as-artmedia/Shutterstock
As many campuses continue to navigate virtual — or a hybrid of in-person and virtual — learning and events, many questions still remain pertaining to the transition back to in-person activities. Jameson Root from the National Association for Campus Activities walks us through some best practices, advice, and resources for the upcoming transition. Root explains how collaborating, planning, and thinking forward will lead to the best case for our institutions.
Andrew Hibel, HigherEdJobs: NACA’s (National Association for Campus Activities) mission is to “empower members to amplify the campus experience through inclusive learning, meaningful connections, and engaging entertainment that transforms college communities.” What are your best practices and advice for anyone struggling to maintain inclusive and innovative virtual activities? What are some of your best practices for making campus feel safe for in-person activities again?
Jameson Root (NACA): There are so many virtual activities colleges can bring to their communities. At NACA we work to bring together colleges and universities with the entertainment industry, and many speakers, performers, and companies quickly pivoted their products, services, and acts to engaging virtual formats. We have almost 500 different virtual programming acts and services in our directory that colleges have been using to bring to their campuses. Some of the more popular experiences have been virtual bingo or trivia nights, “take & make” opportunities, open mic nights, and talent shows. Hosting regular, consistent programming, like a Trivia Tuesday every week, can help keep students coming back. I’d also suggest working with an artist/performer/vendor to tailor their act or service for a college’s unique needs — personalize the experience — as many are more than happy to do so.
As we think about transitioning back to in-person activities, the best thing to do right now is start the conversation of what that timeline could look like, what the expectations will be, and how different scenarios might play out and affect activities over the year. Safety is an important consideration for returning to in-person activities, so not waiting to think through various plans and scenarios, risk mitigation efforts, and the potential of requiring vaccinations, masks, or social distancing to participate now, will position professionals to pivot more effectively back to in-person.
Hibel: The Placement Exchange (TPE) virtual interviewing event is coming up in March with NACA being a co-sponsor. This event is a one-stop shop for student affairs positions offering interviewing, career development, resume review, and more. Although it is a little different this year being virtual, what advice would you provide to someone who may be “attending” the event in terms of how they can succeed and possibly secure their first or next position in the area of campus activities?
Root: NACA has been a proud sponsor of TPE and while this year is going to look a little different, the event is a great platform to connect aspiring professionals with campus opportunities. As someone who has conducted interviews at a TPE event, I think many of the typical interviewing advice still applies in a virtual event: be yourself, know what you want in your next position, be open to opportunities that may stretch your experiences, know what your non-negotiables are, and don’t be intimidated by the process.
Hibel: How have campus activities forever changed due to the pandemic and what have we learned from our experiences in 2020? What positive outcomes have come from being forced to re-evaluate campus activity planning? As for campus activities in 2021, what do you see staying the same and what may change?
Root: Campus activities professionals have always been called upon to meet students where they are and engage and educate them in a variety of ways. Last summer, while many other event-related industries were just trying to determine their first steps, campus activities professionals were leading the way thinking through options, searching for new technologies, re-imagining campus traditions, and making plans to keep students engaged and connected to their institutions. The pandemic has offered an opportunity to step back and evaluate the purposes and learning outcomes of various programs, and potentially move away from some traditions or events. It has also illustrated the resilience of campus activities professionals who have met the challenges presented by the pandemic and continued to connect with students. Looking out into 2021, NACA just released a new resource with big questions for campus professionals to think about regarding the transition back to in-person activities, events, and work environments. As many student services and advising moved virtually, there may be a greater expectation from students to be able to continue to access professionals this way.
Hibel: Due to the pandemic, many campuses have been forced to cut budgets and/or reduce staff. What are the effects on the staff, students, and campus climate overall from these reductions and do you have suggestions on how to be innovative amidst cuts?
Root: While many campus-based professionals might be familiar with being tasked to do more with less, the pandemic has certainly amplified this norm. I think it’s important for campus leaders to start engaging in conversations now with their teams about what expectations they have for their campus/student experience as we move through and potentially out of the pandemic. Students will certainly have greater expectations for what their in-person experience should be when they return. For those campuses that have experienced significant staff and budget reductions, there needs to be an understanding of what might be realistic and attainable for more limited staff to achieve. While there may be a greater sense that the campus experience needs to be bigger and better than before to potentially welcome home students later this year, in order to make that an option, those conversations, planning, and resource allocations have to begin now as those large scale, major events take months of planning under normal circumstances. Waiting to plan until there may be clearer signals from health professionals or government agencies that larger in-person gatherings are safe, or vaccines are fully distributed, may not leave adequate time for planning. Campuses are going to have to move forward with multiple plans or they may not have the ability to make some of those in-person experiences happen later this year.
Collaborating and connecting with peers at other institutions will be even more important this year to overcome staff and budget cuts. One of the benefits of being a member of an association like NACA is the ability to share successes and failures, brainstorming solutions, and collaborate on multi-campus programming initiatives with peers from other institutions. NACA has programs and services to facilitate these meaningful connections and also has an online platform for campuses to work together to book speakers, performers, and activities so that everyone saves valuable programming dollars.
Another suggestion would be to rely on your student leaders. Many campus activities professionals already work with student leaders and student organizations to plan events and programs, but this may be even more of a necessity this year with all of the staff reductions. The challenge in this though is the student leaders and organizations they might work with have only had virtual planning experiences, so more time might need to be dedicated to training these students and organizations to learn how to host in-person activities.
Hibel: How do you foresee campus activities being influenced by the COVID-19 vaccine? How should institutions approach students returning to campus who have and have not received the vaccine?
Root: Campus activities could be greatly impacted by the COVID-19 vaccine as having students, staff, and faculty vaccinated could offer a greater sense of safety and peace of mind for many students and their families. It may also lead to a greater willingness to participate in activities and the ability for campuses to host larger events. Even with large numbers of vaccinations, campuses may need to enact additional health and safety measures and social distancing to mitigate risks. I think it is important for campus leaders to start the conversation now about how they will approach the vaccine and what that might mean for participation in campus activities, making sure to engage all of the relevant stakeholders in those discussions.
Hibel: Referencing the Journal for Campus Activities Practice & Scholarship article, the stereotype of campus activities work as just “fun” work leads to the misperception that fun does not equal learning, growth, or skill-building. How can this stereotype be challenged, especially considering how crucial campus activity planning is amongst a pandemic?
Root: Campus activities professionals need to be strong advocates for their work and the impact they have on their campus community. Taking the time to develop learning outcomes, conduct assessments, and share data can correct that stereotype. Another way to challenge the stereotype is to utilize the competencies NACA has developed for campus activities professionals, student leaders, and diversity and inclusion, in developing individual and department goals. These frameworks can help campus activities professionals speak to specific skills that are being developed as they engage in conversations with campus leaders who may be unfamiliar with the impact of their work.
The Journal of Campus Activities Practice and Scholarship (JCAPS) is also a great tool for those administrators and faculty who need to see the research. It is a social science peer-reviewed journal that focuses on publishing rigorous, relevant, and respected scholarship related to postsecondary education cocurricular campus activities and translating such scholarship to practice. Sharing published articles with colleagues and supervisors can help spur conversation and discussion on the importance of campus activities in furthering retention, involvement, engagement, and learning.
Hibel: Student retention is a critical issue that institutions face. According to research discussed in the previously mentioned article,
“Students do not stay in or leave institutions as much as they stay in or leave relationships. The ability of campus activities professionals to adapt programs and services to foster an individual and collective sense a sense of belonging to the campus contributes to retention in moments of crisis. These professionals are perhaps best suited to fostering relationships during an ongoing crisis and will be who many students look to for support, whether in person or virtually. In this way, we both humanize and personalize the student experience. Institutions that leverage these administrators well will have a strategic advantage in maintaining consistent enrollments.”
It seems campus activities professionals and campus leaders have a lot of pressure to help foster these relationships which ultimately can strengthen retention. What are your thoughts on the quote above?
Root: As an association, we updated our vision statement last year to be, “to create college communities where everyone belongs,” so we fully understand the importance of our work in supporting our members’ daily work to bring that vision to life. Yes, campus activities professionals and campus leaders do have a lot of pressure to foster relationships and provide meaningful connections. Those connections, along with engagement and involvement, help better position students to thrive, develop support systems, and be resilient in the face of adversity. But this is why many professionals are in the profession, to be able to help students develop and grow.
Hibel: What keeps you engaged in the area of campus activities in higher education? What advice would you give to anyone looking to work in campus activities?
Root: I enjoy working with campus activities because it is such a broad area where professionals work with so many different aspects of campus life: student organizations, programming, student government, orientation, campus traditions, etc. Since these professionals wear many hats, they often have the most regular interaction with students as compared to colleagues in other functional areas and it can be very rewarding to work with students as they develop over their time at the institution. For someone looking to work in campus activities, I encourage them to do their research, as each campus approaches this area differently and the day-to-day work could be vastly different from one institution to the next.