Author Archives: debrasanborn

Peer Leader Prep Talk

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It was energizing to be back in the office today and begin preparations for the semester. We teach a leadership development course each spring for the students selected as peer mentors in our program for the upcoming year. The course introduces concepts of peer leadership enhanced with student development theory and personal discovery through MBTI and EQ-i assessment. 

We selected a new text for the course after five years, so winter break has been spent defining the chapters and assignments for the syllabus. The new book offers interesting case studies with each chapter to utilize for group discussion assignments. 

In addition to work on the syllabus, I have been rereading Delaney Kirk’s Taking Back the Classroom. It has great ideas for preparing peer mentors for the reality of the classroom. Coincidentally, Dr. Kirk posted 6 Tips For The First Day of Class on her blog today. Here’s a list, but be sure to check out the details.

1. Develop Your Philosophy of Teaching

2. Establish Your Credibility
3. Determine Your Class Culture
4. Be Clear about Your Expectations
5. Use the First Day of Class Wisely
6. Handle Discipline Problems Right Away
How do you develop peer leaders on your campus?

Resolutions for a New Year: Where will you go?

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With the approach of a new year, messages of being proactive and creating resolutions challenge us to make ourselves over, try new things, and be an all-around better person in the next 365 days. As I reflect upon the dynamic students with whom I work and my wonderful network of professionals, I am certain that the next semester and entire year will be full of opportunity because of these people. I know they will keep inspiring me to be more and do better.

Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.  ~Hal Borland


Where will your shoes take you in 2009?

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…  ~Dr. Seuss

Try these shoes if your year will require that you be more expeditious.


Facebookgate: Power to the students

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A very interesting experiment in the power of social networks occurred on Friday. Several higher ed professionals uncovered evidence of a marketing scheme utilizing the very popular incoming freshman “Class Of” groups in Facebook and were sharing their findings on Twitter. Upon further digging they found hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the country with Class of 2013 groups created by the same small group of people. Additional detective work identified a college marketing group behind most of the pages, likely with the intent of mining students’ comments and posts on the Class of 2013 group pages.  Our university was the lucky recipient of two of these pages.





As we enroll a freshman class in the range of 4,500 students, it is not policy that we create and maintain official class pages for each new group of students. Instead we let the network of Facebook  groups develop naturally. The Class of 2012 group last year had more than 1,200 student members and hundreds of discussion board conversations.


Armed with information from the Twitter discussion with other higher ed colleagues, I was able to identify that the Class of 2013 group creators and admins were not prospective students. I posted links to the story on each page and highlighted the group admins that were attempting to pose as our students. Next, I messaged a couple of students who were engaged in the groups and encouraged them to take ownership. By Friday afternoon, the marketing groups had relinquished admin rights on one page and switched admins on the other. I emailed the new admin requesting that he name our students as admins. After a couple of snarky email replies, he gave up his admin rights by the next evening.  The students who took admin rights for the pages are now cross-posting on each group and building relationships with the other student admins.

We have no official obligation to monitor or engage students on Facebook or other social networking sites to protect them from indiscriminate sharing of information or spam marketing. But just as I would stop a preoccupied person from stepping off a curb into oncoming traffic, it felt appropriate to empower students with all available information regarding their decisions. Particularly if that decision may ultimately affect their enrollment and engagement with the university.

What’s your take on all of this?

Read more on Facebookgate:


End-of-the-year Bonus

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At the final semester banquet for our student leaders, lots of fun stories and jokes from throughout the past year were shared. These students were part of a year-long program of leadership and development training that includes first-year seminar course facilitation in the fall semester. 


As we were enjoying dessert, one of our seniors, Adam, mentioned that in his last class he shared with his students that I was the reason he was still in college. His co-leader, Kelsey, chimed in that Adam had indeed given a presentation on how he had made it through college with my help. Curious as to the reasoning, I asked Adam how I was of influence. 

“You kicked my butt. And you didn’t stop kicking my butt until I straightened out.”


You see, Adam had a little difficulty with academic focus early on in his college career. We spent many an afternoon chatting about goals, grades, and graduation and why his current choices were not getting him closer to any of them. Eventually, Adam got it figured out. This year he is president of the academic club in his major in addition to serving as a peer mentor in our program. He will graduate in May.

And that is why I do what I do. The financial rewards in higher education will never rival CEO pay. Our hours are crazy, we don’t travel in private jets, and the temperature control in our buildings never seems to coincide with the season. But every once in a while, we get these little gems of appreciation from students that remind us that we touch lives. And kick butt. Which makes for a pretty nice end-of-the-year bonus in my book.


Emotional Intelligence and Stress Management

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Following my recent foray into the study of Emotional Intelligence (EI), I have become acutely aware of circumstances when low EI is demonstrated. Earlier this week, a friend on Twitter shared an article highlighting a college student who was fired from an internship who reacted with verbal threats and by kicking in a glass door. The angry response demonstrated in this situation could be defined as a symptom of low Stress Management ability, one of the scales of EI.   


Stress management, or the controlling of one’s emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances, is comprised of two sub-scales, stress tolerance and impulse control. In the situation of the intern, the violent and threatening response to a firing situation may demonstrate a lack of ability to cope with daily stressors and confrontation. Awareness of one’s Stress Management ability, or lack thereof, is essential in understanding EI.  

Regardless of the circumstance, my hope is that college students who find themselves fired from an internship can learn from this incident and find more positive methods of facing the situation.




New in the Toolbox: Emotional Intelligence

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My spare time this month has been used to prepare for and complete certification in the use of the Emotional Quotient inventory or 
EQ-i. Emotional-social intelligence is a cross-section of interrelated emotional and social competencies, skills, and facilitators that determine how effectively we understand and express ourselves, understand and relate with others, and cope with daily demands. Understanding and assessing EQ in business and leadership coaching is common and research indicates that that the tool is equally useful in the academic setting with an 85% predictor rate for college success. I look forward to building expertise with this assessment and employing it to assist the transition of my first-year students.

The EQ-i is assessed through an online survey resulting in measurements of five areas: interpersonal, intrapersonal, stress management, adaptability, and general mood. Fifteen subscales or facets provide dimension to these scale areas.

EQ-i will join the College Student Inventory and MAP-Works in the toolbox of assessments that I rely upon for identifying issues challenging students in those first few crucial weeks of college. The College Student Inventory provides me with timely and strategic information on my students prior to their enrollment. Most importantly, it allows me to identify those with high need for student service intervention. MAP-Works is offered to students in the third week of enrollment and is a new complement to our campus retention initiatives. It aggregates student perception upon arrival and integration to the institution. Both surveys are great mediums for creating relationships with new students.

I will introduce the proportions of the EQ-i in greater depth with future posts.

What’s in your student retention toolbox?  

Our Bonds of Affection

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We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

These words from Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural were intended to piece together a fractured country. They offered connection at the end of American History X, punctuating the transition of a broken young man learning from the wrong of his actions.

The recent election results for this country have demonstrated that many Americans, including large populations in higher education, are seeking a new direction. We do not wish to go it alone, however, as our strength is in our numbers.



Constructive Criticism: Wisdom from The Last Lecture

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For their midterm assessment, our peer mentors in the first-year seminar were asked to provide a class presentation on the topic of their choice. The presentations were reviewed by our staff and also their peers in the leadership course. We completed half of the presentations last week and collected evaluations. Most were ambiguous praise such as “Great job!” and “Nice Powerpoint!”. As a preface to the presentations this week, my graduate assistant offered this gem of wisdom from Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture.

When you are doing something badly and no one’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones still telling you they love you and care.

It was evident from their demeanor and the significant increase in writing on the review forms that our peer leaders took these words to heart and began to show the love. Much of the feedback continued to be positive, but comments were more direct and offered suggestions for improvement.

Pausch asked the question of what wisdom would we impart if we knew it were our last chance. I continue to find wonderful lessons in his writings and explore their opportunity for my first-year seminar and other student programming. Pausch wrote his book to share a bit of himself with his children, but I think he would be pleased that his message has application in student development, particularly leadership, as discussed over at The Student Leader Blog.

What is your favorite lesson or idea from The Last Lecture?
How are you incorporating The Last Lecture into your curriculum?






Facebook and serving students

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I have long found Facebook to be a useful tool to link with my students. Yesterday, I was creating an ad campaign for one of my programs when an invitation to Facebook chat popped up from Austin, a student “friend”. Austin’s girlfriend was coming to town for the football game and he was shopping for an extra student ticket. I told him that I would put out the word, and then updated my Facebook status and sent an email to my student listserv.  

Within a couple of minutes, I had an email from another of my 
students, Danielle, with an available ticket. 

Connection made.

This entire action took a few moments of my time on a Saturday afternoon and was made available by my willingness to link with students in the social networks where they live. Did it make a difference? I think so. 

I received this message by email at 12:35 a.m.

Debra, thank you so much for pointing me to Danielle! Today turned out great and I owe it all to you!
Thanks again.
Austin




eighteen and life?

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Welcome to eighteen and life. This is not a blog about Skid Row or the classic song by Rachel Bolan and Dave Sabo made famous by the vocals of Sebastian Bach. That being said, the song was an inspiration to the thought processes that you will find here. And although the original 18 and Life lyrics end tragically, my experience is that for students making the choice of post-secondary education, the age of 18 can be a stepping off point to opportunity.


I have built a career in college student affairs around the decision-making of 18-year olds, first in admissions and then as a program director and first-year seminar instructor. I have crossed paths with thousands of students poised on the brink of dynamic educations and careers. Some do not make it. Most do. But not always without a struggle.

Join me as I discuss service to students and efforts to build successful first-year to graduation retention programs. I’ll share the humor and challenges in this transformation and invite you to share yours. The folks over at The Student Affairs Blog are kind enough to let me write there as well, so you’ll see an occasional cross-post.

18 and life to go.