Apr 11, 2024
Empowering Student Voices:
The Digital Transformation The use of social media in higher education has evolved from a platform for personal expression to a crucial tool for professional development and student engagement. Dr. Josie Ahlquist shared her expertise on digital leadership, emphasizing how social media gives students and educators alike the power to craft their own narratives. Gone are the days when online behavior was solely interpreted through a lens of fear; instead, we must encourage responsible and purposeful digital engagement.
Revolutionizing Campus Culture:
From Traditional to Trailblazing The episode highlighted the need to transcend traditional roles and embrace the flexible, interconnected nature of campus culture. The drive to humanize the workplace converges with the desire to inspire meaningful mentorship and collaboration, both within student affairs and across various campus departments.
A Visionary Approach to Student Engagement
Dr. Alquist's curriculum, based on the social change model, teaches students to harness social media's potential for advocacy, community building, and change. Meanwhile, Dr. Jill Creighton's research brings to light the positive impact of social media on academic success, further advocating for its inclusion in student support strategies.
Leading by Example:
The Entrepreneurial Leap in Higher Education Chronicling her journey from campus professional to CEO, Dr. Alquist offers a candid look at the challenges and mental health tolls of entrepreneurial endeavors. Her experience underscores the importance of self-reflection, support systems, and the willingness to take risks - foundational elements that redefine professional growth in student affairs.
An Invitation to Shape the Future
Dr. Ahlquist and Dr. Creighton invite you to reflect on their own relationship with social media and its integration into higher education, encouraging continuous adaptation to the digital habits of a new generation of students. This conversation not only serves as a call to action for today's educators but a bridge to the untapped potential of tomorrow's student affairs landscape.
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. This is season 10, continuing our season 9 theme
of on transitions in student affairs. This podcast is brought to
you by NASPA, and I'm doctor Jill Creighton. She, her, hers, your
essay voices from the field host. Hey, essay voices. Welcome back
for our next episode, and I'm going to be bringing back something
that we haven't done in a little while, which is a crossover
episode with another podcast. You'll hear us talk about this in the
heart of the show, but we are doing a crossover today with doctor
Josie Alquist's podcast called Josie and the podcast. So the part
one of this conversation drops on her show feed, and this is part 2
of that conversation.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:00:48]:
But first, let me introduce you to Josie. Dr. Josie Alquist guides
educational leaders, organizations, and students to practice
purpose full digital leadership through speaking, coaching, and
consulting. Her practical evidence based frameworks empower clients
to build and implement a digital engagement strategy that fits
their life, audience, and purpose. Josie's work is grounded in the
grant funded and award winning research that has allowed her to
train 1,000 around the globe as a speaker, providing consulting
services to institutions and companies, and coach professionals in
branding, voice, and positioning. Josie's work has appeared in the
Handbook Student Affairs Dialogues on Equity, Civility, and Safety.
She also served as a co editor and author of The New Directions in
Student Services volume, Engaging the Digital Generation and the
New Directions in Student Leadership Volume, Going Digital in
Student Leadership. In 2023, Dr. Alquist was selected as a NASPA
pillar of the profession, one of the highest honors in our field in
student affairs. She's a 3 time LinkedIn top voice in education and
has been recognized by EdTech Magazine as one of the top 50 must
read higher education technology blogs for 5 years.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:02:02]:
Her podcast, Josie and the Podcast, has been featured by the
Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed. Her new book,
Digital Leadership in Higher Education, Purposeful Social Media in
a Connected World, was listed as number 1 on Amazon's new release
list for college and university student life. She received her EDD
in education from Cal Lutheran and an MED in counseling from
Northern Arizona with a BA in psychology and human development and
family studies from South Dakota State University. Prior to her
independent path, Josie spent nearly 15 years on college campuses
in areas of student leadership, student activities, residence life,
and student affairs communications and marketing. She previously
served as a research associate and instructor at Florida State
University Leadership Learning Research Center, where her
curriculum builds digital literacy and leadership skills for
undergraduates to doctoral students. For more information about
Josie's research, speaking, coaching, and consulting, you can find
her at www.josiealquist.com. That's josiea hlquist.com. You can
also connect with Josie on Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and
Facebook.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:03:07]:
Josie, I'm so excited to continue our conversation.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:03:10]:
I get, like, a half day with you today. It is so delightful. I need
this every month.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:03:15]:
And this is a double episode because Josie just interviewed me on
her show, which dropped yesterday. Do you wanna plug that real
quick?
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:03:24]:
So my podcast is Josie and the podcast, and I get to interview
amazing guests like Jill and talk about the intersection of
marketing, communication, social media, and how to be a human on
and offline.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:03:37]:
How to be a human. That is a lesson that we are all continually
relearning, I think. It's hard. It's hard. But it's a joy to have
you on the show today because you have such an incredible breadth
of experience in higher education both as an on campus professional
and as a campus partner. As I mentioned in your bio, you recently
received the Pillar of the Profession award, which is tremendous.
You've authored a book. You've built an entire business that works
directly with higher education.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:04:05]:
But it didn't all start there. And so looking forward to hearing
more about all of your transitions in career and the choices that
you've made along the way to stay connected and anchored into the
student affairs profession while serving a gap, that definitely
exists in our profession. Let's start at the beginning. How did you
find your way onto campus?
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:04:27]:
Well, the minute I step foot on a campus, whether if it was a tour
or where I ended up going to college at South Dakota State, I was
hooked. The talents were in and I was one of those freshmen
probably on a coffee table yelling, I love college. And, I don't go
on coffee tables anymore because that could really hurt my knees.
But I just absolutely loved it. The energy, the exploration, the
exploration, the involvement, and had really great mentors that
were like, well, Chelsea, it's not all the fun stuff of being an
orientation leader. There's there's actually a lot of, you know,
operations, but I found my way through that too. And also found my
way as social media arrived on our campuses that I was really
comfortable playing in the sandbox along with a lot of a lot of
change. So from my roots in student affairs over 12 years at
different campuses, I'm based in Los Angeles.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:05:23]:
My last institution was Loyola Marymount and I also have always
education is such a core identity of who I am and, values. Early
on, my mom or my grandma and grandpa saying you gotta get your
education, kid. And I just always knew I wanted to get my
doctorate. And so the doctorate was kind of a spark that started a
fire.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:05:48]:
I didn't ever realize. I can pause there. I can keep going. I don't
know.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:05:53]:
Well, your dissertation I think we share this in our stories that
our dissertations really led to career changes, which is
fascinating. Your dissertation was on social media behavior with
undergraduate students. What did you learn from that?
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:06:06]:
I still feel like I am a interpreter of culture and generations and
the internet And around 2013 is when I started my program, and then
it was a very it was packed a diminished view of students' use of
technology and especially for student leaders, I would hear a lot
of talk about assuming students were doing the worst things
possible online and I wasn't seeing that with my students. It went
against, I feel like, who we are as practitioners that we're
putting all this work into empowering them and giving them the
tools and we know developmentally and you worked in conduct, you
get it, you see that process, but we were making a lot of
assumptions out of fear and so I wanted to know what were they
really doing online, if it was as bad as we thought or not, because
this also was the time where it was super black and white. Do not
even look at your student stuff, don't let them connect with you.
Some places, you still couldn't even have accounts as departments.
It was it was very much scare tactics. And, honestly, that was one
of the discoveries in my focus groups. Students would talk about
their whole lives that they were educated about social media with
fear. To catch a predator came up.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:07:41]:
Oh, yeah.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:07:42]:
Like, literally. And what was also so fascinating was they learned
lessons based upon how the people in their lives older than them
were making mistakes and or their peers, so they were just having
to learn this stuff on the flight. Like, imagine dropping Josie,
who grew up in Wyoming, on the 405 in LA without ever of driving in
in a city before. You woulda had to tow my car out of there. I'm
sorry. I just didn't have those skills, and sometimes that's what
we're doing and or telling me before I get to LA how it you're
gonna adapt you're not gonna make it unless you do x y z, and that
kinda broke my heart a little bit. Like, again, we give so much and
it's not even about, like, positive psychology but just tell them
what to do then. What do you want them to do online? Like, they
were so desperate that then they would say, well, this is how my
RD, I've noticed, uses Facebook.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:08:36]:
So maybe that's how an adult does Facebook even though there is no
one way. We know that. Right? We get to make a million choices and
so what came from that was a set of curriculum. I wanted to be able
to share. I'm a I'm a sharer and this could be a framework you
could teach your students And that also is what led then to me
speaking to a lot of students in a new way because a lot of times
they'd come to, like, my keynote or it to, like, get on LinkedIn or
start a blog, share my story. No one told me I could share, but in
a purposeful way. So I use the social change model as the framework
in both the curriculum, but also what I was looking for. If the
student leaders that we were putting so much investment in, if they
were actually using those skills on social.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:09:37]:
And I think the individual skills was definitely shown. Group
skills are more harder. It was the time of the ice bucket
challenge, so there was that kind of expression. Yeah. But overall,
with a couple exceptions, they were they were using these tools in
productive ways and I still think that holds true today that we
need to give youth more credit than I think we're just assuming
other tool. And so I just really got on a soapbox, Jill.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:10:03]:
If it's a topic you're passionate about, this is good. But I'll
give a shout out to doctor Jason Foster, Positive Use of Social
Media and Their Academic Success. And that was kind of similar to
what you were seeing, a time where I was using social media to
connect and build relationships with people. This is before it was
a dumpster fire all the time, I think. And we were hearing the
narrative that social media was so bad. And so we thought we wanted
to contribute to the literature in a way that reflected, well,
there's obviously some benefits here. Let's talk about them. And we
found that students were using social media to be academically
successful in group projects, which was a really interesting
twist.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:10:48]:
And, you know, we ended up getting cited in the handbook of
qualitative research, I think, or social media research, something
like that. And I was like, wow. I didn't think this was that
profound, but it's nice to
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:10:58]:
This is blowing my mind because I'm fairly positive I cited that
paper.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:11:03]:
And now That's really funny.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:11:04]:
Source because I'm like, wait.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:11:08]:
That's amazing. And but I think the one lesson looking back because
it was so extreme that there was this negativity. I stayed in that
positive, purposeful place because we know now 10 years later,
there are so many ethical issues and concerns and things that need
to change and are problematic that things are different. 10 years
cycle.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:11:31]:
So let's talk about those transitions then because Yeah. In in our
theme of transitions, we've seen all sorts of things from our
guests in different personal transitions. But one of the
transitions I appreciate from your perspective is this longitudinal
arc of how students are using social media, what the concerns are
from different generations of students with social media use, and
the trends that you're seeing for how student affairs professionals
can actually connect with students because I know they don't want
us on TikTok.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:12:02]:
They do if you meet the culture and the content for that platform.
If you show up like you would in an email or on LinkedIn, give them
the ick. Like, let that you know, it'd be cringe and I think this
is where the concept of time right now kind of blows my mind. I
feel like I'm still in my thirties, that I am full blown ahead in
my forties. Right? And the longer we're in these positions and we
see lots of students come and go, but we can sometimes forget how
much has changed in 10 years. So the students in my study, and a
lot of them I'm still connected with and some of them are higher ed
pros now, they are now full into millennials and we still are
thinking about those students and sometimes communicating like
those are still our students and meeting them on platforms that we
were for example, Facebook groups were big back then. We still have
people trying to keep Facebook groups alive for 1st year students,
like class of whatever. I'm like, honey, they're on Discord.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:13:03]:
They've made a subreddit of you already. The pacing is so much
different of these other platforms and so that needs, our side
needs to change. They've also grown up even further back than the
students in my studies. So as early as when they were born,
potentially, the second they came out, they had a paper trail, Good
or bad? And we are also seeing more students come or preteens,
teens, young adults having more frustrations that then they didn't
get say in what their digital identity was early on and or we are
also seeing them double down and become influencers on different
platforms whether that's a micro influencer just talking about
makeup or running or a million other things And so, we might be
inviting new students to our campuses. They have influence that we
didn't in college in addition to access, so lots of communications.
I do think that education and curriculum has improved but honestly
the majority of it is their own self. Education and peer education
tends to be always some of the strongest factors. I think the other
thing that's also who grew up with social media early in their
careers and so now they are their own kind of digital natives in
executive roles.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:14:35]:
I had previous vice presidents that wouldn't touch any tools, let
alone know what they are or be willing to access them. So I think 2
things are happening at once, both what our students are doing and
what it's impacting our profession and future leaders use or even
misuse.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:14:52]:
We are all over the place as a profession in terms of our level of
comfort with having a digital identity or digital footprint, as
well as our level of capacity or skill base for how that's going
for folks. You know, some of us are all in on all platforms. Some
of us are partway in on some platforms and all in on others. And
some of us are like, you just said Discord. What is that? So
there's a level of all of these things. Right? Like, I'm on
Discord. I'm on Slack.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:15:21]:
I'm in the YouTube space. TikTok was banned in the country I was
last in, so couldn't be on there. But Douyin was allowed, which is,
like, the counterpart in the country. But there's also social media
that is huge in other parts of the world that a lot of Americans
have never heard of or use. Like, WeChat is, like, a tool of
life
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:15:39]:
Oh, yeah.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:15:40]:
In a lot of Asia. Yes. And and you can't function without a WeChat
account. It's where all the information is. So given all of this
major big landscape, how would you recommend that student affairs
professionals who want to gain digital skills and don't necessarily
feel like they know how to do that go about the process.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:15:59]:
I think just like how our students are sorting it out and how we
seek out mentors and sponsors is to find those yourself. And the
nice thing is you can just kind of lurk and scroll on your own, but
I do highly encourage people to actually reach out, right? Like if
someone aspires to be like you, I aspire to be like you, Joe. But I
have a podcast or again, like, working internationally, like, reach
out. Use the access not just for the likes and comment. That is my
number one advice when students are doing their doctorate or
masters. You have a secret sauce that somehow gets taken away after
you graduate is that you just say you're a student, people will
take your calls more often for guidance and mentorship and so I
called up a lot of the people I was citing or just people that were
talking a lot about social media and tech to ask some questions and
now they're some of my closest colleagues and even friends. And so
I guess my advice is you have to take it offline. You really do
have to take the relationship piece.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:17:01]:
The tools can be a spark, but they are not the source to keep it
sustainable.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:17:07]:
You wrote a book recently that was listed as number 1 for new
college releases, which is very exciting, on Amazon, Digital
Leadership and Higher Education, Purposeful Social Media in a
Connected World. Now I don't want you to have to rehash your whole
book, but I'm wondering if you have nuggets for professionals who
are aspiring to increase their professional digital presence, both
for their campuses and for the field.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:17:31]:
Write the book. If you wanna write the book, make sure it's in the
right place. The reason why you think you want to write a book, my
number one piece of advice is write it with someone else. Or it
might be great, maybe I was the queen of committee work. I loved
it. I was good at it but also then I was, like, I just wanna close
myself in my office and be alone. A book project where you're
already with working with so many people, it might be a glorious
thing for you to get to do something on your own. I would also say
just like you need to rearrange the furniture of your life when you
do your doctorate, a book will be the same that you will need to
and or it's just not gonna get done.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:18:09]:
And I would say what I have learned is make it a living thing. What
I don't like about books is then they are printed and you can't
change it like you can on the Internet. Mhmm. And my book is
already very outdated. And I have to think about how do I keep
contributing to that topic or leave it entirely and or what is the
future versions of it, whether if it's me that's contributing or
other people. And I think maybe that's just a lifelong learner in
me.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:18:38]:
So now let's jump back because you are one of the most, I think,
beautifully present people in the campus partner space. We know you
well. We see you often. We see you engage with professionals both
on and off campus. But that transition was, I think, a scarier leap
when you made it than I think it's a little more common now. Tell
us about making the determination to discontinue campus based work
and, as you put it, accidentally build a business.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:19:08]:
Yes. I think I blogged about this and shared a bit on my podcast,
but I think it's good to share the full breadth of the story. I
mean, not too long. I swear. I won't be too long winded because it
was difficult not just in the doing but the unweaving and
rebuilding of my identity. And so it started with applying for a
position that I did not receive that was gutting and required me to
reconsider and it was an internal position. And I looked around and
I there was nowhere else on campus that I could see myself which
also scared the heck out of me because I was 6 months into a doc
program. I was like, well, is this place even for me? And my
husband and I were out for a run.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:19:51]:
I all of a sudden just start crying uncontrollably. He's like, did
you fall? And he knew I was kind of having a hard time. And he's
like, we're okay. Like, what if you just did school? And I'm like,
who you. I've been working since I was 12. Work is my identity. I
grew up in a low income and middle class family in Wyoming. My
grandparents are all ranchers.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:20:13]:
Like, work is what we do. It was never even a consideration of not
doing. I sat on it for a couple of months and it started to grow on
to me. So, honestly, it even started with the idea and so that
might resonate with some listeners of what it means to just do
school full time and not be contributing to your family or needing
to take out other resources, that that internal struggle is real
and validated. But then what I didn't anticipate was leaving my job
then and the excitement and the going away parties that then went
away in 2 months and I completely was in a free fall. My mental
health, you know, you can that I discovered panic attacks and
anxiety? And I've always, I think, had anxiety, but it cracked
open, again, just doing school. And I had busied myself so much.
Again, queen of committees. Put me in everything. Do everything.
Output. So I blogged every day for 50 days and just poured myself
into Twitter now x, where I found a community where student affairs
used to be very active
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:21:30]:
Of colleagues, friends, and just continue to go there. That was,
like, my water cooler. And by the time I graduated, I was already
starting to get invited to do speaking because I was blogging my
coursework and you could still do this. Set up a substack and share
what you wrote about on Black board, like or it literally could be,
this is a quote from my paper that you did because that's how I
just started to share the work I was doing. I was still terrified
that what I was doing wasn't real or worthy. So I picked up, like,
4 adjunct positions at once and doing some speaking on the side.
But I always had this, I need a plan b. So I'm still looking at
jobs.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:22:15]:
I'm, like, doing the speaker circuit thing. And it wasn't until,
honestly, a couple years before the pandemic that I finally said,
Josie, you need to make a commitment. Is this a business? Are you
in or you're out? Because mentally, it's also tormenting. And so
then I did. I've I I mean, I literally took out, like, a license
that, you know, like I'm incorporated now and, brought on people to
help me. And I just think to acknowledge and not to scare people
of, like, you make this transition, there might be mental health
impacts, like, things that were kind of already residing that I
would say have resources ready for you at the ready and to bet on
yourself too. I didn't bet on myself early enough because honestly,
I think people listening in higher ed will get this. We're a
perfectionist.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:23:07]:
We don't want to fail. And I was scared if I called it a business
and it didn't make it, then I was gonna be a failure. And that held
me back though for what could've and is coming to be.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:23:19]:
You've said a couple of things that I I think are really important
to touch back to. And the first is that I think in student affairs,
especially, there's a lot of identity wrapped up in the profession,
in a job title, in a job function. I think that's partly because
the outside world doesn't grasp the profession. And a lot of times,
our own families and partners don't grasp the profession, and so we
kind of hang on to the identity maybe a little bit tighter than
other professions may. And so letting go of that is not just
transitioning a career. It's figuring out where that piece of you
goes or what happens to it, after you transition. That's a big
one.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:23:59]:
Well, and some of that is not knowing what box to check. NASCLA
only just recently added a consultant membership or, you know, or I
wouldn't be able to go to certain things. I had to have a campus
affiliation and there was a sense of it wasn't embarrassment but I
was very fearful people were gonna see me as an outsider, that I
was gonna be cold calling them and so, I also I've always been
centered in community and relationships which, so I've been doing
sales but in a heart centered way because I need to work. I need to
make it. I'm going to make this work. Right? But I had to do a lot
of money stuff on weaving some of that money mindset things in
order to build a business, that wasn't that was going to be
productive. In higher ed very much. There's an entrepreneurship
element to your transition and higher ed very much.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:24:59]:
There's an entrepreneurship element to your transition story. I
have a friend who researches entrepreneurship. They're an assistant
professor in the College of Business, and that's kind of their
their area of research. And they have found through their research
that the most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who tilt in a
100%, the ones who actually take away their safety net, which is
the most terrifying thing that you can do. But it sounds like
that's what you did.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:25:23]:
Yeah. You should have sent me that article. Yeah. And I think just
even not saying I'm my only identity is entrepreneur, but not
resisting that. And I don't have an MBA. I swear I don't know what
I'm doing half the time on business side, but I'm seeking out
different types of mentors. And I'm also finding others, and you're
one of them now, in a different type of way that we need our own
resources as campus partners in community, in how we can transform
the industry too because it needs to be done from the outside. And
it's not outside in a negative way.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:25:59]:
It's actually more it's gonna be more impact full in the end.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:26:03]:
Let's talk about that transition to being a CEO, so your your own
boss and your own employee, but also a person who's driving their
own schedule, driving when you work and when you don't, setting
your own limits, deciding when enough is enough for a day, a week
or a month, that feels really overwhelming to me, just looking at
the lack of limit and needing to self impose as a person who also
drives with a lot of purpose. How did you figure that out?
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:26:30]:
Oh, trial and error and lots of therapy and hiring a coach. Mhmm.
So I brought on a business coach and you'll just laugh at me what
she caught on quickly that I was a workaholic that especially when
the business wasn't doing well, to me, you just work more. It's
almost like your punishment then. You have to work every single
day. And one of her first homework assignments was, she's like, I
want you to take every Sunday off. And I looked at her. We
negotiated it to one Sunday off a month.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:27:00]:
That's what I negotiated it down. I'm embarrassed. Like, I put up
such a front that I couldn't even imagine what it would be to not
work one day a week or what a month, let alone a whole weekend. And
by the time we finished our work together, my husband and I also
purchased an RV and I took off 6 weeks. So you can't sometimes we
don't see how we are in our own ways. We need people and it doesn't
mean you have to pay people to tell you that, but I needed that
mirror because at the same time, I was completely this was toward
the end of the book and, you know, we're in a pandemic. I was
completely crumbling, like, the foundation was so weak and I just
kept jumping on the trampoline, like, no, it's not. So I have known
I've really I have to prioritize it.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:27:55]:
I will edit this because it is a professional podcast. But I may be
my own boss, but she can be a real bee sometimes. I have very high
expectations of myself. So I need other people to help me make sure
I'm staying grounded. And I've also realized that I don't like to
work alone and while I'm sacrificing financially, in November, I
brought on my very first full time employee which was both
terrifying and exciting for someone else to be relying on you. But
I'm also so strategically and to wanna grow. And but for some
people listening, they might or you've already built your own
person shop and that's that can be great too. We all we don't all
need to turn into these big agencies or or whatever.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:28:51]:
I think that's the other piece that I found. You get to define not
only your time, but how you are going to structure your your
business. It's so funny when you think about a dissertation is such
a recipe card. Sure, you can mess it up, but, like, it is so
structured.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:29:08]:
Chapters 1 through 5, maybe 6.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:29:11]:
Yeah. And then this is what you write, this is what you say, you've
got this feedback. Being an entrepreneur is not a whole bunch of
it. And I am a recovering control girly. And sometimes you have to
let it go and sometimes you have to be like, what do I want? I
could do anything today. Well, not always, but from now, I work at
WeWork sometimes or I need to get out of the house more. So I also
joined a gym that is right next to WeWork. Giving yourself
permission to really pay attention how you work best and how
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:29:42]:
you're gonna best make that impact. Can you talk a little bit about
how your views on the profession changed from being a campus based
professional to being a campus partner?
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:29:51]:
Oh, wow. How they have changed. Well, it is nice to see that there
is more of a acknowledgment of how the work by partners, by
consultants, whatever they're called, are necessary and we're not
it's not just about the money or adversarial. That's been just good
for my own mental health and where I fit into things. I see much
more macro things happening. I mean, we were just talking, before
we started recording about we're losing really great people. We
that our students need those people. The the mental health weight
of this work, it makes me want to do something bigger than my
myself or what my business provides.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:30:35]:
And so that's why a lot of my work is just trying to put good minds
together, whether if that's on a panel, in a Slack channel because
I can't do it all, but I just wanna connect all the people to help
because it still blows my mind how many people like, they say
student affairs is a small world, but it's not. Even people I'm
like, wait. You don't know each other? Like, how in the world does
this not happen? And that that honestly brings me more joy
sometimes than, like, being asked to speak somewhere is that then I
get to I mean, it's the same thing with our students, right? We get
to go see what they do with the rest of their lives. I would also
say it's only to a certain extent, but so many of the challenges
you're facing, a million others are on their institutions to like
I'm not saying normalize it, but for example, social media, I can
anticipate what I'm gonna be finding in consulting or coaching and
exec. We we can be so hard on ourselves. We're not far enough
along. Our engagement isn't going well. Just hear it from me.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:31:29]:
Like, it's all a bit of a struggle. And that could kind of be nice
to hear. Like, oh, it's not just me. I feel a little and that's not
just with social. It could be a variety of different topic. Oh my
gosh. And honestly, what I am finding is and what I'm bummed so
bummed about, even in grad school and maybe programs are doing
better now. I feel like I was hid from what our admissions and
enrollment people really were doing and are up against
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:31:56]:
And I think we're having because especially we're seeing student
affairs and enrollment pair up but I I don't know if it was the
institutions I was at or where I got my grad program but, like, I
feel like it was, like, we don't talk about that. That's not your
place. You just focus here. And I think that's such a disservice
because even when I talk to marketers or enrollment people, I'm
like, y'all are y'all are doing the work of student success, right?
And even they're not hearing that. Mhmm. So somewhere in our echo
chambers, that is being perpetuated to continue and I think the
institutions that are doing the best, sure, we've got department
names and divisions are we need a collective effort. We obviously
all need to do what our work or tasks are meant to do, but it's not
doing a service to, like, keep people not understanding how they
could make an impact on enrollment. I really appreciate you
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:32:50]:
mentioning that because I think that aligns with a lot of my
experiences as well. Even, even sitting in an ADP or a CSAO seat,
you know, the enrollment side can have a level of mystique to it.
And it's interesting having spent a career in higher education, and
I don't think I could advise, a high school student the best way to
craft their application for admissions at this point because it is,
a, still a little mystical, but, b, because it's different
everywhere. And that's that's interesting if you really break it
down on how siloed our profession can be within itself sometimes.
But when we can connect those things, the power in that is really
extraordinary.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:33:34]:
Right. Even within in within our campus walls, in different
divisions, we we're having similar challenges of retaining a
certain type of staff or again, I just I think we're missing out so
many ways of going back to the beginning of humanizing the work
that we do and workplace challenges in addition to students just
want to learn. And no matter what the title of the department is,
sometimes that bureaucracy gets in the way. And I once I love
social media because it kind of doesn't care. Like, a student's
gonna find what they wanna find wherever they're gonna find it no
matter what the title is. And if they can't find it on your website
because they probably aren't, they're gonna ask on Reddit, and it
may or may not be But I would say I am excited. I am energized and
I just wanna say one more thing that I haven't said that I
especially say to a lot of people that come to me. They're like, I
wanna start my own business.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:34:38]:
I wanna be a consultant. From the beginning, I had a partner in
this with me, And we have gone ebbs and flows of sometimes it's
more me, sometimes it's more him in order to do this work. That is
a privileged place to be in that I fully acknowledge both
financially, emotionally, that I wish people could just do the
thing they wanna do immediately. But there were times if I didn't
have a partner, I would also have needed another job or 2 to make
ends meet. And I think people need to hear it both in an ethical
way, but also there are ways that you could start doing speaking
consulting immediately. There's no reason that you need to do it
fully as a full time thing. That would also be great for you to get
experience and to see if that's something that you'd really wanna
do because it's not easy either. There's some some gritty parts of
it that may not be a good fit.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:35:29]:
It's time to take a quick break and toss it over to producer Chris
to learn what's going on in the NASPA world.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:35:35]:
Thanks so much, Jill. Glad to be back in the NASPA world to let you
know about some amazing things that are happening in the
profession. 1st and foremost, there are a few brand new NASPA books
that are in the NASPA bookstore. The first, Student Affairs
Professional Preparation, A Scholar Practitioner Guide to
Contemporary Topics by Jackie Clark, Jeanette Smith and Associates.
This book offers unique insights into critical issues facing higher
education and student affairs. It was written by a diverse team of
practitioners and faculty. This comprehensive volume serves as both
a primer on contemporary topics and a tool for practitioners and
students. Some of the chapters in the book address HISA matters
that have been central to professional preparation for decades.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:36:23]:
Others concern aspects that are emerging and evolving in
unprecedented ways. Each chapter is written by a team consisting of
at least 1 practitioner and at least 1 faculty member. This
intentional partnership allows for a rich conversation that
addresses both professionals in practice and students and faculty
in preparation programs. The content can be directly used in
practice or to generate critical lively conversations in the
classroom. The authors have also included excellent resources for
further reading and classroom activity. The second book, Crucial
Collaborations, A Practical Framework to Ensure Access, Equity, and
Inclusion for students with disabilities. This was written by Neil
Lipsitz, Michael Berger, and Eileen Connellberger. Ensuring access
and sense of belonging for students with disabilities in higher
unique organizational structure, culture, faculty, staff, and
students.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:37:25]:
This book presents a cross functional framework that
administrators, faculty, access service providers, parents and
guardians, and students themselves that can be used in the review
and responsibilities of each stakeholder who contributes to
positive post secondary experiences for students with disabilities.
The groundbreaking framework has many applications, including
facilitating student inclusion and socialization, empowering
stakeholders through shared knowledge, and assessing the efficacy
and effectiveness of institutional programs for students with
disabilities. Throughout the book, the authors discuss their
personal and professional experiences to animate and operationalize
the framework. One other thing that I wanted to share with all of
you today is a brand new book in the NASPA book store. It's a book
in the NASPA book store called The Business of Student Affairs
Fundamental Skills for Student Affairs Professionals written by
Larry Mineta and Ellen Jay Consulting. This book is a primer on the
fundamental business related aspects of student affairs that all
practitioners need to know. Drawing on his 46 year career in higher
education, Larry Mineta, the author, presents critical skill sets
to better equip student affairs practitioner educators to analyze
circumstances, alter environments, invest in structures and
programs, and lead campus progress. Topics include financing and
budgeting, organizational design, human resources, facilities
management, technology, auxiliary operations, legal issues and risk
management, crisis management, strategic planning and
communications.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:38:58]:
The key takeaways in each chapter provide further guidance to
achieve success in the field. For anyone going into student affairs
or new to student affairs, you may find that many of the topics in
this book may not have been covered in your graduate preparation
program or maybe something that you just need more insight into.
And this book definitely provides you with that insight. I highly
encourage you to go to the NASPA bookstore today and check it out
for yourself. Every week, we're going to be sharing some amazing
things that are happening within the association. So we are going
to be able to try and keep you up to date on everything that's
happening and allow for you to be able to get involved in different
ways, because the association is as strong as its members. And for
all of us, we have to find our place within the association,
whether it be getting involved with a knowledge community, giving
back within one of the the centers or the divisions of the
association. And as you're doing that, it's important to be able to
identify for yourself, where do you fit? Where do you wanna give
back? Each week, we're hoping that we will share some things that
might encourage you, might allow for you to be able to get some
ideas that will provide you with an opportunity to be able to say,
hey, I see myself in that knowledge community.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:40:20]:
I see myself doing something like that. Or encourage you in other
ways that allow for you to be able to think beyond what's available
right now, to offer other things to the association, to bring your
gifts, your talents to the association, and to all of the members
within the association. Because through doing that, all of us are
stronger and the association is better. Tune in again next week as
we find out more about what is happening in NASPA.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:40:50]:
Chris, thank you so much for keeping us updated on what's going on
in and around NASPA. We know we just came out of annual conference,
but there is still a lot more opportunities for engagement. So I
appreciate you letting us know what those are. And, Josie, we have
reached our lightning round. I've got 7 questions for you, 90
seconds. Ready?
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:41:10]:
Okay. Okay. I'm scared.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:41:12]:
Number 1. If you were a conference keynote speaker, what would your
entrance music be?
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:41:17]:
Well, I am a conference keynote speaker. I have to pick Beyonce's
new tunes. Any of the 3 that have come out recently, I think at
that point, I wanted to be a swim coach.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:41:37]:
I was a swimmer. Number 3, who's your most influential professional
mentor?
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:41:43]:
Ed Cabellan. He brought me under his wing early, early days meeting
on Twitter, and he sponsored to help me get to my very first ACPA
conference to present
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:41:54]:
with him. Number 4, your essential student affairs read. The
Chronicle. Number 5, the best TV show you binged during the
pandemic.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:42:03]:
Why did Tiger King immediately come to mind? It was not the best.
It was just the first thing I thought of.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:42:08]:
Oh my gosh.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:42:09]:
Number 6, the podcast you've spent the most hours listening to in
the last year.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:42:13]:
Well, it is mine, Josie and the podcast, because of editing and
creating. But, my Spotify rap tells me Armchair Expert is, all
their different shows are super fun.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:42:27]:
And finally, number 7, any shout outs you'd like to give, personal
or professional?
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:42:31]:
Oh my gosh. I think I'm especially maybe it's from the Barbie,
Taylor Swift, Beyonce movement. It's a summer for women and girls,
and I am also just, like, on fire about that. So I just wanna give
a shout to all the women and girlies listening and, I mean, all
gender unconforming identities that we need space and community and
and being lifted up. And so I'm doing a lot of different groups and
meetups to do things like that, but we're taking over, Jocey.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:43:00]:
I'm so grateful to you for this 2 part episode. Again, part 1
dropped on Josie's podcast, Josie and the podcast. This is part 2
of the conversation. So if you'd like to go back and listen to part
1, go ahead and find her show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or
wherever you download your podcasts. But, Josie, if folks would
like to engage you as a consultant or just have a chat with you,
how can they reach you?
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:43:21]:
Well, you can find me at josiealquist.com, blogging, podcasting,
all of the things. I am on Instagram, LinkedIn threads, x is
swirling as it does. And I actually do have a TikTok, but currently
it's all reactions to my husband's content, which is epic rap
battles of history. So if you want that type of entertainment, you
can go there. And as
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:43:44]:
you search for Josie, so that's Alquist with an a h l q right in
there. Josie, thank you so much for sharing your voice with us
today.
Dr. Josie
Ahlquist [00:43:53]:
Thanks for having me.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:43:57]:
This has been an episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field,
a podcast brought to you by NASPA. This show continues to be
possible because you choose to listen to us. We are so grateful for
your subscriptions and your downloads and your engagement with the
content. If you'd like to reach the show, please email us at
savoices@naspa.org or find me on LinkedIn by searching for doctor
Jill L. Cratney. We always welcome your feedback and your topic and
guest suggestions. We'd love it if you take a moment to tell a
colleague about the show and give us a 5 star rating on Apple
Podcasts or wherever you're listening now.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:44:31]:
It really does help other student affairs professionals find the
show and helps raise the show's profile within the larger
podcasting community. This episode was produced and hosted by
doctor Jill Creighton, that's me, produced and audio engineered by
Chris Lewis. Special thanks to the University of Michigan Flint for
your support as we create this project. Catch you next time.