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By Candice Olson, Program Manager, Texas A&M University
As the new academic year approaches, universities and colleges across SWACUHO nation are preparing for the annual move-in day, a pivotal event for both new and returning students. Residence Life and Housing system experts share their insights and advice to ensure a smooth transition for students.
Cambelle Olson, Resident Advisor at Texas A&M University, emphasizes to new and incoming residents the importance of preparation. "Bringing a wagon or renting a dolly can save a lot of time and effort," she advises. "It's also crucial to dress comfortably, arrive early, and have everything ready to unload quickly, as move-in parking is limited to one hour."
Emma Waters, Senior Resident Advisor at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, says that staff have music playing from a loudspeaker over the entire parking lot, which welcomes lots of smiles, laughs, and dancing. This is the first time staff meet new students and their families. “This vibe was a wonderful welcome [when I was] a new student myself, and has been an exciting tradition to continue,” Waters said.
Beth Eppinger, Assistant Director for Housing Administrative Services at Texas Woman's University, discusses the evolution of their move-in process. "Partnering with University and Student Services (USS) to provide a cruise ship-style move-in has made the experience easier for everyone," she explains. Eppinger notes that high satisfaction and room cleanliness are key indicators of a successful move-in. However, communication remains a significant challenge. "Despite our efforts to provide information through multiple mediums, there's no guarantee that everyone will read and understand it," she says. Parking is another common issue.
Monica Vera Leandro, Assistant Director – Housing and Residence Life at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, highlights the challenge of balancing resources while ensuring a positive move-in experience. "We must be fully prepared well in advance, especially for early arrivals due to programs or personal circumstances," she says. Leandro's wish list includes a full fleet of branded move-in carts to reduce wait times and make the process less physically demanding.
Planning for move-in day is a year-round effort for these colleges and universities. From recording notes and conducting satisfaction surveys to updating websites and soliciting volunteers, the preparation is extensive. Despite the challenges, the goal remains the same: to create a welcoming and efficient move-in experience for all students.
As move-in day approaches, students are encouraged to prepare thoroughly, engage with their new community, and take advantage of the resources and support available to them. With the right approach, move-in day can be the start of an exciting and successful academic journey.
Waters has great advice on making one’s move-in and first week experience special. “The best way to facilitate the connections between new roommates or floor mates is by saying ‘yes’ to the activities provided around campus and within the hall. This time is candid and unknown, but what is beautiful about it is that everyone is experiencing these things, and it provides the perfect atmosphere for building friendships and learning about people,” Waters said.
by J.C. Stoner, President-Elect
In my first semester of college (Fall 2001) there was a moment where I briefly considered adding an economics minor to my architecture major. Why? Because President Bartlet went to college for economics and maybe me, being someone not all that special in any particular way, might want to be President of the United States someday. But I didn’t add that minor. I was going to be a landscape architect. Then I was going to be a high school physics teacher. And now here I am. I like to think about the roads not taken. But sometimes those roads come back around.
On Friday, May 2nd, the SWACUHO President inbox got an interesting email out of the blue. Coincidentally, the Executive Board was meeting at that time the email was received, so we discussed it.
The email was from the Chief of Staff1 for Texas State Representative Lauren Ashley Simmons (District 146) explaining they were introducing a bill (HB 2476) “relating to a grant program for living expenses for certain students enrolled at public institutions of higher education.” Representative Simmons was requesting someone from SWACUHO come to the capitol to “testify on the importance of ensuring stable housing for students and the way that housing plays a critical role in student success.” From reading the bill, it appeared to be providing grant funds for unhoused and homeless students.
Well, this was certainly a new one…
The request to appear was for that coming Tuesday at 8:00am, less than 70 hours away. We were on the clock. Executive Board discussed this request and given the current landscape of state government and higher education in Texas, there were rational and legitimate concerns about participating. Questions being shared and posed included:
Ultimately, I personally felt that this is something we were elected and appointed to do; and, if there was fallout or ramifications, isn’t that sometimes the cost of leadership?
In preparing a statement, I realized the request didn’t even ask for our support. It didn’t even ask for commentary on the bill at all. They simply wanted us to talk about “ensuring stable housing for students and the way that housing plays a critical role in student success.” That’s an easy ask. We all do this every single day. I wrote up a two-page statement that could serve as a written or verbal statement. In hindsight, it read like a love affair with student housing talking about our front-line residence life staff and their programmatic efforts and our facilities staff who keep our buildings functioning, all of whom serve at 3:00pm and 3:00am and every hour in between. If a window of opportunity presents itself to talk about the unsung heroes in campus housing, you better believe I’m going to take it.
Midday Monday, Executive Board approved the statement and voted to send me to Austin. I booked a hotel across the street from the capitol, submitted my vacation time (since I would be off the clock as an Agent of the State every minute I was in Austin, TX), and took my commute home, grabbed some clothes, and was off to Austin.
I had 3.5 hours on the road where I kept thinking about how unqualified I was to be doing this. Let’s get a couple things out of the way. I am not media trained. I have had no interaction with legislative liaisons. And of course, I couldn’t stop thinking, “how in the world can a state bill administering grant money only be 2.5 pages long when I can’t even write a key audit procedure in less than four pages…
I also couldn’t stop thinking about my role with SWACUHO. No matter how well intentioned the bill was in delivering services to students in need, where does the money actually come from? I was reading this bill and it sounded like the money existed or is coming from the State Comptroller, but would it actually become an unfunded mandate for colleges and universities to cover the costs as things sometimes do? This would disproportionately impact our smaller schools…
Needless to say, I would take any advice I could get.
So while driving I called a couple longtime friends of mine. One serves as in city/county government in Minnesota and the other is a director of a state-wide agency in Texas who interacts with the state legislature on budgetary items. A few things I learned in those conversations:
In retrospect, there are some pretty practical professional development lessons within those items. Everything we learn is scalable, I suppose.
I got to my hotel at 10:30pm. I opened up my inbox to find I had received an email while driving from the Chief of Staff about logistics for the next morning. She said I would have two minutes to speak.
So I guess I would be spending my evening “trimming” my two-page statement… with an axe. So I did. But I didn’t have a printer and the hotel printer wasn’t working, so I scrawled it out on a pad of paper. I watched Schoolhouse Rocks’ “How a Bill Becomes a Law” and went to bed.
I got up early Tuesday morning, finished editing my dramatically truncated statement, practiced it several times, put on my big kid clothes, took a deep breath, and walked to the Capitol building. Experientially, this might be a defining moment. And when a defining moment comes along, you define the moment or the moment defines you.
It was an overcast and dreary day. But it was a good day to be a part of the process.
My experience at the capitol will be shared in Part Two.
1In her email, Chief of Staff Mo Jenkins identified herself as a former RA at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and explained how she “[knew] firsthand how impactful housing can be to a student’s academic journey” and how she believed testimony from SWACUHO “would go a long way to driving that point home.”
By SWACUHO Executive Board
Our next installment of the new Hello SWACUHO! digest is here! Read all about what Exec Board has been up to and upcoming events!
Hello SWACUHO! - Pre-ACUHOI Sent 5.28.25
By President Beth Eppinger
Greetings, SWACUHO! Since the annual conference in Norman in February, SWACUHO Leadership has been busy with continuing the work of our organization. Committee chairs have been trained, and committee meetings have started. During our Executive Board meetings, we have discussed legislative matters that affect our campuses and the student housing professionals who work there. We do not have all the answers to the rapid-fire changes in how diversity, equity, and inclusion are managed in the academy. However, after serious consideration, we have removed the SWACUHO Diversity Statement from our website, and we have removed the Equity, Access, and Inclusion section from our strategic plan. Change is ongoing, and this will likely include a repurposing of the Diversity and Social Justice Committee. As your president, I will continue to engage with other regional leaders and ACUHO-I leadership as we continue to monitor policies that may impact our membership.
These changes are occurring to ensure our members may freely engage with our organization as part of an extension of the good work they are doing on their campuses. Our member institutions will be able to host and participate with SWACUHO events with no barriers. It is understood there are different interpretations of how to comply with policies. Feelings you have around this topic are valid. Regardless of differences, what I have always experienced in our organization is that we can find common ground, and I look forward to a renewed focus on those areas as an organization. SWACUHO is more than words on a page. Our 60 years of history inform our future, and we will continue to adapt as an organization. SWACUHO is resilient, and I firmly believe you are as well. SWACUHO will continue to provide educational opportunities coupled with care and empathy.
I hope move-out and closing goes well for you and your campus. I know summer is a different kind of work, but just as busy. May you find time to rest and prepare for the fall semester. It will be good to see you and your colleagues at summer events such as the Mid-Level Summit, Arkansas Drive-in, or Campus Home Live!
If you would like to discuss this blog post or any SWACUHO matters, please reach out to President Beth Eppinger at president@swacuho.org.
By Communications Committee
The Communications Committee reached out and asked two members of the region to share their journey and thoughts on their Mid-Level Journey. Read on below to hear what they had to say!
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Before last year, I had built a career out of being a Residence Life Coordinator. With seven years of RLC experience at three institutions, I accepted a new role as Assistant Director of Residence Life at the University of Oklahoma last summer.
Despite knowing that many RLCs move to AD roles after only a few years, once I accepted the role, I was grappling with doubts about whether I was capable enough, smart enough, and if I wanted to take on the challenges of moving to a new type of job.
As a first-generation student and professional, no one in my family had ever held a role like the one I was stepping into. There were no examples, no insider information on how to succeed. Like it or not, my only professional “strategy” was to wing it, lean on my colleagues for help, and hope for the best.
After officially moving into my role last June, the summer was hectic.
Prior to accepting the AD job, I had been making drastic changes to our RA training experience by developing online learning modules to be used in a hybrid learning model for Fall 2024. I wasn’t ready to let that project go before seeing the fruits of my committee’s labor. Unfortunately, that choice meant from May to August, I was essentially working as both an AD and an RLC at the same time. Summer was a whirlwind of planning RA training, writing modules, interviewing RHA/NRHH exec board members, and planning large-scale Fall programs and curriculum workshops.
My saving grace was attending the National Housing Training Institute in Seattle, WA, in summer 2024. Thanks to a generous scholarship from SWACUHO and support from OU, I spent a week with talented mid- and upper-level professionals, dissecting our roles from every angle, and answering thought-provoking questions. That experience helped me realize I was more ready for this position than I had initially thought.
Stepping into your role won’t always be seamless and can come with some serious turbulence. But like many things, it will settle with time as you grow stronger in your own abilities. Give it a chance and don’t be your own worst enemy when it comes to imposing self-limitations. Once you stop fighting yourself on what you’re capable of, the possibilities that emerge from an open mind and heart are truly limitless.
Samantha Brooks, Assistant Director of Residence Life
The University of Oklahoma
I spent multiple years as a hall director and coordinator and enjoyed every minute of supervising student staff directly. When the opportunity presented itself for me to take the next step in my professional career, I must admit that imposter syndrome kicked into high gear. Although I knew deep down that I had the experience and knowledge to move forward, the voice in the back of my head was telling me I wasn’t worthy. It was a tough battle to fight and one that continues, at least in some ways, to this day.
As I entered the mid-level role and fought the intrusive thoughts, I was eager to supervise in-hall coordinators and share my knowledge with them. I can honestly say that the experience has exceeded my expectations. Calling it rewarding might be a bit of an understatement. I have enjoyed pouring into others to help them become better supervisors and professionals. I thrive on building personal relationships to get to know each person for who they are and to meet them where they’re at. Being in a mid-level role has allowed me to continue to grow my supervision skills while also feeling rewarded by knowing that I am making at least a small difference in the professional lives of others.
Ricky Harris, Associate Director of Residence Life
University of Central Arkansas
The next installment of our newly redesigned newsletter is here! Lots to know and review before we gather together again in February from Save the Dates and Reminders to candidate information and Business Meeting items!
Hope you enjoy reading and please feel free to email webmaster@swaucho.org with feedback so we can continue to improve in keeping everyone up to date with all things SWACUHO!
Hello SWACUHO! - Pre Conference Sent 1.23.25
The Executive Board and Communications Committee have had several talks about our former newsletter. We are excited to announce the launch of our brand-new newsletter!
Each edition will bring you the reader's digest of the latest updates, insights, and highlights from the region. The hope is our newsletter will keep you informed and connected with all the important happenings.
Hello SWACUHO! Post Mid-Year Sent 11.15.24
By Crystal Romero, Institute for Shipboard Education: Semester at Sea
“I’m sorry, kiddo. It’s COVID,” Nurse Bob said, leaving me in disbelief. “But I don’t feel sick at all! I usually run a fever, and I’m supposed to lead a camel trek through the Sahara in just three days!” I pleaded, desperately trying to hold back tears. This was the last thing I wanted to hear right before one of my most anticipated field programs during this four month voyage around the world. I had been chosen as a Trip Liaison for Semester at Sea's fall 2024 voyage in Morocco, and my excitement had been through the roof. Instead, I was whisked away to an isolation room, left alone until I could be tested again. Not only was I now in quarantine, but I had also lost my chance to participate in the camel trek entirely.
The last time I visited the continent of Africa was in 2019. I was volunteering at a school and staying at a backpacker hostel in Cape Town, South Africa. One of my first days at the school, I noticed a little girl laying on the ground during recess. Walking over to her, I quickly learned that she was not feeling well and was burning up from a fever. Days later I learned that this child had the flu and would not be returning to school for several days. Consequently, I myself came down with the flu and was sick for the remainder of my time in the country. Being ill is obviously never a good time, but when it is compounded by being so far from home and having severe control issues, it is also a journey through a myriad of emotions.
After several days of solitude in quarantine, my mind had little to do but wander, and that's exactly what it did. I found myself reflecting on my reasons for embarking on this journey, allowing a wave of nostalgia to wash over me. I embraced my homesickness and pondered how the rest of the trip would unfold if I felt this way. Working for Semester at Sea had been a long deferred dream of mine and one that I wanted to gain a perfect experience from. It was hard for me to let go of that image. Then, in the midst of this low moment, something remarkable happened: my community rallied around me. I started receiving encouraging notes slipped under my door and in my mailbox. My residents and colleagues reached out with texts and calls, checking in on me, and some even snuck me extra snacks. It’s hard to wallow in self-pity when you're enveloped in such warmth and support.
As I sat in my isolation room, those small gestures started to shift my perspective. Each note reminded me that I wasn’t truly alone, even if I felt it. My mind began to wander back to my experiences in South Africa. I remembered the little girl on the ground and how helpless I felt in that moment. But just as I couldn’t change her circumstances, I also couldn’t change my current situation. What I could do was choose how I responded to it.
Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, I was cleared to leave isolation, but the lessons I learned stayed with me. This time, I vowed to embrace the unpredictability of travel and the inherent challenges that come with it. I realized that sometimes our plans get derailed, but it’s in those moments that we learn the most—not just about the world, but about ourselves.
One key lesson emerged from my time in quarantine: community matters. The support I received taught me the importance of connection, whether near or far. It reminded me to reach out to others in their times of need, as well.
When I finally joined the rest of the shipboard community, I did so with a renewed sense of purpose. I approached the journey with a deeper appreciation for the people around me and the unpredictability of life. Yes, plans can change in an instant, but it’s the way we navigate those changes that defines our experience.
In the end, I not only learned about the resilience of my spirit but also about the power of community. And while I had initially feared that my dreams were slipping away, they transformed into a profound journey of connection and understanding—one I would carry with me long after the sun set over the Sahara.
By President-Elect Beth Eppringer
Are you sending a delegation from your department to the Student Staff Leadership Conference? General registration ends September 15th, and capacity is limited! Just thinking about the conference gets me AMPed up, and I’m not even attending! Yes, this blog post is a sales pitch for the conference. The SSLC is a perfect development opportunity for our future colleagues. Right now there are full-time professionals in SWACUHO who attended the SWACUHO SSLC (formerly RA Conference) as an undergraduate. Perhaps their experience nudged them toward the profession. I know my one weekend at the RA conference at UNI was an unknown puzzle piece in developing me for the rest of my college career and beyond. And, it wasn’t the sleeping on the floor of a lounge or managing an alcohol incident that were the highlights.
If you’re still with me, here are some talking points to use to convince someone your university needs to be in attendance.
1. Invest. Show your student staff you care about their development. By investing in their development, you are building stronger leaders for your department. In just a few years, these students could be the advisor taking your delegation to the conference. Your are building future leaders!
2. Represent! School pride is infectious. Everyone in SWACUHO already knows TCU has a great department culture of involvement and leadership. Having your delegation at the SSLC will do the same. Then, when graduate school applications and job searching comes along in the future, candidates will remember your institution’s name.
3. It’s Manageable. The conference is quick, and your delegation can be any size. How much is spent on registration and the hotel is up to your department based on delegation size.
4. It’s Fun! Memories are made during the travel portion of the weekend, students see their networks grow, and the host campus always provide a variety of experiences.
Now that you are certain your school will be represented at the SSLC, go a step further. Encourage the delegates to submit program proposals, create a roll call, and design a banner. Thank you to Texas Christian University for hosting! Reach out to Fred Dillard at conferences@swacuho.org to learn about YOUR chance to host next year!
Dr. Nechele McClinton-Gates, University of Central Arkansas
There can be balance! As an individual who has been working in Housing and Residence Life in some capacity since 2008, I, too, have heard the many concerns surrounding the work/life balance in this world. I will also say that I have been a participant and enabler of this world as well. However, it wasn’t until I encountered difficulties and health scares in my family life that I knew some reprioritization had to take place. Specifically, I remember traveling back and forth from Texas to Arkansas to sit beside my sister while she was in her hospital bed after suffering from a Subarachnoid Hemorrhage and as I was spending the little time I had with her, I was also working on sending out Student Staff Offer Letters. Offer Letters…while my sister was in the hospital sick and of course I had to drive back in a short period of time to be on call because being short staff is just part of the gig. After really looking at that situation, I knew I wanted to make a change.
I started to be more efficient and effective during my work hours, so that there was little to no time that I took work home with me. I set boundaries with my staff where I was only contacted if I was on duty or if there was something personal happening in their life. This set the foundation for when I got married, I already had several boundaries set in practice. This was important to me because in order for me to develop the Godly, Kingdom marriage that I desired my husband had to be my number 1 priority. So, balance and boundaries are important because he can’t be my number 1 priority if I am spending an excessive amount of time after hours or during the weekend at work, if I have several non-emergency phone calls/texts during our time together, or if I am being excessive in my bonding time with my work family. Everything can be done in moderation and with balance. It’s just a matter of changing your perspective on what makes you a good employee, what your values are, or what makes you connected to your staff. If that doesn’t work, don’t be afraid to change your location to a space that correlates with your new found values.
Southwest Association of College & University Housing Officers
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