Joe Sabado – Higher Education & Technology Leadership

The topic of social media and scholarship came up yesterday in the Research Institute of the NASPA Western Regional Conference in Oakland. One of the questions posed was, “who defines a legitimate source of knowledge?” As mentioned yesterday, when speaking with academic administration or faculty, one would probably cite academic journals, not blogs, as they are not seen as scholarly publications. There are certain standards in the academy of what constitutes scholarly writing. I can accept the idea that blogs may not yet be considered scholarly publications but what I will not accept is the idea is not blogs are not legitimate sources of ideas, whether they are considered scholarly or not, especially ideas from those who have been marginalized and whose voices have not been heard.

As one who has felt marginalized throughout my life and career, my blog offers me the voice to be heard. No one interrupts me when I am in the middle of writing a sentence. I write when my mind is free and when I want to. I often write my posts between midnight and three AM. Dr. Larry Roper, the former Provost for Student Affairs at Oregon State, said this when he spoke at UC Santa Barbara years ago, “Please do not steal my pause…the best comes after the pause.” This is a challenge I’ve faced as one who needs the time to think and finds myself being interrupted in mid-sentence when I’m speaking.

Even worse is that some of my ideas are quickly dismissed when I am expressing my perspective that may not align with mainstream thinking because of my upbringing and cultural background. Social media, especially blogging, has allowed me to contribute to the conversations in the field of student affairs, higher education, and technology. It has also provided me the medium to share my shared experience as an Asian-American. Some of the topics I write about resonate with others as I get emails from others who tell me they can relate, including this recent post on my challenge as an Asian American leader and assertiveness.

I don’t apologize for my thoughts, even as they may sound ridiculous to others. Why should I? I have a perspective like everyone else. Whether they are “right” or “wrong” is in the eye of the reader, but they are perspectives nevertheless. I have gotten tired of waiting for others to allow me to speak because I may not have the three letters after my name or because I don’t sit in a high enough position at the university. I think marginalized folks can relate to the frustration of being silenced or dismissed. Blogging has allowed me to contribute my thoughts and express them how I want to. When I blog, I don’t always know how readers will interpret them, and I know there are consequences to my writing. However, what I write are my ideas shaped by my experience and struggles. No one will tell me, nor should they, that my personal truth as the way I only see them is not valid.

When I started blogging, I intended to share my thoughts and considered it a public personal reflection. One of the unexpected outcomes has been collaborating with other student affairs and technology professionals who share common interests with me. I’ve had discussions with others about the current and future of student affairs and how technology should play in how we serve our students. As I’ve discovered during these collaborations, there are other folks like me who have ideas, yet they don’t have the medium to express them. My blog has allowed me to contribute to conversations and connect with others.

If you’ve felt marginalized and your voice silenced – consider blogging. No one’s going to interrupt your thoughts while you’re writing, and yes, there are consequences to what you write, but at least you’re sharing your unique ideas for others to read. Your ideas are too valuable to be kept in your head!

I was asked by a colleague once whether it’s worth it for high-ranking student affairs leaders such as deans and other senior student affairs officers (SSAO) to be spending their time on social media given all the amount of work they must do. This question is like asking whether any SSAO should even be attending student activities on campus to engage with students, build relationships, or at the least listen (“lurk”) to get a sense of what students are talking about given the amount of work they must do. Can you imagine any SSAO making any effective decision impacting students by spending all their time in their office and not having any contact with them? One would find that concept ludicrous, right?

One only needs to look at Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and even Yik Yak and Yeti on any given day to see how much college students use social media to express themselves, communicate, and even study together. SSAOs would be wise to spend some of their time just “lurking” to understand what students are talking about. They would see patterns of issues given the time of the year. They would also see the behaviors displayed on social media that should drive the educational programming their campus should be doing. They would see opportunities when they can provide assistance or encouragement to students needing some help. They would also see feedback on programs and services their organizations provide. If SSAOs want real-time and unfiltered feedback, they might want to read students’ reactions on social media from time to time. There are students on social media who are not members of the active and engaged student leaders from whom SSAOs interact and get feedback. Social media provide SSAOs with a wider set of perspectives. even those they may not want to read and see beyond what they typically get from student leaders.

Another important reason why SSAOs should spend some time on social media is. Because of their influential position within their organization, SSAOs can shape their organization’s attitude towards the use of social media and technology. Through their use of social media, SSAOs can message their organizations that social media does have a beneficial role in their jobs and it’s okay to use social media in the workplace. A few years ago, I encountered strong resistance from some people in our student affairs organization about using social media in our workplace. I was frustrated because while I realized the value of social media in communicating with students, I had difficulty convincing my colleagues to accept social media as part of our work. I asked our then Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Dr. Michael Young, to sponsor a divisional social media initiative. As part of that effort, Dr. Young and his office created his Twitter account and a department Facebook page. In addition, he also sent a memo to the division explicitly encouraging the staff to embrace social media as a way to communicate with our students. Dr. Young’s support of social media is documented in this parents newsletter (2012) article about our division’s use of social media. According to Dr. Young,

“We have to try to keep up with our students. We have to continue to evolve so that we can thoughtfully and adequately serve them.” He also said, “Our strength is our ability to communicate with our students where they are and in their language,” explaining that “organizations that are aligned with their interests, instead of the interests of the broader community they serve, will fail.”

In student affairs, we have a saying that “we need to meet where students are.” Our students are on social media. SSAOs failure to engage on social media can mean failure for student affairs organizations to thoughtfully and adequately serve them, as Dr. Young once said.

I was speaking with a recent graduate who, after two years in the workforce, is exploring the possibility of going back to pursuing a Masters in Student Affairs and Higher Education. She was very concerned about the idea that because she didn’t go straight from an undergraduate to a Master’s program, the conventional path would reflect negatively on her when she did apply. As she told me this, I just had to smile because I was reminded of how, early in my career, several well-intended folks offered me advice about staying put in one place. After all, going from one job to another will not be seen positively when I apply for jobs. I wasn’t following the conventional career path. In retrospect, my experiences in start-up, corporate, and higher education have provided me with varied perspectives that have helped me appreciate and assess the realities of my job. I am glad I chose to listen to my instinct and not be pressured into pursuing the conventional path I was advised to take.

Just as I believe industry best practices have value in improving organizations, one must be cognizant that local contexts must be considered when applying best practices. Local factors like tradition, politics, personalities and other organizational constraints cannot be ignored. I liken best practices to the conventional career paths I was advised to pursue early in my career. Like best practices, advice about conventional career paths must be taken cautiously. I realized that early on in my career. Hence, while I politely listened to the conventional career advice I was given, I knew I had to consider my unique experience, background, skill set, and aspirations. The folks giving me advice were successful in their ways, but there were challenges I faced and strengths I possessed as a first-generation immigrant Filipino-American. My personal attributes and circumstances are analogous to the local contexts I mentioned above. Even beyond my personal attributes and background, today’s economy and job skills have significantly changed from decades ago.

In this world of every so dynamic workplace, how much of what’s considered conventional career paths are applicable? In the past, folks stayed in one job their entire lives, but I’ve read many articles, including this one, that job hopping is the “New Normal” for Millennials. I wonder how many younger professionals and students still receive career advice from well-intended senior professionals based on their experience a couple or more decades ago.

Personally, the prospect of where I may be in my career ten years from now is exciting. I don’t know what careers will be available for me in our field of student affairs in the future. I suppose the best advice I will cautiously provide to anyone asking for career advice is to continue learning, be open to possibilities, and study trends that may provide clues on where we may be heading. In other words, prepare for a career yet to be invented.

What are your thoughts on this topic? What conventional and so unconventional career advice have you received in your career?

I attended the Western Regional Career in Student Affairs Day at UCLA this last Saturday, Oct 17, with the UCSB’s NASPA Undergraduate Fellowship Program (NUFP) team. This was an opportunity for our undergraduate students to learn more about student affairs as a profession and to meet other students and professionals in the field. I also attended to be a panelist for a session on Social Media in Student Affairs. As it was with the previous years I have attended, I left the conference with a sense of renewal and commitment to my role as a student affairs professional. The event was well planned, the sessions were informative, and the speakers were knowledgeable. I sensed those involved in the planning and those who participated in a deep commitment to serving students and learning about student affairs. Beyond the learning were also the fun moments getting re-acquainted with friends and colleagues I interact with through social media and meeting new friends. Here are some of the personal highlights (I can remember) of the conference:

Dr. Sumun (Sumi) Pendakur‘s keynote speech (“The Personal, The Political, and The Professional”). Dr. Pendakur delivered a dynamic speech about the intersections of her personal upbringing and her profession. As she said, “we all come from somewhere, ” she spent some time introducing her parents, specifically her dad, and how their experiences informed and shaped her world views and activism. She shared her personal story because, as she said, “personal narrative informs our work we do.”  She spoke about our obligations as student affairs professionals to serve all students and to promote success for all students, not just for some. She asked, “are they graduating and thriving, or are they surviving”? Dr. Pendakur also shared some strategies to get the most out of this conference, which applies to our daily work. For one, she suggests doing some relationship-building – purposeful networking. In addition, she suggested self-care/renewal. Conferences this size can be a challenge for introverts (like me), and it’s okay to find a corner someplace alone to re-energize ourselves on our own. Lastly, she suggested pushing the edge/practicing taking risks. Ask questions and challenge. We need to practice asking questions, and we don’t have to be SSAOs to be asking questions. We can ask questions wherever we sit in the institution.

Reflections from Senior Affairs Officers. Four seasoned administrators (Dr. Jeff Klaus from CSU Long Beach, Dr. Sumun Pendakur from Harvey Mudd College, Dr. Suzanne Seplow from UCLA, and VP Henry Gee, Rio Hondo Community College) along with the facilitator Dr. Mink-Salas from Azusa Pacific University shared some really valuable insights on their experiences, and they also shared important lessons.

Watching two Asian American senior administrators on the panel was a welcome sight. As I wrote in this blog post, we need more Asian American mentors/advocates in higher education. The messages from all of the panelists were valuable, but the messages from VP Henry Gee and Dr. Pendakur spoke to me as an Asian American.

This session made me think about where I am in my career and where I would like to go in my career. During this session, I had this “Eureka” moment of what my purpose in student affairs has been though I never realized what it was. This was to shape my institution and higher ed in general to best, serve the interest of students!

The other important insight I got from this session was the idea that I don’t want to be pigeonholed as an “IT guy” because I’ve primarily been in student affairs IT for most of my career. I have always seen myself as a student affairs professional who works primarily with technologies to promote student success. I have played several roles as an organizational advisor, mentor, FYE discussion leader, multicultural programming facilitator, etc. The challenge and interest for me have been on how to bridge the gap between IT and student affairs and, in general, how to use technology more effectively within student affairs. It is still my goal to be a senior administrator someday to be able to solve the challenge I posed through the position of Dean of Student Affairs Technology, a role that does not yet exist. This role needs to be at the highest level in student affairs organizations sitting alongside other senior student affairs officers (SSAO). As this role still does not exist, I continue to advocate that an IT director or one in charge of enterprise technology initiatives within student affairs needs to be at the SSAO table.

Black Lives Matter in the Ivory Tower: Trials and Triumph in Navigating Anti-Racist Work session. This session was planned to be facilitated by a UCLA senior student affairs official and a panel. Still, due to the ongoing investigation of the “Kanye Western” theme party, which involved racial overtones, Dr. Dougherty, the facilitator, could not attend. The other panelists from other universities were able to attend as well. Two professionals, Diana Victa from Cal State Los Angeles and Patricia Nguyen from UCLA (and UCSB alum), effectively facilitated the hard topics of how to promote anti-racism efforts on campus and the barriers facing these efforts. Participants shared their thoughts about anti-racism challenges and opportunities at their own campuses. Undergraduate students spoke about the challenges of being expected and devoting time towards fighting for social justice while already facing heavy academic work. Some professionals spoke about their personal challenges and how they found their voices in the process. When asked why we attended the session, I shared that I wanted to learn about the topics and, more importantly, to listen to the raw and unfiltered voices of those impacted by racism. I shared that we don’t have enough space to have honest conversations about racism on our campuses. It was a powerful session, indeed. One of the comments shared by a new pro and a former student activist was the myth of resource constraint in response to the idea that we need to be patient in our anti-racism fight. We can’t solve the problem in one day. As the attendee stated, “how is that money magically appearing after a crisis and when the university’s ranking is going down, and donors stop donating as the result of a crisis when students have been talking with the administration for a long time before the crisis.”

photo courtesy of Grace Bagunu

Social Media in Student Affairs session. I sat on a panel with  VP Henry Gee and Jennifer Rodil, with Grace Bagunu as the moderator. We spoke about the role of social media at the personal, campus, and professional organization levels. As VP Gee shared, Grace was the first social media account manager for NASPA Region 6, and she was instrumental in getting VP Gee to use social media. Jennifer also credited Grace as her social media mentor. I first met my co-presenters through social media and have become friends since we met, so this session was fun to participate in.

VP Gee spoke about why he joined Twitter at the urging of Grace and why he joined Facebook (to listen to feedback about his programs). He also provided important responses to questions from the audience on how to appropriately use social media regarding job searching and networking. Jennifer provided insight on how she manages her department’s social media presence and strategies for promoting engagement with the NASPA Region 6 Twitter and Instagram accounts. An audience member asked how to manage time spent posting content and social media accounts effectively. Jennifer suggested having a schedule of postings along with the schedule are the types of content to post. I spoke about specific uses of social media at UCSB. I cited how I used Facebook to share information about the status of our IT services during the power outage since our email server was out of service. Since we couldn’t send messages through our email server, Facebook became the primary medium to communicate with our UCSB customers about our services’ statuses until we could have email service up and running again. The second example I provided was the significance of social media during a crisis. I specifically spoke about the tragic Isla Vista shooting on Mary 23rd, 2014. Social media became the medium for real-time communication (I learned about the shooting the minute shots were fired from students I advised through their Facebook statuses), community building (show of support within the local UCSB community and across the globe on social media), and event coordination (series of events were held that following week along with a memorial at UCSB’s Harder Stadium attended by 20,000+).

I also spoke about the reasons why I blog, including why I started (I was frustrated because I had a lot of ideas but I didn’t feel heard at my campus, so my blog became a platform for me to express my ideas), what my purpose for blogging (promote student affairs technology and leadership), some strategies and tools I use, as well as how I address the common challenge of how to write authentically (I don’t share everything but what I do share are true to my heart).

Some audience members shared their success stories, including how they used social media on campus. One of the stories shared by the creator of the account was the use of Twitter to inform students of food on the UCLA campus. The Twitter account is called @hungry_bruin.

Several attendees spoke to the panel after the session for several minutes, thanking us and exchanging other ideas.

Ethical and Legal Issues in Higher Education session. I was late to this session because of the last session. Still, I am glad I attended as I learned some valuable insights from the panel, which made me think about the value of understanding policies, making ethical decisions, and the increasingly difficult choices to be made as one advance in the management hierarchy. Institutional responsibility and ethics were discussed as they relate to things we probably don’t consider ethical issues. As one of the panelists shared, staff don’t own the money used to run the university. Students are paying for the services, and so when staff comes into work late, they’re taking resources away from the students. A panelist shared his guiding principle when making tough decisions – “Did I follow the policy, and did I practice fundamental fairness in the process?”

A discussed topic was the issue of individual rights and freedom of expression. As one of the panelists shared, one has the freedom of expression, but one doesn’t have the freedom of consequences. Senior administrators must help frame the consequences of students’ actions in this term “I’m not saying you’re right or wrong, but how is that being perceived? Is that the message you want to send out?”

The three sessions I attended were informative and led me to reflect on my role as a student affairs professional and how I view my role at my university and my career path. In addition to the value provided by the sessions, the most valuable experiences I got out of the conferences came during the breaks and lunch. These were the times when I had the chance to connect with our NUFP fellows and mentors, reconnect with friends I had not seen in a while, and meet new ones. Attending this conference with my fellow and our NUFP team was a wonderful experience we could build upon to further develop our relationships and learn more about each other.

UCSB NUFP Team (photo courtesy of Klint Jaramillo).

The conference was also an opportunity to connect with other Filipin@-Americans in student affairs. We started this tradition of taking a group photo at conferences starting last year, and this photo below is a part of that tradition. Finally, meeting other Fil-Am professionals, I met via social media face to face for the first time was nice.

Pin@ys in Student Affairs (photo courtesy of Grace Bagunu)

Consider organizations as organisms consisting of living beings whose level of effectiveness and productivity rely on the health of those who are part of them. Organizations, specifically higher education, are referred to as “institutions” They project the idea that they are machines, consisting of processes and structures, and forget that higher education is made up of human beings working together. The reality is that for “institutions” to be effective and efficient, the members of their workforce must be individually healthy so the organization can be healthy.

One of the topics often discussed in the world of student affairs is the concept of work/life balance. The issue revolves around the idea that because the staff is overworked, emotional, mental, and physical stresses take their toll, leading to individual and organizational problems. Often, the discussion is framed as workers’ rights vs. management issues. But, if framed in the way I had suggested above, this should not be the case. For the organization to function effectively as a whole, it needs to consider its workers’ health, and it should strive to create an environment where the staff is engaged, meaning they both feel like they’re contributing to the organization. They feel satisfied in doing so. As a leader of an organization, I don’t claim to know the answers on how to create this environment, but I do seek ways towards this effort. What I know is that the demands and pressures from mandates, customer expectations, taking care of the staff, and keeping the organization running are often too much for the current staffing level. I scoff at the idea of administrative bloat, especially when it comes to the idea that there is way too many technical and administrative staff at universities. However, consider the ending of the Perkins Loan program and the new Prior-Prior Year change in the financial aid application process. The are just two changes in the financial aid system that require universities to respond to accommodate them immediately. In an ideal world, there would be sufficient time and staffing to meet these demands, but unfortunately, that is not the case. These changes require staff to work above and beyond regular hours, including evenings and sometimes weekends. By no means are these complaints but rather a statement of the reality of the pressures experienced by staff, potentially impacting their health.

The management and the staff must share the challenge and responsibility of keeping the organization healthy. For management, efforts must be made to provide an environment where staff feels like they’re thriving and not merely surviving or even worse. Different folks have different motivations, and it’s up to the management to determine how each employee feels valued. Some like a job that allows them to make enough money and they don’t have to work beyond 8-5 to enjoy their lives away from work and with their families. Some are motivated by intellectual challenges and a sense of accomplishment. Some also see their work as beyond work – their passions drive them to make a significant difference in this world. Then some are motivated by all of the reasons mentioned. The challenge and responsibility then is for management to meet those motivations to the best of their ability while meeting the demands required of the organization.

The staff themselves need to be responsible for their health as well. They need to be their biggest advocate when it comes to making sure their needs are met. This means communicating with their supervisors about their boundaries and recognizing their limits. Sometimes, staff may feel the need to be heroes/martyrs, sacrificing themselves for the sake of the organization. In the long run, this is not the most effective way to contribute to the organization. For one, heroes who take on more responsibilities than they should sometimes prevent others in the organization from growing. Also, they become the only individuals the organization must rely on. While this may be a good feeling to have, the reality is that heroes may not be able to enjoy their lives outside work because they are always in demand, even during their vacations. As for martyrs who feel the need to suffer to show their value to the organization, it is not sustainable as working long hours and spending emotional energy can just lead to burnout. They are also just hurting themselves by setting expectations that are not sensible. For example, a person who constantly works 70+ hours a week may set themselves up for scrutiny when they start to lessen their work to a manageable 40 or so hours a week as their productivity level will decrease.

Staff must also take care of their physical and mental health. These include taking on activities to promote wellness, such as exercising, hobbies, and interests that take their minds off work.

Organizational health is a shared responsibility between management and staff. For organizations to be effective, they must view themselves as more than institutions consisting of tasks and processes but rather as living organisms consisting of human beings who have emotional, mental, and physical needs.

How are you promoting a healthy organization?