New Web Address - http://www.tacuspa.net/TACUSPABlog

Readers,


Greetings! We have permanently relocated our new blog to the following address:

http://www.tacuspa.net/TACUSPABlog

Enjoy!


Sincerely,


Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D. - Vice President of Education and Professional Development

Opportunity - (Webinar) House Bill 452 & More--Strategies for Helping Students Who Were Formerly in Foster Care

House Bill 452 & More--Strategies for Helping Students Who Were Formerly in Foster Care Join us for a Webinar on February 22 -  Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/876792374 Youth who age out of the foster care system often lack family connections and financial stability, difficulties that negatively impact their ability to find reasonable temporary housing in between school semesters.  The office of Representative Lucio III worked to address this problem by supporting the passage of HB 452.   All post-secondary institutions want to help students to meet their educational goals.  As child welfare advocates, we want to support your work, specifically with youth who were formerly in foster care. In September, we hosted a conference call with post secondary institutions to inform them of HB 452 and to hear what other institutions have been doing and are eager to do for this specific student population.  We have been working since then to develop strategies that could help further your work with these students.  We would like to share those ideas with you and get your ideas on February 22nd.   Whether you were part of our first call in September or are hearing about these efforts for the first time, please join us! Title: House Bill 452 & More--Strategies for Helping Students Who Were Formerly in Foster Care Date: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 Time: 10:00 AM - 11:15 AM CST After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D. - Vice President of Education and Professional Development

Opportunity: University of North Texas - The 16th Annual Higher Education Law Conference

The 16^th Annual Higher Education Law Conference

At the University of North Texas

March 26-27, 2012

Conference Presenters:

- David Lester, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Suicide and Professor of Psychology at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.  Dr. Lester is a widely published author on suicide prevention, and is coauthor of the 2011 book Understanding and Preventing College Student Suicide

- Lynn Rossi Scott, Brackett & Ellis, will speak on"Responding to the US Department of Education's Guidance on Sexual Violence".  Ms. Scott’s presentations  have always proved among the more popular of past conferences.

- Bill Holda, President of Kilgore College, and Justin H. Lonon, Vice Chancellor, Public & Governmental Affairs at Dallas County Community College District, will review the implications for higher education of the last Texas legislative session—and offer an informed and detailed preview of what’s ahead in 2013.

  

- These sessions join the previously announced presentation, “Pima Community College: Lessons Learned from the Tucson Tragedy.” The speakers will be Roy Flores, Chancellor of Pima Community College, and C.J. Karamargin, Vice Chancellor for Public Information and Government Relations at PCC. Mr. Karamargin was, at the time of the shooting tragedy surrounding U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords, her Communications Director.

More speakers and a full schedule will be released in coming days.

The conference is eligible for both Continuing Education Units and Continuing Legal Education Units.

To register for the conference, and for more information, visit http://www.coe.unt.edu/conferences/higher-education-law-conference

Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D. - Vice President of Education and Professional Development

TACUSPA Webinar: The E.P.I.C. Journey (FREE for TACUSPA 2011/2012 members)

TACUSPA proudly presents our first webinar: The E.P.I.C. Journey scheduled for Friday, January 27, 1-2 p.m.  Access to the webinar is free for TACUSPA 2011/2012 members.

To register, please click on this link: WEBINAR REGISTRATION. 

Current trends at universities are to infuse the conduct process with meaningful encounters that take students on intentional personal journeys aimed at transforming decision-making patterns. The University of Texas at San Antonio has effectively accomplished this goal by assessing Engagement with the university, Personal development, Interpersonal development and Community membership using multiple theoretical backgrounds. Learn about the E.P.I.C. Journey to move your institutions’ behavioral processes to the next level.

This webinar highlights how the E.P.I.C. Journey Sanctioning Model impacts student success by individualizing each student’s educational meeting or hearing to direct efforts and resources toward their individual needs.  The E.P.I.C. Journey is a complete cross-functional initiative adaptable in any format.  Whether you work in conduct, student life, housing, student activities, greek life, leadership or student organizations, you can benefit from the strategies infused in the E.P.I.C. Journey.  Part of this webinar will focus on ways to utilize these strategies and frameworks including motivational interviewing, community development models, transformational education, creative sanctioning, and campus-wide mentorship in any area of student affairs.

Goals/Learning Outcomes 

• To introduce an innovative sanctioning model of addressing behavioral violations and/or concerns through the use of a purposeful individual needs based process by assessing engagement, personal development, interpersonal development, and community.

• To share the collaborative effort between the departments of Residence Life, Student Conduct, Counseling, University Police, and Student Activities to create a foundation for E.P.I.C. that encompasses multiple theoretical orientations and disciplines.

   

• To engage professionals in conceptualizing the management of behavioral expectations in more developmental and transformational ways and share how the tools and strategies can be used in a multitude of functional areas in addition to the group and individual conduct process.

About the E.P.I.C. Journey Sanctioning Model

Though only a step in the journey of life, college can often be described as an epic journey in itself. With remarkable personal development in so many areas, it can be argued that the college years are one of the most important journeys a person will take. The E.P.I.C. Journey Sanctioning Model was conceived with this in mind. We wanted to take a truly holistic approach to each meeting with a student to both create an intentional and productive judicial experience while utilizing the professional training and education we have attained to facilitate such development. The E.P.I.C. approach encompasses a complete view of the student rather than a myopic perspective of the infraction. From the educational meeting or hearing that begins a mandated journey to the optional involvement of engaged students participating in collaborative programs, the E.P.I.C. Journey lies before them.

The E.P.I.C. Journey Sanctioning Model entails giving students an interview based assessment during their educational conduct meeting.  This model includes active or required participation sanctions that allow the student to develop competencies that were found to be underdeveloped during their E.P.I.C. spectrum assessment process.  As a result, retention is improved by:

• developing creative sanctions that improve their success in college
• utilizing motivational interviewing to develop a willingness and confidence to change
• assigning a mentor to develop their engagement with the university
• implementing programming that reinforces the skill sets 

This holistic approach forms an intentional personal journey aimed at transforming decision-making patterns. The results reveal students moving from troublesome behavior to those who are retained and focused on completing their academic and personal goals.  Use of journey sanctioning with purposeful, sequential, active sanctions is paired with the consistency of inactive sanctions to provide a conduct experience that is both congruent with the high expectations of an academic environment and sensitive to the developmental needs of college students.

The E.P.I.C. Journey team includes a cross section of staff dedicated to upholding university wide standards and student success in Student Conduct, Residence Life, Privatized Housing, Counseling Services, Student Activities, and the University Police Department.  The E.P.I.C. Journey team is further expanded to include E.P.I.C. Mentors which include faculty and staff members assigned to the student and serve as a connection point between the student and his/her university experience enhancing areas of interest.  The team’s extensive training in both motivational interviewing and enhanced educational meeting strategies have dramatically increased our effectiveness in addressing student needs. E.P.I.C. reminds us that each student’s journey is unique and in order to be successful, we must first assess their needs and their compatibility with our campus values.

The E.P.I.C. Journey Sanctioning Model was  recognized by the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA) with the Innovation Award and Institutional Award of Excellence in 2011 and most recently with the Gold Medal in the housing, judicial, contract services and related category for the 2012 NASPA Excellence Awards.

Presenters
Jennifer Fueglein is a Coordinator in Student Conduct and Community Standards at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).  She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master of Arts in Human Resources from Webster University in Saint Louis, Missouri.  She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Education from the University of Texas at San Antonio.  Prior to her tenure at UTSA, Jennifer’s professional background included serving Housing and Residence Life at UTSA, Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota and Webster University encompassing a unique blend of large public and small private liberal college experience.  She currently serves as a member of the E.P.I.C. Core Team focusing on the management and training of practitioners and research study implementation.

Jan Wilson McKinney is an Assistant Director in Student Conduct and Community Standards at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).  She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Education from the University of South Carolina.  She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Education from the University of Texas at San Antonio.  She has worked in the areas of Housing and Residence Life, Student Activities and Multicultural Programs at the University of South Carolina, University of Central Florida and Texas A&M University Corpus Christi.  She currently serves as a member of the E.P.I.C. Core Team focusing on presentations, training and publications. 

Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D. - Vice President of Education and Professional Development

New York Times Article - "The Brutal Side of Hazing"

Readers,


On December 9, 2011, The New York Times, published an article titled, "The Brutal Side of Hazing". This article, written by Op-Ed Columnist, Charles M. Blow, provides readers with a glimpse into some aspects of his college experience.


Read the article here - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/opinion/blow-the-brutal-side-of-hazing.html

What do you think?


Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D. - Vice President of Education and Professional Development

OPPORTUNITY - Prepárate™: EDUCATING LATINOS FOR THE FUTURE OF AMERICA

Readers,

Here is a great opportunity for all of you!

Prepárate™:

EDUCATING LATINOS FOR THE FUTURE OF AMERICA

May 31–June 1, 2012

Hyatt Regency Miami

Miami, Fla.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Visit preparate.collegeboard.org/call-proposals for complete submission guidelines and to submit your proposal online. Proposals may be submitted from Sept. 1 through Oct. 7, 2011.

The annual Prepárate™ conference brings together professionals from higher education, secondary schools, middle schools and community-based organizations. These professionals are committed to improving education for Latino students. We encourage you to share your knowledge by submitting a session proposal for Prepárate 2012.Through your participation, Prepárate will continue to empower educators to meet the needs of a growing Latino student population.

Please consider submitting a session proposal that showcases trends, new initiatives, effective strategies or best practices that affect your Latino students. We are especially interested in learning about:

• Valuable early education programs

• Raising expectations and academic achievement

• Innovative teaching strategies

• Involving parents in education

• Using data to inform instruction

• Implementing testing and accountability measures

• Creating P–20 partnerships, including the academic community with the private sector

• Leading Latino advocacy initiatives

• College programs showing academic success and persistence

• Successful academic programs overcoming budgetary challenges

• Useful higher education recruitment and retention strategies

Preference will be given to proposals for sessions that:

• Highlight programs, services or policies that improve educational access and success for all students

• Include speakers from multiple institutions and/or regions

• Foster dialogue among educators from different professional areas

• Provide research and data to support claims and document outcomes

• Share best practices and examples of what works and what doesn’t work

Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D. - Vice President of Education and Professional Development

UNT Equity & Diversity Conference - Call for Proposals

TACUSPA members,

The University of North Texas is proud to announce the 12^th annual Equity and Diversity Conference scheduled for February 7, 2012. This year’s featured keynote speaker will be Dan Savage, author and creator of the It Gets Better Project. We invite you to submit a workshop proposal for this year’s conference. Registration fees will be waived for all workshop speakers. Submissions are due by November 1 at 5 pm. Detailed information is attached.

Please email multicultural@unt.edu should you have any questions.

Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D. - Vice President of Education and Professional Development

Hello all! Well, school’s been in session for most of us for several weeks now and we know what that means: programs!! Getting students engaged outside of the classroom is one of the most important components to learning, so it’s important that we do it effectively and creatively! The folks in Residence Life offices typically have good ideas regarding programming because it’s so much of what they do. So, below is a list of Residence Life programs from ResidentAssistant.com that could be adapted to other offices and other causes. Feel free to visit the website for more ideas not on this list. I hope you find something you like!

Back to Kindergarten

It's mainly for stress relief. Gather stuff for finger painting, coloring, games, story books, play-do, etc; anything you want to do that's fun and that's a thing you might do in kindergarten. It's a great way to have fun and relieve stress, and with enough imagination, there should be something for everybody.

Candlelight Vigil

A candle light service in remembrance of an event. This particular event was in held in remembrance of those lost in Kosovo. They invited guest speakers from the history and political science department to talk about the history of the Balkan peninsula so there would be a greater understanding of what's going on over there and also to give attendees a chance to think about their feelings regarding the event. One of the RA's is from Macedonia and he was going home for the summer, so he spoke about his feelings and how the war is affecting him. They also had another RA sing and play the guitar as we lit our candles in remembrance and accepted donations (food, toiletries, blankets...etc) to send over there. The food service company had boxes all over the campus for all students (not just residents) to place their donations. This is program is easily adaptable to commemorate or memorialize almost any event and is simple enough to add different aspects of creativity.

Chicken Soup for the College Soul

This is an opportunity for an on-going program. Once a month you serve chicken soup and focus on one of the chicken soup for the soul books, or a particular chapter. For instance, February could encompass couple chicken soup tales, and you can have a round table discussion, after reading at least three stories. The number of stories read will depend upon the reflection conversation. But, it is a great way to de-stress and bond with other students. It gives us the opportunity to tackle issues together that we all deal with.

Other Considerations:
Consider the time of year and the audience you wish to attract. Try to expand this so both genders feel welcome by making it topics both genders can speak about. For instance, if it is February and you are working with Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul why not open it up to couples?

Late Night Stress Relief

Description: Monday or Tuesday night of Finals week, put together a late night breakfast, at around 10 pm, held in the cafeteria. Serve traditional breakfast food such as crepes, waffle, pancakes, bacon, eggs, etc. and allow students to take a break from studying. The RAs also handed out a sheet containing study tips that they could use. Events like this usually have a large turn out, so this is a good opportunity to collaborate with other departments.

Poetry Corner

Get a bunch of people together that read, write, or are interested in poetry. Get everyone to meet in a designated room and have 30 minute reading sessions where everyone gets to read either their work or someone else’s. Then, have 30 min or so of writing as a group. Start off by having someone write a line and then passing the sheet around the room until the poem is completed. You can come up with some really interesting work.

Walking Dogs at an Animal Shelter

Pick one day each week to go to the local animal shelter to walk the dogs, and play with the animals. The animal shelter always needs volunteers, and the animals love the
attention.

Return to Sender

Return to Sender is a way for students to send a care package home to their parents, or anyone they see fit. Have participants sign up to be involved first. Then, bake brownies, cookies, muffins, etc. the day before. At the program, the students can put their packages together to send home. You can provide cards and some pictures to include in the packages. You could also include decorating materials so that the participants can decorate the outside of their boxes if they chose. When the packages are done, take them to the post office to be sent out.

Other Considerations: This is a program you need to know you will have participation in before you can do it. If not you will end up with a lot of baked goods with no one to send them to.

Frustration Piñata

Have students write their pet peeves on index cards. These annoyances can be anything from tests and classes to university policies and parking. Tape these index cards on a piñata filled with candy, treats, toys, and small pamphlets/flyers with useful information pertinent to finals period. Let the students hit the piñata once and attempt to break.
Other Considerations:
Make sure there is order when the students hit the piñata. You don't want anyone to get hurt since there is a bat involved.

Also, this is a good opportunity to talk about stress management. After the piñata is broken, you, along with a representative from your school's mental health office, can talk about different ways to deal with stress in a healthy manner.
Have fun (and take pictures!)

Who wants to be a millionaire?

This is just a basic spin on the hit ABC series "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" It uses a variety of questions, from academic to sexual to spiritual/emotional. It works best when you do it at least four nights. Just like the real show, you keep suspense by ending after 45 minutes to an 1 hour, no matter where you are in the game.
Instructions/Things Needed:
about 450-500 questions
computers to display questions (we did them on Powerpoint)
prizes (or money if your school actually lets you give away money)
Other Considerations:
Since often times funding is limited, make the top few questions extremely difficult.

SEX AND CANDY
This activity provides students with a fun way to learn about STDs, pregnancy risk, etc.
Get a group of about 20-30 students together of mixed gender. Prepare a paper bag with 4 or 5 different pieces of candy for each resident. Without telling the students what exactly is going on, have them interact 3 to 5 times with different residents (gender is not important) by having the person reach blindly into the other's bag and taking a piece of candy and then the other resident in the exchange doing the same. After residents have completed this, tell them that the people who they exchanged candy with were actual sexual partners who they had unprotected sex with. (Statistics show that most college seniors have had at least 3 unprotected sexual encounters!!!) Emphasize that the blind exchange of candy is representative of the exchange of STDs, etc. that can take place when people don't protect themselves. Next have the students sit and find out what diseases they have as a result of their behavior.

Each piece of candy would be assigned a consequence. For example, a mini Snickers bar would be genital warts, Smarties would be herpes and a Jolly Rancher would be an unplanned pregnancy. When revealing what candy is what consequence, give out basic information about disease, ways to avoid as well as ways to cure or treat it. I have found that this program keeps the residents captivated and they don't feel as if it's one more Sex Ed program that they don't want to go to. Instead they want to figure out what diseases they might have and really think that it could happen to them if they're not careful.

Look, Mom! I'm an Author!

The idea is to write a poem, then get students together and illustrate the poem. Then, get the pages laminated, bind them together. Now, students have created a children's book! Here's the kicker, you donate the book to a local hospital to give to new parents or another organization that deals with children. With the book, you can include a pamphlet about local "learn to read" programs, so that parents who don't know how to read may be encouraged to learn how to read the book to their child. Depending on how many students show up for the event, you can maybe even several books!
Instructions\Things Needed:
Construction Paper
Access to binding and lamination materials

Baby shower
Plan an event that is very similar to a real baby shower. Have students bring gifts suitable for a baby. When the students arrive have baby shower games for students to play, a variety of prizes, and food! Also include some baby shower-type decorations to go along with the theme. Donate the gifts to a woman's shelter or person/organization that is in need of the items.
Other Considerations: Encourage people to bring some type of small gift or encourage students to split the cost of pricier items like diapers.

Garage Sale
Collect items that students and others are willing to donate and set up a drop off location. Price the items collected and hold a garage sale. Donate the money collected to a local charity.

Stress Free Week

A week before midterms or finals when people are stressed out, tell the students that for one week they can donate non-perishable food items and clothing to a centralized location. When they bring the item give them one ticket. (Make sure to keep a tally of how many tickets each person gets). When the week is over they can redeem their tickets for things like an snacks, prizes, movie passes, etc. all of which can be worth different ticket prices. The items are then donated to a local charity.
Instructions Things Needed:
Place to collect items

Tickets

Tally sheet (in case they lose their tickets)
List of prizes and costs

Prizes

Book Club

Choose a book per month and bring people together who have read the book to discuss it. Ask them questions about the book like why they liked it, what they got out of it, what they thought of this or that event in the book. Try to choose books with pressing social issues (ex. eating disorders, poverty, sexual/racial/gay discrimination).
Other Considerations:
Some people read at a slower pace or do not have time to read. Maybe choose one book with a lot of short stories or essays.

Brain teasers
Find a dozen or so riddles--some easy, some challenging. Then post them in a location that is popular for students. The first student to turn in all 15 answers by a certain time, or the student with the most correct answers, gets a prize. This allows students to have fun with and solve problems at the same time. The riddles can also be challenging math or statistics problems.

Paper-Editing Party
Arrange a time and place for students to enjoy pizza and other snacks while getting assistance from English and writing tutors on work due for class. Students can ask questions about writing issues that they’ve experienced and get assistance in a fun environment. It can also count as volunteer hours for the tutors should they need them.

Below are a couple of sites that list additional volunteer events

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/advocacy/publicawareness/campaign@yourlibrary/prtools/sampleprogramming.cfm

http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/serviceideas.shtml

TACUSPA Fall Conference 2011 - Free Faculty Registration Opportunities, Conference Highlights, Graduate Student Opportunities

Texas Higher Education/Student Affairs Faculty,


I hope your semester is going well! My name is Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards and I am the Vice-President for Education and Professional Development for the Texas Association of College and University Student Personnel Administrators (TACUSPA). On behalf of the TACUSPA executive board, we would like to invite you to our annual fall conference. This year's conference will be held Sunday, October 16, 2011 to Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at the Holiday Inn Townlake Hotel in Austin, TX. This year's theme is  "Reinventing Higher Education" and we would like to have a large faculty presence at the conference! For more information about the conference, please copy and paste the following link - http://tacuspa.camp8.org/Conferences.


FREE FACULTY REGISTRATION
This year, we are offering a FREE faculty registration for one faculty member at Texas higher education institutions with higher education administration programs. This program is limited to five faculty members. To take advantage of this offer, please let me know of your interest in the Free Faculty Registration program and I will send a confirmation to you.


CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
We are excited to have several well-known and distinguished speakers headlining this year’s conference including Dr. Stan Carpenter, dean of the College of Education at Texas State University-San Marcos,Dr. Gwendolyn Jordan Dungy, executive director of NASPA, Dr. Susan R. Komives, professor and program director of college student affairs at the University of Maryland and president of the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education, and Lynn Rossi Scott, attorney and shareholder in the Ft. Worth law firm Brackett & Ellis.


OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUR STUDENTS
We also have several opportunities for your graduate students to get involved in TACUSPA. Encourage your students to apply for a graduate student scholarship to cover the cost of the conference registration. We have attached it here. The application deadline is next Friday, September 16, 2011. There is a special breakfast for graduate students as well as the annual graduate student case study competition. The case study competition is a great opportunity for future professionals to demonstrate their knowledge and problem-solving skills and to work with graduate students from different programs across the state of Texas.


Fall Conference Scholarship for Graduate Students - http://tinyurl.com/TACUSPAFALL2011


Fall Conference - Case Study Competition Registration Form - http://tinyurl.com/TACUSPACaseStudyFA2011


***Also, I am actively seeking FACULTY JUDGES for the case study competition which will be held during the conference. If you are interested, please let me know!***


We look forward to seeing you at this year's conference. For more information, please contact Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards at jtedwards@tarleton.edu or 254-968-9638.


Sincerely,


J. Edwards


Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D. - Vice President of Education and Professional Development

University of North Texas - Higher Education Research Assistantship Opportunities (Due - December 1, 2011)

Readers,

Here is a great opportunity from UNT!



The Higher Education Program at the University of North Texas anticipates the availability of two research assistantships with full tuition support for new, full-time Ph.D. students beginning with the Fall 2012 term. The assistantships will include these elements: a 20-hour-per-week research assistantship with competitive compensation, a waiver of tuition and fees, and a benefits package to include health coverage. This commitment is for three years. Continuing support for a fourth year is possible, but not guaranteed. All application materials, both for the university and for the program, must be submitted by December 1, 2011.


The UNT Higher Education program recently celebrated 40 years of doctoral level education in higher education and related fields. The program is home to the Bill J. Priest Center for Community College Education, the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students, and the Texas Higher Education Law Conference. The program also offers master’s degrees, with an emphasis in student affairs.


Applicants for the assistantships should indicate any personal areas of interest in the study of higher education, but might note that issues of student access and success are particular emphases within the research and service interests of the faculty. These include but are not limited to community college and transfer student success, the P-16 continuum, participation by under-represented populations, American Indian higher education, international higher education, the assessment of learning outcomes, and the role of spirituality in student life. Some professional or research experience will be valued in the evaluation of applications.


A cover letter to the application should clearly indicate both the intention of full-time study and interest in assistantship support.


For more information on the Higher Education Program and the application process, see https://www.coe.unt.edu/counseling-and-higher-education/higher-education.


Further inquiries may be addressed to the Higher Education Program Coordinator, Dr. Kathleen Whitson, at Kathleen.Whitson@unt.edu.


Sincerely,



Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D. - Vice President of Education and Professional Development