Author Archives: gwendungy

Providing Services for Our Service Members

Posted on November 11, 2012 | Leave a comment

Today is the day we honor and recognize the service members who have completed their time in the military. Earlier this week, I was on a United flight to Kona in order to participate in the NASPA Western Regional Conference, headed by Leah Jarnagin. The Conference, by the way, was OUTSTANDING! On this same flight were many military personnel. Because I think about Hawaii as paradise and the place we travel to for respite, fun, and relaxation, I assumed that these service members were on a break for some well-deserved R & R. Respecting their privacy, I did not say a word to any of them on the entire trip from BWI to Chicago and then on to Kona. But curiosity got the best of me, and as we were filing off the plane in Kona, I asked the service member just ahead of me in line if he and his fellow service members were here for R & R. He smiled at me and said, “No we’re coming home for good; we live here.”

I was overjoyed in hearing the good news! When I arrived at the Western Regional Conference, I was sitting next to a community college colleague who told me that their college was creating a center for veterans and they were involving veterans every step of the way in the design of the center. I told her that from what I’ve heard, asking veterans what they want and need is the best way to approach any kind of support since getting support seems to be a sensitive area for some veterans.

Following our conversation, I thought about what it would have been like if I had been able to enlist in the military as I wanted to do following my experience in ROTC in high school. I had a variety of reasons for wanting to enlist, and I wonder today whether or not my motives would have been fulfilled.

During this reflection, it became clear to me that the best way to provide services that meet the needs of veterans today is to find out why the service member volunteered; whether or not that motive has been fulfilled through their time in the service; and find out what their goal is now when they return. I would venture a guess that many of the service members who had their motives satisfied for entering the service will need less support than those who were disappointed because their experience did not match what they imagined they would receive. These are the service members who may be the prime candidates for intervention in order to retain them in college until a satisfactory completion. If student services would focus on veterans as a group for retention, the retention rate for veterans and for the institution will be affected because of the number of veterans we will see over the next couple of years.

What has been their experience? What do they want now? Are our services sufficient to meet their goals now?

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Posted in Uncategorized

Amazed and Encouraged

Posted on November 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

Students continue to amaze me. With so much talk about whether or not college is worth the costs, I would guess that if four students at a private university costing just at $60,000 a year, not counting all the ancillary expenses of involvement and stuff students “have to have,” were asked if the mounting costs of a college education outweighed the benefits, at least two of them would say “Yes” the costs outweigh the benefits.

One reason I would guess that students don’t see the great benefits of college is because in the new book by Jane Fried, Transformative Learning through Engagement: Student Affairs Practice as Experiential Pedagogy, I believe I read that many students think that what they are learning in the classroom is irrelevant and disconnected from the real world, and that after they complete their courses they will learn what they need to learn in order to get a job or whatever else their goal might be.

In the Wake Forest University student newspaper, students on the Quad were asked just this question, and four out of four students in the class of 2015 said that a college education was worth the money. What were their reasons?

  • The job market is so competitive.
  • The wealth of knowledge we will gain make it worth it.
  • Despite the debt, the payoff is tremendous.
  • Education is important for the future of America.

It is so encouraging to hear these kinds of comments from today’s college students.

Students continue to amaze me. When I was sharing my thoughts during a speaker series at Wake Forest University, I was describing the context of the world in which our graduates will have to survive and hopefully thrive. I referenced the chaos, uncertainty, and disruption ahead, and I quoted Robert Safian from his Fast Company article on “Generation Flux” where he said students will have to “embrace instability” and “enjoy recalibrating their careers.”

I thought this would terrify the students, and I would guess that some of them were anxious in hearing this, but one student raised her hand and said, “What’s the problem with having to recalibrate and be prepared for disruption and chaos? I look forward to it and think it’s exciting!” I wanted to hug her and hold her up as the model to emulate! Is this kind of thinking and attitude amazing or not?

Student affairs can help students prepare their mindset to adapt to new situations, to continue to learn new things, and to see the world through the lens of an optimistic and competent generation. What some see as disruption will be just another challenge to meet and overcome for our graduates. I’m so encouraged.

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Posted in Higher Education, Student Affairs, Students

Pressing Issues – Yesterday and Today

Posted on November 5, 2012 | 1 comment

In going through some files recently, I came across a list of what I saw as pressing issues in colleges and universities:

  • Violence on campus and the changing expectations for security
  • Students in psychological distress and the changing nature of confidentiality for mental health services
  • Fear of Pandemic diseases on campus
  • Success gap between majority and underrepresented students
  • Alcohol-related injuries, disruptions and enforcement of the legal drinking age
  • Creative parent involvement
  • Measuring and assessing student learning outcomes for accountability
  • Social networks
  • Students’ expectations of college and figuring out who our students are today

I wrote this list in 2008. What do we see now as the pressing issues for colleges and universities? Are they the same and more so? Are they fewer? Are they different?

What I’m hearing as I visit campuses and speak with colleagues is that the pressing issues are the same and more so. For example, underage students are still drinking to get drunk and the new thrill is to “go get black out.”  Students used to drink in excess but to black out was a serious episode that most students took as a signal to stop drinking to excess. Today, I hear that some students begin the evening drinking with a goal to black out.

In 2008, we were honing our skills to figure out creative ways to have parents work with us rather than attempting to push them away as our earlier instincts had suggested. Today, some report that our efforts to control the participation of parents in the lives of their college students are encouraging more involvement to the detriment of our efforts to support students in their natural development of independence. There is agreement that some parental involvement is a good thing, but is there even a line to be drawn today?

I would love to hear what you think about the pressing issues of today for your college or university. I did not mention the obvious issue of technology and learning because it deserves a space all to itself.

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Posted in Student Affairs, Students

Higher Ed in Need of Better Warrior Care

Posted on October 28, 2012 | Leave a comment

Helping colleges and universities prepare for returning veterans and active duty service members was an interest of mine before 2004 when I was a guest of the Secretary of Defense and given the opportunity to tour the European Command. Since that tour, it has become a passion.

Because of this passion, I left my home located between Baltimore and Washington, DC about 6:40 a.m. on Thursday, October 25, 2012 to travel to Bethesda, MD, home of the Walter Reed National Military Center (WRNMC). Six other alumni who had also, at one time or another, been a guest of the Secretary of Defense to tour a military command were also invited to the WRNMC to learn more about warrior care.

This medical center is the flagship of military medicine with state-of-the-art facilities to support wounded warriors and their families. Rather than describe the facility, I’d like to tell you what I learned that was not on the agenda for the tour.

  • I learned that service members are surprised that our “veteran-friendly” colleges and universities still deny them admission based on their high school transcripts that are often a reflection of immaturity and a lack of a sense of direction. Their poor high school record is one reason that many of them volunteered to serve their country in the first place.
  • I learned that service members are furious that colleges and universities want to force them to use their benefits and spend their time re-taking courses for which they already earned credit while on active duty.
  • I learned that these service members at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center work extra hard to overcome the fact that they have lost limbs, that they have other wounds, that they have to learn basic skills all over again because of Traumatic Brain Injury. Because of their hard work, when they leave the medical facility, they want to be seen as prepared for their next phase in life. They want the opportunity to fit in as much as they desire. They say that they understand the intent of our referrals to our offices for students with disabilities, but they do not want to be seen as someone not  prepared for the challenges ahead.

Because of some of the things I learned, some service members ask, “Is this the way colleges and universities say, “Thank you for your service?”

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Posted in Higher Education, Veterans

Making Diversity Inclusive

Posted on October 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

Last week, I attended the AAC&U Modeling Equity, Engaging Difference Conference in Baltimore. The Associate Provost of Towson University in Baltimore and I put together a student panel to speak to diversity and equity. The Associate Provost and I were each responsible for identifying two students for the panel presentation, representing four different types of institutions, in total.

When I called my colleagues at two colleges to request two students to be on the panel, I only described the program and what the students would be asked to address. I did not specify any demographics about the students. While the Associate Provost and I had a phone conversation with the four students to discuss the presentation, we did not see the students until the day of the conference. One student was studying in the U.S. from Kenya; another student, the only male, was from Pakistan; and two Black students were from the Baltimore area. All of these students were leaders on their campuses and bright, ambitious, and very much engaged in their education.

The first question for the panel was, “What does diversity and equity mean to you?” I think the question is one that we as educators should ponder, and one for which we should be able to provide a response. While I was not surprised by there being no White student from the United States on the panel, a panel on diversity and equity that includes only students of color and international students may say that when we educators think of diversity and equity, we do not include White students. How can we help White students understand that diversity includes them if we do not behave as if we understand that diversity includes all of us?

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Posted in AACU, Identity, Race & Ethnicity

Beyond the Supreme Court – Difficult Dialogues

Posted on October 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Affirmative Action and “Victimized Whites”

Retain Affirmative Action—Because It’s the Morally Right Thing to Do

So read the headlines of October 5 and 8 articles, respectively, in The Chronicle of Higher Education, leading up to the Supreme Court’s review of affirmative action in the case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. Because I have been around a while, I have seen the presentation of affirmative action in such diametrically different ways more times than I can count.

I also have been aware of the legal history of affirmative action, which in one form or another began before 1965 and 1967, when President Lyndon Johnson signed executive orders around race and sex, respectively, and before 1972, when affirmative action regulations were applicable to most institutions because of the Title IX regulation.

There have been large percentage increases in the number of traditionally underrepresented students and women, in particular, in higher education since those pieces of legislation were enacted. We all know that there are many more individuals who do not even make it to the gates of colleges and universities. On the other hand, we also know that admission is not a guarantee of success in achieving the goals of higher education.

I believe that a variable in the decline in the success of historically underrepresented students is a political environment–particularly that Academe–in which resistance to the notion of affirmative action seems to be as strong and visceral in 2012 as it was in the 1960s and 1970s. I would not have thought this to be the case, given the fact that many colleges and universities have a critical mass of historically underrepresented students and emphasize diversity as an educational benefit. As I read the comments following the articles mentioned above, however, it was discouraging to think what some students must endure on college and university campuses when members of the faculty, administration, and staff hold such views.

For me, the future of access in its broadest sense is not as much about what the Supreme Court decides in the Fisher case as it is about the ideology and attitudes of the faculty, administrators, and staff in higher education. Many of the readers who responded to the articles on affirmative action that I mentioned above did not attempt to disguise the fact that they were referring to Black people, for the most part, when they talked about “victims,” “inferior,” “unqualified,” “character flaw,” “lack of responsibility,” and “violent behavior.” Having a position that Black students are at some institutions because of affirmative action and as a result unworthy of being there appears to be the attitude of many of those who responded bitterly to the notion of affirmative action.

Our colleagues need an opportunity to be in face-to-face dialogues with one another about their beliefs in facilitated conversations where they can listen, think critically, and learn, rather than glibly write their opinions behind pseudonyms in the public media. I have faith in the power of people to learn and attempt to understand others, and no one needs these opportunities more than our educators who are carrying agendas based on historical prejudices and misinformation. We should have teach-ins for our colleagues. If students are to learn about other cultures and benefit from interacting with others from diverse cultures, including different religious beliefs, our colleagues need to experience the same kind of learning. The key is to create an atmosphere in which people with what might be considered unpopular attitudes and stances will feel free to express themselves without self-righteous indignation from their colleagues who think differently.

People make fun of what used to be called “sensitivity training,” and- D perhaps the way this training was introduced and carried out deserve the derision, but something needs to be done to get educators in the same room with others who hold different opinions on an issue such as affirmative action, regardless of the decision of the Supreme Court, in order to have what have been called “difficult dialogues.”

The decision of the Court does not end the debate; it just goes underground and it smolders and eventually may damage those who depend on educators to prepare them to live in a world where intercultural understanding and communication is a requirement for not only their careers but for their life away from work. The good news is that, more often than not, today’s students are open and want to know and learn from other cultures. Faculty, administrators and staff who are locked into positions of ignorance are unable to help students move forward in a multicultural, diverse, and global environment. Our colleagues need help.

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Posted in Higher Education, Race & Ethnicity

Now Trending in Higher Education: Internationalization

Posted on September 25, 2012 | 1 comment

What’s trending in higher education? 

When 34 higher education leaders from 15 countries agree on a set of principles to guide universities and graduate schools in preparing doctoral and masters students to meet the demands of the global workforce and economy, as reported in University World News, and when the Council of Higher Education and Accreditation (CHEA) launches an international division because there is a pressing need to establish a shared global system of quality assurance, also reported in University World News, and when IASAS and NASPA host a Global Summit on Student Affairs with 24 countries represented and close to fifty participants, what’s trending is the realization that geographic boundaries have no influence on the competition students will face in employment and in their careers, and we must prepare students to live and work with people from all over the globe.

What the IASAS–NASPA Global Summit participants realized is that the important skills needed for job acquisition and career advancement that have historically been referred to as “soft skills” are even more important with the advent of the internationalization of opportunity.

The IASAS–NASPA Global Summit was invigorating and inspiring, with educators talking about the similarities and differences in how student services and education outside the classroom are provided. Respecting each approach to serving and educating students, we had very similar concerns about students who are presenting similar issues worldwide around financial ability to attend and remain in college, the hard lessons from alcohol abuse, and anxieties about securing jobs upon graduation.

I was encouraged as we spoke about sharing best practices, collaborating, and the possibility of adopting a common set of student learning outcomes that are global in nature and that student affairs can help students acquire, such as those “soft skills” that are becoming more critical than ever in a global and transnational environment.

Stay tuned for more news on the IASAS–NASPA Global Summit as the proceedings and summaries from the gathering are finalized.

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Posted in Higher Education, International, NASPA, Student Affairs

Message to Masters’ Students

Posted on September 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

While I try to keep my blogs short, I wanted to share with you, and particularly our new masters’ cohorts, a message I was honored to be able to give September 13 to the cohort at Oregon State University. The occasion was made even more special by the fact that my friend and colleague of so many years, Kevin Kruger, joined me. Kevin spoke first about his journey to the position of NASPA President and the trends in higher education, and I followed up with the following comments:

Congratulations on being accepted into the 2012 cohort of the College Student Services Administration Program!  I thank Mamta Accapadi and Kim McAloney for the invitation to speak with you.

First, I can assure you that you were not accepted and given this opportunity to study with and learn from the best just because of your brains and your good looks. You have more than you think going for you and during your work together as a cohort, you will discover those other characteristics that will make you the kind of leader needed for student affairs of the future.

Last week, I had the pleasure of having lunch with a young woman who is considering whether or not to get her Masters Degree in Student Services or some academic discipline. During that conversation, I thought about the time I’d have to speak with you. As we talked, it became crystal clear to us that if she were risk averse, she would choose an academic discipline because the formula is all laid out and one needs only to learn it and follow it. One has to be a risk taker with a lot of confidence to choose to pursue a graduate degree in student services because regardless of how brilliant and worldly your faculty are, and regardless of how committed you are to soak up all the learning you can, when you are the student services professional, there will always be situations that you have not experienced and no one has been able to tell you about. Critical thinking and compassion and the ability to see the world from different perspectives are the trademarks of professionals in student services. There is no doubt that your work in the College Student Services Administration Program will help you hone these skills.

Your work in the Oregon State College Student Services Administration Program will help you gain the competencies needed to build your confidence in order for you to respond appropriately to all the challenges you will face as an administrator in student services.

I recently had a conversation with a parent whose daughter is just beginning college at a prestigious university, and I thought of you. The student could have selected from among many institutions, so I asked the parent what were the defining factors that helped her daughter decide on a particular institution. It seems that the decision was made on the intangibles that student services provides to create a welcoming and happy environment.  You need to know how valuable you are to the college or university you choose after you attain your degree, and you need to make sure that students, faculty and administrators know what you are doing. Interestingly, the parent I spoke with said that the University selected by her daughter had two qualities that were missing from the others: Transparency about their processes and not just lip service to being transparent and authenticity. They believed that people there were genuinely happy, having fun, and committed to learning. They felt that the staff really cared about them, and that they were not just following a script.

Yesterday, in the mail, I received my copy of September 17 issue of Newsweek, screaming with a headline on the front cover-Is College a Lousy Investment?  And I thought of you. The article is based on the thinking of some economists who do not acknowledge the inherent values of education such as life-long learning and learning in order to carry out responsibilities of citizenship in a democratic society. In the article, they also pull out extreme examples of the unnecessary luxuries college campuses provide that they see as a waste of money and some of the reasons why college costs keep rising. What made me think of you was part of the conclusion of the economists on how we might get out of this cycle of student debt and their future salaries that will be inadequate to pay off the loans.

They suggest apprenticeship-style programs in the work place because, they say, every job does not need to have someone with a college education.  And they said, “not just specific job skills, but the kind of ‘soft skills’, like getting to work on time and getting along with a team, that are crucial for career success.”  What they call soft skills fall into some of the transnational characteristics and skills that will be needed for future jobs and these are personal and social responsibility and intercultural communications.

These are areas where student services excel and working with students on these skills provide a great opportunity to collaborate with academic affairs. Collaboration will be the key to your success as you work towards your degree and when you are using your skills as a professional in student services.

I mention this because the work that you do in student services is going to be more important than ever because families and policy makers will continue to ask the question about the worth of a college education.

You’re in basic training with some of the best at Oregon State University. I’m confident that you will be able to help turn the conversation around about whether or not college is worth the investment.

Again, I congratulate you and wish the very best in this adventure.

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Posted in Students

Fleeting Days of Summer…

Posted on August 28, 2012 | Leave a comment

August, as usual, flies by like a blur! We try to hold onto it because in our minds, once it disappears, the summer is gone.

During the first week in August, it was a privilege for me to participate in the AAC&U Summer Institute funded by the NEH and aptly titled, “Bridging Cultures to Form a New Nation: Difference, Community, and Democratic Thinking.” Participants were teams of faculty from ten community colleges who became students for six days to think about how to make practicing democracy a part of their pedagogy. I had the immense privilege of serving as facilitator for four teams of faculty in which we met for two-hour blocks to explore pedagogy and democratic thinking stimulated by a reading list from U.S. founding documents to Malcolm Gladwell. The discussions were amazing and there was phenomenal learning when the teachers became the students.

Mid-August, I had the privilege of going to the University of Southern California (USC) as the keynote speaker for the annual student affairs conference, which is no small matter. The conference pulls between 400 and 500 participants, and speakers include Olympic stars and legendary heroes. My friend and colleague, Michael Jackson, exhibited a lot of faith in me to have me serve as the keynote speaker. I think the mission was accomplished in what is the “Shangri-la” of university campuses.

It seems to me that the easiest job in the world must be working as a recruiter in the admissions office at USC what with their national rankings, their endowment, the Trojans, famous alumni, and the many huge gifts that have made the university a wonderland of resources, beauty, conveniences, and support for students. I hope USC students know how privileged they are. My hat is off to my colleague and friend, Vice President Michael Jackson, for the diversity in talent on campus and among his incredible student affairs staff.

It was more than a treat for me to attend commencement ceremonies at Texas A & M University, where I witnessed Lesley-Ann Brown, a former MUFP Fellow, receive her Ph.D. Lesley-Ann is a role model for all of us in persistence and courage. I met her lovely family and can see that the entire family has more than its share of talented and beautiful people.

During my stop at home this weekend, Charles and I got to some of our “things to do” list around the house. I can’t tell you how good it feels to begin to put checks by those tasks completed. The list is still long, but there is some light coming through the cracks.

Oh yes! I almost forgot that Charles and I took the AMTRAK to New York City with some of our dear friends to see Clybourne Park on Broadway. I sat transfixed by the actors who burrowed under my skin in showing the horrors of racism in the 1950s and then the horrors of entitlement during a period of gentrification in the 2000s. My take-away from the play is that nobody was a winner because in the midst of all the rationalizations, there was a tragedy where someone took their own life because they could not face the judgments of their fellow humans. The metaphor for me is that the issues of racism and entitlement can kill us, and we keep this fact hidden from ourselves in order to continue to indulge in the gratification of being right. The beauty of this work of art is that no one should feel justly satisfied with their contributions to this ongoing argument.

Well, I’m happily on the road again next week traveling out west, and I must say, I love this gig I call “retirement Gwen’s style.” One of my friends told me that I’m definitely not her role model for what retirement should be.

That’s it for now. Have to get back to my check list. Wishing you the best.

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Posted in AACU, Retirement

The Life-changing Work of Student Affairs

Posted on August 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

In the spring, I was in the airport to take a flight to Charleston, Illinois, where my alma mater Eastern Illinois University (EIU) is located. I’ve returned to campus twice since graduating: Once to received the Distinguished Alumna Award from the University and now to receive the Outstanding Alumna Award from the Graduate School and the Department of Student Development. It is beyond anything I could have imagined while a student at EIU.

The first recognition was the same month and year I came to NASPA, I believe. When I made remarks at the celebration, I remember referencing how bittersweet the homecoming was. The bitter was when I reflected on being a student at the University at a time when I did not feel welcome and counted. I had the temerity to be there because the courts said I had that right.

This time the visit had no bitter. Only sweet. Two African American graduate students took me on a tour of the campus and everywhere I looked, there was racial diversity and students all looked as if they belonged at EIU. The progress made helped me think of all the benefits I have enjoyed as a graduate.

Other alums who were recognized spoke of faculty who had a profound impact on their lives. I talked about the incredible experiences in which I learned that I could be given responsibilities and be expected to do well. It is because of EIU and the support and encouragement of student activities advisers that I have had the confidence necessary to face and overcome challenges. I don’t remember their names or their faces, but I will always remember what they gave me in character and skill development.

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Posted in Student Affairs