Season 14, Episode 8 of NASPA's Student Affairs Voices from the Field podcast brings together a powerful chorus of perspectives from student affairs professionals, leaders, and educators, all answering a central, urgent question: How can student affairs use data and technology to better serve the profession? This episode is a must-listen for anyone committed to the future of higher education, offering both inspiration and practical insight for advancing our field.
A tapestry of voices emerges, revealing several clear themes. First, the call for intentional and strategic use of data rings loud and clear throughout. Alan Thompson identifies the importance of keeping up with evolving technology to positively impact the student experience and emphasizes the critical nature of knowing who our students are and what support they need. Others, like Gada Endick, advocate using data not just for compliance or recordkeeping, but to proactively search for gaps in student belonging and to build more intentional communities.
Second, embracing technology and artificial intelligence as tools for both efficiency and connection is a recurring thread. Dylan Dermeyer, among others, highlights how AI can free professionals from routine tasks, affording more quality time with students. This shift allows practitioners to focus on building meaningful relationships—the heart of student affairs work. Romando Nash encourages leveraging AI so staff can spend less time on paperwork, and more time face-to-face with students.
Another consistent theme is the necessity of collaboration and data sharing. Several contributors emphasize that data must not remain siloed. Brett Peterson Bruner voices the need to share information across campus, advocating for collective wisdom and integrated decision-making: when student affairs, academic, and institutional researchers join forces, the whole campus community benefits.
The importance of professional development and training is spotlighted as well. Michael Allensworth and Antonia McFarland argue that data and technology skills should be woven into graduate preparatory programs and ongoing staff training to ensure everyone in the profession can grow, adapt, and thrive.
Finally, the episode calls for a human-centered approach to data. Mishka Murad reminds us that behind every number is a student story, and Dr. Rolanda Horn advocates using data as storytelling—a tool to highlight successes, identify gaps, and advocate for the value of our work.
For those seeking guidance, inspiration, or a pulse on where student affairs is headed in a rapidly changing world, this episode delivers. Tune in to hear your colleagues grapple with the challenges and opportunities ahead, sharing strategies that can help us all lead with data, technology, and most of all, heart.
Ready to dive deeper? Listen now to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, Season 14, Episode 8!
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. Thank you for coming back for our next episode of Essay Voices from the Field. Today we're going to be featuring your responses to our second question that we recorded live and in person at the 2026 annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri.
Our second question was about the focus area of data technology and return on investment in higher education and student affairs. We asked you how can student affairs use data and technology to better serve the student affairs profession? Here's what you told us.
Dr. Alan Thompson [00:00:38]:
Alan Thompson at the Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington Director of Academic and Career Advising the use of data and technology in student affairs student life is so imperative. The way that technology is shifting and growing and changing today, student affairs needs to stay abreast and stay par with the various systems that can have a positive impact on students experiences and so the use of data knowing who our students are, what services that the institution is lacking to support our students, but making sure that we are using that data is critical to the success of the profession.
Cary Greenstein
Cary Greenstein, Sweet Briar College I'm the Dean of Student Life. I would make sure that student life and student affairs staff are led to be senior Student affairs or senior cabinet members at any institution so that they could really have the authority to lead and run everything from CARE teams to student success and all the other things that are really needed to help improve student success. And so really it's about how we set the organizational structure. I would say that we can really use data to help serve the profession by really making sure that we have so much information, our platforms provide so much for us that we can use that to then better understand our students, better understand their needs and how we can better serve them and support them with whatever challenges they're having.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:47]:
Hi everyone, my name is Enoke Agyei 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. Data and assessment is the way to go because it give us what we are not seeing, give us the hidden treasures of how we are able to support students and technology is here to facilitate our work with Predictive analytics for us to know the early signs, to come on board with proactive measures before students fall through the cracks. So I think the data and assessment should not be seen from that perspective of compliance, but rather to develop it as a culture to help a student. So more of helping students a proactive measure than to see it as compliance measure.
Mishka Murad [00:04:04]:
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 when it comes to data, I will say I am a person who really values qualitative data. I really appreciate numbers, but I think what is crucial is to get the stories behind the numbers. And so when we collect data on things like belonging or collect data on student organizations and people feel like they're being represented in these student organizations, or if classes are the way that students want them to be and they're getting the sort of courses that they want to get, I think it's other than just numbers really, unpacking what those numbers are saying, where they are coming from, what are the stories that they're telling, and learning more about the student experience through these stories. I believe in the power. When we say data, I think people think of number, they think of percentages, all of these really fancy things that I am not very good at, like statistics. But I really appreciate the fact that I think education first and foremost and student success comes in the ability to learn lessons from storytelling and from experiences. That's what education looked like, you know, when our families would tell us stories and their families would tell them stories. And so really, to use more off that qualitative data, I believe is crucial.
Gada Endick [00:05:15]:
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 or achievements and amplify their voices. Student affairs can use data to better understand where graduate students feel connected and where they may be feeling isolated. So looking at things like survey feedback and engagement patterns helps identify gaps in belonging across programs and student groups. When we use that insight well, we can kind of create more intentional opportunities for community and support.
Adam McCready [00:06:13]:
Hi, I'm Adam McCready. I use he, him, his pronouns. I'm an associate professor in higher education programs at the University of Connecticut. Regarding data Use technology. As someone who does a lot of work educating future practitioners in our field on assessment, we just have so much data already that is vastly underutilized in our field. And if you look at some of the work even from like Nick Bowman at University of Iowa with looking at the meal index or the M index or swipes, there's just so much more we can do with the data that we already have. And I think that we often think about that we have to collect more data. And I think part of it is just really better thinking about the data we've collected already and how we're utilizing it. That and the fact that we need to engage actively with artificial intelligence and think about how we are leveraging AI to improve our support of students and to meet them where they're at and support their success. And lastly, as someone who does social media research, we need to meet students in their reality. Their identities are ubiquitous, both in person and online, and to only think about in person engagement as a fallacy. At this point, we need to better engage students in the online realms, whether it be social media or other virtual platforms, in a way that meets them. And if we're bridge building, we need to meet them where they're at.
Andrew Finn[00:07:02]:
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. Student affairs can become more data driven. I think student affairs could really stand to use data in a way that really captures a lot of different populations and all of their intersecting identities and backgrounds and beliefs. In particular, I think student affairs could use data in a way that really brings together stakeholders who do not work with a lot of these students face to face, and it can bring them together into the room with something like data to really look at the hard facts of what the student experience is like on the ground from those who work closest with them, and as such increase resources and support for those students earlier on.
Dylan Dermeyer [00:08:19]:
Hello, my name is Dylan Dermeyer. I am from Angelo State University and I handle clery compliance and student conduct, including academic misconduct. Ultimately, I think universities need to be embracing new technology, especially in the realms of artificial intelligence. I think we're seeing more students using these on their papers, on their work, and instead of being behind the times and trying to act as if these are unfair advantages. Rather be proactive and start realizing that these are the tools of the industry and in a culture and climate where budgets are already restrictive, using technologies can amplify each amount of work you do. Is somebody who's studied economics, I would say anything that can make us more productive is going to increase not only our value to our team, but also increase our bottom line. So overall, I think student affairs needs to take a more comprehensive approach into how to use artificial intelligence and other forms of technology that can make them more proactive in situation. I believe student affairs can use data and tech to better serve the profession by continuing to improve our outreach and the way that we interact with students on a daily basis and reach larger audiences.
Dr. Romando Nash [00:09:50]:
Romando Nash Vice Provost for Student Affairs, Washington State University we have to figure out ways to get AI involved in our profession. I think there's opportunities for us to allow it to help us do the things that are the things that frees us up to be able to provide our students more of our face to face time. And I think today's students definitely need that as well.
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. Honestly could better leverage data and technology by moving beyond simple reporting towards strategic predictive. I do know that many departments collect valuable data like conduct trends, engagement metrics, retention indicators, but that information is not always connected across systems. I do think that it's equally important to demonstrate the impact of student affairs work like showing programs, interventions, student engagement because it all contributes to retention, persistence and graduation. So just when the data tells our story clearly, it strengthens the profession and I think we could use technology a little bit better just to be more invested and intentional with students.
Karin Gomez [00:10:55]:
Hi everybody. My name is Karin Gomez. My pronouns are leishi. 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 believe that student affairs can use data and tech to better serve the profession by providing different rates of investment and showing us the return on investment, letting us know that matriculation rates dependent on student success resources, what's available at their institution, what kind of financial wellness was offered. We can kind of cross reference these different things and see what lines correlate with each other and try to implement further change that can best suit students in the long run to make sure that we're supporting students as much as possible.
Michael Allensworth [00:12:00]:
I'm Michael Allensworth From Michigan State University. Data and tech are incredibly important and I think one way that we can use them to better serve the profession is include some additional training in our master's preparatory programs. We need specific classes that help us consider and think about how data are used and how we can use artificial intelligence and other features to help better prepare us for our positions.
Mirela Masalu [00:12:56]:
Hello, my name is Mirela Masalu. 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. Regarding how student affairs use data and tech to better serve the profession, we can see that in Europe it's very slow. The integration of data and tech in our profession is slow and perhaps less creative than we see around the world. And, and we can dedicate more professional development funds, put the money where our mouth is, and provide more professional development for people to understand how to use data and tech.
Jordan Payton [00:13:47]:
Hello. Jordan Payton from Ohio State University, a third year PhD student in engineering education. I think this plays on data desegregation, just something that I study a lot in my current doctoral studies. I think that data has a very strong place to better serve the profession. But I think a lot of it comes down to what we publish and how we use this data and technology. It's often behind paywalls. You know, students want, and even professionals like staff members in higher education, they want to read journals, they want to read cutting edge studies over, you know, what's happening in the field. But a lot of these things are behind paywalls. And if you don't come from an R1 institution, your university may not have access to, to the data or the journals that you want to read to stay on top of these things to best serve student affairs and the profession itself. So I'd say it's good to have, you know, a lot of publications about research, but again, making sure that can be disseminated and put somewhere else that's accessible and free for students and student affairs professionals to read this stuff. A lot of us will publish scholarly papers as PhD students and then we'll do a PowerPoint presentation that'll get recorded, that'll get published, published somewhere else behind another paywall. But we need to remember, like, let's write summarizing papers that say, you know, what are the big key points? What are findings? What are practical things that could be implemented every day for our professionals.
Dan Maxwell
My name is Dan Maxwell. I serve as the vice president for Student Success and Student Life at the University of Houston Downtown Data is so critical as we begin to make more informed decisions about about how we use our resources to move forward. Data can tell us not only who is coming into our spaces and who we're serving through our programs and services and activities, but in many ways tell us who we're not serving. And I think it's important for us to begin to think about how do we get people into our spaces and places where we can support them and for whatever reason, they're not currently coming to see us.
Diana Sims Harris [00:14:58]:
Diana Sims Harris from IU Indianapolis so there's lots of different ways that student affairs can use tech and data to better serve the population. One of the things I've seen a lot in my current role is using artificial intelligence and other tech to assist with some time intensive processes and then free up that time for more meaningful contact with students. So one of the things we know about student success is oftentimes that connection with another person is so key. And I found that tech can really again free up that time so you can build in more meaningful conversations, more connections with students, more higher level work, and that tech can help with some of those processes. Things like early alert intervention programs, all of those things are really critical.
Dr. Mimi [00:16:19]:
Good afternoon. I am Shanya Wren Coleman, better known as Dr. Mimi, Vice President and Dean of student at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. Data usage is important because I personally want to know what's working, what is in need of improvement, and what never to do again. What is our win? Data will tell us what is our win. So we have to use, effectively use data to make sure that we are getting the win. When we are creating these spaces for our students to feel like they belong at our institution. The programs that we build, the activities that we have for them, we need to make sure that there's a win and data will show us that.
Ray Handy
Ray Handy, Associate Dean of Students at the University of New England in Portland, Maine as far as data, I think that we use data very differently from how our students use data. And so I think it's a constantly changing and evolving process and something that we need to be at the level of where our students are at in order to better communicate with them and to utilize the tools that are out there. And if we do so, then we're going to be better as practitioners and as providing services back to our students.
Brett Peterson Bruner [00:17:22]:
My name is Brett Peterson Bruner. I serve as the Associate Vice Provost for Student Success and Persistence at Wichita State University. Student affairs can use data and technology to better serve the profession when we share data, rather than hoarding data, but sharing it across campus to all of our campus partners.
Rachel Amaro [00:18:17]:
My name is Rachel Amaro. I am the admissions and academic advisor for the Department of Educational Leadership at Calvary Cal State Fullerton. When it comes to data and tech, I think we're really in a desperate need again for more solid information about a wider variety of the student population. I think that we often forget all the nuances of the different types of students that we serve. And in order to truly capture what improvements we can make to the student experience, we really have to open up our views on who they are and understand understanding what the needs are. And I think obviously AI has become a real massive topic. And so I think we need to really open ourselves up to what that can do to help us and how we can encourage students to use it as a tool but not rely on it to help get them through anything in particular.
Hanisha Dushara [00:19:28]:
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 to serve student affairs better use data and tech. The one thing that I think everyone should focus on is how to use the data to identify early patents if a student Students need help. Most of the times students and professionals, they react after a problem grows very huge. That's when we notice. But oftentimes they do start very early with little signs which are obvious when we look back but not obvious during the time. So maybe missed classes or they need like help but are struggling to reach out. That manifests in like different ways of not engaging enough properly or missing assignments, all these things. So I think using data to track these and reaching out if student professionals can do anything to help them overall for students would be amazing. And technology can help organize all these resources in one place and pass out this information better so that these all help support in decision making both for professionals and students.
Jeanne Masterdicasa
Hi, I'm Jeanne Masterdicasa and I'm Assistant Provost and Director of Institutional Assessment at the University of Florida. The idea of how can student affairs use data and tech to better serve the profession? I think what I've been hearing a lot at this conference about is doing better with a data lake with sharing data amongst student affairs. But interestingly all I've been hearing about is keeping it within student affairs. So make sure you look for ways to use your data to better serve the profession externally on your own Campus as well. There's a lot of great work work that happens and you have the data. Just make sure the academic side of the house knows about it.
Ethan William [00:20:49]:
My name is Ethan Williams and I work at University of North Texas Health Science center in Fort Worth, Texas. As far as data and technology, I think that incorporating some of the aspects that we can learn from our faculty counterparts as far as learning outcomes goals, I think a lot of that stuff in the past people have thought that a lot of our events are more social, like how do we judge that? But I think that setting learning objectives, even if it is a student, will make one friend at an event. I mean that's a learning objective that you can measure and survey at the end and can be a part of proving to leadership that your event was a success. Because I heard someone say one time that assessment and student affairs is how we prove our jobs and justify our worth and the academic programs have grades and things like that that they're able to easily prove what their value is. But on our end, I think that we should look for new ways to use data to justify and promote our services, to advocate for a student experience.
Chris Hall [00:22:03]:
Hi, I'm Chris Hall. I am the Director of Residence Life and Student Housing at Georgetown University Law Center. I think we're actually making good progress on using data and tech to better serve the profession. I'm seeing it on a daily basis where we have now brought in different systems and different programs that have allowed us to be more efficient. We've cut down on the paths that need to be taken for people to get assistance or support and I think as we streamline that further tech will be crucial in that. But we can't eliminate the human component obviously, so those can be beneficial to help us. But we need the human component still.
Dr. Tiffany Riggers Peel [00:22:57]:
Hi, I'm Tiffany Riggers Peel, Associate professor of Higher Education at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. I think that we should utilize data and technology to make student affairs professionals jobs easier so that we can focus more on students well being and holistic success and identity development. That means things like using AI to do the mundane and day to day paperwork parts of our jobs while really giving us the same amount of time to meet with students to talk to them and get to know them better.
Jackie Yun [00:24:04]:
Hi, I'm Jackie Yun and I serve as the Assistant Vice President of Student Experience at Emerson College in Boston. How can we use student affairs data and tech to better serve the profession? We need to not be afraid of data. We need to look at it and use it and understand it. And think about how it supports our decision making and how students succeed. And in terms of tech, I think I'm glad to sit in a space that is embracing technology and thinking about how it's going to transform industries and professions and work moving forward. And really just being honest about the fact that if we don't engage in conversations with our students about things like AI, they will be at a deficit when they're going into these professions that are starting to use AI heavily. And we need to it's a two part conversation because we have to talk about how technology is problematic, sometimes harmful, and some of the caution around it. But we also need to make sure that we are preparing them so that they are not behind when some of these industries are heavily using that technology.
This is Amy French from Bowling Green State University. Right now, I think a way that we can use data and tech to better serve the profession is to actually do a full blown data collection process between vice presidents of student affairs and the faculty to really identify some areas that we can better collaborate together to support our grad prep programs, because that truly is the future of our profession. And without a strong pipeline of trained professionals who understand and recognize the importance of student development theory, I feel like we're going to miss the boat.
Dan Volchek
Dan Volchek, Harvard Griffin Grad School of Arts and Sciences we need to look at historical data, how things were done, and evaluate them and decide if what was done in the past is the way to do it or if we need to do things differently and how we can use technology. Are there ways we can use technology to be more efficient in the transactional and operational stuff we do so we can spend a lot more time supporting students and supporting ourselves? Kathryn Hall, Hertel UNC Charlotte I also think the use of data and tech is changing so rapidly that we need to embrace the ways in which AI can help us do our jobs more effectively.
Dr. Scott Peska [00:26:14]:
Hi, this is Scott Peska, the assistant provost of Academic and Student Success at Waubonsie Community College in Sugar Grove, Illinois. So how can student affairs use data and tech better to serve the profession? Well, to me, the first thing that comes to mind is early learning, and we now have access to information that we've had through our LMSs that we can access much earlier. And you're seeing some really innovative institutions using it in weeks two and three to reach out to students who are not connecting, not logging in, or have perhaps a low assessment on a first test grade to be able to reach out and get them the academic support that they need right away.
Dr. John Gardner
This is John Gardner from the University of South Carolina and from the Gardner Institute for Excellence in Higher Education. I have no idea, but I'm wondering about the extent of partnership between student affairs professionals and those colleagues of ours that are active in the association for Institutional Research. Obviously there has to be a much higher level of commitment from the highest levels of the power structure on campuses to ensure that all the institutional employees are exposed to and have the opportunity to have a didactic instructional approach to the data that's being collected. And what are the implications of that for what we do with students, how we understand them, et cetera? The answers to it would be different if it was not only applied to student affairs people, but to academic people as well, and so that it was a more joint approach. It's almost like the question assumes the student affairs folks are going to do this as a deficit because it's not being done by and for the academic colleagues, which that obviously has to be fixed.
Kaitlyn Talbot [00:28:14]:
Kaitlyn Talbot, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign Assistant Director of Graduate Professional Programs for Bioengineering Evaluate definitely evaluating data and technology, and not in a big way either, but doing small scale pieces, doing small works in terms of check ins with students to making sure that we're actually meeting their needs, that our events and resources are being useful to them and we're not just holding them to hold them.
Dr. Lori White
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. In terms of using data and tech to better serve the profession, we have never really been great about collecting data with respect to how do we prove that the work we do positively impacts student outcomes. So with all of the tools now available to us, especially with AI, there is probably much more we can do to lean into those tools to be able to articulate much better the work that we do and the impact that it has on student success.
Karen Riedel
Karen Riedel, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign I'm the assistant director for Graduate Programs for Bioengineering. We need to do a better job of capturing data, assessing it, and then sharing it with our colleagues and the greater student affairs community. Shared data will make a much larger impact than data that's just kept in a isolation. You might be able to make an impact with one program or something on your campus, but it's important to be able to share that so that impact can be felt broader across the community.
Dr. Keegan Newkirk [00:29:52]:
Hi. Keegan Newkirk from the College of DuPage I'm a vice President for Student Affairs. I think in Student affairs, we really need to use data to help us better understand our students, and we need to give staff the tools that they need in order to be successful and to give them the data they need to tell us who our students are and what do they need.
Dr. Marlee McGeehan [00:30:47]:
I'm Marlee McGeehan. I'm the graduate Student Affairs Coordinator in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. I'm envisioning how we use data to support diverse and realistic career paths for PhDs and how data can help us understand what paths our PhD alumni are actually taking in various fields fields and how we can use that data to work with our departments and our faculty partners and inform recruitment, skill development, creation of new opportunities, and more broadly, redefining what constitutes success in graduate education.
Dr. Serena Stujavent [00:32:08]:
Hello, my name is Serena Stujavent. I currently serve as the Assistant of Director for Commuter Student SAS at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Honestly, we can use the data and technology to meet our current students where they are, especially in the digital time that we're in now. Using social media and other engagement tactics in our teaching and the services that our departments offer. And overall, how we engage with students on campus would help us be more successful and help drive student success. Hi, my name is Okee Johnson Rayner and I am the Assistant Director of Graduate Student Involvement at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. When it comes to how student affairs can use data and tech to better serve the profession, the best thing I can imagine, especially as someone who's neurodivergent, is recognizing just how much data and technology can really assist us in learning how to work as the most efficient professional, while also recognizing that things don't always have to be as difficult as they might have been when we were coming up in our own college experience or our first professional experience. Something that I know I have benefited a great deal from was learning how to use different aspects or levels of AI to assist with administrative tasks. As someone with adhd, it is very difficult at times to keep up with the workload and being able to figure out how to utilize things in a way that allows me to lean into my own creativity, but assist with some of the potential roadblocks that might, might pause my creativity or my administrative strengths has been really, really beneficial. So investing in how we can use this in a professional space in a way that's appropriate but still allows us to be autonomous in our work would be great.
Dr. Jamie Washington [00:33:36]:
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 we consider data and AI and as we consider the opportunities that we can just streamline student experiences and make them just kind of one stop things, those are ways that we can make better what the experience is the students and add value to the college experience. 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. There should be a centralized software database that all student affairs administrators have access to in order to provide optimal customer service to our students.
Jeff Knapp [00:34:52]:
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. As I've gone into more leadership roles, I think that the student affairs profession, I think we have to look at the data and there's so much tech and AI and so many things that we can utilize in order to show what we do in many different ways. And so I always like to look at it from. I don't want anyone to ever ask me what our worth is or what our value is in what we bring to the university. I will show them first. And so the question becomes, well, how do I look at the programs that we have and how do I then take, take that and quantify it through data? How do I measure the measure and evaluate our programs and how do I share that with others? And so that's kind of my approach to things.
Michelle Burke [00:35:54]:
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. That's at the heart of the work that I do now is understanding who students are. And my center does a lot of research on data, both qualitative and quantitative, working with institutions to understand more about how they serve adult students and then also learning directly from the student voice about what students need. So student affairs needs to stop making assumptions about students and they need to get to the heart of it and get Student voice to be able to develop their programs and services.
Dr. Ed Cabellon
Hi, I'm Dr. Ed Cabellon, interim vice president for student experience at Frederick Community College in Maryland. I think we should share insights more broadly, highlighting the bias and limitations of our data, streamlining the business process to free up staff time for more student and staff engagement and also leverage both as catalysts for change.
Tiffo Carmichael [00:36:59]:
Hello, my name is Tiffo Carmichael. 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. I think data and data skills for personnel should be something that is more readily accessible and training. Obviously it depends on your institution, but I'm at a fairly large institution and we do in theory have access to some of these things, but it's not in a structured way. And so information, I feel like is constantly getting lost and skill sets aren't being grown. And so employee training and accessibility, again, everything comes back to communications and for accessibility to be able to improve ourselves. Because people want to improve. They want to do the best job that they can. And I feel like we need to be able to do that. So, yeah, teaching skills so that way people can build those things and be able to put their data to use. So that way they have something that will help support them afterwards.
Dr. Brooke Hildebrand Club [00:37:43]:
Hello, I'm Dr. Brooke Hildebrand Club and I am the program coordinator and assistant professor for our higher education administration program at Southeast Missouri State University. I think that when it comes to data and tech better serving the profession, we have a lot of opportunities. Now my area of course is teaching and so I'm thinking about things that I use like nearpod so that I can make my classes Hyflex because I have a lot of working professionals pursuing my program. But I also have international students and military affiliated students and student athletes and students who want graduate assistantships. So with Hyflex, I'm able to offer my program in a face to face synchronous zoom and asynchronous online format. And so I think anytime we can think of how tech will better serve us and make things easier, that's what we want to do. We don't want to just have all the bells and whistles for the sake of having all the bells and whistles.
Olivia Callahan [00:38:50]:
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 as student affairs professionals, we can use data and technology to better serve the profession, particularly in regards to regards to roi Return on investment Famously, student affairs professionals are very stretched thin. We love to serve our students and that might mean we are trying to connect them in many different events, many different opportunities. And by using data, whether that's maybe pre and post surveys and analyzing these surveys after events or some sort of engagement opportunities, or maybe tracking attendance, we can therefore go ahead and really determine which events have the most success, whether that's in terms of reach or in terms of engagement and how impactful it was on the student experience. That way we can reserve capacity for our student affairs professionals by really choosing what has the greatest roi.
Dr. April Perry [00:40:13]:
Hi there, I'm Dr. April Perry. I'm a professor of Higher education at Western Carolina University. I think as a profession we have to be data driven. We have to make evidence based decisions, we have to talk to our students, we have to collect the data and use that to influence and direct our industry and how we support student success.
Dr. Rolanda Horn
My name is Dr. Rolanda Horn and I am the Vice Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness at Georgia Piedmont Technical College. Student affairs can use data and technology to better serve the profession by using storytelling. Data is meant to give us a picture of what's happening, the good things that are happening, to identify the gaps in the services that we're providing to our students. And so we could use that data and technology to tell the story, to paint the picture internal in our different departments as well as from an institutional standpoint so we can identify the gaps and the successes to better serve our students.
Paul Rossi [00:41:04]:
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 are student affairs. Use of data is all predicated on asking the right questions. Institutions have found many, many ways of getting data together and there's probably a problem of too much data that's been created without the need to actually justify what it's being collected for in a broader sense. So better questions that interrogate the data, better technology that allows touch points in students journeys to be collected as data points seems to me to be a better way to both gather data, use data, and create the bigger impact for what our universities and institutions are going to need going forward.
Sam Miller [00:42:32]:
Hi, my name is Sam Miller, I'm the Assistant Director for Student Engagement at the University of of St. Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas. Data and tech would be better served in the profession with the use of AI and being able to automate processes that make us more student focused in our day to day.
Gianluca Giovannucci
My name is Gianluca Giovannucci I come from Italy, Europe. I'm the president of European University College Association, a Belgium based association that connects residents all colleges and universities in Europe. We are working in 18 European countries. Of course, data and technology are key in this moment also for what I mentioned before because if you can record, if you can access to videos that can help you in the one to one relationship with the students and you can use these utilities to better prepare for your job.
Antonia McFarland [00:43:40]:
My name is Antonia McFarland. I am Assistant Coordinator for our Residential Conduct and Community Standards Office at Stony Brook University Student Affairs. In data and tech, I would say that professionals could be trained regarding data tech and using systems in AI and Excel and etc. To make processes and systems more easier and also more efficient. So then we all use them in our offices and in our institutions and that'll in turn make us more professional and more successful in what we do. Sometimes we don't all have the same experience or the same backgrounds, so and therefore it creates some type of gap when we don't have that same training. So making training for all of us, that would be really helpful.
Dr. Carrie Montgomery Orozco [00:44:23]:
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. I think there is an opportunity to use technology and data to really connect the work that we're doing across functional areas in student affairs. We know that we work in silos at a lot of our institutions, probably all of our institutions, and we have all this data that we're collecting but not necessarily using to its greatest effect. And we have lots of technology available to us and within the same institution. We're often using several different sort of technology platforms to satisfy our own needs. But how can we integrate those things and be using the collective wisdom to really shape what we're doing and to be more effective for our students and also to be more efficient with our own work.
Trinity Miller
Hello, my name is Trinity Miller and I am an assistant coordinator from Stony Brook University. I believe that we can use data and tech to better serve the profession in terms again of marketing. If we kind of market the profession a little more, I believe that we can use that to better serve us, to get more outreach, to get others who are like minded and want to also be in the field.
Dr. Art Munin [00:45:35]:
I am Art Munin, Senior Associate Vice President at Liaison, working exclusively with graduate programs. How can student affairs use data and tech to better serve the profession? I think it is through that longitudinal lens and actually sitting down with students in a qualitative fashion and asking them about what their experience is. We spend so much time telling students what we think they should be and spend so little time actually asking them what their experience is and actualizing that data.
Daylyn Doe
My name is Daylyn Doe, I use she her pronouns and I'm the associate director for the Women in Science and Engineering Residence Program at the University University of Michigan. I think as far as data and tech in the student affairs world, I think we really should be utilizing it to better tell our story and really showcase the important work that we do, especially in times right now, it's important for us to get the message out of the work that we do and the impact that we're having on students. And so I just think focusing on how to best tell our story and represent our profession in ways that get the message out there.
Dr. Kimberly Goldsberry [00:47:17]:
Kimberly Goldsberry, Vice President of Belonging, Engagement and mission at DePaul University how I use student affairs data and tech to better serve the profession well, there's a lot of ways in which we do that. One is to help make sure the talents of our staff are freed up for the most complex and challenging circumstances our students. So utilizing technology to help students access services at the right moments in time so that the staff are freed up in ways that they can allocate more time to students in need is critically important. So technology can address some of those lower level concerns and needs for access to resources better than having to talk to a human in many cases. And given our strapped resources, freeing up that time of the talented staff that we have is very important. And I think it also helps our staff feel more valued and useful and contributory to student success. And in turn that helps the profession because so many people are attracted to be in this field by being able to be a provider of support and care and success for students because they experienced it themselves.
Hi, my name is Carly Matthews and I'm an Area Coordinator in Residence Life at Rollins College in Orlando, Florida. Our fields and our students are ever changing. Keeping up with what are some of those tools that can help us take off some of the load that is making things inefficient and becoming more efficient and give us more time to serve students is always going to be a better move for us as a profession.
Dr. Les Cook [00:48:28]:
Les Cook, Chancellor Emeritus, Montana Technological University how can student affairs use data and tech to better serve the population? I think that for a long time in student affairs we were reluctant to talk about assessment and data. And I think that now the importance of data is critical in everything we do. We know what students do, we know where they go, and it's important that we have predictive analytics and data and technology to help us set the tone, set strategies, and be more intentional about the work that we do and the importance and role of student affairs in higher education.
Amarette Ranieri
Howdy. My name is Amarette Ranieri and I am an Assistant Managing Director at Texas A and M University working with Mays Business School. I think data, technology and tech are so vital to the work that we do. Keeping up with what are some of those tools that can help us take off some of the load that is making things inefficient and becoming more efficient and give us more time to serve students is always going to be a better move for us as a profession.
Eddie Howard [00:49:48]:
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. When it comes to technology, I think we should be focusing on data based decision making and data informed decision making as a better use of that word. A lot of times I think we make decisions that are not always in what I consider to be really immersed in the data that exists. I think we have a lot of tools to our disposal rather than just simply asking students, but looking at our student profiles, looking at the type of students we serve, helping students to understand the different institutional types and even as professionals, making sure that we're working at the type of institution that connects to what we can as professionals bring to the table.
Dr. Julie Payne Kirchmeyer [00:51:13]:
Hi there, Julie Payne Kirchmeyer. I am president and CEO of Edgefield Group Data and Tech. This is a blend of what I just said a minute ago, which is understanding your student. But we can leverage AI responsibly to really move past even being proactive, which still requires a trigger to get flipped somewhere into anticipatory. So if we do part one, like I said, and we really know and understand our students deeply and stay connected with them and what their experiences are and create good learner journeys, we can actually anticipate things using AI and put in front of every student their next best choice for them. And it's, it's not creepy and I need people to get away from that. AI is not creepy. AI is a tool and it can be used incredibly effectively.
Dr. Melinda Stoops [00:52:13]:
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. There's been a lot of talk in the past, past 10 years, probably 20 years, about using data better in student affairs, and I think that's still a growth area for a lot of people. I think a lot of people view assessment as challenging or something that is an add on to the work they do. And so I think the more we can continue to look at assessment as part of the process of the work that we do, that we want to really build that into everything we're doing as a natural part of that and not as an add on. And not everyone has to be an expert in assessment to do that well, that we all have different roles that we can play in that. And with tech, it's fascinating because technology obviously helps us in doing better assessment because we don't have to be statisticians anymore. We don't need to know how to run stats. Sorry, for those of you who are statisticians, I'm not pooh poohing the work that you do. But what I am saying is, is that there are lots of technologies out there that can do that data analysis for us, which is really, really helpful in lightening our load. Also, with just the booming of AI over the past few years, the more we can embrace that and use that as something that's additive to our work and not replacing our work can go a long way in serving the profession. I think. I think the innovative divisions and those in the field are using data. We know so much about our students, from their application through how they engage on campus to how they engage in the classroom. And those institutions who are on the cutting edge are leveraging the fact that students assume that the left hand knows what the right hand's doing and that we're using this data to best serve them. And so we're trying to get ahead and be sure that we're using that data to give the student what they need when they need it at the right time and place.
Seth Matthew Fishman [00:54:19]:
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. In terms of return on investment in data and technology, how to learn program evaluation, leverage the information, how to make decisions when you have incomplete information, and how to weigh out and balance resource allocation, thinking about academic assessment outcomes, and we want our students to learn and achieve. I'm James Quesenberry at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. I would use data to improve our service to students by personalizing things. I think we can look at artificial intelligence to accomplish that, but we have to be thoughtful and intentional in how we do that and.
Dr. Jill Creighton
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. If you'd like to reach the show, you can email us at 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 show and leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening now. It really does help other student affairs professionals find the show and helps us to become more visible in the larger podcasting community. This episode was produced and hosted by Dr. Jill Creighton. That's me.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:55:48]:
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.