The Talking Stick Discussion Guide supports individual and departmental professional development efforts. These discussion questions, crafted by campus housing professionals, help readers to make meaning of the content and best identify ways the information applies to individual practices and institutions. Some suggestions for how to incorporate them into a professional development curriculum include the following:
building discussions into departmental meetings;
delegating articles to staff and asking them to lead discussions;
reading articles that address topics outside of normal day-to-day responsibilities to broaden knowledge of different campus housing aspects or aspirational positions;
incorporating articles into class discussions for graduate students;
assigning articles to graduate classes and coordinating opportunities to discuss readings and how they would apply to future careers.
Download this guide as a PDF worksheet.
Brothers & Sisters
On today’s campuses, fraternity and sorority housing strives to keep up with the times while expanding on its history and traditions.
CORE COMPETENCIES
Ancillary Partnerships: Develop the housing operation’s relationship with partners associated with fraternity and sorority housing.
Facilities Management: Develop goals regarding the quantity and type of housing desired to support the departmental and institutional missions.
READ ARTICLE
Review the relationship between your campus’s housing department and the fraternity and sorority communities. What steps could be taken to strengthen that partnership?
Are there lessons in hall design that could be learned from fraternity and sorority housing and applied to living-learning communities and vice versa?
Fraternity and sorority housing has changed through the years. What do you think it may look like on your campus in 10 years? In 20 years?
Life Savers
Campus housing responds to the overdose crisis by focusing on both prevention and response.
Crisis Management: Develop a system for determining and responding to risks. Educate constituents on preventative techniques and strategies. Align the system with campus governmental regulations and standards.
Review your campus’s current efforts related to overdose prevention and response. Do you see areas for improvement?
Do you personally feel prepared to respond to an overdose? If not, what steps could you take to become better informed?
What improvements to those efforts could be made quickly? What improvements would require working with additional expenditures or departments?
What lessons can be learned from implementing previous measures for fire safety, alcohol use, sexual health, and other issues?
On the Hook
Assessment data is important, but that doesn’t mean people will naturally see or understand the results. Here’s how to get their attention.
Evaluation and Planning: Communicate with colleagues to ensure a comprehensive understanding of qualitative and quantitative assessments.
Consider a recent assessment project on your campus. What story did the data tell, and did you communicate that to the relevant parties?
What is a story you would want to communicate about your hall or department? What data would support that story?
What title from a television show, movie, or book would you choose for a recent assessment project?
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Shared Housing
Housing departments look beyond their own campuses to find partners that foster student and campus success.
Occupancy Management: Interpret and apply occupancy data to decision making. Establish bed allocation to various groups and populations.
Use your campus’s occupancy data and consult with colleagues to determine if partnering with a community college would be an option for your campus.
Determine who the professionals are on your campus that are needed to make up a team that creates the partnership agreement or memorandum of understanding.
Work with your team to decide if adjustments are needed in the memorandum of understanding and to determine the program’s success.
Looking Ahead
Let’s talk about succession planning.
CORE COMPETENCIESLeadership: Share information and provide opportunities for staff to better understand the work and responsibilities of supervisors and senior leadership.
Consider how you would like to be remembered when you move on from your current position. What could you do to improve that legacy?
If your supervisor were to leave their position next week, what information would you need from them for work to continue unabated?
Succession planning is important at all levels in an organization. What steps could be taken to improve information sharing and transitions from senior housing officers, directors, and other positions?