2023 NASPA AVP Symposium

During moments of crisis caused and motivated by racism, institutions tend to freeze, scurry, or even make things worse. The moment of truth to assess university leadership and their commitment to anti-racism is then just seconds away. The pressure many leaders – oftentimes holding privileged and oppressor identities – feel to condemn racism and reiterate the institution's values to create an inclusive community, while continuing to please their donors who may disagree with addressing racism, are all in competition. With each institution only one incident away from the next headline, leaders end up living on edge and constantly fearing the next late night phone call exposing a violent, hurtful, and harmful act of racism. During this session, the presenter will push leaders to hold the stories of students who have multiple historically marginalized and excluded identities in higher education at the center. From hiring practices to pedagogy, dining options to student conduct, enrollment to public reactions and statements, endowment to campus plan, and so much more, this session will serve as a leader's blueprint towards making institutional changes from an anti-racist lens, guided by the experiences of historically marginalized and excluded students in higher education.

Want to be a socially just leader within a resistant legislative, political, and governing context? Seeking to promote personally and socially responsible leadership in your students while coaching the same in your staff? Become immersed in the lived experiences, decision-making, and perspectives of both college student leaders and administrators as you navigate the Montgomery Alabama 1960 student sit-in events that became Dixon v. State of Alabama (1961). Attend this workshop to learn from the past to promote empathy and intergenerational understanding to craft creative and innovative educationally purposeful interventions.

The Health Promoting Universities movement, guided by the Okanagan Charter, offers a promising framework to support student wellbeing while also addressing simultaneous crises of a global pandemic, the climate emergency, systemic racism, and colonization. Mobilizing meaningful change across systems and silos is complex. During this session, the presenters will share learnings from the University of British Columbia's approach to integrating health, equity, and sustainability in policies and practices – followed by an interactive session to generate insights into opportunities for engaging our campuses in deeper collective action.

Higher education organizations go through periods of intense transition, or seem to forever be in states of change. Navigating that change can be disorienting for teams leading to loss of productivity and decreased morale. Courageous leaders help teams transition through the three phases of change and find their focal point. Participating in this session will prepare AVPs to explore their own challenges with changes they are experiencing and will provide a tool to navigate through transitions with their teams.

The AVP is often at the epicenter of campus climate issues. They must hold and respect all perspectives regarding sensitive topics on campus. It takes a courageous, ethical, and values-driven leader to negotiate campus climate issues by leveraging relationships with all stakeholders to be a change agent and make campuses more inclusive. This session involves engaging the audience in three case studies about volatile campus climate issues at small and large public and private institutions and the critical role of the AVP plays in them. The presenters will also share tips and suggestions for managing yourself when navigating difficult and challenging situations.

In Fall 2022, the provost and vice president of student life at the University of Michigan convened a committee to review mental health and well-being needs and resources. The committee proposed innovative changes to holistically address well-being. An expanded collective impact structure was proposed to provide continuous, innovative solutions to complex systems and policies. During this session, the presenter will provide a briefing regarding the cultivation of the relationship with academic affairs and student life for sustainable change.

As Polk State College ended 2020, we–like all schools–were adjusting to a new normal. At the same time, we were faced with several key administrative retirements and other departures. By making use of previous visioning activities and working to address our new priorities, we were able to completely reimagine the organizational chart in Student Services and save the College more than $20,000 in the process. Learn about the reorganization and where we are headed next!

College campuses face a wide range of challenges, threats, and potential hazards. Planning and implementation rely heavily on using a multi-faceted approach that utilizes the skills and resources of practitioners. Higher education professionals are on the front lines. During this session, the presenter will engage participants in understanding emergency preparedness and response. Real life experiences and successes will be shared to illustrate how our profession needs to continue building capacity to navigate the future.

In 2020, Student Affairs at Pace University experienced a series of changes in leadership, structure, and resources. Two separate Divisions of Student Affairs were combined, and the new leadership team needed to establish staff buy-in, collaboration, and cultural shifts. The presenters will present several examples of the purposeful approach to this process, focusing on the people rather than the change itself. This session will include ample time for participants to share and explore ways to transform indivual staff members attitudes, perceptions, and relationships with one another.

With increasing potency/concentration of cannabis in states with legal non-medical or medical cannabis, there has been emerging research on the effects of these high potency products. In this session, we will review what AVPs need to know about cannabis in 2023, including ways in which student use of cannabis can contribute to academic outcomes and mental health issues. In addition to reviewing research on cognitive impacts, impaired sleep, mental health and cannabis use disorder, we will review policy, prevention, and intervention opportunities.

Social justice (SJ) and inclusive excellence education (IE) have been increasingly present in student affairs work. As tragic events rise in frequency, IHE campuses are stages for protests and charged discussions. While higher education programs have adjusted to address societal and campus ills while fostering campus activism, student affairs practitioners need to remain true to the institutional purposes. This session focuses on ways to encourage staff in SJ and IE work while honoring roles as agents of the institution.

The strength of an organization relies heavily on a resilient mission, a clear vision, and core values that guide its behavior in achieving its goals. Join this session to learn how a division of student affairs actively engaged the campus community to develop a framework for a five-year strategic plan specifically mapped to the university's strategic directions. From the building blocks of developing strategies to measuring the impact of the division's contributions to equipping individuals to live a life of meaning and significance personally, professionally, and civically, during this program the presenter will engage participants in building pathways for the future.

As the recruitment of staff becomes increasingly challenging, leaders are looking at a broader pool of candidates with transitional rather than traditional skills and experience. How can AVPs prepare teams to hire, accept/embrace and train these new colleagues! During this session, the presenter will address factors to consider as the profession morphs into a new reality that requires leaders to think outside the box with hiring and to redesign onboarding and professional development programs.

Recruiting, Retaining, and Engaging the Student Affairs Workforce

Competition for talent is fierce, and nowhere is this more evident than in student affairs positions nationwide. During this session, Andy will share U.S. and higher education workforce trends and challenges and provide recommendations to help student affairs leaders recruit and retain talented colleagues. Participants will also engage in small group discussions to share examples of strategies they are using to address their recruitment and retention challenges.

In order for senior leaders to take ownership of our role in reshaping the culture of higher education, we must create an environment in which people can thrive. In order to do so, we must understand and practice psychological safety. This is courageous leadership.

Do you know who your "second in command" would be if you suddenly needed to step back? Have you faced staff shortages or had entire departments left unstaffed due to turnover? With all the changes in the industry in recent years, the succession-planning pathways that we have all relied on have also changed, and the gaps created can cause huge disruptions to the student experience as well as on workload and balance for student affairs professionals. Attend this session to learn more about effective transition and succession planning.

Being an AVP involves changes and transitions. Whether adapting to new areas of responsibility, transitioning to a new vice president, or re-arranging priorities, change appears to be the one constant for those serving in an AVP role. During this program, a panel of seasoned AVPs will provide perspectives and experiences regarding how they have effectively (or not!) navigated a variety of transitions and changes while serving in these roles. Participants will also have opportunities to share their challenges and lessons learned.

During this period, symposium participants can choose to participate in a peer-facilitated roundtable discussion. Topics will be finalized closer to the symposium.

Connect with your AVPeeps over a hot beverage and a light snack. Maybe make a plan to connect for dinner later that evening?

Student affairs impacts students' experiences, and to a great extent, the campus environment. The work is curated and supported by a diverse set of leaders with strong and engaged teams. But how do you craft leaders and an organization that embrace these opportunities? With heightened turnover and a constantly evolving profession, good hiring and strong structures will support success. This program will highlight the complexities and will offer best practices for not only hiring solid individuals but crafting amazing teams.

Mary Abbajay states, "Nearly everyone interviewed for this book said their best leadership teacher was their worst boss." Lessons learned from our most challenging work experiences provide wisdom for navigating managerial terrain and key tactics to act as strategic leaders to those in our sphere of influence. During this session, the presenters will focus on maximizing our personal and professional intersections to be effective agents of change in our respective organizations as we manage up, down, and across.

You're the new VPSA...so what now? How do you onboard yourself? In this session, you will learn how one new VPSA operationalized the NASPA book Executive Transitions in Student Affairs: A Guide to Getting Started as the Vice President as well as utilized valuable information from mentors to be "first day ready." You will hear how things are going after the first six months, lessons learned, and advice for others considering entering the role of VPSA.

All symposium attendees are warmly invited to this no-host networking gathering.

We've reserved several tables at nearby restaurants to allow symposium participants to dine together in small groups. We encourage you to join one of these no-host dinner groups. (Dinner will be at your own expense.) To sign up to join a dinner group, click the link below. Space is limited for these dinner groups, so don’t delay in securing your spot.

Joining a new organization as an AVP brings both challenges and opportunity. This presentation will share the experiences of two AVPS with differing portfolios and intersecting identities – one a dean of students and the other an AVP of health and well-being – who entered at the ground floor of a significant divisional restructuring. Initial assessment, collaboration, data analysis, and strategic planning will be discussed. This will be a highly interactive presentation, which seeks to engage the wisdom in the room and frame the process of "building" while change is ongoing.

Gaining experience with executive search firms is like gaining experience with budgets – it's a critical element to learn but there is no direct path to gaining the experience! This presentation is going to change all of that as the presenters guide you through how to approach the executive search process from interest to application to interviews. Bring your questions and stories as we demystify the process, shed light on stellar pro tips, and share lots of stories and laughs along the way.

During this period of the Great Resignation, institutions are finding it necessary to be creative with talent acquisition and management, and one cannot discount the experiences of HBCU leadership. At the foundation of every leadership team, personalities and leadership styles differ. Innovation and creativity are the formula for success among our intergenerational leadership teams. Using a narrative approach, the presenters will discuss the impact of our team dynamics in getting the institution to one of its highest levels of retention in recent history.

It is predicted that the Metaverse will be pervasive in society by the end of the decade. Matthew Ball, author of The Metaverse, describes the Metaverse as massively-scaled interoperable networks that are real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds that are synchronous and persistent with unlimited users, each with an individual sense of presence with continuity of data. The possibilities of utilizing a virtual realistic environment to engage students both in and outside the classroom is just beginning now.

Take advantage of this final, extended break to connect with your peers before the symposium closing session.