Apr 19, 2026
In the latest episode of NASPA's Student Affairs Voices from the Field podcast, the conversation dives deep into one of higher education’s most timely topics: What does a successful flexible work environment look like in student affairs today and in the future? This episode, recorded live at the 2026 NASPA Annual Conference in Kansas City, captures a chorus of perspectives from student affairs professionals across the country and around the globe, each sharing insights on how flexibility is shaping the present—and the promise—of our profession.
A key theme that echoes throughout the episode is the shift from the traditional 9-to-5 on-campus model to one that centers both staff well-being and student needs. Alan Thompson highlights this shift, noting that “the typical nine-to-five...is no longer going to work with the way the world is shifting around us” . Flexibility now takes many forms, from remote and hybrid work, to alternative scheduling, to using digital tools like chatbots for student support outside normal hours, as mentioned by Enoke J. Agyei.
Supporting staff as whole people is another recurring message. Kerry Greenstein underscores the importance of supervisors who “are understanding and able to support their teams,” allowing staff to do what they need to be their best selves for students . The theme of trust and autonomy surfaces in Mishka Murad’s comments on letting employees choose their work settings and hours to find individual productivity and balance, so long as the work gets done.
Many contributors advocate for meeting students where they are—digitally, asynchronously, and outside the office walls. Dan Volchek and Diana Sims Harris both suggest that student affairs professionals must adapt to students’ diverse schedules and preferences, ranging from in-person to online interactions. At the same time, contributors recognize the challenge of designing flexible policies that remain inclusive, equitable, and responsive to both staff and student needs.
From practical solutions like cross-training backups and honoring comp time, to broader reflections on rethinking institutional culture, the episode brims with wisdom for every level of the field.
Whether you’re a new grad or a seasoned dean, this conversation is a must-listen. It’s packed with concrete ideas and heartfelt stories about finding work-life integration in student affairs. Tune in to SA Voices from the Field and explore how flexibility is not only redefining our work, but also sustaining our passion for serving students—today and into the future.
TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]:
Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where
we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to
seasoned experts brought to you by naspa. We curate free and
accessible professional development for higher education
professionals wherever you happen to be. This is season 14
continuing our conversation on the value of Student Affairs. I'm
Dr. Jill Creighton. Sheher hers your SA Voices from the Field Host
welcome back to another episode of SA Voices from the Field Today
is our third episode that was recorded live and in person at the
Kansas City, Missouri 2026 annual conference. We asked you about
the third focus area for the conference, which was about workforce
trends and the future of the profession. The question posed was
what does a successful flexible work environment look like in
student affairs today and in the future? Here's what you told
us.
Dr. Alan Thompson [00:00:50]:
Alan Thompson at the Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington
Director of Academic and Career Advising Having a flexible work
environment is so important to the professionals who work in
student affairs today as well as the future. The typical nine to
five, five day or six day work week that we were once accustomed to
in years gone by is no longer going to work with the the way that
the world is shifting around us, it is important that we as
professionals have a work life balance and oftentimes that means
that having a flexible work schedule, working different hours
throughout the day or even various days of the week, being able to
work remotely two or three days a week, is very, very successful in
creating an environment in which student affairs employ, want to
work and are available to work given the many complexities that we
have outside of the typical work environment.
Kerry Greenstein
Kerry Greenstein, Sweet Briar College I'm the Dean of Student Life. A successful work environment to me looks like supervisors who are understanding and able to support their teams, allowing them to come late, take time, really do what they need to do to be there best selves so that when they are present and helping the students that they serve that they are really at their best and able to serve them as best as possible. Hi everyone, my name is
Gada Endick [00:03:08]:
Enoke J. Agyieu. I am a second year graduate student of the Student
Affairs Administration Program at Michigan State University. I'll
be graduating in May and I am glad to share my perspective as a new
professional and a new grad. How I see flexible work environment is
using technology and data to help students with services even
without the physical appearance of professionals. With the age of
AI, we can have chatbots and other technologies that can respond to
student needs while professionals are not in their offices or they
are not having a direct interaction with students and I think that
is the way to go in the future as student affairs professionals. Be
at the back end monitoring student trends and their concerns and
how best students can be referred with in person and face to face
services. So basically that is what I can share and I can see that
profession have a great promise for some of us as early career
professionals.
Mishka Murad [00:04:23]:
My name is Mishka Murad and I have worked in student affairs as
well as worked as an adjunct instructor. I'm originally from
Pakistan and I've worked in Pakistan, Thailand, Mexico and the US
Online classes suddenly because of a snowstorm. And so just having
that ab ability to be able to adapt, I think is a really important
skill that we're able to then give to students as well. So I think
a flexible work environment is that ability to say I need to work
from home or I'd like to work from home because I don't do so well
with a chatty environment and I really want to zone in. Or guess
what? I wake up at 5am every day and I'm most productive at 5:30.
And I definitely don't want to come into the office, but if I'm
working from home, that's possible. So I think it's really
understanding that it's all the work we really do for students,
which is they learn in different ways, they, they need different
kind of advising. We show up for them at different times, on
different days. Just bringing that into the world of student
affairs where the same is allowed for us. So I too can have that
flexibility. I too can work a particular hour that I might work
well. And more than anything, a successful work environment is not
just saying you can do these things, but is trusting people that
they will do these things and they are doing these things. And so I
believe that it's not just what is offered to you by an
institution, but it's the kind of faith your dean and your
supervisor have in you.
Gada Endick [00:05:14]:
I'm Gada Endick and I'm the Assistant Dean for Graduate Student
Life at Rutgers University. And we focus on creating an
interconnected graduate student experience across our eight grad
schools. So we're here to kind of improve the quality of life for
graduate and professional students, serving their diverse needs,
fostering a sense of belonging, and really helping them just make
the most of the many resources Rutgers has to offer. So we do
programming that's designed to connect students across their
disciplines. We provide spaces for them to meet and gather, and we
also focus on events and initiatives that celebrate their
contributions, their achievements, and amplify their voices. A
successful flexible work environment in student affairs today, I
think recognizes that the work is both relational and adaptable. It
balances the need for in person student connection with flexible
options that support staff well being, productivity and trust. So
in the future, the most effective environments, I think we'll focus
less on where work happens and more on impact and empowering the
professionals to serve students well while sustaining their own
well being.
Adam McCready [00:06:24]:
Hi, I'm Adam McCready. I use him his pronouns. I'm an associate
professor in higher education programs at the University of
Connecticut. Again, if we need to meet students where they're at,
part of that is realizing that the 9 to 5 workday and having folks
in person on campus is not meeting students and supporting. We need
folks who are going to be in those face to face roles at on campus
events and programs, but requires flexible work hours. There are
plenty of folks in our field who can do their jobs successfully
remotely. And if we want to retain and support folks specifically
who were able to do their jobs successfully through the pandemic
and beyond, we need to recognize that the in person only work
experience is not the realm of success in the future. And for
students who are coming into higher ed and then moving on into work
in our field, thinking about it through that lens of in person work
does not meet the reality of their identities at this point in
time.
Andrew Finn [00:07:19]:
My name is Andrew Finn and I am the assistant director for Graduate
Student Programming and events in the center for Student
Involvement at Northeastern University on the Boston campus.
There's two approaches to this question. I'll look at it from a
staff lens, but also a student lens from a staff lens. I think if
we're talking about flexible work, I think it really comes down to
staff being able to do the kind of work that they feel they can
best do with students in a variety of different environments, not
necessarily just an office, but outside of it. Not necessarily
alone, but together in collaborative groups that are
interdepartmental. Flexibility is not just about space though. It's
also about getting a really wide perspective on what we can do as
student affairs professionals to help students. And that
perspective really comes from increased collaborative opportunities
that are cross departmental and cross disciplinary. When it
comes to, you know, students and flexible work environments, I
think a lot of that flexibility is going to come simultaneously
from bringing together asynchronous and synchronous engagement
models, both digital and physical, in other words, in person and
online, as well as hybrid and really using a lot of those models to
quote unquote, meet students where they are when they're being
bombarded with so many different engagement opportunities on so
many different platforms simultaneously. I think it's important to
understand that students have so many possibilities to connect with
campus and those around them that we need to provide a lot of
different avenues for them to engage in a lot of different ways,
whether it's online or in person. That would make it as flexible as
possible and help students ultimately connect more in the longer
term.
Dylan Dermeyer
Hello, my name is Dylan Dermeyer. I am from Angelo State University and I handle clery compliance and student conduct, including academic misconduct. I think if you're going to be in a career for a extended, extended period of time, especially as many of us are in higher education with the pursuits of retirement in our universities, I think you need to make sure you are balancing a fair work life balance. And as we become higher in our positions within the university, it ultimately makes it harder for us to be away from the university. So I think part of that is training reliable backups, making sure that you have clear standard operating procedures so you can step away and have seamless transition periods.
And ultimately when you come back, everything should still be right where you left it or even further down the road. And overall, I think it is important for people to get out side their university, see new things, take courses that may not be directed for higher education, but more the corporate world because these help us balance us as individuals and as a whole. So overall, I think it is important that people get out of the office, get time on vacation, get time at conferences and find a whole well round being and also definitely support your local sports at your universities. That is always a big one for me. Go Rams. A successful, flexible work environment in student affairs today and in the future I think heavily relies on communication and overall comfort in the office. I know with supervisors it's really up to them to kind of create that space and create that opportunity for their employees and supervisees to feel comfortable in doing their work. And I believe it's it starts with the environment that we work in that can help improve the students that we work for.
Romando Nash [00:10:56]:
Romando Nash Vice Provost for Student Affairs Washington State
University I think a flexible work schedule is one that makes sure
that we're providing the services that we need to provide for our
students. Without doing that, then we're not doing anything right.
I think that there's a mixture of remote potentially and then a
mixture of folks having to be in person and figuring things out.
But I also think that there's a need for us to shut down at 5 o'
clock on most days while still being as in person and as present as
we can be for the students that need us to be in that way and in
that vein.
Brianna Morris
Hello, my name is Brianna Morris. I am from Richmond, Virginia and I currently serve as an Assistant Director for Student Conduct and Academic Integrity at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. A successful flexible work environment in student affairs it will look like prioritizing outcomes, well being and sustainability for a person while also prioritizing the student needs by doing like more of a flexible work schedule, prioritizing outcomes, well being and sustainability as a professional while also making sure that the students are learning what they need to learn more of a flexible schedule hybrid administrative work will be better because that will take away from the burnout that we do receive and professionals in student affairs. Hi everybody.
Karin Gomez [00:12:19]:
My name is Karin Gomez. My pronouns are they she. I am a student
program coordinator at the University of Texas at Austin with the
scholarship program titled UT for Me powered by Dell Scholars. I
feel that a successful flexible work environment for today and in
the future would consist of institutions really prioritizing the
needs of the staff members. Some staff members are parents, some
are single one income households, some have dependents and vice
versa. And so some people need to work from home, some people need
to work from another state at some point. Some people need to be
able to have a space where they can retreat to that isn't
necessarily campus or an office. And so having those as
opportunities and availability and that freedom for them to decide,
okay, today I think I really need to work from home in order to
really focus on this project. Or I have a lot of student meetings
and I would really prefer to have them in an online modality
because I am immunocompromised or something like that. Of course
it's not an all exhaustive list, but I think that having that
flexibility in general and basing it off of the staff's specific
needs that would benefit the work environment overall in student
affairs.
Michael Allensworth [00:13:10]:
I'm Michael Allensworth from Michigan State University. I think a
flexible work environment looks like fitting the work shifts and
the needs to the position. And so we may not need every position on
campus five days a week. And there might be some positions that we
do need on campus five days a week. So how can we as leaders assess
and determine when and what positions we may need on campus to best
support our students?
Taylor Cercone [00:14:17]:
Hi, I'm Taylor Cercone. I work at Eastern Kentucky University as a
residence hall coordinator and housing and residence life
successful flexible work environment. Currently at Eastern Kentucky
University, we are Very flexible because of the job position as a
residence hall coordinator and working in housing, it can kind of
feel like you're working non stop. What we do currently is taking a
day off after being on call for a week straight or a few days
straight. Being able to reconnect with ourselves, pretty much
taking the time for ourselves to not create the sense of burnout so
we can better serve our students. I think that this is very
important because working in higher ed I feel like we're constantly
on and we don't get to kind of turn off as much as we would want
to. I think being able to take the time self care being away from
the job, especially living on campus in the residence halls that we
oversee, being able to take the time away from the campus itself to
then better come when we come back to be better to aid the students
in the future. I feel like a lot of departments should kind of
enforce this, take this into play, into practice because it's
better serving the employees who can better serve the students and
their success in college and being able to be there 100% because
anybody at 50%, I'd rather send you home for the day and then get
you back at 100% so we can be more successful overall. I think that
would be something to look forward to into the future and to bring
into play.
Gada Endick [00:15:46]:
Foreigna Mazalu I'm the Secretary General of the European
University College Association. We are based in Brussels in
Belgium. It's a European network of universities, colleges and
halls of residences doing work, trying to promote the student
affairs profession in Europe. Successful flexible work environment.
That's a tough one because European institutions are very different
all across the continent and flexible work in a student facing
profession is not an easy recipe. So I would say look at different
traditions, different lifestyle, different cultures and really try
to personalize. That's an easy answer, but take the time to think
about what your people need and try to be flexible in the mindset.
Also take into account new generations coming into the workforce
and have an open mindset around their needs and expectations.
Sometimes as middle management or senior leaders, we think that we
know it all and our experience give us the way to decide. But I
think that we have to be humble and take into the account what the
new colleagues, the new generations coming into the field have to
say. And we have a duty to make a work environment that works for
all.
Jordan Payton [00:16:46]:
Hello. Jordan Payton from Ohio State University, a third year PhD
student in engineering education. A successful flexible work
environment. I think a lot of it today is about acknowledging that
Some people work best in different environments sometimes.
Sometimes it's from home, sometimes it's when they're traveling to
conferences. I think the 9 to 5 structure is so rigid. It's very
old school. And I think it's okay to look at things from a
different point of view. You know, maybe it's 10 to 6, a lot of us
are commuter students or we have kids, you know, that we need to
drop off at school like 8am and so then we end up late to work or,
you know, we have to do the parent pickup stuff, three which means
we gotta leave work early or coordinate with somebody else. So I
think it's about being okay letting people work from where they
feel most comfortable and also most productive as well.
Dan Maxwell [00:17:27]:
My name is Dan Maxwell. I serve as the Vice President for Student Success and Student Life at the University of Houston Downtown. I think our reality in today's world is that flexibility is going to be key. How do we meet our students where they are? And that may not be traditional. Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm and so how do we support staff who may need to be in spaces past five o' clock or in some cases when we're hosting events for students on the weekend? So as we think holistically about meeting our staff where they are, I would encourage us to begin to think about what does flexibility look like and still get us what it is that we need to do to make an impact on our student lives.
Diana Sims Harris [00:18:11]:
Diana Sims Harris from IU Indianapolis. So a successful, flexible
work environment today in student affairs and into the future, I
feel like that's one that is responsive and centers student needs
first and foremost, but also prioritizes staff engagement and work
life integration. I think you can have a vibrant in person culture
from, for example, and also allow for some remote opportunities for
students. I oversee academic advising in our school and one of the
things that we track is how often students want to meet online, for
example, and we currently have over 50% of our student appointments
online, even when we give students the option to come in person or
to attend online. So allowing for some remote work, if that's an
interest of a staff member is a really great engagement and
retention tool that still centers and meets our student needs.
Again, I think it's important just for us to continue to be
responsive to what the needs of our students are and be willing to
change and be flexible in the future, because what works now may
not be the same in just a couple years. Good afternoon.
Dr. Mimi [00:20:00]:
I am Shawnya Rain Coleman, better known as Dr. Mimi Vice President
and Dana student at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. What
does a successful flexible work environment look like in student
affairs today? In the future, we have to be flexible. I tell people
all the time, Student affairs is 24 hours a day. There is not one
time that I can say that we are off work. We're not. We're seven
days a week. Seven days a week. Even on the holidays and even
when the students aren't there, we're still hard at work trying to
create spaces for our students so when they do come back, they have
that welcoming environment where they have a place where they can
call home away from home. So what's flexible for us? We're not
looking at what time you get in at 8 o' clock and what time you
leave, because we know we're there when we're called upon, we
answer the call. So flexibility for me is making sure that there is
workplace balance, making sure we're meeting our needs, whether it
is our physical needs, our mental needs and our spiritual needs.
We're going to make sure that everybody is held accountable in
finding their balance so that we can work effectively in meeting
the needs of our students. So again, flexible work for me is not
being there at 8 and leaving at 5, but being there when we're
called upon and being present during that time.
Ray Handy [00:21:35]:
Ray Handy Associate Dean of students at the University of New
England in Portland, Maine Flexible work I'm kind of, as I've said,
hard school on this, I think, depending what level you're at. But
student affairs has much flexibility built into it. We work long
hours, true, in many areas, but we also have a lot of flexibility
in our workday schedules and things. I think if there's anything
the higher you climb in that ladder of professional areas, many
times the paperwork takes over. And I think if there is an
opportunity to have some flex days, to be able to get those emails
answered and to do the paperwork, that would be something that
would be advantageous to folks. But I do think overall it's one of
the reasons I'm in student affairs. It's flexible. It's great. You
have the opportunity. You don't have to sit behind a desk every
single day, so you're out and about. And best thing is you get to
work with students.
Brett Peterson Bruner [00:22:09]:
My name is Brett Peterson Bruner. I serve as the Associate vice,
vice Provost for Student Success and Persistence at Wichita State
University. A successful flexible work environment today in student
affairs and in the future looks like truly meeting students where
they're at, not waiting for them to arrive in our offices, but
meeting them at various parts of the campus community.
Rachel Amaro [00:23:03]:
My name is Rachel Amaro. I am the admissions and academic advisor
for the Department of Educational Leaders Leadership at Cal State
Fullerton. I think a successful flexible work environment in
student affairs includes the incorporation of remote work. I think
that while the pandemic sort of forced us out of our regular spaces
of office, I think it really taught us that we can still be
effective and do our jobs from anywhere we are. I think that it
helps in terms of the environment. I think it, you know, reduces
sort of people's, not just their commitment commute time, but the
use of cars and transportation. I definitely noticed a change in my
area in terms of the traffic and now we've seen an uptick in
traffic and everything. So I think remote work helped even wider
scope than we can imagine. And I think it helps us with our time
management. I feel like when I'm able to work from home or
someplace else, I'm still getting a ton of work done, but I'm doing
it at a different pace and sometimes even with more focus because I
don't have people interrupting me or I'm not getting interrupted. I
just. I'm able to focus a lot better. So I think we need to have a
good balance of allowing people to have that freedom and that
ability to feel like they can be relaxed and still come into the
office and enjoy the office environment.
Hanisha Dushara [00:23:47]:
Hi, my name is Hanisha Dushara. I am originally from South India,
but went to University of Cincinnati to get my Bachelor's degree in
Computer Science. Currently I work as part of business system
strategy team at NASPA. A successful flexible work environment both
currently and in future. The way it should be is focusing on work
life balance both for professionals and college and personal life
balance for students as well. For a professional, definitely having
work environment that works for them and not them fitting into the
work environment would be the focus that I would highly
recommend. And I think they should also think about the
workloads of how much they're taking on. Because taking on high
workloads would just often lead them to burnout which is
detrimental to their actual focus of supporting students better. So
they need to take care of themselves, so take care of their
physical and mental health to be able to support students better
and do their job. And I would say should focus on well being and
sustainability of them as supporters and going forward in the
future, like better integrating the digital tools that are
available at their disposal and help them use them and understand
them better so that they can do their work properly would be the
other thing and that would very much help them succeed in their
profession and will help be flexible, help them have a flexible
work environment.
Hi, I'm Jeanne Masterdicasa and I'm Assistant Provost and Director of Institutional Assessment at the University of Florida. I think really getting your hands around what work needs to be done in the office, what work needs to be done when students are not around, etc. I do know that student life in general, although many of us have to be at work at 8am, students are not there. So there really needs to be an understanding that there's administrative work that needs to be done, preparation work that needs to be done, meetings. But I think it's really going to be a little more focused on flexible hours and a little less on sort of the traditional mindset. The other thing is I do think the younger generations are not going to put in a lot of uncompensated work and we need to be prepared for managing that.
Ethan Williams [00:26:16]:
My name is Ethan Williams and I work at University of North Texas
Health Science center in Fort Worth, Texas. As far as a flexible
work environment, I think that that is very important to attract
new people to the field. I've worked in both. I currently have a
two day a week hybrid schedule which is pretty nice because I have
a young family and with our different needs, it's really flexible.
Granted, I do get more work done when I'm in the office. I think
that there's a big value. I would never want to be fully remote. I
think that there's such a value in being able to talk to your peers
and obviously we're in student affairs for the students and I get a
lot of energy from interacting with the students. But I think that
having a flexible mindset about what work looks like would greatly
impact the field as to bring new new talent in and evolve with the
changing work landscape just in the field.
Chris Hall [00:27:04]:
Hi, I'm Chris Hall. I am the Director of Residence Life and Student
Housing at Georgetown University Law Center. Well, for us a
successful and flexible work environment right now looks like we
have some people within our department who are remote, others who
are hybrid and others who are working day to day in the office. And
to be completely honest, I think that there are some feelings where
that that is not equitable between the different groups. It's
understood why some people can do that and Others can't. But I
think it is necessary, you know, to be able to do that. We don't
have the space for everybody to be on campus anymore. And so some
people who truly can work remotely, that allows them. I think what
would be really nice would be to be able to have a little more of a
flexible schedule. I think that would be the one thing that we
could do that we're not necessarily doing at this time.
Tiffany Riggers Peel [00:27:56]:
Hi, I'm Tiffany Riggers Peel, Associate professor of Higher Education at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. I think in student affairs today and in the future, we really need to think about counteracting ideal worker norms by providing opportunities to work remote without penalty or use of PTO and offering opportunities for folks to share time and spaces. So hoteling when necessary and giving them the opportunity and trust to work from home and work from the office to allow them that flexibility so that they can really create spaces of welcome for students on campus, but also have the opportunity to work appropriate hours so that they have time for family and a successful personal life so that they don't get burned out and leave the profession.
Jackie Yun [00:28:45]:
Hi, I'm Jackie Yoon and I serve as the Assistant Vice President of Student Experience at Emerson College in Boston. I think we need to understand what needs to be done to support students, and probably a lot of that needs to come from asking students and evaluating our work. But I think in order to prevent burnout and to make sure that student affairs professionals are also supported, we need to think about what the workplace looks like, what the hours look like, and we probably need to be more flexible, nimble, and we need to see that the profession has evolved. It's not always going to be the same way that we sort of grew up in. In student affairs, it's changing, and I think it really comes down to are we doing good work with students, are we meeting them where they're at? But because the profession can be pretty exhausting, can have long hours, can have a lot of nights and weekends, we probably need to be more flexible or folks are not going to choose the this vocational path because there's other professions that give that flexibility. And so we're going to have to be creative in thinking about our metrics of what we expect from our staff and ourselves so that we can continue to do the work and do it in an energized way.
Dr. Amy French [00:30:28]:
This is Amy French from Bowling Green State University. A
successful, flexible work environment in student affairs today
respects boundaries. Boundaries allows for recognizing when
professionals work late and then have early mornings that perhaps
they have the latitude to make healthy decisions throughout the
day, where they may have some space in their workday to perhaps go
to the rec center to eat healthy meals, to do some mindfulness
strategies. One thing that I've started doing is more crafting and
watercolor. And so even having a space on campus where not only
students can have mindfulness spaces, but also the professional
staff have those spaces that in between meetings and busy schedules
and late nights, there is some rejuvenation space.
Dan Volchek
Dan Volchek, Harvard Griffin Grad School of Arts and Sciences and finally, for question number three, we often say that student affairs is a student facing organization, so we need to be on campus to be with students, but that's not necessarily what students want. Students want to be able to deal with things on a virtual basis. So creating FAQs on websites, virtual office hours, ways students can contact and work with student affairs staff that aren't necessarily on campus five days a week would be a great thing to look at as well as what the communications methods are. We've moved into email, but are we going to do more with more instant messaging type systems so that students can contact us and we can respond back in those methods?
Katherine Hall-Hertel
Katherine Hall-Hertel, UNC Charlotte and the issue of flexible work environment in student affairs is such a loaded question right now. Many of us are having pressures from our system office or just our institutions, our elected officials, to make sure that we are serving the taxpayers by being present on campus. And that's all fine, but it doesn't support the needs of our staff and our workforce. And so I think it's a real challenge that we need to grapple with because we need to take care of our people as well as our students.
Dr. Scott Peska [00:32:16]:
Hi, this is Scott Peska, the assistant provost of academic and
student success at Waubonsie Community College in Sugar Grove,
Illinois. So what does successful flexible work environment look
like in student affairs today and in the future? Well, I think that
it's I guess the way I would answer that question is flexible work
environment is being able to be adaptive to the types of classes
that students are taking. So if they're in high flex or if they're
online classes, we need to make sure we have support systems and
services that are available in each of the way that students are
there and being able to make sure that our facilities, faculty and
our staff especially have the support to engage with students those
ways. This is John Gardner from the University of South Carolina
and from the Gardner Institute for Excellence in Higher Education.
Well, I think I'm already seeing a number of aspects of it. The
many student affairs colleagues are are no longer segregated into
units where they're their only colleagues for each other. Many of
them are now assigned out in other academic units. I'm really not
sure about this. I don't think and now I need to so I'll revisit
this.
Caitlin Talbot [00:33:41]:
Caitlin Talbot, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign Assistant
Director of Graduate Professional Programs for Bioengineering A
successful flexible work environment to me means folks are
recognizing and supporting remote and flexible work. Covid has
happened. It opened the doors for folks at all levels to find new
work environments. For me, there's so much work that is
collaborative in the office, and when I am remote, it allows me to
sit and work uninterrupted, aside from the occasional scratch for
the dog. But overall it allows me time to focus, which is
definitely what I need.
Dr. Lori White [00:34:40]:
My name is Lori White. I am the President of DePauw University. I
am a former NASPA board chair, and I served as a vice president for
student affairs for 13 years and a flexible work environment for
student affairs today and in the future. Certainly we want to be a
profession that enables people to live a good life, to be able to
have that, you know, proverbial balance, to be able to have
families, and yet at the same time, our work means that we have to
show up in person to be able to interact with our students. And so
I think we have to ask ourselves today, what does it mean to be a
successful student affairs professional, still showing up for our
students in person and yet allowing for the opportunity for people
to do the work and still have some sort of balance in their lives
and families?
Karen Riedel
Karen Riedel, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign I'm the Assistant Director for Graduate Programs for Bioengineering the events of the last five or six years have shown us that remote work can work. With an increasingly diverse graduate and professional student population, it's important to have the flexibility to meet them where they are on campus, online at hours that can accommodate working students. Students have issues outside 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, and we need to be able to meet their needs.
Dr. Keegan Newkirk [00:36:19]:
Hi, Keegan Newkirk from the College of DuPage. I'm a president vice
vice president for Student Affairs. A successful flexible work
environment looks like really just hitting the pause button during
your day to reflect on your work that you're doing. I think if you
need to take a long lunch to reflect, or if you need to run a quick
errand, it's absolutely okay. We work long hours, but I think
putting it into Perspective we don't always have to work those long
hours is really important. Foreign
Marlee McGeehan
I'm Marlee McGeehan. I'm the graduate Student Affairs Coordinator in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. I think that remaining open to remote and hybrid work arrangements is super important now and will remain important in the future. Recognizing that our our students often prefer to meet from their apartments or their labs or a coffee shop and we don't always need to be physically present to be supportive and impactful and emotionally present in our students lives.
Serena Stujavent [00:36:59]:
Hello, my name is Serena Stujavent. I currently serve as the
Assistant Director for Commuter Student SAS at the University of
Maryland, Baltimore County. A flexible work environment for me in
student affairs looks like a place where my supervisor recognizes
recognizes me as a whole person and doesn't ask me to not be that
person in the workplace. So acknowledging and supporting whatever
unique needs I may have and meeting me where they are realistic
things, of course, still helping me identify ways that I can be
successful and still show up in my role and in my career, but also
managing the unique realistic circumstances I may be dealing with
or navigating.
O' Keefe Johnson Rayner [00:38:28]:
Hi, my name is O' Keefe Johnson Rayner and I'm the Assistant
Director of Graduate Student Involvement at the University of North
Carolina Wilmington. Having worked in residence life in the past, I
know what it means to live where you work. And I think anybody in
student affairs can recognize just how much we live in our work.
Regardless of the area, whether you're in residence life or in
campus life or any kind of engagement with student affairs work.
Recognizing that we really do live in our work and of our work, we
take it home, we come back to it, it's not really something we put
down. I think recognizing that if we make our work environments a
place that we want to be, that respects our autonomy, that believes
in our ability to do really good work individually without close
monitoring or without unnecessary roadblocks. I do believe that
people want to do good work. It is really great intrinsic
motivation to love the work that you do. And the more trust there
is in our ability to work and to engage in whatever that might look
like, the more likely you're going to get good quality work. And so
when it comes to a flexible work environment, recognizing that I
can get work done just as well in one environment, you know,
whether that's at home or outside or you know, in my own timing, as
long as it's done by a certain time, I think that working in that
way and being flexible to recognize that really great work can be
done when there is room for creativity and there is, there's
investment in trust for your professionals and your employees, I
think that's a really good direction to go.
Dr. Jamie Washington [00:39:46]:
Hello, I am Jamie Washington. Pronouns he, him and his. And I am
the President Emeritus of the Social Justice Training Institute and
the president of the Washington Consulting Group. As I consider who
would be doing all of this and what does flexible work environment
look like in student affairs today? It would be a work environment
that recognizes student life that's much broader than what we kind
of grew up with in traditional four year nine to five offices and
maybe longer just for some student life folks who were doing
advising and programming. But it would be looking at how we not
only serve not students, just student services, but student
wellness and support. That when beyond the traditional workday that
created flexible work environments, which might mean a half day in
the morning and then maybe a half day later in the evening, but
things that worked in terms of the life experiences of the
workers.
Lauren Zelinski
Hi, my name is Lauren Zelinski. I am the Associate Director for Student affairs in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Office of Graduate Studies. Student affairs departments have to prioritize flexible work arrangements for their staff for better retention and to stay competitive with hiring new staff. It would also help with burnout of current staff members.
Jeff Knapp [00:40:56]:
My name is Jeff Knapp and I am at the University of Nebraska
Medical center and I am the Director of Counseling and
Psychological Services. With a successful and flexible work
environment, we just have to look at what the needs of our
employees are. And they are people first, they are families first,
they are so many other things first. And we have to put that first
in a way that allows them to do that, but also do their job because
they want to do their job, they want to do well. And so sometimes
that's flexible work schedules or varying things. And I think we
just need to take a broad approach and not be so rigid in our
approach to employment practices.
Michelle Burke [00:41:53]:
Hi, I'm Michelle Burke. I'm the director of Post secondary Programs
and Partnerships with the Michigan center for Adult College Success
based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I've been higher ed adjacent now
for about a dozen years. When I worked on campuses it was very much
a 247 mindset. And I worked in student life for most of that career
and it was you were there when the students were there, which is
night and day. And I worked in different environments. One
environment was very inflexible, that no matter how late you stayed
the night before you had to show up at 8:30 the next morning and
Then I worked in other environments and I led an environment that
was much more flexible. And that's crucial to make sure that your
team has time for their families and time for pursuits outside of
work. That's something I didn't really enjoy in my career,
that I wasn't able to pursue a lot of interests outside of whatever
was going on in my campus community. I still work in higher
education, but I don't work directly on a campus. I'm very much
enjoying being part of the community that I live in. And it's
important to give all student affairs practitioners the opportunity
to do that and to be part of the community beyond the campus so you
can be flexible and you can still be fair. And it's really about
understanding as a leader who each of your staff members are and
how the whole team can work together. And sometimes some team
members will pull ahead to accommodate someone who needs the extra
space and time. But if you're doing that in a way that can be
beneficial for everyone, you'll be in a better spot than if you
just demand, demand, demand from your staff.
Dr. Ed Cabellon [00:43:35]:
Hi, I'm Dr. Ed Cabellon, interim vice President for Student
experience at Frederick Community College in Maryland. For me,
success would be defined as exceeding student expectations and
improving student outcomes that meet the institution's
mission.
Tiffo Carmichael [00:44:26]:
Hello, my name is Tiffo Carmichael. I work, I work for the
University of Texas at Austin. I'm the graduate program manager for
the interdisciplinary life sciences graduate programs in cell
molecular biology, biochemistry and microbiology. Flexible work I
think is really critical in higher education right now because
again, I guess speaking from my institution's place, space is
always a huge issue. We're a very large university. We do not have
really much space to be able to become any larger, at least not in
our current configuration. And but student population is growing
and our needs are always growing. And so we have to find a way to
make that work logistically. And so I think flexibility in how
staff do their work, especially also because of the fact that we're
a state run, we are limited in how we can offer salary and
compensation and other way and things like that. And so having
flexibility in work schedule can be such a benefit to people that
allows them to meet their needs in ways that are not associated
with financial compensation. If you can allow it so that a parent
can work, flex to schedule and be able to pick up their kids and
save that money on childcare, then maybe they don't need to worry
about getting that higher paying job or being able to take care of
their elderly. Parents or whatever. So I just think, to me, what
does it look like? I mean, I think literally flexible schedule for
so many people. I think you should be able to come in and say, this
is the work that needs to get done. This is what we expect.
You know, we expect it to be, quote unquote, a 40 hour work week.
And what that work week looks like is up to the needs of the
deadlines. And if people want to be able to flex that work from
home, work long hours, you know, before something, but then take a
day off afterwards, I think, I think the important thing is that we
get the work done and that we do it in a way that allows people to
live their lives. They feel like they have the capacity to continue
to get the work done in the future. And so therefore they don't get
burnt out. And you then have massive turnover and institutional
loss. And it's just bad all around. And I think flexibility is the
way we have to go.
Dr. Brooke Hildebrand [00:46:01]:
Hello, I'm Dr. Brooke Hildebrand, clubs, and I am the program
coordinator, coordinator and assistant professor for our Higher
Education Administration program at Southeast Missouri State
University. Boy, that's tough. My daughter Avery is a hall director
at Southeast Missouri State. I mean, she literally lives where she
works. She works where she lives. And so I think that is a thing
student affairs professionals have struggled with, regardless of
their position, is having that good work life balance. So I think
anything that we can do to promote well being and to reduce
burnout, the emotional exhaustion and the depersonalization and the
lack of personal accomplishment that comes with burnout. And if
that means having some work from home days, if that means changing
our schedule so that we work longer some days and then don't come
in on other days, I think there's a lot of possibilities there.
Olivia Callahan [00:46:40]:
My name is Olivia Callahan and I'm the alumni manager for the
Computer Science and Engineering division at the University of
Michigan. I think that a successful flexible work environment for
student affairs can really depend on the position. But for those of
us that might be working after hours or on weekends, flexible work
really provides us the opportunity to again reserve capacity as
individuals and being able to work remote on days when we maybe
have to come in person on the weekend, being able to work remote on
the weekdays is really helpful to again, really help us maintain
our mental health and being able to make work flexible and prevent
burnout. Maybe a hybrid environment. That's what I personally work
with and I really enjoy the hybrid environment because it gives me
the opportunity to connect with both students and my colleagues in
person. And maintain those connections in community while again
being able to prevent burnout and have capacity by being able to
work from home.
Dr. April Perry [00:48:16]:
Hi there, I'm Dr. April Perry. I'm a professor of Higher education
at Western Carolina University. I think that this is a question
that we absolutely have to bring to the center of the conversation.
As Millennials and Gen Z come into the workforce, we want
flexibility. We need flexibility. And I think we have to recenter
what the traditional work day and work week looks like and offer
services to employees to frankly keep the sustainability of our
industry and higher ed over.
Dr. Rolanda Horne [00:48:54]:
My name is Dr. Rolanda Horne and I am the Vice President of
Institutional Effectiveness at Georgia Piedmont Technical College.
A successful flexible work environment in today's age and in the
future, how does that look for student affairs? Well, we have to
make sure that our students are taken care of. We have to make sure
that we're servicing them and that there are no gaps in the
services that we're providing. So flexible work schedule
environment will entail all of the managers ensuring that our
employees at every level have an opportunity to choose maybe one or
two days a week where they can possibly work hybrid schedules or
maybe a telework schedule, but at the same time making sure that
our students are getting what they need. Maybe at times having
blackout days where like, okay, during peak registration times or
graduation times, there are no flexible work schedules because all
hands are needed on deck to service our students. But providing an
opportunity where people can work from home or even come to work
and maybe work at the coffee shop while ensuring that our students
are taken care of.
Paul Rossi [00:50:22]:
Hello, my name's Paul Rossi. I work at the University of the Arts,
London and part of the Omoshi association in the UK for leaders in
student services There flexible work environments in student
affairs today should be kind of mirroring what is expected by and
for our students. The idea that everyone leads an office work hour
set has been really challenged by the pandemic, and I think
flexible working arrangements that have been brought in place post
pandemic are going to have to move into continual, refined modes of
thinking in order to ensure that future work patterns not only
serve the institutions, but serve the students that we're looking
to provide services and support for. This will be different in
different fields of operations within institutions, but I think the
conversation in those that can be more flexible have only really
just begun properly and there's still a lot of work to do on
that.
Sam Miller
Hi, my name is Sam Miller. I'm the Assistant Director for Student Engagement at the University of St. Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas. Successful flexible work environment means looking at the employee holistically. It's taking advantage of the time that we have while at work and also taking advantage of the time that we have away.
Gianluca Giovannucci [00:51:34]:
My name is Gianluca Giovannucci. I come from Italy, Europe. I am
the president of European University College Association, a Belgium
based association that connects residential colleges universities
in Europe. We are working in 18 European countries. A flexible work
environment means that your staff can join you in person during the
week, but also work remotely. We call this in Europe smart working.
But we think that really in person environment is absolutely
necessary required to be in touch with your colleagues and to
better understand each other and cooperate to obtain new goals and
new achievements. So I mean that there is a possibility of a remote
job time, but you need also to be in person together in the office
and to talk one to one.
Antonia McFarland [00:52:30]:
My name is Antonia McFarland. I am Assistant coordinator for our
Residential Conduct and Community Standards office at Stony Brook
University. A successful flexible work environment looks like
taking care of yourself and leaving where work needs to be. That
looks like removing yourself at certain points, asking for help,
delegating help, not always trying to be a superman and do all the
things at work, but knowing how to delegate that and knowing what
energy to put and place. It is really important when it comes to
having a successful work environment.
Dr. Carrie Montgomery Orozco [00:53:21]:
I'm Dr. Carrie Montgomery Orozco. I'm an adjunct faculty member at
the University of Florida's online Student Personnel in Higher
Education program. For me, a flexible work environment is one that
really is respectful of the humanity of our workforce. So in the
environment now of return to work for a lot of people and the
flexibility of some remote work has maybe gone away. I think it's
important to really take the lessons that we learned through Covid
and having to do that very quick pivot and think about what can
make sense for people and for people's lives that can help retain
people to our field. Because the lack of flexibility that we are
going back to is, I think, a driving force for people potentially
not wanting to stay in our field. We have to recognize people's
lives and have some flexibility in there that can sustain our
workforce and sustain our profession.
Trinity Miller
Hello, my name is Trinity Miller and I am an assistant coordinator from Stony Brook University University. I think a successful flexible work environment looks something like hybrid. I believe that since the pandemic has really changed how working in corporate America is, I believe having that ability to be hybrid, some days to work from home, some days to work in the Office. I find out that sometimes working from home is beneficial because it gives you an ability to create your independence, your ability to be flexible, your ability to work at your own pace. And being able to work from home also allows you to be able to recharge in addition to then going in the office and being able to connect with your peers. I think it's a really well balanced situation to be able to do both. So I feel like a flexible work environment would be one that is hybrid.
Dr. Art Munin [00:54:42]:
I am Art Munin, Senior Associate Vice President at Liaison, working exclusively with graduate programs. And then last one, what does a successful flexible work environment look like in student affairs today and in the future? None of these jobs are 9 to 5. I spent most of my career as a dean of students. We need to be able to have the flexibility to work from home. We need to be able to have the flexibility to work after hours and then be able to have the flexibility to take care of ourselves. One thing that I always prided myself on and I challenged myself staff to do is that I worked out over the launch hour. I would go to student rec to be able to spend time working out. So not only could I be taking care of myself, but spending time in community with students.
Daelyn Doe [00:55:26]:
My name is Daelyn Doe. I use she her pronouns and I'm the associate
director for the Women in Science and Engineering Residence program
at the University of Michigan. I think as far as a successful
flexible work environment looks like, honestly it's different for
everyone. And I think we really have to be willing to meet people
where they're at and provide flexibility that meets folks in the
moments that they're in. Everyone's going through different
experiences in their personal life and so trying to understand that
each person's experience is unique. And so we really have to think
about the support that we have and especially as supervisors,
really helping our supervisee navigate their own personal
experiences. And so just being willing to provide that flexibility
and whatever that looks like for the individual.
Dr. Kimberly Goldsberry [00:56:13]:
Kimberly Goldsberry, Vice President of Belonging, Engagement and
mission at DePaul University a successful flexible work environment
in student affairs today can range from just knowing that you have
the ability to ask for, offer flexibility, to truly having a
position that's designed and structured in that way. At my
institution, we hire everyone to be in person with flexibility, so
we don't treat one unit exactly the same way as another because
their work differs. And by having that openness to flexibility, we
can create a successful pathway for our staff to work and achieve
the goals we have as a department but also know their whole work
experience is increased in value by having flexibility built into
it.
Carly Matthews
Hi, my name is Carly Matthews and I'm an Area Coordinator in Residence Life at Rollins College in Orlando, Florida. And for me in Residence life, I work on an on call capacity, so after hours, so flexibility for me would be surrounding that. Not all student affairs professionals have the wonderful opportunity to be emergency personnel or support students mainly facing crisis situations.
So staff mental health is also something that is deeply important to me and needed for the success of the field as well.
Dr. Les Cook [00:57:48]:
Les Cook Chancellor Emeritus, Montana Technological University Assistant Successful work environment for student affairs would look similar to what when we talk about all the time serving students and meeting students where they are, we need to also think about meeting employees where they are. Long gone are the days when you worked 16 hour days all week, you spent all weekend doing the work and took no time for yourselves. And as student affairs staff, for too long we've spent our lives taking care of others and now it's time that we turn the mirror back on ourselves and think about how we take care of ourselves. As Susan Komives once said, take care of yourself first and the rest will follow. I think that we need to live that life and we need to think about how we incorporate that into our work life and student affairs.
Amarette Ranieri [00:59:03]:
Howdy. My name is Amarette Ranieri and I am an Assistant Managing
Director at Texas A and M University working with Mays and Business
school. And what does a successful flexible work environment look
like? I feel like I'm pretty lucky in the sense of where I'm at
right now, but I think allowing staff to have flexible schedules so
if they have a student org meeting at night, then they either
adjust their schedule that day or the next day or figuring out
where they're truly working 40 hours a week and not working 60 plus
hours because they have to be after hours for those student org
meetings or figuring out what does that look like if they need to
adjust their entire schedule. And of course always remembering that
people have lives outside of work and so understanding when things
come up and life happens, things happen, people get sick, people
die. Like all of those things are important. And so remembering
that is vital. And I think some of the best places of work that
I've been have all taken that into consideration and treated me as
a whole person and not just a worker and a cog in the wheel like
they see my full self. So I think that's really
important.
Eddie Howard [01:00:30]:
My name is Eddie Howard. I serve as Assistant Dean for Student
Success and Enrollment Management at The University of South
Carolina, Sacahatchee, which is one of the branch campuses of the
University of South Carolina with a two year campus. A successful
work schedule environment for student affairs, in my opinion would
be one that really where student affairs professionals almost need
one or two shifts, a morning shift, an afternoon shift, even a late
shift, so that we're at full capacity when we work with our
students. I think some of us work 60 to 70 hours a week and we're
not always bringing our best selves. But if we could find a way to
finance a situation where there were more than one person doing the
same job but coming in with their full self, an evening shift, a
morning shift, where the students could be supported almost 24
hours a day, and that would allow us as professionals to have the
time that we need to recharge and replenish. So totally optimistic,
but that's my thought.
Dr. Julie Payne Kirchmeier [01:01:31]:
Hi there. This is Julie Payne Kirchmeier. I am president and CEO of
Edgefield Group. And as far as flexible work goes, I know this is a
debate in person, not in person, in person, remote. We need to look
again, if we send to the student what is best for them. We can't be
8:30 to 5 anymore in a few physical location on one part of the
campus. We need to blend our approach where we are leveraging
technology and data, where we are centering student success and
supporting it as a structural component of the institution. And
really then saying, all right, what do open locations need to look
like on campus? How do we need to train our staff to probably be
more generalists than they've been recently and then be
accommodating? So it can't be that we're all remote. When do we
need to be in person, when do we not? But be honest about that
conversation. And just like we center students and student success,
how do we center our staff and help them be successful as well?
Dr. Melinda Stoops [01:02:45]:
Hi, I'm Melinda Stoops and I do coaching and consulting for higher
education. I've worked in higher ed for over 20 years in Region 1,
and my most recent role in a campus setting has been as AVP for
Student Health and Wellness. Since COVID we've thought a lot about
what our work life looks like in student affairs and specifically
working remotely or hybrid or in person. And I don't think there's
one exact way that all campuses will work because each campus and
each system is unique and we need to respect that and be responsive
to that. And at the same time, it would really benefit us to look
closely at possibilities and opportunities. Just because we've
always been fully in person except for Covid, doesn't mean we have
to continue that way. And in what ways can we be flexible to
recognize and support staff who sometimes need to be home and work
from home because of of personal obligations or have a long commute
and even remote work one day a week could go a long way in terms of
their personal wellness and stress levels. And so I think we need
to look at the big picture of our organization and that if you're a
traditional on campus situation, of course you need people on
campus, but do you need everyone on campus every day, or can you
balance remote or even a hybrid with shifts being different? If
someone does a lot of evening programming, do they always need to
be a 9 to 5 and work late, or would they be better working a 12 to
8 schedule? So I think creativity and thinking outside of the box
is key. A flexible workspace to me, honors work, life, balance, the
fact that this is a demanding profession and so it has flexibility.
It understands that you have ebbs and flows in the work and that
it's respectful of that and help students make the most of their
time by also maximizing our time and giving people that grace and
flexibility. So it looks like comp days or work from home on
certain slow periods when you can, and then with the shared
expectation that you're showing up when you need to be there.
Seth Matthew Fishman [01:04:36]:
Seth Matthew Fishman, Villanova University I am a professor of
Higher education leadership and the Assistant dean for the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences. You know, Covid really made us think
about flexible work environments. What does that really look like
in terms of hybrid online activities? What things can be delivered
to different audiences at different time periods? And then also how
are we negotiating what it looks like to actually have in our work
contracts? What a typical day is thinking about personal time and
compensation time and being more flexible with how we allocate paid
time off.
I'm James Quisenberry at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. A successful, flexible work environment in student affairs today needs to recognize that people need time for themselves. And so we need to give people grace and time to reach out. Charge.
Dr. Jill Creighton [01:05:35]:
Thank you to all 60 of you who shared your voice with us on the
podcast. We really appreciate you letting us run up to you and ask
you to participate and share your thoughts with us. It was an
incredibly valuable experience for all of us and I hope that our
profession can benefit from the responses you gave us. There were
three total episodes on the focus areas, so if you missed the first
two. They should be back in your feed now. Thanks so much for
speaking to us. This has been an episode of SA Voices from the
Field brought to you by naspa. This show is made possible because
of you, the listeners. We continue to be so grateful that you
choose to spend your time with us.
Dr. Jill Creighton [01:06:08]:
If you'd like to reach the show, you can email savoices@naspa.org
or find me on LinkedIn by searching for Dr. Jill L. Creighton. We
welcome your feedback and your topic and guest suggestions always.
We'd love it if you take a moment to tell a colleague about the
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visible in the larger podcasting community. This episode was
produced and hosted by Dr. Jill Creighton.
Dr. Jill Creighton [01:06:38]:
That's me, produced and audio engineered by Dr. Chris Lewis.
Special thanks to the University of Michigan, Flint for your
support as we create this project. Catch you next time.