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At the moment, student affairs educators across the world share one thing in common — COVID19 has made us rethink the way in which we do our jobs. While this has presented significant challenges, it has also given us the opportunity to innovate. In today’s podcast we’ll talk with Robert Young, International Student Adviser & co-host of the Free Food Free Drinks Podcast, to learn about the student success innovations he has seen occurring in the UK during COVID19 closures as well as in his specific functional area, international student… Read More »1.7 Innovations in Student Affairs in the UK and International Student Support

What exactly does it take to transition a division of student online quickly for COVID19 closures? Dr. Wm. Gregory Sawyer, Vice President for Students Affairs at Sonoma State University, will walk us through his experiences and lessons learned during this challenging time. Additionally, he shares his own vulnerability and experiences navigating leadership as a Black man – I highly encourage you to read the acknowledgement of vulnerability he co-authored that is linked here.Dr. Sawyer, or Doc as many call him (including me), has more accolades and experience that I can… Read More »1.6 Transitioning a Division to Remote Modality with Dr. Wm. Gregory Sawyer

Students on campuses across the country and around the world encountered any number of challenges with the emergence of COVID-19 in the Spring of 2020. Campuses rallied together, though virtually, to reinforce communities and to create innovative solutions to the question, “How do we engage while being physically distant?”  Campus spirituality and faith-based groups at Randolph-Macon College embraced the challenge, and our guest, Rev. Kendra Grimes, Chaplain and Director of Church Relations discusses the unique challenges and opportunities, that faith communities and spiritual groups encountered on her campus and the… Read More »1.5 Campus Spirituality in the Age of COVID-19

Typically Residence Hall Associations on college campuses hold events to foster social engagement and community building in residence halls. With universities being closed due to COVID, halls are mostly empty and social engagement while physical distancing has to look different. The RHA at North Dakota State University got creative by hosting a series of online events including Virtual Bingo Event that was a huge success. Over 120 students attended, stayed the entire time, and organically opted to stay later to chat in break out groups, and had a blast. I… Read More »1.4 Virtual Bingo at North Dakota State University with Jen Kacere Episode

As the heat of the summer increases (especially in the West), orientations are launching across the nation. Only… they’re looking quite a bit different. Welcome speeches delivered to large audiences, marching band welcomes, and large student socials with lots of free food are replaced this summer by video conferencing, social media, and online learning experiences. We’ll learn from Solomon Matthews, Assistant Director of Orientation at USC what his experience was like transforming the face-to-face orientation to an online experience for first-year and transfer students. Links Virtual Escape Rooms Follow USC… Read More »Episode 1.3 Hostful featuring Co-host Solomon Matthews: Migrating an immersive, spirit infused new student orientation online

ESports is quickly becoming an integral part of the myriad of experiences available to students at colleges and universities. The institutional commitment around eSports ranges from student organizations to Varsity programs that offer scholarships and grants for competitive eSports athletes.   In fact, in January of 2008, even Forbes magazine published an article, eSports is the new college football. One fact is certain.  Collegiate eSports is sweeping the nation.  We are thrilled to share this discussion with Dustin Ramsdell about the unique role that eSports plays in campus life and varsity… Read More »Episode 1.2 Hostful featuring Co-Host Dustin Ramsdell: eSports & Campus Life

Overview It is no secret that campus closures were quite abrupt and while faculty and learning designers were scrambling to migrate their courses online, student affairs educators were grappling with a wide array of hurdles. One hurdle facing James McGhee, Assistant Dean of Students, and Randolph Macon College was building an online community for students. To address this challenge, James created a Discord community. In this podcast, he’ll share how he got it started, why he selected Discord, what he created in the community, how it’s going today/ what students… Read More »Episode 1.1: Hostful featuring Co-Host James McGhee: Creating Community during COVID 19

Overview In this episode we will introduce our podcast and podcast hosts. You’ll get a sense of the topics we’ll cover, who we will feature and what the structure of the SIP podcasts will be.

Welcome to our site! We’ll be adding our episodes here by July 1. 🙂 Come back soon!!!