Meet Chelsea Peterson: Elevating Communi...

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 Essay Voices from the Field Host Hey Essay Voices listeners, it's my pleasure to bring you a new voice in naspa. Chelsea Peterson Chelsea has just joined the NASPA staff as Vice President for Public Relations and Communications and we're going to get to know her a little bit better today. She's a marketing and communications professional with over 15 years of experience in higher ed.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:45]:
In this inaugural role, she'll lead strategic marketing and communications efforts, including increasing NASPA's brand awareness in public relations and membership spaces. Additionally, she will serve as a member of the Executive Leadership team, oversee the Association's Marketing and communications staff, and consult with NASPA stakeholders. She most recently served as the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Division of Student affairs at WashU in St. Louis. Joining WashU in the summer of 2018, she built the external relations functions within the Athletic and recreation departments before joining the leadership team of Dr. Ana Gonzalez, who was WashU's vice chancellor for Student Affairs. During her time at Wash U, Chelsea's marketing and communications teams have been recognized with over 25 national awards spanning digital communications, videography and brand. Alongside Dr.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:30]:
Ana Gonzalez, she established the Student affairs and Marketing Communications Office, offering services to 28 departments and over 400 employees. Additionally, she oversaw the process for the division's rebrand and website overhaul and was highly involved in writing the strategic plan for the Student affairs division. Prior to Wash U, she spent over 10 years in collegiate athletics coaching and administration. She holds an undergraduate degree in Marketing Communications from Upper Iowa University, where she was a Division 2 basketball player. She received a Master's of Business Administration degree from Anderson University and just joined us here NASPA on December 3rd of 2025. Hey essay voices listeners, we are here already with our season finale episode and it's my pleasure to bring you a new voice in naspa. Chelsea Peterson Chelsea has just joined the NASPA staff as Vice President for Public Relations and Communications and we're going to get to know her a little bit better today. She's a Marketing and communications professional with over 15 years of experience in higher ed.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:27]:
In this inaugural role, she'll lead strategic marketing and communications efforts, including increasing NASPA's brand aware in public relations and membership spaces Additionally, she will serve as a member of the Executive Leadership team, oversee the Association's Marketing and Communications staff, and consult with NASPA stakeholders. She most recently served as the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Division of Student affairs at WashU in St. Louis. Joining WashU in the summer of 2018, she built the external relations functions within the athletic and recreation departments before joining the leadership team of Dr. Ana Gonzalez, who was WashU's vice chancellor for student affairs. During her time at WashU, Chelsea's marketing and communications teams have been recognized with over 25 national awards spanning digital communications, videography and brand development. Alongside Dr. Ana Gonzalez, she established the Student affairs and Marketing Communications Office, offering services to 28 departments and over 400 employees.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:03:19]:
Additionally, she oversaw the process for the Division's rebrand and website overhaul and was highly involved in writing the strategic plan for the Student affairs division. Prior to Wash U, she spent over 10 years in collegiate athletics coaching administration. She holds an undergraduate degree in Marketing Communications from Upper Iowa University, where she was a Division 2 basketball player. She received a Master's of Business Administration degree from Anderson University and just joined us here at NASPA on December 3rd of 2025. Chelsea, welcome to Essay Voices.

Chelsea Peterson [00:03:47]:
It's great to be here with you today, Jill.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:03:49]:
We finally got the opportunity to meet in real life this last annual conference in Kansas City. It was so lovely to make the connection. And you've been with NASPA for how long now?

Chelsea Peterson [00:03:59]:
Since early December 2025 I guess. We're going up on what a whirlwind

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:04:04]:
entry to the association to come in like right at the end of the calendar year and then jump right into the biggest event for naspa. But you've been around NASPA for a while?

Chelsea Peterson [00:04:12]:
Yeah, I have been around NASPA for a while. I will touch on the first point and say that President Amelia Parnell, Amy Shopkorn and the NASPA team made my transition during the highest volume time of year for naspa Seamless. It was super enjoyable to connect with our Board of directors in D.C. in early December to meet my Marketing and Communications team with the NASPA staff. It was wonderful work together to bring all of our NASPA members who could travel to Kansas City together in person. It was a wonderful time in community. It was great to meet you and I have been around NASPA for quite a while. In 2021 I made the transition at Washington University in St.

Chelsea Peterson [00:04:49]:
Louis that I'll refer to most likely as WASHU for the rest of the time anytime I mention it. When Dr. Ana Gonzalez became the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. In the summer of 2021, she recruited me from our Athletic and Recreation department to do what I was doing for that department for all 28 in the division of Student Affairs. And shortly after I started, actually before I officially started for Ana Gonzalez, she recorded. We did a recording for Justice Sotomayor for the NASPA membership. And that was my first introduction to naspa. Later that year, Ana ran for the Board Chair position and I've been very familiar with NASPA ever since.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:27]:
Well, you're our brand new vice President for Public Relations and Communications here at naspa. This is a brand new position. It's never existed before. And one of the ways we like to use the podcast is to help members meet the staff. So we're going to be doing that today and kind of talking more about what members can expect from interacting with you and interacting with the team that you're leading. You've touched on this already, but we always love to start our episodes with how did you get to your current seat? You've touched on WASHU student affairs, athletics, but what's the journey?

Chelsea Peterson [00:05:55]:
I'm happy to share the journey and hello all NASPA members who are listening. I would be remiss of me as a PR communications person not to share my thanks and gratitude and our thanks and gratitude to Jill and Chris for recording this podcast. That's great. Quality, quality. I listen to it, I tend to download it and then listen to it while I'm driving or walking. And you'll learn so much about student affairs, different perspectives of our members, and how the NASPA community really comes together for one another on behalf of our students. So if you haven't listened, I highly recommend you check it out on any of your favorite podcasts Download spaces. My journey has been incredible.

Chelsea Peterson [00:06:34]:
I'm extremely grateful. That's what I'll start with. I grew up on a family farm in eastern Iowa. I am one of five and I grew up with a beautiful mother who was committed to education. And we never had conversations in our household about if college it was where we were going to go. And I never remember that being any different. We read books together in bed every night. It was the best part of my day as a childhood.

Chelsea Peterson [00:06:59]:
When I think about five being five, my favorite time of the day was grabbing books and jumping into the what seemed it was only a queen bed, but it seemed massive when you're five with all my siblings and each of us got to read our favorite book before going to bed. And so education was intertwined from the very Beginning of my life. I fell in love with basketball when I went to my first practice in fifth grade. I didn't want to go, but my mom said I was shy at the time and super tall for my age. And the idea of going out and doing anything athletic on a court with a bunch of other kids who I didn't know was overwhelming. And I remember my mom taking me out underneath this beautiful tree in our front yard and saying, I just want you to try it once. If you absolutely hate it, you don't have to go back. And I said, okay, I can do that.

Chelsea Peterson [00:07:42]:
Went to the practice, absolutely fell in love with basketball and basketball and really became a foundation for my life in terms of taking me to places and on journeys that I never anticipated. Fast forward. I became very good at basketball and earned a full ride scholarship to Upper Iowa University. I had a lot of opportunities coming out of high school. What I've learned later in higher education is I really didn't know the lens to go through all of those opportunities. And so really my decision to go to Upper Iowa over at the time like an Indiana university, which seems silly hearing this now, is that it was close to home as a full ride and I knew that the family that had supported me so much could actually travel to games there. It was a great opportunity for me. So I became a four year standout basketball player at Upper Iowa.

Chelsea Peterson [00:08:30]:
And between my junior and senior year of college I did an internship with Indiana Sports Corporation. A shout out to my Uncle John for his connections and really mentoring young people and providing opportunities through his business career and connections. And I fell in love with athletics. From there I graduated, I did a national search, I ended up Anderson, Indiana as the assistant women's basketball coach while I finished my Master's of Business administration. I was there for three years. Then I moved to Pella, Iowa. I was an assistant coach at Central College for one year and then became the head women's basketball coach there. My life really took a transition to a different path in student affairs when I attended a conference in 2015 that was hosted by Now We Coach, which does programming for our all women's coaches in the country.

Chelsea Peterson [00:09:15]:
And I was sitting in that programming and it was for women coaches across all sports and all levels. And I had this thought that hey, like I actually think after hearing this that I should feel differently about this programming specific for coaches and I'm not feeling the way that I probably should about this. I actually don't think coaching is my long term path here. And I talked to the Then executive director, who's a dear friend of mine, Marlene. And she said, yes, Chelsea, like coaching is, if you take a sewing box, coaching is you pick up a needle. It's as specific as the hole you put the thread through. Administration is the whole box. You get to see how all of these things are working together.

Chelsea Peterson [00:09:52]:
And I was, it hit me, I was like, I really want to go into administration. There aren't a lot of opportunities for full time coaches to go to full time administration jobs in college athletics. So this is Assistant Associate ads, Senior Associate ads. And so I did a national search and I ended up going to Women Leaders in College Sports, which now it's Women Leaders in Sports and they are based in Kansas City, they're a nonprofit. They do all programming for women in sports globally. And during that time, one of my favorite projects was the Women Leaders podcast. And we would literally bring in D1 athletic directors, commissioners, D3 athletic directors, athletic personnel from across the country. And I typically would ask the guest, hey, could I have 20 minutes of your time either before or after the podcast? And during that time I ask a lot of questions.

Chelsea Peterson [00:10:41]:
And I really found where it was that I found my professional home or what I thought would be my professional home in the college athletic landscape. And through that process, Washington University in St. Louis posted again, you'll hear a theme in my background, a first time position, the Assistant Assistant Athletic Director for External Relations. I applied for that position and I came to St. Louis in July of 2018. I was in that position overseeing revenue generation, brand development and fan engagement for four years. And in that time went from an assistant to an associate to a senior Associate Athletic Director. And then In July of 2021, Dr.

Chelsea Peterson [00:11:17]:
Ana Gonzalez came into our lives full of energy and said, hey, I really would love you to do these things for the Division of Student Affairs. And I held that position from 2020, December of this year where we built a full communications office in the Division of Student affairs, providing support to the Vice chancellor's office and 28 departments. That number continues to expand. I believe it's 28 full time departments and I love my work in the Division of student affairs at WashU. Most recently my position was to work with our Chief of Staff on parent family engagement, overseeing our parent and family weekend, overseeing our events teams and doing special projects strategic initiatives for the Vice Chancellor's office. And Ana knew of this opportunity through her connections with naspa. And in October I went through the process of meeting Dr. Parnell and the NASPA team and I will say what really piqued my interest in NASPA is at this time where higher education has a lot of challenges, a lot of changes, a lot of navigating that is being required by student affairs professionals in ways that are quite different than have existed previously.

Chelsea Peterson [00:12:26]:
I really was energized by this opportunity to figure out the way to maxim our resources through communication mechanisms that would best support our professionals that are on the ground doing this work with students every day.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:12:41]:
I love that your journey started in a place that you thought you were going to spend your life's work and then that kind of turned to go, oh wait, my life's work actually looks different than my initial inception and now we get to have the benefit of your talents here at NASPA. So thanks Ana or Dr. G, as many of her students call her. And if you'd like to learn more about her, we did a special episode with her when she took her board chair year on. So that was about, I think, three years ago now. Great interview, great episode. Strongly encourage you to go back and listen now, Chelsea, you've taken on this beastly new position at NASPA running all of our publications and our public relations, communications, et cetera. What do you do at NASPA exactly?

Chelsea Peterson [00:13:20]:
Well, thank you for the question. I'll start by saying positions feel less beastly when you have a great team of people. And I've always found that when you're surrounded by great team members and you're committed to the work and you feel that's aligned with your purpose, it doesn't feel feel so beastly. With that being said, it's been a wonderful introduction to the NASPA community in terms of lots of conversations across the association and with NASPA staff members in terms of what does it mean to best maximize our offerings for members. So what I'm currently working on is that it's a overall marketing and communication strategy for a large and complex association. What I believe makes NASPA a little different in terms of not having just one specific marketing and communication strategy, but several across our offerings, is that we have different messages in different spaces. Yes, it is about what is the value of a NASPA membership, but that answer can be different depending on where somebody is in their career journey. So are they entry level, career journey? Are they mid level? Are they senior level? Are they BPs or presidents or senior student affairs administrators? And it is really taking our offerings and packaging them into what could be valuable depending on somebody's career level.

Chelsea Peterson [00:14:37]:
That is what I'm spending the most amount of time in right now as well as uplifting President Parnell's initiatives for the association. I have been so impressed with her leadership, her decision making, her focus and part of any new position. What I found is this is now my third newly created position that I've been in. And one of the early conversations is how can I best uplift the priorities and operationalize the vision of the leader of whatever that area is? And I'm beyond grateful to be doing that for President Parnell.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:15:10]:
I'm really interested New lane mechanism for what is my career level and what am I being able to benefit from the NASPA offerings in my career level? What might that look like if I'm a new professional?

Chelsea Peterson [00:15:21]:
Yeah, if you're a new professional. I think it is that, hey, we are the leading association for student affairs professionals globally. I think it is an introduction to this is what NASPA is and this is what NASPA offers. And one of the largest things that NASPA offers is a community. It's a community of student affairs professionals. It's other new entry level professionals who may be navigating the first thing the things in their career for the first time. It's here's a resource for how to navigate this. Are you working in campus life and you want to engage students? Are you interested in incorporating AI into your work? Here's a brief on this Work is a I work at a community college and I want to learn more about what it is to be in our community college space.

Chelsea Peterson [00:16:06]:
And April is Community Colleges Month and tomorrow, Friday, April 24, it'll be past when this episode releases. But we have the Community College Virtual Summit which is a short one day event for NASPA members. And so there's a community to be connected to, there are specific resources that can inform your path and there are opportunities virtual and in person to engage. So I think for first year professionals this obviously long term is our colleague Monica Nixon who will lay out exactly what this looks like in terms of the transition journey. My job is really to take it and communicate it effectively and to market it effectively. But to me and in our conversations, how I how I feel for first time professionals, it is really a foundation for your career journey. And I learned that from my mentor. It's like you said, the first day of your MBA is the start of your professional journey.

Chelsea Peterson [00:16:56]:
And I think a new professional being introduced to the NASPA community and the NASPA resources is the first step in their professional home.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:17:04]:
Let's move forward to the mid level professional because one of the things that I've always noticed I'VE been around NASPA since I was an undergraduate student. I had a VPSA mentor who was like Jill, you're going as an undergrad. So that was my introduction. But I always felt that NASPA serves new professionals really well and senior level professionals really well. But that that mid level has a bit of squishiness in it partially because our partner associations or relative associations do a really good job of catering to functional areas. ASPA can be a little more general. So how are we feeding that niche middle level manager role?

Chelsea Peterson [00:17:37]:
Well, I think first and foremost the mid level professionals is it's typically a time where it is maybe we've gotten to a place in our mid level journey where it's time to give back to the association so are only as Strong as the 2000 plus volunteers who make NASPAS possible, quite frankly through our whether it's volunteering for an in person event for our regional director positions for the podcast, giving of your time. And so what I would say very high level is that if somebody has advanced to their mid level space in their career, it is that time to give back. We have mentoring opportunities. You obviously give your time through the podcast, which is significant. There are opportunities to serve on knowledge communities again and regional director positions. So many different opportunities. And so first and foremost, if there's a mid level listening to this, are there ways to volunteer for NASPA that you haven't thought about before? And that is 1, 2. I think that you raise an important context to why we're really thinking about communicating this across the different career levels.

Chelsea Peterson [00:18:41]:
Because the feedback you shared or the question you asked about mid level professionals is exactly why this work in terms of of communicating offerings more specifically is so important at this time for the association. I would say once we get to the fall of this year there'll be much more clarity in terms of this is the offering for mid level professionals. This is senior level. Not that all of those things will be perfectly streamlined at that point, but that we are thinking and very conscientious about. This is a membership association through the trajectory of your career journey and here are resources and conversations and engagements for you for regardless of where you are, you bring an excellent question raise an excellent question. I'm really, really excited for this work to continue internally and in the next year be shared externally for folks in our membership.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:19:29]:
Personally, when I transitioned from a mid level role to a senior level role, I made the transition back to naspa. I had always been a member but I kind of had focused way more in my functional area and then when I became a more senior generalist again I went, I said this to a number of people. I have to quote unquote, graduate into naspa. And that was kind of my mindset about it. And I think, I think that's not necessarily unique in the fields. And so it's really great to hear that there's this mid level definition that's coming forward in terms of what that means. And then for the senior folks that have been around for a long time, some of our NASPA members have been coming back for multi decades. What might look different for them with this new communication style coming forward?

Chelsea Peterson [00:20:06]:
I will say I appreciate the question. I'm not sure. Four and a half, five months and I can really share what would look different for them. What I have heard is that is so beneficial for senior levels and vice presidents that NASPA provides or senior your student affairs professionals is the community. It's that hey, we're in our jobs that are very demanding on our campuses, at our institutions or wherever our senior levels are coming from. And our senior leaders and getting together in person for either a VP engagement or time of networking is that time where we're reminded of the work that we do. And I think that that is so, so valuable to literally be going through our day to day and handling the emails, the phone calls, the management, the finance. Once you' that level you're overseeing a complex organization and you're wearing the hat of okay, yes, I'm advocating for student affairs and I'm also working with the college president or the provost or whatever.

Chelsea Peterson [00:21:03]:
My reporting structure is to handle complex conversations across the entirety of the organization that I don't even oversee, but that I pay, I have an opportunity to lend a voice to. And so really NASPA is the community to say hey, I'm coming back. I it's so good to see you, let's have a coffee. Let me be re energized in my work. Let's come together in person or in, in virtual spaces and return energized to do this work and to continue to have to find the purpose to deal with the volume that is that our senior level administrators are navigating on a pretty consistent basis. The other thing I would say as a senior level professional or as a leader of student affairs, it's the position of communicating why being involved in a national association is important for first time professionals, for even the start of mid level professionals. So so many first time professionals may know where their professional homes can be or they may not know what their Value can be in terms of engagement. I remember starting out in my career journey and not knowing anything about where were the places in women's basketball to be connected.

Chelsea Peterson [00:22:08]:
And that was taught to me through mentorship. But not everybody has that immediate mentor. And so our senior leaders can say, can be mentors to student affairs staff on their campuses and say, hey, I've been really involved with naspa. This is what it's done for my life and this is how you can be involved also. But I think first and foremost my, my friend, professor, Professor Tim Bono, he's also an associate dean. He, I guess he's transitioned from mostly his professor work to being the head of our research and analytics. And Washoe Division of Student affairs said that no question the number one indicator for positivity is in person connection with folks. However, virtual connection is certainly way better than no connection.

Chelsea Peterson [00:22:50]:
And so whether our NASPA members can join us in person for events or virtually, there is still a lot of positive takeaways from having that connection together.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:23:00]:
Absolutely. That goes for our students as well. I know my institution is currently doing an IRL initiative in real life and that has been about creating spaces where students can be intentionally phone free, where students can actually engage with each other and giving active permission in some ways to put your phone down and talk to your neighbor, which is something that we've kind of lost as a culture. Being able to promote that has been really joyful in seeing students engage with it.

Chelsea Peterson [00:23:27]:
I love it.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:23:27]:
Chelsea, you're a professional communicator. You've been doing that for a good long while now. Also have a number of professional communicators in student affairs who are NASPA members and I feel like we don't really highlight them as a functional area a ton. So I'd just love to get some of your perspective on what it means to be a professional communicator in student affairs.

Chelsea Peterson [00:23:44]:
To all of the professional communicators listening to this, thank you for the work that you do. To me, being a professional communicator on campuses is really about connecting with the folks who are working day to day with our students and figuring out what is the best way to communicate the resources available available to make the student experience engaging, thoughtful and really rewarding. Probably they won't look at it as rewarding in the time, all the time, but really transformational is probably a better word. We are working with students when we're on campus. We are working with students during some of the most formative years that they're going to have they are becoming young adults. They are learning how to navigate complexities in ways that they haven't before in terms of balancing academic pandemics, social life. If somebody is a athlete or they're involved in student government or their acapella groups or any of the hundreds of organizations they could choose to be involved in. They are learning how to develop all of those things at one time.

Chelsea Peterson [00:24:47]:
They are getting connected to services for the first time, career services. How do I navigate my internship journey? How do I advance and have more senior level internships that are related to my research or my job placement? It doesn't have to be an internship. It could be research, could be job place. Students could be navigating their internships or their professional research placements. They could be really trying to find that friend in their first 90 days, which we know that if a student finds a friend or a community early on in their time on campuses, their retention levels are very high after that point. And so we as communicators and as marketing professionals on campuses are working with the departments who are trying to share these resources out. And I will just use WASHU as my most immediate past institution. There is so much information that's coming in, not just for young people, that's the example here, but for all of us.

Chelsea Peterson [00:25:43]:
We pick up our phone, our algorithms on social media push content to us. Our emails push content to us, zoom channels or teams channels. We have become very, very online. We are an online generation for the most part. And in terms of at institutions. And so if I'm a student and I open up my email and I have 120 emails to read, how am I going to find the thing that I am most looking for and that is marketing and communications professionals. That is what we look at. We have all these resources.

Chelsea Peterson [00:26:14]:
We know that we're competing in terms of across our institution, we're competing with what folks may want to put out. We can only in student affairs say we know this communication pattern, but we don't know what the other like a provost or a faculty member or an HR person or, or, or HR office might send out in a given day. And so it is really the, the art of saying how do we connect with our students? Uplift our resources in ways that are to make it through the noise and land in a way that helps them to navigate their experience. And at the end, that's the content. Like the content deliverable is how can we help you navigate the experience? Whether it's an offering of engagement through campus life or here's resource through our health services or here is how to get engaged with the career services. It really is about delivering an engagement to students that makes their experience on campus more meaningful.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:27:08]:
Chelsea I think that leads us really nicely to our theme questions for the season and again for our listeners. Our theme is on the value of student affairs. So we've been asking the same three questions of all of our guests and our first question is when you think about the value of student affairs, what comes to mind first and why?

Chelsea Peterson [00:27:23]:
When I think about the value of student affairs, I think about community of professionals who come together to share their expertise and are extremely committed to the well being and success of the students they serve. And without student affairs, that personalization that students find through their journey to me doesn't exist in quite the same way. I'll use an example from Athletics and Recreation. It's under the Division of student affairs at WashU and a student athlete is connected to a coach and is connected to a team and so they have that community. If somebody becomes a peer health ambassador, they have that community. If somebody finds their journey being a residential advisor or an assistant and they're in that community, that is, is a space for them. And so when I think about student affairs professionals and I think about the value it really is community of professionals, I, I, I'm answering this question through the lens of students and I, it is the community of professionals who are committed to making sure that the student journey is meaningful and that can exist through a variety of lenses. Because students get to choose, that's the thing, it's.

Chelsea Peterson [00:28:33]:
They get to choose what to engage in across the totality of an enterprise. And that is exciting and that's amazing. And student affairs professionals are experts in the areas that they oversee. And the great thing about it is there's something for everyone and I just, I think that so valuable that if a student comes to a campus and they are open to it, there is something for everyone to be the thing that engages them and becomes something that provides meaningful connection throughout their journey.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:29:02]:
Our second question is can you share a specific story or moment when you saw the value of student affairs come to life?

Chelsea Peterson [00:29:07]:
So I'm actually going to go back a little bit in time and share a story from when I was coaching. We had a guard who was a first generation college student and really at the time that point guard, I think yeah. Point guard. A point guard or. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. We are talking about the sport of basketball. We are.

Chelsea Peterson [00:29:29]:
She was specifically a point guard. There are Guard positions, two, three and, well, I guess a wing and then another guard. But I am specifically talking about a point and also, you know, public safety. Yes, we are talking about a point guard and the sport of basketball. And this student athlete in particular was the first. She was a first generation, the fly student, first generation and limited income. And she didn't know if she would graduate. And every month she would say, coach Peterson, I don't know if I can do this.

Chelsea Peterson [00:29:58]:
Coach Peterson, this is hard. This is really challenging. It's hard to balance everything. In her particular case, there were folks in her community that didn't understand why she would stay in college. If they heard this is hard, it's then you can quit and move back. And every month we worked on it. And then over the course of her four years, it became, you know, once a month and then every four months. And then by the time it was her last year, it's like, I'm doing this.

Chelsea Peterson [00:30:23]:
I have nine months left on campus. I'm going to graduate. Fast forward. She did graduate. She became the first in her family to graduate. And her parents. Her family, I will say her family, because I'm not entirely sure who all joined her for graduation. I don't remember that with clarity.

Chelsea Peterson [00:30:38]:
I remember one. It was a really special person in her life, her grandmother. And they were so happy. They were elated to celebrate that this is the first person in their family to earn a college degree. And so what I saw during that time was just a person, a young person who went through the academic curriculum and the student affairs experience to become their first in the family to do something. And in that moment, it captured for me the power of the experience we provide and more further clarity for the purpose that we can deliver through our work.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:31:13]:
Our final question is, what do you think student affairs needs to do to be better understood and better seen in today's educational environment?

Chelsea Peterson [00:31:20]:
When I think about this question, I think about a little bit about a previous answer when we talked in the communication space about how much noise there is. There's also a lot of noise on college campuses because if you think about a cabinet or however it's set up on a respected campus, you're talking about leaders who are at the highest levels of leadership. Maybe a senior student affairs professional or a provost or the head of legal or the head of HR or whatever compromises that chancellor or president's leadership. And all of those folks are going to be in there advocating for what they think they need, right? The resources they need. And sometimes those things are in conflict with one another and sometimes they are in collaboration with one another. But when I think about what student affairs needs to be better understood, it is that space where a vice president or a senior leader can speak to the impact of what student affairs offers to students. One, I think it's education. What is student affairs? And I'm saying that specific space because when you're talking about institutions, institutional change can be the work we do.

Chelsea Peterson [00:32:26]:
It absolutely is the work that folks on the ground do every day. And it all is also the senior most leader advocating for what is student affairs? How are we advocating or providing change for young people? Someone who comes up in, in their specific area or subject area. It's not that they don't want to know, it's just that you don't know what you don't know. And so it's advocating in that sense space. I think it, that is, that's my answer. It's. It's literally what is student affairs? Why is it meaningful? What experiences are we providing and being really, really specific about? Hey, here's like three things I'd like you to know about what we do and why we're important. And I think that once folks start to hear the, the impact that student affairs has on students, then it becomes meaningful.

Chelsea Peterson [00:33:13]:
It really is the co curricular experience. Everything outside of academics. I just don't think that that is always understood at the of somebody's journey. And so I think the advocacy at the highest level is the answer to being better understood and better seen in today's educational environment. I also would be remiss not to go back. I won't add link to this podcast recording, but I do have a lot of thoughts for a different conversation about the role of artificial intelligence and how that can be uplifted and utilized to cut through some of the noise. I definitely think that that answer in terms of how that can be utilized and implemented definitely is a help to getting through the noise.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:33:58]:
I would love to have that conversation with you. I'm teaching AI literacy and technology competency for master's level students in student affairs right now. Would love to have that at another show.

Chelsea Peterson [00:34:08]:
This seems like a different topic, but I just want to say as a marketing and communications professional that is, I'm thinking a lot about that and everything we've talked about today, from leveraging career levels to how to advocate student affairs to be better understood in today's educational environment to everything else we've talked about that. I feel like artificial intelligence, when implemented and used the right way, can assist in every literally the content we've talked about today.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:34:33]:
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.

Speaker C [00:34:39]:
Thanks Jill. So excited to be back in the NASPA world and there's a ton of things happening in naspa. The US Department of Justice has delayed compliance deadlines for digital accessibility requirements under the ADA to 2027 and 2028, while maintaining expectations that institutions meet WCAG 2.1 standards. At the same time, the US Department of Education has proposed a new Title 4 accountability framework authorized under HR1, the One Big Beautiful Bill act, that would replace prior gainful employment rules with a universal earnings based metric applied across all programs in institution types, putting programs at risk of losing direct loan eligibility if graduates fail to meet earnings thresholds. The proposal is open for public comments through May 20, 2026. The department has also continued negotiated rulemaking on accreditation, introducing provisions related to faculty qualifications, academic freedom, and intellectual diversity that have raised concerns about federal overreach and institutional autonomy. The Trauma Administration has advanced cannabis rescheduling by moving certain medical products to Schedule 3, a change that may expand research opportunities. Institutions that receive federal funding must continue to comply with the Drug Free Schools and Communities act, and you can learn more about this in the NASPA On Demand webinar on DFSCA reporting in the courts.

Speaker C [00:36:06]:
Higher education associations have filed suit challenging a recent executive order tying federal contracting eligibility to DEI related certifications, arguing the policy is overly is overly broad and may restrict protected speech. As always, NASPA continues its advocacy efforts while tracking more than 1600 active bills nationwide through its Policy Hub, highlighting ongoing legislative activity affecting higher education. Earlier this season you heard about the strategic plan that came out from NASPA right after the annual conference, and in that, much of what you heard talked about member engagement and finding your place in our association. So today I wanted to talk a little bit about opportunities. Opportunities for you to be able to find that niche for yourself, find that place for yourself. Within our association, one of the first places that many people find an opportunity to make a connection is through our knowledge communities. NASPA's knowledge communities serve as small communities based on functional areas and identities that allow individuals to find their place of belonging within a large organization. These knowledge communities serve as content experts and communities of support for student affairs.

Speaker C [00:37:21]:
I know personally, I initially became involved within NASPA through the New Professionals and Graduates Network. At the time before knowledge communities, we had groups that were called networks, and as those networks became knowledge communities, those knowledge Communities continued to grow and flourish and become even stronger. Personally, I started the SAPA Knowledge Community, which is student affairs partnering with Academic Affairs. And through that Knowledge Community, I found my home. I found people that were doing similar work to what I was doing. And you can find your niche, you can find your group, you can find others like yourself that are, are doing things or are passionate about things within student affairs. And it's an opportunity for you to be able to give back, but also make more connections that allows for you to be able to have people that you can turn to no matter what is happening on your own campus. You can join any of these knowledge communities easy enough.

Speaker C [00:38:17]:
All you do is go to the NASPA website, log in to NASPA in the upper left hand corner and when you log in, click on mynasba. When you click on my naspa, you can then click on Engagement Portal or go into your email notifications and when you get in there, click on my NASPA Engagement under your profile. When you click on my NASPA Engagement, you'll have an opportunity to sign up for divisions, groups, journals, Knowledge communities and be able to select as many as you want. By selecting the groups, you are becoming a member of that group. You can also take the next step, which is volunteering and getting involved in a Knowledge Community leadership team. By going to the NASPA Volunteer portal, you have an opportunity to see all the different opportunities to be able to give back to the Association. Your time is the greatest gift that you can give, and we know that. And it's an opportunity for you to be able to not only give back, but also to be able to make those lasting connections with people that are passionate about the things that are similar to you and to be able to help to form not only the current vision, but the future vision of the Knowledge Community for the future.

Speaker C [00:39:30]:
So I highly encourage you to go to the NASPA website, log in and check out the Knowledge Communities. You can find out about all of the Knowledge Communities under Membership plus Communities and go down to Knowledge Communities to learn more. Every week we're going to be sharing some amazing things that are happening within the association. So we are going to 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 the Knowledge Community, giving back within one of the centers or the divisions of the association. And ask. As you're doing that, it's important to be able to identify for yourself, where do you fit? Where do you want to 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. I see myself doing something like that, or in 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.

Speaker C [00:40:57]:
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 [00:41:08]:
Chris, thank you so much for a lovely season of NASPA Worlds. We always appreciate you keeping us informed on what's going on in and around NASPA and Chelsea. We have now reached our Lightning round where we give you seven questions to answer in about 90 seconds. Are you ready to do this?

Chelsea Peterson [00:41:24]:
I am. Let's go.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:25]:
All right, number one, if you were a conference keynote speaker, what would your entrance music be?

Chelsea Peterson [00:41:30]:
The original Space Jam theme song.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:32]:
Spoken like a true basketball player. Love it. Number two, when you were five years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Chelsea Peterson [00:41:38]:
The cowgirl.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:39]:
Number three, who's your most influential professional mentor?

Chelsea Peterson [00:41:42]:
My uncle, John Applin.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:43]:
Number four, your essential student affairs read,

Chelsea Peterson [00:41:46]:
Death By Meeting by Patrick Lencioni.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:48]:
Number five, the best TV show you've

Chelsea Peterson [00:41:50]:
been binging lately, Rooster, featuring Steve Carroll on hbo.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:54]:
Number six, the podcast you've spent the most hours listening to in the last year, Armchair Expert. And finally, number seven, any shout outs you'd like to give, personal or professional?

Chelsea Peterson [00:42:03]:
Well, I would love to give a shout out to my NASPA teammates who make our work every day possible, to our members who drive this work forward and serve our students. And on a personal note, to my mom, who we lost last year, you're everything and I see so much in our daughter, Kit. I'm so grateful for my family, for my mom, for my wife who make what I do every day have purpose and meaning. I love you, Chelsea.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:42:29]:
It's been so great to have you on the show and get to know you better, both personally and as a professional here at naspa. Looking forward to many more months and years of you leading this work at naspa. If our members would like to get a hold of you after this episode airs, how can they find you?

Chelsea Peterson [00:42:44]:
Please reach out to me on LinkedIn or feel free to email me c petersonaspa.org I look forward to connecting Chelsea

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:42:51]:
thank you so much for sharing your voice with us today.

Chelsea Peterson [00:42:53]:
Thank you Jill. It was a pleasure.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:43:00]:
This has been welcome back to an episode of Essay 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@savoicesaspa.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.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:43:30]:
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, 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.