Beginning our assessment plan

We know the work we do in student affairs matters. But can we prove it? 

Learning is difficult to measure. Faculty have the advantage of using the commonly understood and accepted method of grades to measure learning and development. Learning outside the classroom does not possess this advantage. With financial resources for higher education dwindling and expectations of accountability rising those of us in Student Affairs run the risk of losing resources and influence because we cannot point to established quantitative metrics to show the contributions we make to student learning and development. 

One of my priorities in my role at uWaterloo has been creating an assessment plan so my team and I can more clearly describe how effective (or not) our work is in achieving our objectives. At the highest level we want to demonstrate how our work in Housing and Residences contributes to our student's learning and development. A campus housing operation has many functions which all make a contribution to our overall objective and I believe it's important to show how each function makes a contribution. 

An early action we undertook was having managers in different functional areas identify Key Performance Indicators. Mike Iley in Cleaning Services and Jessica Lang in Residence Life were the first to establish KPIs in consultation with their teams. Here are the KPI scorecards they developed: 

• Cleaning Services KPI scorecard
• Residence Life KPI scorecard

One of the most important actions taken has been to hire Andrew Noble as a Project Coordinator and outlining that his major project was to take the lead in creating an assessment plan for the department. Andrew was hired in May 2013 and at the most recent OACUHO conference at Wilfrid Laurier University Andrew and I were given the opportunity to outline the progress we've made with our assessment plan to date. Here are the slides we used in the presentation:

Developing an Assessment Action Plan

More PowerPoint presentations from Glen

One of the greatest achievements I've seen in the past year has been the change in departmental culture around assessment. My team went from being uneasy to a place where staff display curiosity about how we go about our work and the impact our work has on learning and development. I'm excited to see how our culture around assessment continues to evolve. 

We are ACUHO-I

When we pay for something we expect to receive a product or service in return. While this is a core feature of our global economy, it is by no means the only medium of exchange.  There are many other types of benefits or services that can be received, and our relationship with ACUHO-I is a prime example. We all pay to become a member of ACUHO-I, and accordingly we expect to receive traditional goods and services in return for our payment.  While this is a reasonable expectation, it misses a critical aspect of being part of an association: Together WE make up the association.

In other words, the transaction is not just one-way between us and ACUHO-I.  Instead, we are also paying ourselves and each other to access the goods and services we are seeking to purchase. A more accurate way to think of ACUHO-I is that we are pooling our resources so we can work together to provide more powerful services and benefits then we could generate on our own.

Moreover, money is not our only resource. In an association, the most important resource is the people that make up the membership. We know this because when we attend a conference we network with and learn from our peers. Our experience with ACUHO-I (or our regional or professional associations) would be radically different if we did not actively contribute to the content which make up the services and benefits we are accustomed to receiving.

In order to maximize what we receive from ACUHO-I we must contribute. Not only do our peers benefit from us sharing our time, knowledge and experience, but these exchanges will deepen our understanding of the issues. In some cases our contributions are as simple as joining a face-to-face or online discussion. In other cases it's the presentations we deliver, the articles we submit, the events we plan, or the leadership roles we play.  Is is the total of these contributions that make ACUHO-I work. To continue being a strong association it is important for us to understand that without each of us there would be no ACUHO-I. Put another way: We are ACUHO-I.

Consulting students through social media instead of face-to-face

Do students want to engage with higher education management through social media? Many don't, but some do.

My team and I are in the midst of building a case that my institution should build a new residence. To raise awareness of our vision and to seek input from our students we elected to use social media as the primary medium to consult with students and the community. We set up a blog and are using the #newUWrez hashtag to organize the discussion on Twitter.

I've wrestled with the idea of how to engage with students on Twitter in earlier posts - Twitter, a new way to serve students and Tweet students or not?  In the current #newUWrez discussion I've been able to interact with 30 or so students. My staff have overheard students talking about our consultation efforts in our student centre. Furthermore, students have shared comments in a few other forums, like Facebook, despite the fact that we made the choice to not actively use other social media tools.

These efforts have allowed me to engage a small number of students but, perhaps more importantly, it has given me insight into a set of tactics that can improve how I use social media in my work. The principles of our approach would seem to be:

1. Identify an issue that is important to students (eg. residence design), 
2. Break the issue into a few different topic areas (eg. We developed a calendar), 
3. Provide content to frame the discussion and material for students to comment on (eg. Wepps' Housing Blog) and
4. Be active in the discussion on Twitter. I've tried to be on Twitter two or more times each day. 

We still have a few weeks of consultation planned so I still have more to learn. Have you seen an institution or someone in student affairs use social media effectively to engage with students? If so, please share examples here so we can learn together.

Image source

The increasing importance of advocacy by our associations

An association's functions can be narrowed down to four areas: networking, learning, services and advocacy. The first three are often the most familiar to an association's members as they tend to have the most immediate and direct benefits to members. For example: networking at conferences, learning from reading industry magazines, and services such as online job listings.

The benefits of advocacy, however, may not be as immediate or apparent.  In many cases the benefits of advocacy take time to be realized. Big wins can come from advocacy though, and we would be well served to dedicate more resources to this type of work. 

Many associations can learn from the approach ACUHO-I has adopted for advocating on behalf of campus housing professionals and our field. For instance: the creation of a Public Policy committee, partnering with other associations in a Student Affairs Consortium, and hiring an organization to lobby on behalf of the campus housing profession in the United States. 

A largely untapped area for campus housing and student affairs association's advocacy efforts is at the highest levels of leadership within higher education. Board chairs, Presidents and Provosts need to understand the contribution we make to student learning and development. Publishing discussion papers or fact sheets, presenting at conferences or other gatherings where these individuals will be present, and leveraging those high-level leaders who deeply understand our work, are some of the actions we can take to raise the profile of the contribution we make to higher education. 

In an increasingly complex future where the pace of change in higher education is increasing, the Internet is changing how we learn, and new delivery models for services are being explored, we need to assert ourselves or we risk losing our place. We make a valuable contribution to our student's learning. Dedicating more time and resources to influencing higher education leadership will ensure our leaders know this fact.   

Picture source

It's time we learned how to sell campus housing

For decades colleges and universities in North Amercia were really the only players in the student housing market. Twenty years ago things started to change and today the student housing market is big business - a multi-billion dollar business.

My institution, uWaterloo, has witnessed the changes first hand over the past decade. The city of Waterloo is home to both uWaterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, and our combined enrollment is approximately 50,000 students. This has proven to be a very attractive market for private investors interested in student housing. Rock Advisors have indicated that more than 9,000 off campus beds targeting students have been added in the past decade and more are coming.

To put this in perspective, there are about 9,000 purpose built beds targeting students in the rest of Canada combined! For students in the city of Waterloo this means they have more choice than students elsewhere in the country. For my team and I, more student choice means we must compete with other student housing providers.

Competition is not something we are accustomed to in our work as campus housing professionals. I suspect the trend will continue in Waterloo and elsewhere as more private investors look to enter the student housing market in the years to come.

In my role as Chief Housing Officer, I'm seeking to understand the implications of the changing market so I can provide effective direction to my team. One skill set I believe we'll need to develop is our ability to sell. Selling is something we are not accustomed to doing as campus housing professionals. Investors and property managers understand how to sell though so they can achieve their financial targets. To ensure our students understand what makes campus housing distinct from other types of student housing we will need to develop our ability to sell to continue serving our students well.      

Picture source

     

Interest in Canada's Student Housing Market Growing Rapidly

Only 16% of undergraduate students live in on-campus housing according to the 2011 Canadian University Survey Consortium (see Table 8). Twice that number live in rental housing off-campus. How would you describe the type of off-campus housing that undergrads live in? After my experience today at the Canadian Student Housing Symposium I can guarantee that a decade from now student housing off-campus will be described in a very different way.


The symposium was hosted by Derek Lobo and his company Rock Apartment Advisors.  In the morning we received insight into the Canadian rental market over the past half century, heard about how to finance student housing and heard from Campus Living Centres (CLC), American Campus Communities (ACC) and Domus Student Housing on management of student housing. The second half had us travel to three ACC properties at the University of Buffalo in Amherst, New York.

Student Housing has been changing over the past decade and in the next decade the change will become bigger and much more noticeable. Hot tubs, large game rooms, indoor basketball courts, model suites available year round to attract new residents, in-unit laundry, a bathroom inside each bedroom and walk-in closets are just some of the features now included. 

About 100 people attended today's symposium with the vast majority looking to or already investing in purpose built student housing properties. The days of student's renting basement apartments is about to become a thing of the past. For-profit student housing providers are learning, adjusting and offering impressive properties for reasonable rates.

How do you feel about these changes to the Canadian student housing market?



Image source

The Animal House teachable moment

Earlier in my career I would hear references made to how living in residence was like the 1978 movie Animal House.These references faded over time until recently when I heard it again. Having never seen the movie I decided it was time I sat down and watched it. Turns out I will never get those two hours back!

Animal House was awful! Aside from being a comedy with little humour and no plot line the story has virtually no resemblance to what it is actually like to live in residence aside from the fact that accommodations were "provided" on a college campus. For instance, residence is not a frat house, alcohol consumption is greatly exaggerated (see social norms study) and accommodations are hardly a dump (see most beautiful residences).

Should you encounter someone who uses Animal House as an analogy for living in residence stop them immediately and counter them with points like these:

• “Powerful learning occurs in situations where people come to know each other as friends”  (Chickering & Reisser, p. 399). -- see Persuasion for more evidence
• Students who live on campus are more likely to persist in higher education
• You can start a company and make millions or billions

What poor analogies have you heard someone make about a student's experience or the supports in place to help students be successful?

Persuading my colleagues outside student affairs

In an increasingly interdependent world where many points of view must be weaved together for any initiative to achieve success being persuasive is an important skill. Different strategies can be used to be persuasive.   

One strategy you can use to persuade someone is to relate your point to your audience's experience. To that end, I have recently started to explain to colleagues how our lives, in general, have seen a blurring of the lines between personal and professional in an effort to convey that our students learn inside and outside the classroom. I believe that institutions who understand this phenomenon, and leverage it, can greatly enhance learning and development opportunities for students. 

Using evidence to make a point is another obvious strategy that can be used to persuade someone. When it comes to the power of living on campus I have found myself going back to the 2007 submission I made to Ryerson's Master Planning exercise where I opened with the following:

“Powerful learning occurs in situations where people come to know each other as friends”  (Chickering & Reisser, p. 399).  On a university campus these friendships can form in many places, but one of the best locations for friendships to form is in a residence hall.  Living in residence has been proven to enhance the student experience.  The following points from Pascarella and Terenzini (2005) summarize some of the key findings of research on residence living. When compared to students living off-campus, students living on-campus are:

• more likely to participate in extracurricular activities
• report more positive perceptions of the campus social climate
• tend to be more satisfied with their college experience and report more personal growth and development
• engage in more frequent interactions with peers and faculty members
• more likely to persist to graduation

What is your favourite persuasive technique? 


Image Source

Re:educating Higher Education

Are we on the precipice of major change to higher education? The internet has dramatically altered the way we listen to music, access news, read books, view movies, buy products and much more. The way we learn has, so far, remained largely unchanged while other industries have been turned upside down and inside out. 

The signs that major change is coming to those of us in higher education are all around us. Consider these developments:

• Government debt levels are so high that public funding that has been available to higher education for the past half century will diminish significantly or even end altogether
• Knowledge and information is accumulating more rapidly, requiring people to learn and develop almost constantly to remain relevant in the workforce
• For-profit education institutions are much more active in the education field - The University of Phoenix is a high profile example
• Online education has been growing more rapidly than traditional forms of education - MOOCs, such as Coursera, are the latest evolution in online education

Shrinking resources are often a catalyst for change in an organization. When growing demand, increased competition and new methods to deliver services are added to the mix, change expands beyond an organization to a whole industry. 

Ironically, we are about to learn a whole lot about the higher learning industry in the coming years. In an effort to kick start the dialogue "the Globe and Mail will introduce Re:education [tomorrow], an ongoing series that explores the legacy of Canada's university system and identifies new opportunities to thrive in the 21st century. Re:education examines several threads of our current model from the evolution of the lecture hall to digital learning and the role of the private sector in overcoming financial strains. The series has been shaped with commentary and insights from industry influencers and thought leaders from Canada and abroad." 

Check out more here: www.ourtimetolead.ca and be sure to join the discussion beginning tomorrow (Saturday, October 6).
Image source

Networking Beyond PSE: Chambers of Commerce

To work in student affairs is to collaborate with others. Our partnerships on campus go from physical resources to faculty and everyone in between. Extending partnerships beyond our institution's borders to businesses, community groups and local leaders is not as common, or at least not done in as consistent a manner.


The Canadian Chamber of Commerce just released a report, Canada's Skills Crisis: What we heard (found here), which states one of four key priorities for the chamber is "Improving the connections between educators and employers to balance supply with demand for skilled trades and highly skilled occupations."

Countless opportunities exist for collaboration between educators and business, especially when one considers: collectively student affairs professionals have access to over 1 million students who are enrolled in post-secondary education (PSE) in Canada and the chamber represents "192,000 businesses of all sizes in all sectors of the economy and in all regions"

Getting a job is the main reasons students enrol in PSE today (CUSC, p27). Expanding our network beyond our campus community will help us better meet the most important need our student's express. Tapping into an established network, like your local chamber, will be one of the fastest and most efficient ways to do this. The Canada's Skills Crisis: What we heard report indicates we have a willing partner who can facilitate connections between us and businesses.

Lifelong learning requires Lifelong learning advisors

The best sales people stay in contact with their clients long after the initial sale. In my experience, I rarely hear from a sales person again after I buy a product or service. If I do hear from a sales person it will typically be to sell me more of the same; never to follow up on the previous sale or simply to grow our relationship.

Sadly, colleges and universities are poor at sales. A significant amount of resources are put into marketing higher education to traditional students - those coming directly from high school. An excellent example of this is the Ontario University Affairs. Marketing and sales are not the same though. Marketing makes (potential) clients aware of a product or service whereas sales secures a commitment from clients to generate revenue.  

Any good problems present good opportunities and learning is no exception. Consider that
the amount of knowledge that exists is doubling as fast as every year and future job needs are nearly impossible to predict. This situation presents an infinite number of opportunities to "sell" learning. In other words, people will need to continually be learning to keep up with new knowledge and skills required to remain relevant and effective in the employment market.

As the need to learn continues increasing in importance the opportunities to guide learners how to learn efficiently and effectively will grow. This guidance will be supplied best from someone who knows you, your background and the previous knowledge you've gained. Who better to fill this role then colleges or universities. We have the expertise, data and relationships to be lifelong learning advisors to our students. All we need is the system to bring these factors into alignment. Career centres are well positioned to leverage this opportunity. A website like Linkedin or job listing sites like Workopolis or Monster could also fulfill this need. All that's left now is to see who will capitalize on this emerging opportunity.



Image Source

Name Tags for Everyone!

Have you ever been introduced to someone only to forget their name 10 seconds later? I have on many occasions. Coming into my new role in housing at uWaterloo where I would be responsible for 100 full-time staff and 200+ student staff I'll admit I was a little concerned with how I was going to remember everyone. Fortunately a solution was already in place.

Long before I arrived one of the housing staff, I believe one of the cleaning staff, suggested all of the full-time staff should wear name tags. Obviously a simple solution. Smart too. Yet few staff in higher education have adopted name tags. The result is missed opportunities.

One obvious missed opportunity is the barrier to strike up a conversation with a colleague. Another is making higher education a little easier for our students. Staff or students who can identify (other) staff and then address them by name will be that much more comfortable and more likely to engage in conversation. For new students this can be invaluable. I've been stopped by random people - students, parents and staff - walking round the uW campus over the past couple of weeks likely in large part because I'm wearing a name tag.  While I have not always had the answer people have engaged with me at a time they needed assistance. Student affairs staff are known to be helpful and often identify strongly with qualities related to helping others. Wearing name tags will help us help others even more.

Does your boss prefer to read or listen? It is important to find out.

 

Finding out if your boss prefers to listen or read could provide a big piece of the puzzle to making your boss happy. Peter Drucker identified this dynamic many years ago.

“Peter Drucker divides bosses into “listeners” and “readers.” Some bosses like to get information in report form so they can read and study it. Others work better with information and reports presented in person so they can ask questions. As Drucker points out, the implications are obvious. If your boss is a listener, you brief him or her in person, then follow it up with a memo. If your boss is a reader, you cover important items or proposals in a memo or report, then discuss them.” -- Gerald Heralds Blog


While listening to the Manager Tools podcast series on creating a 90 day new job plan the hosts highlighted another one of their podcasts which expanded on the listener vs reader phenomenon.

At work the single most important one to one relationship you have is between you and your boss and you will be best served by adapting your approach to meet your supervisor's style. Knowing if your boss prefers to read or listen to an issue is much more likely to set you up for success, especially when new information is being presented to your supervisor.

Knowing your preference is important too. Do you prefer to read or listen to (new) information at work?



Image source: http://wishtank.org/peter-drucker-the-man-who-hated-the-word-guru/

Manager Tools 90 Day New Job Plan

If you are a manager or wish to be a manager then you should use manager-tools.com. Chad Nuttall has been a long time fan and he brought the site to my attention. Last month I decided to become a member and I'm considering a membership for the spin off Career Tools as well to gain access to additional resources, such as podcasts. 

The Career Tools resources include three podcasts dedicated to a 90 Day New Job Plan to help with someone who is onboarding into a new job. Perfect for me given that I'm in a new job. Here is a link to each podcast with a few key points I've taken from each podcast:

1. 90 Day New Job Plan - The Overview
•  The main message is "fit in, fit in, fit in." The hosts, Mike & Mark, say that the first 90 days is about creating relationships and not about getting results. Trying to get results may negatively impact your future ability to get results.
2. 90 Day New Job Plan - Relationships
•  Asking questions to get to know people is a very important skill to use early in a new job. At the start of a new job someone will be given a lot of freedom to ask questions. Areas to focus on include getting to know about people's personal lives, company history and people's strengths.
3. 90 Day New Job Plan - Bosses
•  Mike & Mark suggest that the single most important individual relationship you have at work is between you and your boss. Early in a new job is the time to get to know the names of your supervisor's peers, get this know his/her strengths and challenges, if s/he is a reader or a listener etc.

Two weeks in - Time to check-in with myself

"The beginning of a new venture is a very important time." - Plato

This concept is simple to understand but can be very difficult to act on successfully. I'm now two weeks into my new role of Director of Housing at uWaterloo and the mantra I created for myself for the first 90 days is to "Meet, Read and Observe."

Over the first two weeks I would say the bulk of my time has been spent meeting people. I have had some great conversations where I have learned a great deal. My colleagues inside the department and across campus have been very supportive and welcoming. Given that uWaterloo houses over 5,000 students, has over 100 full-time staff and around 250 part-time staff in housing and a total enrollment over more than 31,000 students relationship building will be a key component of my role.
 
If I was to critique myself I would say I need to dedicate more time to reading and observing. Staff have pulled together a number of documents for me which I have yet to review or review in any great depth. As for observing the housing marketing staff had set up a series of video shoots, inspired by Undercover Boss, which has given me a chance to introduce myself and interact with a variety of staff as they were going about their work. This approach has helped me make some early connections and reminded me of the many tasks we undertake in campus housing.

To help me organize my approach for the coming week or two I am focused on getting through an extended weekly review - which is a key concept in the GTD model. It had been weeks since I have gone through a weekly review so I was feeling a little unorganized.

If you have started a new job recently what actions, in hindsight, do you feel you would have spent more time on in your first 90 days? 


Image Source: http://nabolister.com/title/34759/cast/add

Campus housing now delivered in many ways

Up to 20 years ago campus housing was provided using one model: institution-owned-and-managed. The past two decades has seen new models being used and we can expect campus housing models to continue to diversify in the coming years.

In my my Our great-grandchildren's view of our work blog post I highlighted some of the macro factors that are now greatly influencing higher education and campus housing. The list included government debt, politics, more scrutiny of and interest in the campus housing model and emerging changes in enrollment patterns. Technology such as mobile computers and social networking are dramatically changing our society, not just higher education, so it should be included in the list of macro factors as well.

The macro factors formed the basis of a presentation I made at the OACUHO conference last month where I shared some of the themes that are emerging in the campus housing models that are available to institutions:  

• Public-private-partnerships are a viable option
• New models focus more on undergrad housing
• Models are becoming more complex – design to agreements
• Mix of models at more institutions
• On or near campus remains important
• Management of student life remains important
• Emerging model is partnering with properties that have been around for years

Would you add, subtract anything from the list or stress any particular theme as being especially important in all models? 

Here is the full presentation:

The changing student housing ...

More PowerPoint presentations from Glen

Finding the proper balance in campus food service

"Sports teams are increasingly turning to sponsorship deals with big-name food brands, rather than lower-profile offerings from standard catering companies."

Its not hard to imagine this quote reading "[Universities and colleges] are increasingly turning to sponsorship deals with big-name food brands, rather than lower-profile offerings from standard catering companies." This Toronto Star article was highlighting a new deal reached by the Toronto Blue Jays and Tim Hortons last year and being a sports fan the article caught my attention.

For years Canadian post-secondary institutions have been integrating brands like Tim Hortons into campus operations, but usually under the management of one of the big three catering companies - Sodexo, Aramark and Compass Group (Chartwells).  With food being one of the most commonly used techniques to bring students together at events student affairs staff have a stake in how an institution manages food service.

Anyone who has been at a conference knows that food can make or break a participant's experience. We also know that staff and students are not shy voicing their opinions about campus food outlets especially if they are displeased.Working directly with a brand like Tim Hortons could allow food choices to be tailored more specifically to the needs of students, staff and faculty on a campus.

This past week I had an opportunity to sit down with the director of food service at uWaterloo for first time and earlier in the week I sat in on my first food service advisory committee meeting. I learned that food service is run by the university rather than through a contractor and purchases are done largely through the WatCard which can be used in a number of places off-campus using "flex dollars." Nutrition and choice were two of the prominent topics raised by students along with learning to work with food by those who live in residence but do not have a meal plan. Food plays a large role in a  student's residence experience so I'm keen to hear how food is managed at other institutions.


How is the food operation set up on your campus, what are some of the prominent issues raised and what are some of the innovations food service staff have introduced to enhance the service? 


Image source: http://www.wlu.ca/page.php?grp_id=12019&p=1290

Our great-grandchildren's view of our work

In 100 years when our grandchildren and great-grandchildren describe the early 21st century what major factors will they identify as having the greatest influence on our professional world? Looking at our world through that lens will help us strip away many minor factors and day to day influences so we can focus on the big picture which can help with long-term planning.

At the OACUHO conference earlier this summer at McMaster I shared the macro factors I see having the greatest influence on higher education in the coming years and how these factors are influencing the model we have used to deliver housing to students for the past half century. My list of macro factors included the following:

• Government finances & politics, specifically debt and how it is being managed
• Greater influence of groups such as student unions and developers
• Enrollment pattern changes which broadly indicates a leveling off of enrollment nationally

In short, student affairs and higher education can expect to see less money, less students (generally) and more scrutiny. The result will no doubt be that our work will be accomplished in different ways in the future. At the ACUHO-I International Symposium pre-conference workshop earlier this summer one of our colleagues from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland shared with us that one of his residence buildings was initially built in 1680! I'm pretty confident that student affairs as a field had not yet developed 350 years ago.

What macro factors do you think our great-grandchildren will talk about when describing our work?


Image source: http://skillsfor21stcentury.wordpress.com/

Get your inbox to zero

On more than one occasion I've said "The size of my email inbox can dictate my mood." Fortunately for the past year my mood has not been dictated by my email inbox very often (other things have but that is for a different blog post ;-). A few colleagues recently mentioned to me that they had a few thousand emails sitting in their inbox. Not surprisingly it was affecting their approach to work so I thought I'd share my email management experience here.



Much of the credit for the progress I've made goes to the Getting Things Done approach developed by David Allen. (Audiobook) Given the complexities that come with working with people, which is what we do in student affairs, it is crucial that professionals improve their personal productivity skills, such as managing email. Failure to improve in this area will lead to frustration, such as having the size of your email inbox dictate your mood, and will decrease your chances of gaining more responsibilities in the future.

A key aspect of the GTD approach is "Get in to zero" which means emptying your inbox's regularly. Inbox is plural because GTD encourages you to have a number of places to capture material, paper in your office or home, a mobile inbox to capture your thoughts and ideas on the go etc. For this blog I'll focus on your email inbox. Allen says that keeping material in your inbox will feel like a psychological weight on your brain. For instance in the moments when you have gotten your inbox completely cleared out you've probably felt much better in that moment. With some commitment on your part GTD can help you to sustain that feeling every day.  

I won't describe how to get your email under control the first time as David Allen's company has done that here through a free download. You will need to set aside some time up front to clear out the few hundred (or few thousand!) emails and dedicate time each day on an ongoing basis to keep it working. It is worth it though. Some of the headings from the free download, which will give you a glimpse into the approach, include:

• Use the delete key
• File!
• Complete the less than 2-minute actions
• Organize emails that require action and follow-up

In the book Allen explains that he can get any email inbox down to zero in no more than five hours!

A few lessons learned from me over the past year include:

• Minimize the number of folders you move emails too - I have three
• Open emails once 
• Once you've read and acted on a message where needed IMMEDIATELY delete or move emails to a folder - Do NOT leave the email in your inbox

What are your email management success or horror stories?


.

The Value of Campus Housing

The most popular topic to discuss further, by far, at both the Canadian Chief Housing Officer summit this past Novermber and the CAUBO student housing workshop in April was the value campus housing adds to post-secondary education.

At the CAUBO workshop Mike Porritt, McGill's ExecutiveDirector of Residences and Student Housing, did an excellent job of setting the stage to discuss the value added by campus housing by highlighting research as well as McGill data related to the residence life. With his permission here are the slides he used to kick start an hour long discussion:

More PowerPoint presentations from Glen

In broad terms Mike highlighted, on slide four, the biggest influence on retention rate shown by research comes from:

• Engagement with faculty
• Engagement with peers / residence life staff

More specifically, Mike highlighted, on slide five, that the retention rate for students at McGill is higher when they live in residence which his consistent with the broad research findings. At the most recent OACUHO conference Western University shared similar retention rate results and during my time at Ryerson we found similar retention rate results. With retention rate being one of the key performance indicators used to measure an institutions performance campus housing professionals have a prime opportunity to point these types of findings out to colleagues and decision makers.

What have you done to tell others about the value student housing adds to your institution?





.