The Student Affairs Nerds Podcast

All the hosts of the podcast come together to reflect and process the year that was. Also, don't worry, we'll talk about the name change very soon! 

In the month of November, the Student Affairs Nerds Podcast team will be highlighting innovations for which students are most grateful. In this episode, you will meet two very involved student leaders who share their experiences during he pandemic sweeping the nation and the world currently. Additionally, they share the innovations and opportunities that have been the most useful to them in their academic and co-curricular lives.

If you want to think differently about higher education and student support, listen to perspectives from individuals adjacent to, or even outside of, higher education. Many of you may have never heard of online program management and I’d venture to say you haven’t thought about the topics discussed on this episode in quite the same way. I’m joined today by John Katzman, CEO of Noodle Partners, an online program management company. John provides unique insight into strategies for bringing down the cost of higher education and envisioning a future for higher education that is not bound by a physical campus. Prior to starting Noodle, John founded and ran two significant public companies. In 2008, he founded 2U, where he served as CEO until 2012. Prior to that, he founded The Princeton Review and served as its CEO until 2007. Under his leadership, the Review achieved market dominance, helping the majority of students applying to US colleges and universities find, get into, and pay for school. I’ve worked in John’s company for three and a half years and have deeply appreciated getting to work in his company. He’s a student of higher education, clearly reading and thinking deeply about how to bring down the cost while pushing the quality. He’s a visionary leader, skilled at crafting an innovative direction and getting the right people on the bus to achieve his vision. Finally, he’s a pretty cool, down to earth kind of guy who is really great to be around. All of this contributes to making Noodle a REALLY great place to be! ~ Jaimie 

In this episode, we discuss the great things that are happening at West Coast University in their Department of Alumni Relations and Events.

It is so great to feature a personal friend and colleague of Solomon Matthew's on the show, Reginald Lane. We dive into discussions about what challenges lie ahead for those professionals who work in Fraternity and Sorority Affairs as they begin Fall Recruitment and another programming, online. We also dive into potential solutions that the University of Florida’s Office of Sorority and Fraternity Affairs has discovered along the way to the start of their Fall semester.

In our previous episodes, we’ve explored some adjustments and innovations folx have made during COVID19 and here we are continuing in that vein. Only this time, we get the bird’s eye view of the transition to migrating the California State University system online. As you may know, CSU is the largest four-year public university system in the United States with 23 campuses enrolling almost 500,000 students and about 26,000 faculty and 25,000 staff. I had the honor of getting to know our guest, Michael Berman when he came to CSU Channel Islands as our Chief Information Officer. Today, Michael Berman is the Chief Information Officer for the California State University system, providing enterprise services and strategic coordination for all 23 campuses of the CSU. He recently served as CSU's first Chief Innovation Officer, leading the effort to promote innovation across the CSU campuses, an effort he continues to support in his CIO role.  As Dr. Steve Relyea, CSU executive vice chancellor and the chief financial officer said, “Berman is well-respected by the national higher education community for his leadership in using technology as an enabler for student success."  That is a fantastic way of describing how I see Michael. Time and time again I see Michael demonstrate his student and people-centric leadership. In fact, I am confident that when you listen to this episode you will learn why I and so many others have learned so much from Michael. He cares about technology and is a brilliant innovator but what is more important is the way in which he leads. You would not think that you’d hear the Chief Information Officer talk about the relationship between COVID19 and being more sensitive to others on an episode like… but he’s not just any CIO. He’s Michael Berman. Someone I have truly been honored to get to know and see as a mentor.

At the moment, student affairs educators across the world share one thing in common -- COVID19 has made us rethink the way in which we do our jobs. While this has presented significant challenges, it has also given us the opportunity to innovate. In today’s podcast we’ll talk with Robert (Rob) Young, International Student Adviser & co-host of the Free Food Free Drinks Podcast, to learn about the student success innovations he has seen occurring in the UK during COVID19 closures as well as in his specific functional area, international student support.   

What exactly does it take to transition a division of student online quickly for COVID19 closures? Dr. Wm. Gregory Sawyer, Vice President for Students Affairs at Sonoma State University, will walk us through his experiences and lessons learned during this challenging time. Additionally, he shared his own vulnerability and experiences navigating leadership as a Black man in this moving piece, an Acknowledgement of Vulnerability linked here. Dr. Sawyer, or Doc as many call him (including me), has more accolades and experience that I can reasonably fit into this intro. He was the founding Vice President for Student Affairs at two institutions - CSU Channel Islands and Florida Gulf Coast University. Doc has served as a VPSA in the CSU System for almost 20 years. It’s not a surprise that he and his divisions have won awards - his divisions have been recognized as one of the nation’s Most Promising Places to Work in Student Affairs. Doc has been honored with the Ventura County NAACP President’s Award,  ACPA Excellence in Practice Award, NASPA Pillar of the Profession, to name a few. Follow Doc on Linkedin or Twitter

Students on campuses across the country and around the world encountered any number of challenges with the emergence of COVID-19 in the Spring of 2020. Campuses rallied together, though virtually, to reinforce communities and to create innovative solutions to the question, “How do we engage while being physically distant?” Campus spirituality and faith based groups at Randolph-Macon College embraced the challenge.

Typically Residence Hall Associations on college campuses hold events to foster social engagement and community building in residence halls. With universities being closed due to COVID, halls are mostly empty and social engagement while physical distancing has to look different. The RHA at North Dakota State University got creative by hosting a series of online events including Virtual Bingo Event that was a huge success. Over 120 students attended, stayed the entire time, and organically opted to stay later to chat in break out groups, and had a blast. I learned of this event when it was posted in the Virtual Event Ideas Facebook Group by Jen Kacere, Assistant Director for Leadership Development, North Dakota State University. Lots of folks on the FB thread wanted to know how Jen and the RHA at NDSU made this event happen so we’re so lucky to have her on the podcast to share the ins and outs of Virtual Bingo. Links: https://myfreebingocards.com/ Marketing for the RHA Spring & Summer Virtual Events General overview of the Virtual Bingo Event