#87 meeting of the minds

Due to a series of lucky coincidences, three of my former professional association colleagues and I were able to have brunch together yesterday.  What ensued was a 2-hour stimulating conversation about student affairs and higher education today.  It was delightful to share the depth of understanding that comes from decades of work with college students and to test observations against experiences from the four vantage points we have with the academy.

Some thoughts that surfaced:

-- In our wonderful parent orientations on campus, where staff is warm and welcoming as they share phone numbers and contact information -- are we unintentionally enabling the parents to handle their student problems instead of allowing the students to do so directly?

-- The consequence of increased experiential learning is that it places even more demands on student time -- and makes it more difficult for student life staff to gather their leaders for training throughout the year.

-- There is a trend that shifted the standard language from student activities to student involvement now to student engagement, paralleling the term used by academic research in the area.  It also connotes a more comprehensive view of the ways students are experiencing learning on college campuses.

-- There is a real challenge with male student involvement in organizations.  Fewer men are going to college; many of those who are have athletic pursuits which limit their time for other activities and others do not want to make the commitment that a serious leadership position requires.  This has consequences both on campus and in their lives/community afterwards.

-- The focus of our work needs to remain centered on WHY we are doing it.  One said it best when he said that "learning matters most".  If your program or department can't demonstrate that it is contributing to student learning, then it needs to change or be eliminated.

-- Part of higher education's challenge is that it does not articulate the WHY in compelling ways.  Institutions talk about enrollment and graduation, but don't specify in easily understandable and measurable terms WHY the institution exists.  So the de facto goal becomes "graduation" with too little attention paid to whether the student has the life and career skills necessary for success after they leave.  Advising becomes an exercise in accruing 128 credits, rather than an exploration of what a student wants to achieve in life and how a myriad of college experiences can be assembled to help towards that end.

Those of you who are not in higher education may not understand the details of the bullets above, but the specifics of our conversation are not really the point.  My biggest takeaway from today's conversation was that my professional life is lacking a way to have deep, thought-provoking conversations with those who know what I am talking about and can add to the conversation.  Serendipity brought the four of us together, but I need to be more intentional about creating opportunities to share and reflect.  Anyone up for a think tank gathering?

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

(With thanks to the minds of Ken Brill, Tracy Knofla and Michael Miller)