed Experience – #100DaysofHigherEd

I am 48 years old. While that is by no means old, it is about halfway, career wise. I began working full-time professionally at 24 years old. That means I have 24 years in the game. I plan to retire in my mid-60s just like the stereotype is and move to Florida and like in a 55 and over trailer park. You know, drive the golfcart, enjoy my AARP discounts, play shuffleboard, complain about kids these days, and hit up the local Sizzler for the senior tenderloin and glass of wine. I plan to have a real retirement. So, if that is the case, I need to plan out the remining time I have in my career.

Day 14 – A Song That Reminds me of a Time and Place in College – #100DaysofHigherEd

Today’s subject is going to be fun! And I remember every moment of why this is the song that reminds me of my college days. I graduated from college at East Carolina in 1995. It was a magical time for me. My whole life was ahead of me, I was really killing it in school, and I had just accepted a graduate assistantship at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale. My girlfriend (now wife) and I were falling for each other in a big way and we were planning a life together. Things were really looking up.

Day 13 – How do I answer the question, what is my favorite college team? – #100DaysofHigherEd

So, what is my college team? I get this question asked quite often because I have worked for several universities, attended a number, and just like a few more. College is a great place to make a career. From the campus traditions to the classroom, to the not so fun times there is so much that matters and connects with each one of us who call a college campus our career location. And for many of us, our love for college sports also runs deep. We love the feel of gameday in the fall. The band playing in the quad, the changing weather, the roar of the crowd. We love seeing our students get so excited and the smell of the grass at the stadium. I also love a packed gym for a critical basketball game. The tense feeling as students become fans to fanatics. We wear our colors and chant our closely held cheers. We paint our faces and talk smack to our rivals, we print t-shirts, and heckle the refs. Its all just perfect.

Day 12 – A story about a Higher Ed scar I have – #100DaysofHigherEd

There is a higher ed scar that I wear. One that I think about often and struggle with. This week has been a reflective time for me and one where I have tried to be honest with myself about when I was at my best and when I am not. This is a story of when I was not at my best.

When I was 28 the dean of students at my university was fired for embezzling money from the university. All the units in his portfolio were parceled out and I was given the responsibility to oversee the sprit teams. And at my university cheer and dance were BIG. We had won nearly 10 national championships when I got there, and we won many more after I arrived at the program. I have to say, winning was quite a rush. And this is how I got my scar.