2020 NASPA Region I Conference

We must create processes to ensure equity and inclusion as our campuses diversify. Often viewed as an objective, data-driven process for accountability and improvement, assessment not only must be implemented in a socially just way, but it can also be a process that fosters equity and inclusion. The presenter will discuss foundational concepts of equity-minded assessment and identify specific strategies for implementing assessment that is socially just.

Presenter: Gavin Henning
Presenter: Anne Lundquist

Corporate Sponsor: Anthology

Traditional, Mid-Level, Senior Level, AER KC, Social Justice and Inclusion, Assessment Evaluation and Research

The purpose of U.S. higher education is to prepare students for future societal involvement. By engaging students’ critical thinking skills and connecting them to larger societal issues, higher education has a role in not only shaping the individual student, but society as a whole. Through the Social Action, Leadership, and Transformation (SALT) model, we engage students curricularly and co-curricularly to think about their roles in pursuing racial justice in society.

Presenter: Katherine Waxstein
Presnter: Ashton Cooper, Ph.D

Traditional, New/Entry-Level, Mid-Level, Social Justice and Inclusion, Student Learning and Development

Marginalized womxn and femmes of color are highly under- and misrepresented in faculty and administrator roles in higher education. The presenters will explore the identities of the femme and the black womxn, critically examine the myths and perceptions about black femmes that manifest as micro and macroagressions within the workplace, utilize literature and autobiographical experience when discussing the introversion/extroversion spectrum and its effects on social, interpersonal relationships. The presenters’ goal of this program is to shift the lens in which black femmes are viewed within the field of higher education.

Presenter: Karen Chaney
Presenter: Chelsea Reid

Traditional, New/Entry-Level, Mid-Level, Social Justice and Inclusion, African American KC, Womxn In Student Affairs KC

Following today’s theme on Examining Systems of Oppression, the Round Table discussion for SSAOs will focus on our campus responses for racial justice.  Our goal will be to share what we have accomplished and learned with our colleagues with a focus on how strategies to ensure we are accountable to our goals in the midst of a pandemic.

Presenter: Andrew Shepardson

This roundtable will address xenophobia in the APIDA community during COVID, the APIDA voice in racial injustice movement, and will conclude with solidarity building and exploring the different experiences of each individual.

Presenter: Roatha Kong
Presenter: Rea Kyani-Rogers
Presenter: Chen-Hong (Tony) Chen
Presenter: Wes Boucher

Roundtable, Graduate Students, New/Entry-Level, Mid-Level Managers, Social Justice and Inclusion, API KC

Students with mental health disorders, and in particular, anxiety, are arriving on campuses in increasing numbers. Anxiety disorders can negatively impact academic achievements for college students and subsequently, their ability to persist. In an effort to uncover strategies that can be implemented by student affairs professionals to support the transition to college for first- year students with anxiety, this qualitative descriptive study examined practices of student affairs professionals at three small to medium sized, institutions of higher education in New England that have established partnerships with a national nonprofit organization, the JED Foundation, whose mission is to protect the emotional health and prevent suicide for young adults and teens in the united states.

Presenter: Kristen Pierce

Research Session, Disability KC, Wellness and Health Promotion KC, Graduate Students, New/Entry-Level, Mid-Level Managers, Senior Level, Faculty Members, Senior Level

2020 proved to be a tumultuous and challenging year for all institutions of higher education. As universities faced COVID-19 and scurried to shift from traditional on-the-ground curriculum to an array of varying delivery methods, civil unrest exploded on and around college campuses in light of the murders of Black Americans, including Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

These injustices forced college campuses to examine their educational missions, ask probing questions and face challenging realities. College students demanded a call to action in higher education, and many universities responded. Johnson & Wales University met this charge head on.  Leaders across multiple divisions and across all four regional campuses went immediately to work to recognize, discuss and create opportunities to work towards dismantling systems of oppression. Participants will learn about the intentions and outcomes of these efforts. These outcomes include but are not limited to panel discussions and open forums about the Black Lives Matter movement and the continuous history of systemic racism and oppression in the United States; an elevation of curriculum focused on racial justice; mandatory training for staff and faculty about how to engage with these issues within their disciplines; to the creation of an Inclusivity at JWU: Confronting Bias module required of all students prior to class start in the fall.

Presenter: Kelly Dunn
Presenter: Michael Waugh

Traditional, Mid-Level, Faculty Members, Social Justice and Inclusion, Advising and Supporting, Student Learning and Development

This session will share lessons learned from a 3-year staff development effort to examine power and privilege related to Whiteness through the tool of identity-based caucusing. The presenter will provide strategies and best practices for implementing a peer-to-peer model of identity-based caucusing in a predominantly white environment. Participants will have an opportunity to think about and discuss applications to their professional setting.

Presenter: Kristina Perrelli

Traditional, Mid-Level, Senior Level, Social Justice and Inclusion

This program seeks to enhance the discourse involving role conflict for women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the diverse perspectives of five Regis College doctoral students, this presentation will explore the viewpoints of these students who each have begun their second year as doctoral students as well as the audience of graduate students and the staff who support them. The primary focus being that the conclusion of their first year of study was exacerbated by abrupt changes to responsibilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic and outcries for racial justice. In tandem with the intrusion of a global crisis, Douglas T. Hall’s model of coping will frame content around the many conflicting roles these students often experience. Sharing doctoral students’ narratives, in concert with accentuating literature and theory, aspire to propel agency towards re-envisioning the approach to doctoral student support through crises such as COVID-19.

Presenter: Kelly Brochu
Presenter: Trina Bryant
Presenter: Regina Robinson

Traditional, Graduate Students, Senior Level, Social Justice and Inclusion, Student Learning and Development

CAS provides a number of resources to support student learning and success in master's preparation programs. These include standards for master's preparation programs, functional area standards, cross-functional frameworks, and additional documents that constitute a pedagogical toolkit for socializing and educating students to the field of higher education and student affairs. In this interactive session, participants will learn about the most recent edition of the standards and discuss multiple ways CAS resources can be integrated into master’s preparation programs to support student learning and development.

Presenter: Gavin Henning

Traditional, Faculty Members, Advising and Supporting, Student Learning and Development, Personal and Ethical Foundations, Values Philosophy and History

This program will share how Bryant University became a Gallup Strengths-Based institution. It will detail the steps the presenters took to achieve this status as well as the administrative support that was needed. As Gallup Certified Strengths Coaches, the presenters will share Bryant’s specific model, including the parties involved in the initiative, resources for faculty, staff, and students, and specific educational offerings for students.The program will transition into how this Strengths initiative was impacted by the pandemic. It will highlight the strengths-based approach the presenters utilized to make this initiative work during the pandemic, what they have learned, and how this practice will influence the future of the program. Participants will have the opportunity to consider their own resources and programs that may have been impacted by Covid-19 and how they may be able to be reimaged for future success.

Presenter: Jess Raffaele

Traditional, Mid-Level, Senior Level, Student Learning and Development, Advising and Supporting

Join NASPA's Region 1 Public Policy Division representative Shane Long for an update on the national and regional public policies impacting higher education.

Presenter: Shane Long

Traditional, Mid-Leve, Senior Level, Law Policy and Governance

So....that just happened! By that we mean navigating an entry level position in Student Affairs in the midst of a global pandemic. What a wild ride it has been and everyone has their own unique story. Through facilitation of large and small group discussions, this session is designed to process all that has happened professionally as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and to reflect on adjustments that can be made for the upcoming semester. It is geared towards new and entry level professionals because these are the individuals in our field that have the least amount of control, yet are still the ones on the ground holding our institutions together.

Presenter: Craig Lennon

Roundtable, Graduate Students, New/Entry-Level, New Professionals and Graduate Students KC, personal and ethical Foundations, Advising and Supporting, Organizational and Human Resources

Leading Through Uncertainty, today’s theme, has been what SSAOs have been doing.  Today’s chat will focus on Covid-19 campus responses.  We will share what has worked and has not worked on our campus as well as discuss our longer range plans.

Presenter: Andrew Shepardson

Rooted in art and design, design thinking is a data-driven, equity-minded problem-solving process that can be applied to program and service design, implementation, and assessment in student affairs. With a central focus on empathy, this method is a more equitable approach to problem solving than typical methods because all users’ experiences need to be understood, not just a typical user’s experience. In this session, presenters will provide an overview of the concept and its use providing concrete student affairs-related examples.

Presenter: Gavin Henning
Presenter: Julia Smeed
Presenter: Lesley D'Souza

Traditional, Mid-Level, Senior Level, Organizational and Human Resources, Social Justice and Inclusion

Over the past seven years UMASS Lowell has experienced an increase in housing, food and other resource insecure students attending the University. Arriving from all walks of life these students present a difficult myriad of need not easily resolved by the university. We were not alone in this experience as the same experience affects institutions across the nation. We were unprepared as a student affairs team, and took on the challenge of helping each of these students, sometimes one at a time. Fast forward to March 2020 when the university switched overnight to remote learning and ushered most students off campus; we watched as our food and other resource pantry was shut down, the meal swipe program abruptly ending, and the question of housing for any student hanging delicately in the balance. Housing, food, and other resource insecurity is a difficult task to overcome on its own; we have established programs and collaborations that are sustainable and funded. We conduct research for data on the condition of our students, and their needs. However COVID-19 has challenged us in many ways. During this session you will learn of our programs, how we established and fund or equip them, and of the collaborations that make this successful. You will also hear how we overcame the hurdles COVID-19 raised. You will leave with resources you can take and create or enhance your programs. There are no magic words or wands, just hard work, collaboration, and passion; please come and join the discussion.

Presenter: Annie Ciaraldi

Traditional, Graduate Level, New/Entry Level, Mid-Level, Leadership, Social Justice and Inclusion

As New Professionals in Student Affairs, we have successfully navigated the virtual job search process developed due to COVID-19. This gives us a strong foundational understanding of how the “new-normal” affects hiring practices. We hope our insights will be useful to those entering the job search. This presentation will allow Graduate Students and current Professionals within the field to talk about their experiences, as well as to gain insight on tips that can help institutions to better accommodate candidates through an all virtual job search process.

Presenter: Susie Scarbeck
Presenter: Sydney Wein

Traditional, Graduate Students, New/Entry-Level, Personal and Ethical, Foundations, Technology, Resoureces, Organizational Human

The University of Maine System has embarked on a System-wide approach to addressing Title IX incidents when they occur across our campuses. This session will highlight the functions of UMS regarding implementing a new Title IX policy and procedure while illustrating how Title IX staff have taken a team approach to responding to these issues. This session will show how a team approach leans on the expertise of professionals across UMS to create healthier communities within the State of Maine.

Presenter: Cory Davis, Title IX Student Services Coordinator and Deputy Title IX Officer
Presenter: Elizabeth Lavoie, Coordinator of Title IX Services, UMS General Counsel Office
Presenter: Dr. Sarah Holmes, Assistant Dean of Students & Deputy Title IX Coordinator, University of Southern Maine
Presenter: Hope Shore, Assistant Director of Student Life & Deputy Title IX Coordinator, University of Maine Farmington

Traditional, Senior-Level, SSAO, Organiational and Human Resources, Leadership

The purpose of this program is to understand and bolster the transition experience of applicants into graduate school. These students often bear needs more diverse and less obvious than their undergraduate counterparts and therefore early detection and support can be invaluable. With a focus on improving success-oriented readiness and through the lens of Schlossberg’s Transition Theory, we will suggest improvements for your institution’s graduate admissions process. The revised communication plan already enforce at the University of Bridgeport will be explored as a model.

Presenter: Kathyria Feliciano
Presenter: Claude Mayo

Traditional, New/Enry-Level, Mid-Level, Advising and Supporting

“Are you going to tag me in that?” Social media platforms, particularly Instagram, have defined the recent contemporary moment as higher education faces specific emphasis on online connection. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, campus communities grappled with what it means to exist in a digital college community and what role higher education professionals should play. The presenter will provide participants with scholarly background on online student development and digital communities, exploring how students using Instagram process online interactions and how institutions can foster impactful digital operations that move beyond marketing and towards community development.

Presenter: Liam Rice

Traditional, New/Entry-Level, Mid-Level, Student Learning and Development, Technology

Programming at Higher Education Institutions changed dramatically with the onset of COVID-19. While local and state guidelines have dictated our work, we ask, how do we navigate to create a fulfilling student experience? Rather than focusing on event-specific information, this discussion will focus on the co-curricular opportunties and how we all continue to reimagine our next steps. We will be reflecting on our individual experiences, and taking the core of what we've learned and applying it as a conversation for constructing our next steps.

Presenter: Kyle Neary
Presenter: Megan Girmaiy
Presenter: Roatha Kong

Roundtable, Graduate Students, New/Entry-Level, Personal and Ethical Foundations, Stuent Learning and Development, Leadership, Advising and Supporting

The purpose of this presentation is to create a space for professionals in various departments to consider how they can play a part in reimagining community for first-generation students on their campus. As professionals at a NASPA-designated First-Forward Institution, we will share with you how we, the Office of Residential Life and the TRIO Office, have enhanced our holistic support for first-generation students at Boston College through the creation of a Living Learning Community. We took a two pronged approach, which included implementing a new Community Engagement Model and redefining the roles of our inter-departmental leadership team. Through this session, attendees will be able to consider tangible strategies to reimagine their support for first-gen students by building a bridge between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs. We will provide attendees with a digital folder of resources including information on our theories/practices utilized, various templates, and NASPA-created documents.

Presenter: Amaris Benavidez
Presenter: Hannah Keeser

Traditional, New/Entry-Level, Mid-Level, Student Learning and Development, Advising and Supporting

This roundtable session covers the application of Black Feminist seminal works centering Black sisterhood, sistering, and familial community creation to the experience of Black Women in Student Affairs at Higher Education institutions in order to argue for the creation of structured supportive groups and networks for Black Women. The presenters will be utilizing prose, texts, and examples of successful collective organizations for Black Women in the higher education landscape as frameworks for the reflective exercises, small/large group discussions, and calls to action on their campuses. This session is open specifically to Black female-identifying scholars/practitioners of all professional levels as it highlights and explores the intersection of their experiences within Higher Education and Student Affairs in a unique way. Through participating in the session, attendees will be able to apply the concept of sistering and sisterhood to their respective institutions, so they may advocate for structured space in which Black women may network, restore, and continue to push the institution forward.

Presenter: Lei Douglas
Presenter: Dunia Kassay

Roundtable, New/Entry-Level, Mid-Level, Personal and Ethical Foundations, Social Justice and Inclusion, African American KC, Women in Student Affairs KC

Leading Through Uncertainty, today’s theme, has been what SSAOs have been doing.  Today’s chat will focus on Covid-19 campus responses.  We will share what has worked and has not worked on our campus as well as discuss our longer range plans.

Presenter: Andrew Shepardson

This program will discuss ways to nurture a campus culture that is inclusive of the LGBTQ+ population, especially at Religiously affiliated institutions. The presenter will speak to current research, best practices, and to how their current institution shifted to be more LGBTQ+ inclusive. We will discuss ways to present this focus to your higher administration, the ways an LGBTQ+ inclusive lens can influence retention, and how to cultivate an LGBTQ+ identity affirming campus culture.

Presenter: Jim Wildason

Traditional, New/Entry-Level, Mid-Level, Gender and Sexuality KC

Regis College’s pre-college initiative, the Summer Scholars Program, has historically been an on-campus experience that provides rising juniors and seniors in high school the opportunity to earn six college credits while also obtaining access to learning through a college lens. In-person instruction, an overnight residential experience, and various excursions both on and off-campus were staples of the program itinerary until the COVID-19 pandemic surfaced. Through expedited planning, collaboration, and re-imagining beyond the brick and mortar, the program directors were able to implement a new and virtual format of the program. While lessons were learned through the process, the program directors will share their experience in creating a new academic and student engagement experience that achieved its learning outcomes and shaped the future of Regis College’s pre-college student support.

Presenter: Kelly Brochu
Presenter: Jennifer Martin

Traditional, Mid-Level, SSAO, Student Learning and Development, Advising and Supporting

This session will examine the process and outcomes of taking a traditionally in-person New Student Orientation experience and transforming it into a robust online experience at Bryant University. From utilizing technology to partnering across campus to training Orientation Leaders remotely, this session will explain the planning process, programs executed, and related assessment. Bryant University Student Events and Orientation Programs expanded the New Student Pathway Experience to include accessible and engaging options for both new students and their families by providing live programming throughout the summer and throughout the fall semester to best support the transition into college.

Presenter: Jess Raffaele

Traditional, Mid-Level, Senior Level, Student Learning and Development, Advising and Supporting

Leadership and student development certainly continues during a pandemic, so Northeastern took this unique time as an opportunity to re-envision our LEAD360 program for our global community of students. In this session, you will learn about our existing leadership development offerings, how we translated or transformed them to be virtually accessible and interactive, as well how we continue to navigate challenges in this process. We will also discuss the significance of these offerings for developing community among students who are navigating isolated situations both nationally and world-wide during COVID.

Presenter: Rebecca Lindley
Presenter: Michelle Wallace
Presenter: Jackie Li

Traditional, New/Entry-Level, Mid-Level, Student Leadership Programs KC, Social Justice and Inclusion, Student Learning and Development

Creative thinking, collaboration and innovation have driven all of us this year, not just at work but in every facet of our lives. As you proactively look ahead to the Spring 2021 term, we’re bringing together this panel of student affairs professionals who will share how their campus adjusted in real-time to plan for the future success of their students. We’ll discuss how their quick action impacted their current reality and how their new insight is guiding their decisions for next term.

Presenter: Lindsey Carter
Presenter: John-Michael Roehm
Presenter: Abbey Rutschilling
Presenter: Amy Miller
Presenter: Tyler McClain

Sponsor: Anthology

Traditional, Corporate Sponsor