Student Housing Matters Podcast - Join The Conversation

President of COCM, Doug Brown and Executive Vice President, Sandy Hill sat down with us to talk about how they got into the student housing world and then to COCM. The conversation winds through their background, funny stories they’ve had while traveling, and where they see the future of COCM. This is a special video podcast version of a series we’ve had on our regular podcast, “How I Got Into Student Housing.”  If you haven’t been following this series, the episodes are designed to be a fairly quick look into how these housing professionals got into this field.

This episode, Dr. Nancy Uscher joins us to chat with us about the relationship between a research university and its school of fine arts, and why that relationship is important.  Dr. Uscher holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, a master’s degree in music from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and a Ph.D. in music from New York University.  She is also an Associate of the Royal College of Music in London, where she spent her junior year in college.  Additionally, she spent two decades as a concert violist, performing and teaching around the world, including six years leading the viola section of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, before transitioning full-time into academe.  She is also the author of dozens of articles and 2 books.

Jack Suess, the Vice President of Information Technology and CIO of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, joined us to talk about what they’re doing with “Big Data” on that campus, and how they’re using it to increase student success. We also talked about using the cloud to be a "greener" campus and the importance of quality WIFI coverage.

Joe Cantona is a Site Operations Specialist for COCM.  In his role, he has worked on site at almost every one of COCM's sites across the country, performing tasks from opening sites for the first time, to filling the gap while critical staff when they are on leave. He joined us for the latest installment of our “How I Got Into Student Housing” series. If you haven’t been following this series, the episodes are designed to be a fairly quick look into how these housing professionals got into this field.  In every episode you hear, you’ll hear how a mentor and/or a situation guided every person into something they love.

Author and fellow podcast host, Lisa B. Marshall joined us to talk about her story and why good communication is critical. 

Shawn Simons joins us to talk about fire safety in residence halls on campus by sharing his story about the fire in Boland Hall on the campus of Seton Hall University in 200. 

Lynn Gangone, Vice President for ACE Leadership at the American Council on Education, joins us to talk about what role her organization plays for people seeking to be in higher education leadership.  

Best selling author and award winning columnist, Jeff Selingo joined us to talk about his most recent book, There Is Life After College.  We talked about the way this generation is learning and how it affects the transition to life after college, how residential education is more important than ever, and his favorite phone apps. We're also giving away five signed copies of his book to the first five people to email us at info@studenthousingmatters.com. Don't miss out!

Melynda Davis is COCM's director at Campus Town at The College of New Jersey.  She joined us for the latest installment of our "How I Got Into Student Housing" series. If you haven’t been following this series, the episodes are designed to be a fairly quick look into how these housing professionals got into this field.  In every episode you hear, you’ll hear how a mentor and/or a situation guided every person into something they love.

Our latest post in the "How I Got Into Student Housing" series features Debbie Daniels, COCM's Director of Edgewood Commons at Frostburg State University.  If you haven’t been following this series, the episodes are designed to be a fairly quick look into how these housing professionals got into this field.  In every episode you hear, you’ll hear how a mentor and/or a situation guided every person into something they love.

If you haven't been following this series, the episodes are designed to be a fairly quick look into how these housing professionals got into this field.  In every episode you hear, you'll hear how a mentor and/or a situation guided every person into something they love. In this episode we're joined by COCM's director of facilities and conference services art Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MASSART), Jen Oliver.  Come hear how she went from being a pre-med student to where she is now.

Danny Anzueto was kind enough to join us to chat about the upcoming NASPA conference that starts this weekend and goes into next week (March 12th-16th).  Danny is the Assistant Director of Member Engagement and Regional Initiatives with NASPA. He is kicking off his fourth year with NASPA and heads up the NASPA Miami Beach office. Danny’s role focuses specifically on supporting NASPA’s seven regions in conference planning and committee management. He also works with the NASPA Annual Conference First-Time Attendee experience overseeing the FTA Committee and working with them to plan engagement initiatives for first-time attendees.  He checked in with us to give us a feel for what to expect next week at the conference.

The third installment of our "How I Got Into Student Housing" is an interview with Amy Lorenz, the director for Centennial and Falcon Heights at Bowling Green State University. If you haven't been following this series, the episodes are designed to be a fairly quick look into how these housing professionals got into this field.  In every episode you hear, you'll hear how a mentor and/or a situation guided every person into something they love.  

In the second episode in a series we’re calling “How I Got Into Student Housing,” we’re interviewing COCM employees at sites all around the country asking them what brought them to this field.  It’s a fascinating look at what makes people who work in student housing tick. In this episode we interviewed the Director Housing Facilities at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, Michelle Smith.

Joining us on the podcast today is college instructor, and veteran business writing and presentation skills coach, Dr. Wilma Davidson.  Dr. Davidson is an instructor of Professional and Technical Communication at the University of South Florida and author of the Third Revised Edition of Business Writing:  What Works, What Won’t, published by St. Martin’s Griffin. Dr. Davidson spoke with us on the topic of good business writing; its necessities and the flaws in how it is taught.  She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Connecticut, an M.S. in English Education from State University of New York at New Paltz, a C.A.G.S. in Journalism from American International College, and an Ed.D. in English / Business Communications from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey – New Brunswick.

In a new series we're calling "How I Got Into Student Housing," we're interviewing COCM employees at sites all around the country asking them what brought them to this field.  It's a fascinating look at what makes people who work in student housing tick. In this episode we interviewed the Director of Spartan Suites at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia.

Today on the podcast we have Jeanne Martinet, author of The Art of Mingling.  In every facet of society these day, there are times when we must be able to mingle or make small talk. It can often times be a painful experience, but it doesn’t have to be.  So how do you work a room without fear?  How do you extract yourself from a conversation that has gone stale?  Jeanne was kind enough to speak with us about these topics on this episode.

As the second part of our interviews with the NACAS keynote speakers, we’re speaking with Alison Levine today.  Alison can be described as adventurer, explorer, professor, and author of The Edge: The Art of High Impact Leadership, a New York Times best seller. Alison holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona in Communications, and a MBA from Duke University – The Fuqua School of Business.  She has served as an Adjunct Professor with the United States Military Academy, an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, and as deputy finance director for Arnold Schwarzenegger.   She serves on the advisory board of the Coach K/Duke University Center on Leadership and Ethics and is a strategic advisor for the Thayer Leader Development Group at West Point. As we mentioned earlier, Alison will be a key note speaker at the National Association of College and Auxiliary Services (NACAS) annual conference in San Antonio, Texas, speaking at the closing session on Wednesday morning, November 4th. To hear our intervi

These next two weeks, we’re excited to bring you interviews with the two upcoming keynote speakers at this year’s NACAS annual conference, held at the beginning of November NACAS, or the National Association of College Auxiliary Services, is an organization providing the higher education community extensive opportunities for members to share ideas, develop business solutions, enhance programs and revenues, and develop meaningful professional relationships. Housing, Physical Plant, Food Service, Card Systems, and recreation are just a handful examples of these campus services.  And all of them provide something critical for a college campus to function.  So if you’re going to be attending the NACAS annual conference in the next few weeks, this will be some excellent groundwork for what you’re going to hear.  In today’s episode we have Tim Sanders talking with us.  Tim was an early team member of Mark Cuban's broadcast.com. In 1999, broadcast.com was acquired by Yahoo, taking Tim with it, where he became Chief