The End is Here

This class was literally my first class in the higher education administration masters program. Looking back, I remember I was so nervous about showing up to this class knowing that I was coming to the program a semester behind everyone else. I had no idea what to expect or what to do. Sitting in the first meeting, I was looking around and everyone seemed to know each other except for me. As silly as it sounds is I was nervous and scared about what other classmates thought of me. I am never like this and it really bothered me. However, getting to know my classmates by reading their blog and interacting with them has made me feel like I’m in the right place. I am excited about going to class now and just trying to absorb all the information that I can.

I am really happy about the change from the biology masters program to this higher education program. I think this masters will open more opportunities for me that better fits my personality and personal goals. Writing this blog has opened my eyes to a world that I never knew about. I was well aware with my college administrators especially in the athletic department, but never really knew what they have to deal with. This blog made all these theories and discussions that I learned about in my other class’s kind of come to life. I saw problems in the college administration world, problems with students, learning how to be green, problems with technology, dealing with tragic aftermath on campuses, and basically real life interactions between students and college administrators.

I noticed one theme overall that was in most of my blogs. This theme that I detected was I always discussed possible problems with something that was happening on the college campus. Most of the blogs dealt with what the possibilities or choices were for the administration offices. I think that this is important because we were dealing with real life situations that we could possibly face in our near futures. I really think it takes a special person to be able to enjoy this job AND be good at it. I am up for this challenge and really can’t wait to get started in the real world.

Another thing that I got out of this class and writing these blogs is that I believe it is vital to have a good relationship with students on campus not matter what office or department you work in. I think that opening these relationships and interactions will allow an administrator to learn more about the campus in more ways than one. Listening and answering these voices on campus will help keep the college’s structure. These voices from the students need to be from all different races, sex, age, background, etc. If you keep all of these voices in consideration then the success of the college growth rate will be significant. The college growth that I was referring to is socially, academically, athletically, financially, or anything that makes a college and college. The better the administration works together and interacts with students, the better the college’s status becomes.

In conclusion, I just want to thank everyone in my class for teaching me things will writing your blogs. I have enjoyed reading each person’s entry and have learned a lot more by reading about the feelings and opinions than I ever thought I could. Each class member took and slightly different angle each week that opened the discussion in so many ways. I hope we continue communicating and interaction so we can learn from each other. I also want to wish everyone the best of luck especially the ones that are towards the end of their journey in this higher education program. Thanks again!

Student Unions Expands

Student unions are essential for all college campuses. This is a place where students can interact, eat, work out, study, hang out, or just get away from their crazy roommate. However, as colleges continue to grow, student unions should also expand. Student unions should be the center point of a college campus especially for the social aspect of students. If the student union is not the center of social life of everyday students, then higher education officials should consider making a renovation or build a new one that is better and gives students more opportunities to interact.

I am going to talk about my college undergraduate experience. Our student union was called the “UC”. The UC had a workout room, a theatre, a game room, the cafeteria, a computer lab, a food court, university clothing store, and several meeting rooms. As a freshman I lived on campus and went to the UC almost every day. I used to love going to the cafeteria and sitting in there for the lunch hour and seeing everyone. It is the social hangout on campus. If the cafeteria was closed, we would go to the game room and play a quick game of ping pong. It seemed like no matter who you were or where you came from, once you stepped in the UC differences were set aside. I think that every college should have a place like this for students to meet other people on campus.

However by my junior year, the UC seemed to be out of place and a little behind the times. We had just gotten a brand new computer lab upstairs with top of the line computers, but even with those renovations, it just seemed a little out of place compared to other division 1 schools. A vote was help on campus to build a new UC or not. It was passed and immediately floor plans were being drawn. Construction started during the spring of my senior year for this new three story complex building. A year after I graduated, I went back to visit my school and it was open. I wanted to go in and see the building. It had everything; a new workout room, four full size basketball courts, an indoor running track, racket ball courts, computer labs, small food court, ping pong tables, a gaming room with Nintendo, Wii, xbox 360, Playstations, and locker rooms. It was incredible, and I never expected it to be that impressive. This is to show how rapidly technology changes college campuses. In order for students to come to school, you must have the top of the line materials available compared to other schools. It is used for recruiting purposes. As soon as another school has a better union than another then the old one has to be upgraded.

Colleges’ constant competition has caused the renovations of these student unions to happen constantly year after year. Here is a website in which has links to other websites that talk about the college’s student unions:
http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/osl/unions.html#U
I think this website was really useful to compare the different student unions around the United States. I didn’t go to all of the websites, but I went and looked at a couple. There is a common theme of all the student unions that are on here. They even had the list of new ones that were being constructed. This supports my thinking that there is a constant demand to renovate these student unions in order to offer new students the best of the best.

I found another website that actually rate different aspects of college campuses. Here is Ole Miss’s:
http://collegeprowler.com/university-of-mississippi/facilities/
We got an overall vote of a B. If you scroll down and look at the individual stats and comments, many of the students say that the student union can use some improvements. I think that maybe the student union at Ole Miss is up for an upgrade especially if Ole Miss wants to compare with other schools in the SEC conference.

As higher education administrators, it is important to have a functional student union that is available for students. This building is a big contributes to college life and student development. We need to be aware of other schools facilities and make sure they are comparable to ours. Having the top of the line equipment and buildings is what brings attention to the school and therefore increase student populations.

Turning Green...and No I'm not sick!

What have colleges done to make campuses greener?
About five years ago, the saying “green” would make people like of flowers, springtime, April, Easter, bumble bees, or maybe even aliens. Now a days when someone says “green” they think of recycle, plastic, conservation, environment, organic, etc. Being “green” is a new movement that has spread across the world rapidly in the past decade. There are programs out all across the United States that encourage buildings and people to “go green”. They have a national holiday now called Earth Day (April 22) that celebrates the environment and nature and how we can use and reuse our resources. Going green typically is more popular among the young adult generation. This would include college students.

As higher education professionals, it is important to have greener campuses and I am not referring the grass color. Which I am sure the way a campus looks is important in the overall experience of the college, but also how the college helps the environment. Walking in and out of buildings and in most classrooms students can find recycle bins for paper, plastic, aluminum, and glass. Personally I use the aluminum recycle bin almost every day. I am a HUGE diet coke lover and I drink one on the way to class. I will finish it and just toss it into the recycle bin as I walk into the building. If this bin was not here, I know for a fact that I would just toss it into the trash can. The movement across campus to place the bins is unconsciously making more students greener.

At Ole Miss for the celebration of Earth day is having a green week which is happening April 19-23. I think that this is important for all college campuses to do. I am sure that other colleges are doing something like this in order to support the green movement. Some of the activities during this week will be a recycling pledge which allows students to volunteer working at the Oxford Recycling Center, Curbside recycling awareness which includes handing out information on how you can get a curb side recycling company to your house, and the commuter challenge which challenges students to commute to school with fellow classmates or ride the public bus transportation.

I think that it is important as higher education officials to make students aware on campus how to become greener. I am a huge believer of conservation which allows future generations to have the ability to use the same resources that are available to use today. If we do not conserve our resources then there is a possibility that they will not be available for our grandkids. This green message that can be found throughout the United States should be introduced to young generations so they can get used to a lifestyle which supports the “it’s good to be green” message.

I did some research to see if there was a ranking of the best green college campus. I found this article written in the Princeton Review which has the list of the best green college campuses:
www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/green-college-rankings-by-princeton-review.php

Here are the top 10:
Arizona State University
Bates College
College of the Atlantic
Emory University
Georgia Tech
Harvard College
State University of New York at Binghamton
University of New Hampshire
University of Oregon
University of Washington
Yale University
Just a shout out to Atlanta (my home city) having two college campuses in the top 10!!

I am just going to leave you with this information….if you are reading this and want to become more green on your college campus, here is an article giving you five unique ways that can make this possible.
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2010/01/28/5-unique-ways-to-go-green-if-youre-living-in-a-dorm.html
Here is the list, you can read them in more detail by clicking the link above:
1. Become an informed consumer. Be aware with what you leave on in your dorms as you leave.
2. Reduce paper waste. Might take a little more cleaning on your part, but replace paper plates and plastic silverware with a real set of dishes.
3. Data awareness. See how much it costs your dorm hall to run its electricity and water.
4. Recycle. This is self explanatory.
5. Get Involved. Talk with other hall mates in ways you can get involved in campus.

Now go get GREEN!