When the US Ryder Cup won at Valhalla in 2008, many attributed the win to the energy of the new team members. The fact that some of the members never felt the experience of losing to the Europeans in previous Ryder Cup events, to some, also was a major factor in the US win. I have also heard from time to time how as we grow older, we seem to lose our sense of wonder, amazement at how the world works and we make things more complicated than things should be, maybe even more cynical. In some ways, I see this happening in the workplace. There is no question that a sense of perspective based on years of experience, institutional knowledge, provides a great compass in how we should move forward. It is through institutional knowledge that pitfalls can be avoided based on lessons learned from the past. However, solely relying on the past to guide any actions moving forward, when taken to extreme, stifles innovation.
Tag: student affairs
Social Media in Student Affairs and the Need for Institutional Support
Institutional support is necessary for social media to thrive in higher education. Individuals and grassroots efforts have opened the door for social media to be accepted at universities and have proven the values of it. To further the use of social media, institutional support is required for it to be embraced, to be sustained and to explore further uses. While the mention of policies and guidelines and even having committees that represent the different factions of the university including marketing, IT, legal, business unit reps could be seen as overly bureaucratic, it is my opinion, based on experience, that it is necessary for social media to be embraced as part of official university business. If a group, representing the different functions of your organization, does not clearly define the use and boundaries of social media, some individual(s) will improperly define it for the organization based on limited and biased perspectives.
Culture Behind the Codes
I was reviewing a code for a web site I created in 1997 which led me to think about what it was like at the time. The website, the campus-wide calendar of events (http://events.sa.ucsb.edu/), was one of the very first campus-wide web application at UCSB. In reviewing the code, it came to me that codes are artifacts in themselves, revealing not only how the application was developed as well as developers’ environment and abilities. With further investigation, codes do lead to some revelations about the politics, the technologies, the state of the organization at that time as well. In a way, the code in itself has a culture behind it.
Getting Involved on Campus – a Techie Perspective
As a technologist in student affairs who does not interact with students in my formal position, I envy my colleagues who deal with students everyday. I enjoy my interactions with students and staff discussing about student development, leadership and social issues and so I look for opportunities to be able to be involved with the student affairs community outside my formal technical role.
In my position as an IT administrator in a central department that serves all of student affairs, I get exposed to the business processes of all the departments when implementing or developing web applications and vendor systems. In the course of the projects, the discussions with directors/programmers revolve around business requirements, timelines, funding and resources. On the other side with my technical colleagues, discussions revolve around server/network infrastructures, security, development standards. Unfortunately, discussions about student afairs and student lives in general rarely get discussed. Throughout my career, I have identified opportunities around the campus to see where I could get involved as a non-techie.
Here are some activities I’ve participated in the last few years:
* Serve as organizational advisor for the Filipino-American interest organization and Latino fraternity
* Participate as staff representative for a student led fee committee (http://www.sa.ucsb.edu/sfac)
* Serve as staff representative to student staff divisional meeting
* Review freshman applications for the Admissions department
* Serve as facilitator for summer transition program dedicated towards first generation students (http://www.sa.ucsb.edu/eop/step)
* Serve as member of student resource team (http://www.sa.ucsb.edu/srt)
* Serve as a mentor through a mentorship program
* Provide letter of recommendations and references for graduate schools/jobs
* Participant as a panelist for career development course
My involvement with the programs above are for two reasons: 1) I personally enjoy the experience and 2) I feel the experience provide me with reminders of why I do my job and provides me with a sense of purpose.
Based on your experience, what other opportunities can you recommend?
Ode to My Mentors – Vice Chancellor for UCSB Student Affairs – Dr. Michael Young
In my life, there have been many people who have helped me along the way. These are people who inspired me, provided me opportunities and guidance to be where I am now as a person and as a professional. These are what I call my mentors. They are the ones who always made me feel better about myself. They’re like leadership books, self-help books come alive. Interestingly enough, not all of them even know who I am, but what this person said made so much impact on me for what they said/actions I observed I now consider them my mentor. I find inspirations everywhere, from everyone, so the list of people I will write about is just by no means a complete list, but nevertheless, these are people who have made significant impacts on my life. These are the people that when faced with certain situations I am not sure on how to handle, I ask the question – “What would he/she do in this situation?”