In the latest episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field podcast, the conversation centers around one of NASPA's most dynamic offerings: the NASPA Strategies Conference. Host Dr. Jill Creighton is joined by Dr. Emma Spalding, Senior Director of Wellbeing Initiatives and Statewide Coalition Projects, and Whitney Platzer-O'Regan, Senior Director of Prevention and Safety Initiatives. Together, they explore not just the logistics and evolution of the Strategies Conference, but also the importance of holistic professional development in student affairs.
A Conference with Broad Appeal and Deep Impact
The NASPA Strategies Conference is unique in its ability to bring together five major content areas—Alcohol, Other Drug, and Violence Prevention; Mental Health; Peer Education; Sexual Violence Prevention and Response; and Wellbeing and Health Promotion Leadership—under one roof. This multi-conference environment means that professionals can tailor their experience, stepping between tracks and broadening their expertise far beyond their home specialties.
Both Dr. Emma Spalding and Whitney Platzer-O'Regan highlighted the power of breaking down traditional silos and building inter-campus connections, a theme that runs throughout the episode. The presence of undergraduate peer educators is particularly valuable; their on-the-ground perspective not only energizes the conference but also ensures its relevance for today's rapidly shifting campus realities.
Practical Tips and Professional Development
For newcomers, the advice is clear: take advantage of NASPA's dedicated first-time attendee sessions and make strategic use of the conference app to maximize your experience. The episode also delves into creative funding advice and action-planning for those hoping to bring students to the conference, emphasizing how this investment can have ripple effects campus-wide.
When the conversation turns to career pathways, Whitney Platzer-O'Regan and Dr. Emma Spalding remind supervisors and VPSAs that fostering professional growth—and prioritizing well-being—go hand in hand. Simple actions like encouraging PTO use and seeking out personal, not just role-related, professional development opportunities can significantly impact staff retention and satisfaction.
Why Listen?
This episode is a must for anyone considering attending NASPA Strategies or just wanting to recharge their professional batteries with actionable ideas. Whether you're a seasoned administrator or an emerging professional, the insight and encouragement offered by Dr. Jill Creighton, Dr. Emma Spalding, and Whitney Platzer-O'Regan will help you navigate both conference season and your broader career journey.
Tune in for an energizing, informative discussion on transforming your professional development and supporting the well-being of everyone in your student affairs community.
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 ed professionals wherever you happen to be. This is season 15, Enhancing the Career Pathways and Well-Being of Student Affairs Professionals. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton, she/her/hers, your SA Voices from the Field host. Welcome back to another episode of SA Voices from the Field. Today we're featuring 2 NASPA staffers who are going to be talking to us all about the NASPA Strategies Conference. Our first guest is Emmis Balding, who serves as the Senior Director of Wellbeing Initiatives and Statewide Coalition Projects at NASPA.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:45]:
She has been with NASPA for 7 years, and in her role, she oversees the Colorado Coalition of Campus Alcohol and Drug Educators, also known as CADE, and the Healthy Colleges Montana, or HCM. In addition, she works in the Inter-Association Wellbeing Collaborative, or IWC, representing NASPA along 20 other higher education associations. She also serves on the core team for planning the NASPA Strategies Conferences, and born and raised in Colorado, she still calls Denver home with her partner and pup. Our second guest is Whitney Platzer-O'Regan, Ed.D. Dr. Platzer-O'Regan serves as the Senior Director of Prevention and Safety Initiatives at NASPA. Whitney received her doctorate in educational leadership and policy from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University, where her research focused on student sense of belonging and engagement through a public health lens. She has significant experience working to reduce high-risk substance misuse on college campuses with functional area experience in student affairs, policy, student conduct, crisis response, peer education, and health promotion.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:44]:
Welcome to our first-time guests on the pod, Whitney and Emma. Whitney, so lovely to meet you.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:01:50]:
Hi, thank you so much for having me.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:51]:
And Emma, so glad to see you as well.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:01:53]:
Yes, excited to be here with you today.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:56]:
Whitney and Emma are 2 of our NASPA staffers, and we love having our NASPA staffers here on the pod. They're here today to talk specifically about the Strategies Conference that's coming up. And NASPA Strategies is such a longstanding staple of the NASPA community. I feel like it's an important gathering point for specialists in our field in particular areas, and it's just a very accessible conference for those who want to enter NASPA but are a little bit like, I don't want to be with 5,000, 7,000, 10,000 of my closest friends at Annual. So we'll get into all of that, but we love to start with getting to know our guests. Emma, so glad to have you in the conversation today. Welcome.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:02:32]:
Sure.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:33]:
And I'd love to know from you, how did you get to your current seat at NASPA? And I specifically want to hear a little bit more about your work with Cade, just as a former peer educator and a former health promotion person in Colorado. It was so lovely to see that on your bio.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:02:47]:
Yeah, wonderful. Similar to Whitney, I've had a winding path to get where I am, but it started in undergrad, as many of us do, of having a wonderful experience with some great student affairs professionals on campus and planting the seed that I maybe wanted to go into this field. I took a few years off after undergrad before I ended up going to get my master's in higher education at the University of Denver. And while I was there, a graduate assistant position opened up. The Bacchus Initiatives of NASPA— previously the Bacchus Initiatives was a standalone nonprofit that merged with NASPA in 2014. And one of the signature projects that we worked on was CAEDAR, the Coalition of Colorado Alcohol and Drug Educators. And so for the 2 years I was getting my degree, I I started with NASPA full-time and have been working here since then. So just over 7 years.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:04:02]:
And alongside the CADE Coalition, I was able to work with our Healthy Colleges Montana, which is a coalition in the state of Montana that does similar work around health and wellbeing, but a focus and a foundation in commercial tobacco prevention. So I've definitely found my niche within higher education in this health and wellbeing space. Throughout my career at NASPA, I've had lots of opportunities for different roles and expansions, which is how I'm in the role I am today.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:04:31]:
I love that you referenced the Bacchus Network. Just for a complete throwback, I earned my peer health educator certification as an undergrad when it was called Bacchus and Gamma. So it's gone through many, many iterations over the years, but with the same core.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:04:43]:
Yes, definitely.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:04:44]:
Now, Emma, your current title is the Senior Director of Wellbeing Initiatives and Stateside Coalition Projects at NASPA. That's a lot of words.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:04:52]:
You've described some of the portfolio that you're leading right now, but what Alongside the 2 statewide coalitions in Colorado and Montana that I mentioned, I help with our national and international wellbeing work. And so one of the keystones of this, besides the NASPA Strategies Conferences, which we'll talk about, is the Inter-Association Wellbeing Collaborative, which is a conglomerate of over 20 higher education associations that serve different parts of higher education coming together with the shared goal of moving forward wellbeing on campus and Specifically in a systems and settings approach. So really thinking about how we change the campus environment, not just for students, but also for professionals, the staff and faculty on campus. And so it's a big group project. So it's been a lot of herding folks, but I think that it's really cool to have NASPA be part of the model of bringing together associations so that campuses can see that they can break down silos and work across campus as well, because everyone has a role in impacting the wellbeing of the campus environment.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:58]:
And that's a really powerful area to do coalition building around because our students struggle with a similar wellness set of items on each campus. And there are so many different ways to approach wellness from a public health strategy perspective in the university setting. It's such a great initiative that you're working on. Emma, I'm wondering when a member might work with you directly.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:06:18]:
If any members are in Colorado and Montana and work in a health and wellbeing space, happy to have them be a part of the coalitions. It's a bummer we don't have coalitions in all 50 states managed by NASPA. Otherwise, I would work with folks that way. But the other opportunity is with the Wellness and Health Promotion Knowledge Community. So I get to liaison and work with the wonderful folks that are volunteer leaders for that knowledge community. And so currently our co-chairs are Samantha Smith out of Indiana University Bloomington and Amanda Waters out of University of Massachusetts Amherst. And so alongside them is a team of other folks, and that is a way that I get to connect with NASPA members most closely outside of our event at Strategies.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:07:02]:
And Whitney, we're so glad to have you here on the pod. We're gonna ask you the same question. How did you get to your current seat at NASPA?
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:07:09]:
It was a long and winding road. Was a transfer student to an out-of-state institution, and I got my degree. I got my BFA in graphic design. I really wanted to tour the world with bands and create t-shirts and merchandise and do all of that. But lucky or unlucky enough, I graduated in 2008, which wasn't the greatest opportunity in the job market. And so I was lucky enough to get a job at Duke University in their university libraries. But what I realized was that it was way too quiet for me. I wanted to be back in student affairs.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:07:39]:
I had found a home in my undergraduate experience as part of the programming board. And so I wanted to go back and do that. Through an arduous search process, I found a master's program that accepted me into higher ed and gave me a really great assistantship where I worked with amazing people in the Dean of Students Office. And it exposed me to a world, to the world of peer education and alcohol and drug prevention. And so professionally, I was able to really find development and intrigue and work that kept me on my toes through that topical area. And I was able to attend NASPA Strategies every conference season. That became my annual conference. And so I got to know people like Emma through that.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:08:20]:
I got to know people like David Arnold. And so as I thought about what that next step was after I got my doctorate, an opportunity popped up at NASPA to work in safety and prevention broadly. And so it really was the great next step for me to help institutions think about their prevention work, making sure it's evidence-based, and really talk to them about the power of peer education.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:41]:
And Whitney, your full title is the Senior Director of Prevention and Safety Initiatives at NASPA. What does that mean broadly?
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:08:48]:
My portfolio encompasses a couple things. Uh, any kind of AOD, alcohol and other drug prevention work, right? Making sure that people who are doing work in that functional area specifically are implementing evidence-based work, whether that is figuring out how to stop, start, or continue the work they're doing, right? Evaluate those pieces. My portfolio also encompasses the peer education program. Uh, we have a really strong leadership development program for peer educators called our Certified Peer Educator Program. It has a train-the-trainer component and subject matter trainings for undergraduate students around cannabis, mental health and wellbeing, and prescription drug misuse. And the portfolio that I oversee looks at the entire professional pathway, whether you're an undergraduate student, a new professional, mid-level, or even VPs who are looking to really solidify their alcohol and drug prevention work.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:09:42]:
Now, the two of you come together to form a super team that is leading the work of NASPA Strategies. And this year, I understand Strategies is going to have some new flair to it. So I'm hoping we can start with what is the Strategies Conference for our members who may not be familiar?
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:09:56]:
Yeah, I can start us off. The NASFA Strategies Conference brings together 5 different conferences in one. And so folks have the opportunity to attend sessions in a variety of health, safety, and wellbeing areas. And so the 5 conferences that we host as part of this event are the Alcohol, Other Drug, and Violence Prevention Conference, the Mental Health Conference, the Peer Education Conference, the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Conference, and the Wellbeing and Health Promotion Leadership Conference. And so by offering all 5 conferences as one event, we're able to have folks attend sessions that relate to probably one of the many hats that they wear on campus. And we know that folks are not working solely, often not working solely in one of these areas, but can get the professional development they need across all these content areas.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:10:45]:
And I'll just chime in that 2 years ago we brought what was formerly known as General Assembly under the conference's umbrella and renamed it the Peer Education Conference. And that's a really great opportunity for undergraduate students. We had almost 400 registered for the conference last year, and it's a really wonderful opportunity not only for students to come and learn from their peers, to present sessions for their peers, but to attend sessions from all of the other tracks. So it really is that next step opportunity for undergraduate student leaders to gain some expertise in topical areas, to connect professionally with peers and possible mentors from across the country, and really feel valued in their role as peer educators on campus.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:11:29]:
I'm gonna emphasize something you both have mentioned, which is there are 5 conferences happening simultaneously, but you're not locked into one of the tracks. You can say, I wanna pick a session on peer education now, but the next session might be on mental health. I can switch to a sexual violence prevention session. So as mentioned, you might be someone who's focused on health promotion more broadly, or prevention work or healthy campus work more broadly, and really benefit from this particular environment because you're also connecting with professionals who may have those broad portfolio elements like you have.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:11:59]:
Yeah, and I really think that if I think about topical areas that are often siloed on their campus, the Strategies Conference is a really great opportunity to build connections. We know Gallup says that to feel valued and healthy at work, you need to have a work bestie. And so being able to find to that person, make that connection. That is one of the goals at Strategies. And whether that's someone at your own institution who works at a different functional area or someone who works in your same functional area at a different institution, that is one of the really value adds to attending Strategies. I often think about the compliance person or the sexual violence prevention person who is just doing very specific work, and then they come to Strategies and they understand the intersection of alcohol use and sexual violence prevention. And so then they attend sessions around alcohol prevention. They're thinking about starting a peer education program, so they go to some peer education sessions, they talk to students around those topic areas, they talk to advisors, and it's a really great opportunity to spread your wings and figure out how to grow in your positions.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:13:01]:
I think additionally, it's an opportunity for folks to bring a whole team on the campus together to that event. So everything from the undergraduate student opportunities that Whitney talked about with the peer education conference to sessions that are focused on more senior leaders that are maybe directing strategy on their campus rather than implementing programs. And so each of the sessions throughout the event is going to indicate what topical area it is for, but also what level in your career that this is focused on so that there's an opportunity for everyone within a campus team to get some professional development and then hopefully come together as a team on campus with lots of ideas to take And this coming year, it's January 2027 in Austin, Texas.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:13:46]:
The early bird registration deadline is coming very, very soon. So if you're interested in that early bird rate, we recommend that you get on that very quickly. The call for proposals has just closed, and so your reviewing process is underway. One of my favorite things about Strategies is if you get accepted, you also get a registration discount. So maybe not for this year's listeners, but for next year's listeners, maybe a little bit of a bump to head you in that direction. But thinking about what this conference can bring, if I'm new to this Strategies Conference, how should I approach my experience?
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:14:17]:
I would say start off with the first-time attendee session. We have really great colleagues at NASPA who host a first-time attendee session. They're staff from our membership team. They are going to share with you kind of how to navigate the conference specifically, as well as share with you the benefits of becoming a NASPA member and what a NASPA membership can do with you. I think that is often the first place that we recommend. It's kind of right at the top of the conference, and so it's a really great starting point, especially if you are there by yourself, you're an office of one, and you've shown up as the only person from your institution. They typically do some networking, grab your coffee in the morning, and get started with that first-time attendee session is a really great opportunity.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:14:58]:
Yeah. And then using the conference app, and there's a lot of offerings throughout the event, not as much as our annual conference, but it's NASPA's second or third large event. So making sure to look through all the offerings and get a sense of what sessions that you're interested in and looking at the different tags for that. And then on Thursday evening of our event, there is our opening reception, and that's a great place to connect with folks and really network. We also host our poster sessions as well as a session type called Take My Show on Your Road, which is a sort of tabling program sharing opportunity. And so a great way to connect a little more informally than those general interest sessions for folks to do that in a social environment.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:15:40]:
What are the highlights for next year that may be new or different from previous years?
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:15:45]:
It's in a warm place, which is always a positive. We're typically in the cold tundra of a Chicago or a Boston or Indy, and this year we're in Austin, Texas, which is really great. I think one of the opportunities that will be really interesting for this year is that if we look at NASPA membership and where a lot of our member institutions are, it is largely dominated by the Southeast. So I anticipate there is going to be a lot of opportunity for people to drive in. Texas is a big state with a lot of membership institutions. So I, I anticipate a lot of show, like people showing up from Texas institutions that might not have been able to make it to Chicago or might not have been able to make it to Kansas City because they couldn't drive. And so the opportunity to explore some new institutional types, build relationships with colleagues who are at those institutions that you didn't necessarily connect with before could be a really interesting caveat for this year's Not new to this year, but I think it's a highlight of this event is that we offer a lot of continuing education credits and for a lot of different professionals.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:16:51]:
And so there's a great opportunity to get those. There's no additional cost to receive those as part of this event. So that's usually the case with other professional development opportunities. So we're hoping this coming year we'll be able to offer the CHEZ and MCHEZ certificate, NACP, which is for advocates. NASW for social workers and NBCC for counselors. So there's a lot of opportunity there to fulfill those requirements for your credentials.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:17:19]:
I didn't know that we were certifying for so many. That's wonderful to, to hear that we're able to get people in the door and demonstrate that it's a good use of their time, not just from an educational perspective, but also that it's gonna meet requirements for their licensures. Thinking about something you said earlier, you mentioned that this is going to be the first year that the Peer Education Conference is kind of in this new format. What is that in terms of of its previous iteration to this year, and how might that change the conference environment?
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:17:46]:
There are students there. I think that changes the conference environment. Obviously, an annual conference, we do have student leaders, we have NUF fellows, DLI attendees, so we're not, it's not like it's never happened before, but the sheer population of these students is, I think, going to be really interesting for professionals who have not yet attended Strategies or attended a conference with peer educators. These specifically are student leaders who are interested in pushing the needle and changing dialogue around health, safety, and wellbeing issues on their campus, and they're doing it boots on the ground. And so they tend to not silo themselves to just peer education sessions. They are going to go into a sexual violence prevention session and sit front row and raise their hand and ask questions. And so presenters, be prepared. Students don't hide their tongue.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:18:36]:
They feel empowered, and we love that. That challenges us as conference planners. It challenges us as student affairs professionals, and it really gives them an opportunity to find their voice and their place on campus.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:18:48]:
We also host specific spaces and networking events for the students so that they can connect with each other, which I think has helped move program ideas forward from a student perspective. That is really cool to see more and more students presenting as part of the Peer Education Conference.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:19:04]:
That student voice being present in the space is so valuable to give us real-time information and feedback on, is what we're thinking about realistic? Is what we're trying to do on our campus going to make an impact? Is the evidence-based component still valid for this generation of students? So many individual pieces there. For our professionals who are attending and maybe have not interacted with students in conference before, are there any other pieces of advice that you have for kind of framing presentations or soliciting audience feedback or general interaction?
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:19:36]:
A couple things come to mind. Don't be afraid to just strike up a conversation with a student. Get over that hump, jump that bridge, like make it happen. We know students love to talk about themselves, so ask them about what they're doing on campus. Ask them what it means to be a peer educator, how their work impacts policy and process and their, their peers' culture on their campus. I think that's a no-brainer. Students love to talk about themselves, and so just ask open-ended questions. Find them after a session, find them during a conference break, or maybe a yoga meditation session.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:20:06]:
Just chit-chat with them like they're a colleague. I think when it comes to framing presentations, I don't know that you need to change any topic, right? Especially if you're not presenting specifically for the period conference, but for the other 4 conferences. They are college students, they are adults, they will rise to the occasion. I think what I would encourage you to do that If you feel that a student is taking over a session by asking a lot of questions, figuring out how to navigate that towards the end of the conference, or feeling really confident to say, I'd love to talk to you more about this, can we meet after the session is over and really dig in? Like, use— figure out what you're comfortable with about how to kind of move the session along, because especially for those general interest sessions, 50 minutes goes by.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:20:51]:
Yeah, I think that that's great advice, and students love to give their opinion, so they will do that willingly. They will not be shy, as Whitney said. So use that to your advantage. I think sometimes folks are, want to hear from a student panel or whatnot, but we don't need a panel just to be able to connect with students. And if you have student leaders that you think would benefit from this event, please bring them to the event. We have a student-specific registration rate to make it more affordable for those undergraduate students to be able to attend.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:21:20]:
And we will be offering student registration scholarships through the Bacchus Fund and the NASPA Foundation this year.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:21:27]:
I think funding is a really important moment here because I think a lot of us struggle to get ourselves to conferences from a professional development perspective. Aside from these scholarships that are being offered through NASPA, is there anything that you're seeing, seeing be quite successful for campus-based professionals who want to bring their students to these conferences?
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:21:44]:
I would encourage them to submit a session to present. That communicates a level of investment, a level of professional career growth. It's a skill-based opportunity for those students, and so it's not just seen as them sitting in what is essentially a classroom and learning something and walking away. Like, it's a great opportunity for— well, they were teaching their peers, they were talking to campuses from across the country and made our institution look really great for the work that we're doing. I'll also say that when I would bring undergraduate peer educators to this conference, I would have them create an action plan. So they would document the sessions they went to and one or two things that they learned, and then When we would get back to campus, I would have them create an action plan on how they were gonna use their learnings to contribute to our peer education program for the rest of the academic year. And that really helped not only the student connect the opportunities they had at Strategies to implement an actual strategy on campus, but it gave me an opportunity to share with my colleagues and supervisors, look at the value of me taking these students to Strategies. Now they're implementing this program right here.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:22:52]:
This is a product of them attending. And so that's one piece of advice I would give campuses who are thinking about how to kind of advocate for attendance.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:23:01]:
I think also advocating across campus that this is not just a benefit to the health and wellbeing space on campus, but these students are building those skills. And so are there different things through the student government or other entities on campus that provide support for students that are representing the institution and presenting at conferences, even if it's not specifically in the topic area of the health promotion promotion office or, or whatnot? And is there opportunities to get support for attendance through that?
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:23:31]:
I'm going to take us towards our theme questions for this season, which are right up the alleys of both of your work. We are focusing this season on enhancing the career pathways and wellbeing of student affairs professionals. So I've got 2 questions for you in this area. Our first is, what's one easy thing and one hard thing that a supervisor can do to enhance the career pathway of the people they're charged with leading?
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:23:53]:
We're really excited that later this fall we'll be announcing our keynote speakers for our opening and closing keynote sessions. So keep an eye out on weekly updates from NASPA and the Strategies webpage and other communications for those when we have them confirmed.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:24:08]:
I'll start with the easy thing. Hold your employees accountable to taking their PTO and respect that PTO. It's part of our employment package. It's part of working at an institution. And if our employees and ourselves, if we can't take care of ourselves, how can we take care of And that role modeling piece is so important. When an undergraduate student who's developing their career identity sees someone actively use their PTO, I think is a really great role modeling opportunity, right? So that to me is so easy. It's there. Encourage and respect that your staff or your professionals take that.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:24:43]:
And that's an easy conversation to have. I think what's harder is, as you mentioned earlier, Jill, budgets are dwindling. Support for professional development is dwindling. The harder thing is advocating for the professional's development instead of just professional development that will suit their job description, like really managing up and saying, Whitney wants to develop this way as a professional, and so we need to find the funding to be able to do that, versus Whitney in her role as director of safety and prevention needs to do a prevention certification, so that's the only pro-dev we're going to support. I think those are 2 very different things. And the first bucket around the personal professional's development will contribute to a greater retention and success and value add to professionals retaining in the field as opposed to the other piece. And I do think that's the much harder conversation.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:25:42]:
And that's such a question.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:25:43]:
I would totally agree about the harder conversation, but I think it's so important to have that professional development and find creative Ways to do that. If folks are NASPA members, there's oftentimes lots of information and offerings available to the membership. And so especially as positions might become more general or wear more hats as they are being asked to do more, how can we find the information that supports the folks that we're supervising? I think I love how you answered, Whitney, about folks taking their benefits because that is so actionable and impactful. I also think supervisors can ask for the opinions of the folks that they supervise, even if it's on a systems or a structure or a new policy, that there is a lot that everyone can bring to the table. In our work, I really see everyone impacting wellbeing and everyone is part of the system. And so there's a role and everyone has an opinion and they like being asked what their opinion is to move that forward. So really having those conversations and seeing everyone on the team as key players, regardless of hierarchy and roles.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:26:52]:
And our second question is, what might you want VPSAs to consider regarding the holistic wellbeing of student affairs professionals that perhaps they're not already thinking about?
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:27:02]:
I think it's important to think about the whole profession. I think a lot of the work on a college campus ends up being focused on the wellbeing of students and the students' experience, and if we don't have well folks in the profession, we're not going to have well students as well. There's a trickle down there. And there is still an importance in making sure that we are serving students because that's why we work at institutions of higher education. I'll highlight that the NASPA Commission on Well-Being and Student Success is working on the final stages of a publication for vice presidents of student affairs to think about this interconnection and how it really is tied together, that, that students need to be well to be successful, and we need to focus on well-being. well-being to promote student success. So excited for that very actionable resource that's about to come out for, for those leaders on campus.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:27:54]:
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.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:28:01]:
Thanks, Jill. So excited to be back in the NASPA world, and there's a ton of things happening in NASPA. Students that are planning to attend the Peer Education Conference at the 2027 NASPA Strategies Conference can now apply for the Bakus Scholarship, which provides financial assistance to help support conference participation. Members, friends, staff, and alumni can also support student participation by donating to the Bakus Scholarship. If you are planning to apply for the Bakus Scholarship, applications are due on October 12th at 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. You can find out more on the NASPA website. Go to the Strategies Conference to find out more. NASPA is really excited to launch the revised Advisors Academy through virtual and self-paced short courses that are designed to support peer education advisors who are new to the role or looking to strengthen their foundational skills.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:28:59]:
Advisors Academy provides an opportunity to take your work a step further by focusing on the broader practices that support successful peer education programs. The updated Advisors Academy features a refreshed online course with updated videos and accompanying workbook with practical strategies and opportunities to reflect on your own program throughout the training. The course is broken down into 5 modules, and in those 5 modules, you'll explore models of peer education, group development, operations, assessment and evaluation, and student learning outcomes. Throughout the course, you'll use the accompanying workbook to reflect on your current practices, apply concepts to your own program, and identify opportunities for growth. So whether you're new to advising peer educators or looking to strengthen an established program, the Advisors Academy provides a foundation for intentionality, for intentionally developing and supporting peer education programs. You can find out more by going to the NASPA website under Events and Online Learning and go down to On-Demand Catalog. Congress recently passed a continued resolution that keeps most federal programs funded at the current levels through December 11th, temporarily averting a government shutdown while lawmakers continue negotiations over fiscal year 2027 spending. For higher education, the measure maintains the maximum Pell Grant at $7,395 and delays proposed changes to government-wide federal grant rules.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:30:29]:
Questions about longer-term education funding remain unresolved, including how Congress will address a projected Pell Grant shortfall and proposed changes to several student aid and college access programs. Meanwhile, the Department of Education and National Science Foundation are pursuing their own changes to federal grantmaking that could give agencies greater discretion to suspend or terminate awards. The Department also awarded more than $106 million to TRIO grants supporting college access programs. Immigration policy remains an area of significant activity, with the Department of Homeland Security limiting circumstances in which international students may participate in internships through Curricular Practical Training, potentially affecting access to experiential learning opportunities. In the courts, the Department of Education is appealing decisions that blocked its attempt to establish new restrictions on which public and nonprofit employers qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The Department of Justice also expanded its challenges to state tuition equity policies for undocumented students, filing lawsuits against Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington as part of litigation now involving 21 states. A separate case in Minnesota leaves unresolved the broader dispute over the federal government's interpretation and enforcement of Title IX. NASPA continues to watch and monitor federal and state policy developments and is We're currently tracking 1,628 active higher education-related bills across the 119th Congress and state legislatures.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:32:03]:
If you want to find out more about any of this, go to the Policy Hub on the NASPA website. Every week we're going to be sharing some amazing things that are happening within the association. So we are 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 a knowledge community, giving back within one of the, the centers or the divisions of the Association. And 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 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. Because through doing that, all of us are stronger and the association is better.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:33:29]:
Tune in again next week as we find out more about what is happening in NASPA.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:33:33]:
Chris, thank you so much for continuing to share with us what's going on in and around NASPA. We always appreciate your updates. All right, Emma and Whitney, we have reached our lightning round and I've got 7 questions for you to answer in about 90 seconds. Are you ready to go?
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:33:48]:
Yes, ready.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:33:50]:
All right, question 1. If you were a conference keynote speaker, what would your entrance music be?
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:33:55]:
Right now, it would be Butter by BTS.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:33:57]:
Mine would be The Man by Taylor Swift.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:33:59]:
Number 2, when you were 5 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:34:03]:
Ooh, I don't think I ever had a dream job when I was 5. I was in Girl Scouts, and I just loved learning things and changing. So that definitely depended on what merit badge I was working on at the time.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:34:15]:
I always just wanted to be an MTV VJ, and that continues today. If MTV ever decides to come back, I would love for them to cast me as a VJ.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:34:24]:
Whitney on TRL in the near future. I love it.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:34:26]:
Yes.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:34:26]:
Number 3, who's your most influential professional mentor?
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:34:29]:
Mine would have to be Mike Sagawa. He was my Dean of Students during my undergrad and was a big reason that I ended up going into student affairs. And it wasn't until after I started as a graduate assistant with NASPA that I learned what a rock star he is within the NASPA-verse. And so he continues to be a mentor of mine.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:34:49]:
My greatest professional mentor is Dr. Claudia Ares-Serena. She's currently the AVP and Dean of Students at Georgetown University. She was the first person that ever gave me a shot in student affairs and guided me professionally and personally throughout so many years. And she's the reason I am the professional that I am today.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:35:07]:
Number 4, your essential student affairs read.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:35:10]:
I think that the ones that stuck with me the most is Where You Work Matters. Really think about what kind of institution we all work at.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:35:17]:
Yeah, that's a good one, Emma. I really love— it's something along the lines of becoming a conflict-confident leader. I think really, if you can't handle conflict in a healthy way or operate in the political frame, you're really going to struggle in student affairs. And so ingesting that book from COVID to cover was really important for me.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:35:34]:
Number 5, the best TV show you've been binging lately.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:35:37]:
I'm rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender right now in preparation of watching the new movie. that came out.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:35:43]:
And I'm still not out of my heated rivalry psychosis, so I'm just reheating that constantly.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:35:48]:
Number 6, the podcast you've spent the most hours listening to across the last year.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:35:53]:
It would show that I have listened to House of Maher the most. That's a podcast by the elite women's rugby player, Ilona Maher, and her sisters. Side note, I coach collegiate rugby, and so I love keeping a pulse on the women's rugby space. But they talk about more than that. It's very interesting.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:36:09]:
For me, it's Las Culturistas with Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers. Highly recommend. They do a moments of culture recap every year, so that's a really great place to start, but they keep me tapped into what's going on in the zeitgeist.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:36:24]:
You both have successfully made it almost to the end of the lightning round. Our final question for you is number 7, any shoutouts you'd like to give, personal or professional?
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:36:32]:
I'll shout out the team that I work with on a day-to-day basis at NASPA who works on the statewide coalitions in Colorado and Montana. Ray Fisco, Ava Esikoff, Samantha Hernandez, and Vanessa Vera. They keep me grounded and I really enjoy the work we get to do across both those states and they energize me every day along with all the folks that have gotten me to where I am at this work in NASPA.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:36:56]:
I'm gonna shout out every peer educator I ever worked with and the current peer educators that are out there doing the real work in the student union in direct sunlight at 2:00 PM on a Wednesday, educating their peers about the harms of cannabis consumption. I just don't think they get the platform that some of our orientation leaders or student government leaders get. And so shout out to you doing the real work and making it fun.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:37:18]:
Thank you both so much for spending the time with us today to teach us what's going on for the Future Strategies Conference. Once again, that conference is in January 2027 in Austin, Texas, and by the calendar before a lot of our students will return for the January term. But if anyone would like to reach you after they've listened today, how can they find you?
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:37:36]:
Yeah, they can get ahold of me at my NASPA email, which is espaulding, so E- W-O-R-E-G-A-N, so W-O-R-E-G-A-N, it's nancy@naspa.org, or connect with me on LinkedIn.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:37:55]:
And the website for the conference is naspa.org/events/strategies if you want to check that out. Emma, Whitney, wonderful pleasure today. Thank you so much for sharing your voices with us.
Dr. Emma Spalding [00:38:05]:
Thanks for your time, Jill.
Whitney Platzer-O'Regan [00:38:06]:
Thanks, Jill.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:38:08]:
This has been an episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field brought to you by NASPA. This show is only made possible because of you, our listeners and our members. We continue to be so grateful that you choose to spend your time with us season after season. If you'd like to reach us here at the show, you can email us at savoices@naspba.org or find me on LinkedIn by searching for Dr. Jill L. Creighton. We welcome your feedback and your topic and guest suggestions. If you're interested in appearing on the show yourself, please do contact us.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:38:36]:
We'd love it if you spend a moment with us. Thank you so much for listening. moment to tell a colleague about the show and leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening from now. It really does help us in the student affairs community, as well as the podcasting community to help our show grow. This episode was produced and hosted by Dr. Jill Creighton. That's me. Produced and audio engineered by Dr.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:38:55]:
Chris Lewis. Special thanks to the University of Michigan Flint and New York University London for your support as we create this project. Catch you next time.