Now well into the second half of 2021, many campuses in the northern hemisphere have either already welcomed their students to campus for the new academic year or are about to. Looming in the background (or, in some cases, still very much in the foreground) are concerns and accommodations that need to be made as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The constantly shifting landscape has made ACUHO-I’s professional development and educational resources more valuable than at any other time in recent memory. I am both thankful and proud of the way our Association, its volunteers, and its leaders have responded.
To assist campuses through these changing circumstances, the Re-Entry to Fall 2021 Work Group published a report, Re-Entry to Fall 2021: Considerations for Practice, which was created by a dedicated group who identified key areas and then drew from dozens of volunteers as well as six higher education association partners. The document provides common and promising practices and short-term solutions, as well as identifying unanswered questions and considerations moving forward. We are indebted to Dan Pederson, senior director of housing and residential services at Northern Illinois University; Holly Stapleton, ACUHO-I senior director of business operations/chief of staff and home office liaison; and all those who contributed to this valuable resource.
Understanding how the pandemic highlighted the importance of the residential experience at tertiary educational institutions, we were fortunate to have an opportunity to underscore how vital campus housing and residence life professionals are. With the support of the ACUHO-I Foundation, we established a sponsored research program and provided an inaugural grant to the Center for Postsecondary Research at the Indiana University Bloomington School of Education to explore and quantify the value campus housing has in supporting students’ academic success. A summary report of the work, The Case for Campus Housing: Research from a National Study, was released in July of 2021 in a variety of versions aimed at different audiences. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to share these reports with your staff and others at your institution who may have an impact on your programs now and in the future.
Understanding how the pandemic highlighted the importance of the residential experience at tertiary educational institutions, we were fortunate to have an opportunity to underscore how vital campus housing and residence life professionals are.
Finally, following up a very successful virtual ACUHO-I Conference & Expo in June (our largest event ever, with close to 3,000 registrants) and the return of some of our signature events after a one-year hiatus, such as the James C. Grimm National Housing Training Institute and the Mid-Level Leadership Institute, we are looking forward to a second year of the virtual presentation of our October conferences. These events, which focus on the areas of academic initiatives, business operations, and housing facilities, offer opportunities for all of our members to receive targeted training and education in aspects of our business for which they may or may not have day-to-day responsibility. With the All-Team Pass available again, any institution can register for one, two, or all three conferences and invite anyone at their institution to participate for one flat rate. These have proven to be great opportunities to access cutting edge information without the cost or hassle of travel.
So much has happened over the past 18 months that it is hard to wrap our minds around it all, even in hindsight. However, with the involvement of leadership, staff, and volunteers, ACUHO-I will continue to evolve and innovate in order to provide the information and resources necessary for our day-to-day work, as well as planning for the future of the profession. I hope you will continue on this journey with us.
— Peter Galloway, ACUHO-I President
Talking Stick magazine takes its name from the symbol of international friendship presented to ACUHO-I in 1973 by the Ohiat Band of the British Columbia Indian Nation. The talking stick, or speaker’s staff, is hand-carved, and the inscription explains, “It is a sign of authority carried when proclamations are to be made or a meeting of chiefs is in session. It is a token of common heritage both to Canadians and Americans.”
