Modeling Healthy Excellence in Student Affairs: Insights from the NASPA Conference

SA Voices From the Field

Student affairs is a profession built on the foundation of supporting others—walking alongside students as they navigate challenges, pursue growth, and build their futures. But as highlighted in the latest episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field, modeling “healthy excellence” goes beyond what we say. It’s about what we do, how we set boundaries, and the ways we show up for ourselves and each other.

So what does healthy excellence look like in practice? The episode features over 60 voices—new professionals, seasoned leaders, and everyone in between—offering authentic, actionable reflections on how we can care for ourselves while nurturing student wellbeing.

A recurring theme is the importance of role modeling. As Eileen Hentz notes, we need to set boundaries, carve out “off” time, and not feel guilty for prioritizing ourselves. This was echoed by many who admitted that while we tell students to take care of themselves, we often fail to follow our own advice.

But it’s about more than just taking a lunch or using vacation days. Dr. Bernard Little opened up about seeking therapy and the positive ripple effect it had on his staff. Others, like Camden Doolittle, spoke to the importance of authenticity, especially in representing marginalized identities—showing up as your whole self is, in itself, an act of healthy excellence.

Several speakers detailed the need to challenge institutional norms. From rethinking the “ideal worker” who is always on-call, to advocating for organizational culture shifts, this episode calls on student affairs divisions and leadership to normalize work-life boundaries (and yes, actually unplugging at the end of the day).

There’s also an emphasis on being transparent with students about our own challenges and the strategies we use to navigate them. As Jamie Haney and others shared, letting students know we are human too makes space for honest conversations about balance, imperfection, and resilience.

Most importantly, the episode reminds us that caring for ourselves is not selfish. As the expression goes, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” By prioritizing our health—mental, emotional, and physical—we become better mentors, leaders, and advocates for our students.

If you’re looking for practical inspiration and validation from colleagues across the country, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in for real talk and real strategies that can help you and your institution make sustainable, healthy excellence a reality.

Catch the episode and join the conversation on nurturing well-being in student affairs—because thriving professionals create thriving campuses.

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 12, continuing our journey through the past, present, and future of student affairs. I'm doctor Jill Creighton, she, her, hers, your essay Voices from the Field host. Welcome back to Student Affairs Voices from the Field. We're here with our three conference episodes that feature your voices. Chris and I were able to move about the conference and connected with over 60 of you who shared your thoughts on the three conference themes. We asked you each one question on each theme, and we're going to be bringing you one episode per question.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:46]: So today's question will be on theme one, which was well-being and healthy excellence in student affairs. Next week, we'll be bringing you theme two in changing the student affairs profession, and then finally, theme three, which is sustaining and celebrating the student affairs profession. Today's question was, how can student affairs professionals model healthy excellence in their own lives and institutional cultures while supporting students' well-being? If you joined us, thank you so much for sharing your voice, and we hope that you enjoy hearing from your colleagues and peers.

Eileen Hentz [00:01:15]: Hello. My name is Eileen Hence. I am the program director of academic and student services at the University of Maryland Department of Aerospace Engineering. Do as I say, not as I do, because I am not I will admit that I am not the best at modeling healthy excellence in my own life, but I really truly believe it's important to do so by having a healthy work life balance and making sure you remember your priorities and trying your best to ensure that you don't lose yourself in your work. I think that's something that I need to do more of, is remembering that I do have an important life outside of work, and it is okay to say no, and it is okay to set boundaries on our time, and still pour as much of our heart and soul into our jobs as possible during the times we should be working and when we should not be working to make sure that we take that time for ourselves and not feel guilty about it.

Dr. Alyssa Bivens [00:02:07]: Hi. I'm doctor Alyssa Bivens. I'm representing George Mason University. I'm in their very new graduate division as a graduate career and professional development program coordinator. I think one of the ways that student affairs professionals that we can model healthy excellence in our own lives and institutional cultures is really trying to be the people that we want our students to be. So for example, I work with a lot of graduate professional assistants, and I try to model professional behaviors both with them, treating them how I wanna be treated, and also showing them good work and professionalization skills from organization to just general things that will help them moving forward in life so that they have a model that they can potentially look towards. I try to be, not always.

Amerette Ranieri [00:02:53]: I'm Amerette Ranieri. I'm from Texas A and M University in College Station, Texas. I am currently serve as the associate director of career services for Mays Business School. I think showcasing balance of, like, walking the walk and talking the talk. Right? Like, that's really an important aspect of student affairs that sometimes we don't do. We we tell students to take care of themselves, but we're not always taking care of our own selves. And so making sure that we take the advice that we give students most of the time. I know I'm really bad about that, but I sometimes will be, like, check myself and be, like, oh, right. What I would tell a student in this moment, I need to tell myself I need to get more sleep or I need to do this thing. And so I think that's really important.

Amy Law [00:03:34]: Hello. My name is Amy Law. I am a GAP from the graduate associate program with NASPA. I am from California. I currently attend the University of Southern California for my degree in post secondary administration and student affairs with my master's program. Especially as student affairs professionals, I feel like we can really model healthy excellence in our own lives and even contribute to that institutional culture by being student facing even as we go into higher levels that are not so student facing. I think maintaining a level of student support and student advisory, like, committees even and leveraging, like, student voices is definitely a perfect way to model healthy excellence because students know best what they need and students know best how to advocate for themselves. And if you are not, you know, in a point where you're at least, like, reaching out or asking them how they need the support, I feel like it's a little bit hard to understand them in that way.

Amy Law [00:04:38]: So always making sure that you have another set of eyes, whether it's from a group of students or even just one student, will make such a big difference.

Angela Watts [00:04:50]: Angela Watts, the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio School Of Nursing. I'm the director for student success. I think that student affairs professionals can model healthy excellence in their own lives by really small ways in our day to day lives. Simple things like not eating lunch at your desk, taking that time away to rejuvenate during that hour and and really just modeling the behavior that we encourage in our students. When you take time off from work, actually disconnecting as much as possible and just really demonstrating for them how to have as much balance as possible even though we all know that it's impossible to be completely balanced with work life, but just demonstrating as much as possible the healthy behaviors that we encourage in our students.

Asia Jones [00:05:39]: Asia Jones, associate director at the National Association for Student Affairs Professionals, AKA NASBA. So I believe one of the ways that we model healthy excellence is resting. Rest is resistance. So many years in student affairs, we've thought we've had to work sixteen and seventeen hour days to get things done. And the way we model in our own lives that healthy excellence is knowing when to take breaks, knowing when to rest, and setting boundaries around that to be able to still get the work done. But if we don't have any rest or any sleep, then we're doing things on a not even a half empty cup, like, maybe three fourths of a cup, and that's not working anymore. And so we've gotta find different ways to to set up boundaries so that within ourselves so that we can be the best to other people.

Dr. Bernard Little [00:06:27]: I'm doctor Bernard Little, vice president for student affairs at Prairie State College. I think that one way that we can model healthy excellence in our own lives is being honest about our truths and what we experience. When I took on vice president for student affairs role, I also started therapy, my therapy journey, and it has really enhanced my life both personally and professionally. And I've been open and honest about that with my staff and, with others who work with me. And it has been a refreshing journey to see how they've been impacted by my story and my experience.

Camden Doolittle [00:07:04]: My name is Camden Doolittle. I use they and them pronouns. I'm coming to you from the NASPA annual conference in New Orleans, but I am from the University of California Davis in the Sacramento region of California. I think healthy excellence for me looks like, especially in this political climate, owning who I am, all the time and with joy. I'm a trans and non binary person and we have so many of our students who share those same identities. And right now they're under attack. At federally, at all levels of government and society and showing up as a transhuman, that model is healthy excellence and and modeling boundaries. I don't have to be at all things all the time, but I am there for my community. Show students they can show up and step back as they need to because I think that's all the more important as we move through college and whatever comes next in this world.

Charles [00:07:52]: I'm Charles, and we can model healthy excellence in our own lives while taking care of student well-being by finding ways to kinda put our mental health first. Relaxing, taking that time to really unplug, breathe, because you can't pour from an empty cup. So you gotta be ready and able. And Jessica agrees, so we share the same answer here.

Chris Hall [00:08:23]: Hi. I'm Chris Hall. I'm the director of residence life and student housing at Georgetown University Law Center. I think one of the things that we can do to really help our students is by modeling good work activities, making sure that, you know, we are working reasonable hours. We are, both in terms of daily and weekly, that we are not doing the kinds of things that we don't want our students to do. We don't wanna be, you know, burning the midnight oil or, putting things off to the last minute, things like that. I think that's probably what would help them with their well-being as much as anything.

Clarissa Lau [00:08:59]: I am Clarissa Lau. My pronouns are she and her, and I work at the University of Toronto. I think the first is recognizing work life balance, being able to practice that, obviously, model that for students when we try to encourage students to study hard, play hard, and I think that's equally also the role of a student affairs professional.

Dr. Dan Maxwell [00:09:21]: My name is Dan Maxwell. I serve as the interim vice president for student success and student life at the University of Houston downtown. When I think about modeling a healthy excellence in my life and the culture at the institution, I would say that I try to be my authentic self wherever I show up. I think by being comfortable with who I am and showing people the comfort of my identities and being in my spaces, I think when we can bring 100% of ourselves into our spaces, then we can do our better work in that way.

Dan Balchak [00:09:52]: Dan Balchak, interim dean of students at Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. We can experience healthy excellence in our own lives by taking care of us and time management. And I can tell you I'm not very good at that. I've been working way too hard, but we really need to make space for ourselves and give ourselves grace to be healthy, to be able to support our students.

David Chow [00:10:15]: Hello. My name is David Chow. I am currently the chair of the technology knowledge community for NASPA. So I think student affairs professionals, obviously, we have to take care of ourselves in order for us to effectively take care of our students. It's easy to forget sometimes because we want to serve our students. We wanna be there for them. But if we we don't practice what we preach to them, then we struggle and and our health is damaged and then ultimately we can't help our students. So I think just it's kind of practicing what we preach.

Dan Balchak [00:10:41]: My name David Zimoyski. I'm senior associate dean of students at Boston University. This is an uncertain time in the higher education landscape, and I think what I am trying to do right now as best I can is stay calm, stay focused, be thoughtful, display care for others. And in doing so, I feel good about how I am spending my time day to day. And I think that is a, hopefully, a good example for others in my professional community.

Dr. Deborah Wright [00:11:13]: I am doctor Deborah Wright, and I am with the George Washington University in Washington, DC. I am doctor Deborah Wright, and I am with the George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Deidre Cobb [00:11:24]: Hi. My name is Diedrich Cobb, and I am from Fairmont State University in West Virginia, and I am the student success coordinator. I was hired under the title three grant with the intentions of being, first and foremost, a bridge between academic affairs and student affairs along with other responsibilities such as forming a student success support team and also overseeing a student ambassador program called the Student Empowerment Liaisons.

Dr. Eddie Martinez [00:11:55]: Hello, everyone. My name is Eddie Martinez. I serve as the associate dean for student affairs at Suffolk County Community College. I think that we, as professionals, need to continue to honor ourselves. And when we're tired, take that break. When you wake up and you just feel, I need a mental health day, it's okay. That's why we have them. All too often, we in student affairs continue to push, push, push, and it's at the expense of our own health. And by default, our students don't get the best of us. So making sure you check-in with yourself, I make sure I do my best to try to check-in with myself. Don't always succeed, but I do try.

Ellie McMillan [00:12:32]: My name is Ellie McMillan. I'm the graduate apprentice at the Center for Leadership in Elon University. I use sheher pronouns, and I'm a graduate student in the Master of Art in Higher Education program at Elon. I think modeling well-being is super important because oftentimes, we find that students have a culture of busyness, and we discourage our students from overcommitting themselves or being too busy. But if we want them to kind of model that, we also have to model that for ourselves. So we have to carve out time within within our days. We have to kind of cut down the meetings that we do, limit ourselves to three meetings a day, if that's possible. I think that's a really important first step of, like, we can't be asking our students to be doing things that we can't ourselves do.

Erica Stocks [00:13:28]: Erica Stocks, director of student affairs at Boston University's Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine. I think it's really just about when we're where we're speaking to students or we're having interactions. I think particularly in the work that I do is when I'm doing presentations, taking a moment to kind of teach students, okay, let's take a deep breath. Let's all kind of collectively come together to take a pause in a moment. And I think it's also that we're trying to be really intentional about the programming that we're doing, about making sure that students are taking breaks to appreciate the small things in life.

Erica Stocks [00:13:58]: And that also goes with us to kind of going out and taking breaks from our desk and walking out into the student activities area. And so I think that there's it means so much more that we do. I think that we're thinking about well-being and particularly from a student perspective and also as a professional. Right? It's multifaceted. It's not just, oh, I need to work out. Oh, I need to do this. It's like taking a moment, taking a breath, taking a pause, whatever it might be.

Dr. George McClellan [00:14:21]: I'm George McClellan, professor of higher education at the University of Mississippi. So I've been in student affairs in one way or another for about forty something odd years. And one of the things I learned early on in the profession was that you aren't gonna be able to help take care of other people until you learn to take care of yourself. So it's a really important question. And I think one of the keys is being comfortable acknowledging that you're not comfortable. Right? That you need rest, that you need time, that you need to reflect, that you need whatever it is. You need challenge. You need something to pick you up.

Dr. George McClellan [00:14:53]: I think it's really important to to, a, to be tuned into yourself in that way, but, b, to be okay saying I need help, I need something, that sort of thing. I think a lot of people, particularly early in their careers, are so concerned that if they acknowledge any need that somehow they're confessing a great sin, but that's simply not the case. As you move through the field, I think what you can do is help the people who report to you. I'm not a I'm not a big fan of those hierarchies, but but to help those people who report to you in an organization know that it's it's okay to say those things. Right? That you can project a signal that says it's okay. And one of the easiest way to do that is for you to when somebody says to you, how are you doing? Just give them the sort of, oh, I'm fine. You know, everything's fine. Right? But it's, you know, I'm having an okay day, but I'm a little rundown today. Maybe not enough veggies, but today, I'm a little tired. So I think that's really important. And I think when it comes to institutional culture, it's the advocacy for prioritizing health and well-being. And, you know, we we have a million things going on. And as staffs are cut and there are funding reductions and resource reductions of all various kinds, it's gonna some of the first things that are gonna go if we're not advocating are taking care of staff. And so we have to advocate for ourselves. We have to be okay doing that.

Hallie Vavris [00:16:18]: Hello. My name is Hallie Vavris. I am a graduate student at Baldwin Wallace University in the leadership in higher education program here. We are role models for students first and foremost, and I think that higher education professionals, you know, sometimes we can think about more of the logistics of things, like, oh, like, what are we teaching? Because we we are in education. However, I think something that needs to be talked about more is that students are always, like, watching us, like, just our behaviors and our choices. I know for myself, I wanna work in a community college specifically. So, you know, helping students and meeting them where they are at is a really big aspect, you know, supporting students' well-being and just being a student's student advocate. I really like the word advocate because you are alongside the student developmentally wherever they're at.

Jackie Yun [00:17:11]: I'm Jackie Yoon. I take the she series, and I serve as the executive director of the student center at Harvard Griffin GSAS. I think student affairs professionals can model healthy behaviors by being our whole person. So, obviously, being involved at work and doing good work to support students, but also taking care of our physical health and our mental health and well-being, and sharing that and modeling that where we can with both our staff, but also with our students. I feel feel grateful to be in the student activities space because I feel like that's essential to the mission that we have. At the student center at Harvard, we're really focused on reminding students that they are full beings with interests that go beyond their academic pursuits, and they do better academically when they engage in those things that bring them joy. And graduate school is hard and long, and we need victories. So we need moments of creation, connection, and opportunities to do things that just spark joy. And I feel like I'm constantly reminding very high achieving students that are very focused in their discipline that it's okay to have fun in graduate school.

Dr. Jacob Diaz [00:18:23]: My name is Jacob Diaz. I serve as the associate vice chancellor for student success at the University of South Florida, Saint Petersburg campus. So I believe the work on healthy excellence starts with me as an educator and doing my own work on trying to get clear about what works for me to maintain a sense of peace and harmony while amidst, at times, a very chaotic environment. And so I try to think about what makes me feel good, what grounds me each day, and then reminding myself that this is important work to do and that I'm contributing even if it's in a small way.

James Quiesenberry [00:19:05]: Hi. This is James Quisenberry. I'm executive director of student affairs technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Our campuses have to adopt what's called, being a health promoting university, something called the Okanagan Charter. I encourage people to check it out. But it's not just leaders in student affairs, but it's leaders on campus that have to take a look at what's going on in their environment, what's going on in their climate, and be comfortable in supporting their staff in leading healthy lives to achieve the best that they can.

James Stewart [00:19:42]: Hi. I'm James Stewart, associate vice president for student development and achievement at Coppin State University. In this, to me, we have to be the role model and examples for students. We often tell students to balance well-being, to balance their lives, to pursue personal interests, and then we don't do those own things. We can always be bombarded with the day's fires and all the work we have to do, but we also have to be thinking about how are we in the best place to, as they say, put on our own oxygen mask first before helping others.

Jamie Haney [00:20:17]: Hi. I'm Jamie Haney, associate dean for the Graduate College at University of Illinois Chicago. I think one of the best ways to do that is to share our lives with students. Just letting them know that the challenges we face in our own lives are similar to what they face in their lives, and how we cope with those, and how we try to balance everything. I'm a wife and a mother and a full time employee. Once upon a time, I was also a full time doctoral student, and so letting students know that I was experiencing a lot of the same challenges and experiences that they were going through was really helpful for them. I think it helps them to know that we have experienced or are experiencing what they are going through and just knowing that we are human just like they are. So I think that's an important way to share our own lives with students.

Dr. Jamie Washington [00:21:03]: Hi. I'm Jamie Washington, and I am the president and founder of the Washington Consulting Group and of the Social Justice Institute, Training Institute. So when I think about, again, student affairs professionals and well-being and how we can continue to support excellence, what comes up for me is that we continue to live into what our why is and our commitment to always putting students first, remembering that we got into this profession because we cared about the experience of students and what they get to do and what they get to become. So our primary goal in higher education is to prepare the next generation of leaders and those who will go forth from our spaces and do good work and make a difference in the world. So we get to continue to remember that that's our charge, that we stay in that, and we help them navigate through difficult and challenging times, and we navigate it along with them.

Dr. Jeanna Mastrodicasa [00:22:00]: Hi. This is Jeanna Mastrodicasa, and I am the director of the Office of Institutional Assessment at the University of Florida. And I've been there for more than twenty seven years in a total of six roles. Really doing your very best to figure out what you can tell people you do with your time, being able to articulate it. It can be as simple as family time, catching up on the bachelor, whatever other inane things that make you a better human, but tell people that. So the other thing I think that I have done in my own career is I have been open with people about my own personal struggles challenges that I'm facing, both as a human being and part of a complex family and the whole thing. And I've been upfront about it and visible about using my time for mental health purposes. And And I think that's something I'm I'm doing for myself, but I'm really doing it to show people it's okay.

Dr. Josie Ahlquist [00:22:56]: Hey. My name is Josie Alquist. I use sheher pronouns. I am a digital engagement consultant, executive strategist, coach, and speaker. Modeling healthy excellence is going to take a level of letting go of perfection if you are gonna ensure your own well-being as well as your students. I know that's really hard for us in higher ed. We have very high standards, but good is also really good.

Dr. Julie Payne Kirchmeier [00:23:26]: Julie Payne Kirchmeier, sheher pronouns, vice president for student success for the Indiana University System. That's not a system. We can call it a multi campus university if you would like. That whole concept of being balanced when you talk about work and you talk about outcomes and being driven in addition to being balanced with yourself. And so whether that's life, whether that is how you kind of navigate your energy even at work, how you set healthy expectations for yourself. Don't undersell it or you're not stretching enough. Don't overdo it or you exhaust yourself. And so that's kind of where I think that lies. And how can they do it? I think you gotta take an honest stock of where you are. What are the expectations that are placed on you and really think through how you can bring that concept of healthy excellence into the space. And I would also say that if you get to the point where you're like, this institutional culture is not supporting that for me and it's unsustainable, you gotta start looking. And I know that's hard, and for some folks, it's almost impossible. But for your own well-being, I think you gotta do it. I'm Justin Jeffrey.

Justin Jeffrey [00:24:26]: I'm the assistant vice president at Texas A and M University. So I think about how I role model healthy, excellent to my own life and how it's important for us to do that as professionals is just being present when you need to. And but for students to also see that you take time for yourself and that you are not at every event. I think sometimes we feel that we have that pressure to be at everything, but I think when you pick and choose what's most important to be at and then when you have conversations with the students about why maybe you couldn't join that evening and you have a family commitment or you needed to go to the gym, just being really honest and transparent about that so that they know that you're a true person, real person, and you're trying to balance your health and well-being as well.

Jawan Jacobs [00:25:06]: Hey, y'all. My name is Jawan Jacobs. I am currently an assistant director in the Student Involvement and Leadership office at Duke University. When thinking about well-being and healthy excellence and student affairs, right, I think one of the things that student affairs professionals can do to really model healthy excellence in their own lives is being proactive with what rest, relaxation, rejuvenation looks like. I think we're talking about it from the perspective of institutional culture. Making sure that you're advocating for yourself, I think, is always fair and you're right. Right? So making sure that in all of the things that you are being upfront with your supervisor, with your team, whether that be your staff or your students, and really letting them know what does it look when I'm having a 10 out of 10 day? How does that differ from when I'm having a three out of 10 day? Right? And what does that mean for support?

Kevin Willis [00:25:54]: Hi. My name is Kevin Willis. I am a membership manager with NASPA's membership team. I'm originally from Kentucky. I think that student affairs professionals can model healthy excellence in their lives, by thinking about healthy boundaries and encouraging their students to do so as well. I always tell my students when I supervise them in the past that they can't serve others if their cup is not full either. And so I always want people to think about how they can be there for the students and show that care and dedication while also maintaining boundaries. And maybe that is letting them know of the resources for particular conversation topics or letting them know this is where my strengths are and this is where I'll be for you, and then let's find you somebody that can match you in the other areas that you need them from.

Herbie Gibson [00:26:34]: Herbie Gibson, sheher, associate director of residence education for student learning and leadership, Michigan State University. So when I think about modeling a healthy excellence within the field, first it actually starts with us rethinking the ideal worker norms that exist within the field. We've been socialized to believe that we have to work these long days, that we have to be accessible at all times of the day to our students, and that in no way is healthy whatsoever. And so how are we rethinking the work that we are doing to serve our students? I would also say that rest is important. Take your paid time off because PTO also stands for prepare the others. And so making sure that you are engaging in rest, taking vacation time, setting boundaries as a way to reevaluate your relationship to the work, and that's ways in which you can model that healthy practice.

Dr. Laura Devoe [00:27:26]: Hi. My name is doctor Laura DeVoe, and I'm a visiting assistant professor at Boston College. When I'm thinking about the well-being and healthy excellence in student affairs, I don't really know what else to say, but get off campus. You have to get off campus. You have to touch grass, as the kids say, and that grass can be off campus. You don't have to just be living your life in your university or college polo shirt. Move off campus, find some space, and get some life off campus that makes you happy, and find your people elsewhere. You will always have your people on campus.

Lauren Zielinski [00:28:09]: My name is Lauren Zielinski. I'm the associate director for student affairs at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Office of Graduate Studies. I feel that student affairs professionals can model excellence in their own lives by learning to say no more, by putting boundaries on easy things such as when to stop checking their email at the night, setting up those clear boundaries of when their day starts and when their day ends so they can have that time to their selves to spend with family, friends, hobbies, anything that's gonna take them and help them disconnect from the work to give them that work life balance.

Marcus . [00:28:48]: My name is Marcus. I'm from Singapore, and I'm representing a social enterprise called Sojourner's Agora, but I also work in student affairs in the National University of Singapore, taking care of student life for the undergraduates. I think an important thing with my experience has been to understand emotional and physical boundaries in your work, especially as someone who lives on campus and serves students twenty four four seven. It's wonderful to see them as friends, but at the same time, it pays a lot to understand that, there is boundary between students whom you get to know professionally as well as the ones that you know through your own organic social activities outside. And that helps because you wanna be an example also of, drawing good boundaries, healthy boundaries so that your students can also model after that.

Mary Pat Morgan [00:29:36]: My name is Mary Pat Morgan, and I'm a program coordinator with the engineering program at the universities at Shady Grove. I think it's really important for student affairs professionals to model healthy excellence by bringing it back to the basics. Those things that we talk about during orientation, during those first advising sessions with students. I often tell myself it's important not to be a hypocrite, though always taking time to take a lunch. Even if it's ten minutes at your desk, take a lunch. Make sure you get that food in you and fuel you to get back to the work. Sleep is so important. The physical and mental preparation for the day. I think the physical health is such an important component. Moving that mental preparation before the day.

Dr. Melanie Mitchell [00:30:23]: Hello. My name is doctor Melanie Mitchell, and I have the pleasure of serving as the director of the Impact Leadership Village at North Carolina State University. A moment that comes to mind for me when I think about being a student affairs affairs professional and modeling healthy excellence is thinking about how I do that on a daily basis in small ways. Right? And so an example that comes to mind is thinking about how to make sure I schedule lunch and take lunch, sometimes engage in taking a walk around campus. Also, just like we schedule all the things in our work, it's important that we're taking time even after work to pour back into us. Right? Because you can't pour from an empty cup. And when students see you modeling what it means to be well, that helps them think about that as they navigate their college career.

Dr. Melinda Stoops [00:31:16]: Hi. I am Melinda Stoops. I am currently serving as the interim dean of students at Bay Path University, and I've been working in higher education for over twenty years at this point. I think one of our challenges as student affairs professionals is we tend to work a lot of hours and sometimes challenge ourselves with boundaries around work life balance. And I think it's so important that we model healthy excellence in our lives for our students. And I think there are lots of ways to do it, but one thing I would say that's really important is think about how you model that in the office in front of students. So when a crisis comes up, how are you reacting to it? Can you react in a way that is somewhat calm and to say, okay. Let's go talk about this.

Dr. Melinda Stoops [00:32:01]: Let's work this out. Or are you freaking out as everyone else is freaking out? At a basic level, separate from a crisis, I also think about lunch. I have a bad habit of working through lunch. And there are many times over the twenty years in higher ed is I thought this is such an awful modeling for my students. Like, if my students in the office see me working through lunch, what does that say to them about self care and priority? So I really try and be intentional when I remember to do so about saying, okay, I'm gonna even take a few minutes to just sit quietly and eat or take a ten minute break and go for a walk just unwind and and sort of model those healthy behaviors.

Melissa Aponte [00:32:42]: I am doctor Melissa Aponte. I serve as assistant dean of students at Rochester Institute of Technology. I think one way that student affairs professionals can model healthy excellence in their own lives while supporting student well-being is by sharing with students some of the challenges that they face in their own lives. I think I've utilized examples from my own life and been open and transparent in sharing with my own students some of the challenges I've faced and how I've overcome them. And then I try to work with students to dig into their own life experiences and help them see how they've overcome challenges and that they have resiliency in themselves. So when they come to college and they're facing different issues, they can dig into those past experiences. So I think sharing is important and being open, I think, and showing that you are a whole human being. I do like to share tidbits of my life with my students as appropriate.

Melissa Ward [00:33:42]: I am Melissa Ward. I am director of student engagement at the College of Engineering at Oregon State University. So one thing I think I need to work on is being a better model of healthy excellence in how I work with our students. I try very hard to give them breaks and model when I'm taking breaks, but then you always wanna be responsive. Right? Because my weekends are sometimes when they can get their work done. So I think I need to be better at that. So I'm still learning.

Michael Allensworth [00:34:13]: Hello. My name is Michael Allensworth, and I work in the prevention, outreach, and education department at Michigan State University as our director for employee and graduate student programs. I'm thinking about how can we learn to hone in prioritizing the different priorities that we have. And so thinking about not everything can be a crisis, but focusing on what is important for a particular point in time, I think is something that's gonna help all of us better model healthy excellence in our organizations and within our units.

Dr. Michael Sheehane [00:34:42]: Howdy. My name is Michael Sheehan. I work at Texas A and M University in career services. Specifically, I'm the director of campus programs in the career center. Been there for about fifteen years now. So an example of how I do this, I think it actually starts with coming to the realization that you can't do it all and it's okay to, prioritize and say no to certain things. And so at some point, you gotta say, so how much effort and energy do I have to give? Make sure that you're living out excellence in your own life and being fully invested in the things you choose to be invested in, but knowing that you can't be involved in everything all the time. And I think that's something that some students have a particular time struggling with. So they wanna do all the things all the time. And so I think modeling, that is okay to prioritize and let some things go, and that's okay too.

Dr. Michelle Burke [00:35:26]: Michelle Burke, Grand Rapids, Michigan. I work with the Michigan Center for Adult College Success. I've been a NASPA member for a long time. I think one thing that can be done to be available to students in their time is to work on staggered schedules for staff to recognize that not everybody's gonna work eight to five or eight to 8AM to 5AM, and that make sure that you're taking care of your team so they can take care of students. Model that as a supervisor by taking care of yourself and allowing your own self care time too.

Dr. Mimi Benjamin [00:36:00]: I'm Mimi Benjamin. I'm a professor in the student affairs in higher education program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. And one of the ways that I think student affairs professionals can model healthy excellence is to get sleep and talk about the fact that they actually do sleep. I think that sleeping underrated well-being tasks that we can take on, and I think the more we talk about how we rest, the more others will see the value in that. Mylon Wallace. I work in the office of student conduct at the University of

Mylon Wallace [00:36:32]: Mylon Wallace. I work in the Office of Student Conduct at the University of Alabama, and I believe that student affairs professionals can just model it by showing students that we are all human, really, is the most important aspect of it. We all gonna make mistakes. We're all gonna be held accountable for our mistakes, and it's best we learn from them and keep going. Hi, everyone.

Nairole Njok [00:36:53]: My name is Nairole Njok. I'm currently a first year graduate student at Iowa State University in in the student affairs master's program, and I am from Omaha, Nebraska. I like to think about how we give tips to our students when it comes to their well-being and how we should actually be modeling those tips. And so it'd be really counterproductive if we asked practitioners are telling students to take care of themselves, set boundaries if we aren't doing that ourselves. And so living by your tips is how I'd see this. And I think in addition to that, being aware of the culture on your campus is really important because you're out of touch. It is really hard to support your students and to be able to kinda understand where their experience is when it comes to their well-being. If you aren't aware of what's going on on campus and especially since that will affect your students. And so being aware of what's going on on your campus, as it pertains to the culture and living up to your own tips slash expectations that you have for your students when it comes to their well-being.

Mylon Wallace [00:37:57]: Hi. This is Pedro Ramos. I am the student engagement manager for the program Exploratory Studies at CU Boulder from Boulder, Colorado. So hello. I think one of the biggest things that I can think about is knowing when to take a step back and saying no and being able to observe all the different pieces going on when we're making decisions about students. I feel like sometimes we go into a situation and we're really passionate about a certain initiative or a certain project. And we also can get crispy in that in that efforts. And so just reminding ourselves, okay, let me regroup myself, come back to this experience once I feel like I have everything prepared or I feel ready, or maybe even saying no is an important lesson that I think we can even tell our students that they don't need to be everything for everyone, at their institution.

Dr. Peggy Crowe [00:38:52]: Hi. I'm Peggy Crowe. I serve as the director of the counseling center and the student accessibility resource center at Western Kentucky University. Well, I think the pandemic showed us a lot of ways that we can provide more healthy excellence and balance in our lives. There is no such thing as balance. I don't like when people say I'm looking for balance because there is no such thing. But I think if we role model that for other people, taking care of our families, finding balance in our lives, maybe working remotely if that is a possibility while still maintaining a great work ethic. I think we can do that and then we're role modeling for students. So if I'm not responding to an email at midnight every night or on the weekends, then I'm role modeling healthy balance and well-being to students.

Dr. Phil Covington [00:39:37]: I'm Phil Covington. I serve as associate vice chancellor for student success at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Really understanding and pausing long enough to know what are my individual values and the boundaries associated with those, how much flexibility am I willing to engage over the course of a year. Obviously, there are seasons within each year that we've got, you know, higher loads that may have to, be taken. There's times and moments of crisis, obviously, that are gonna take additional effort from us, but it's it's knowing that we've got these things in place. One of the things that I've done over the course of the last year is just even prioritizing throughout the course of the day, at least three times a week, trying to get out and take a twenty minute walk across campus. Never fails. Maybe another staff member wants to come along with me. Maybe I'm running into colleagues along the way and they ask if you can talk. I said, yeah, if you'll walk and so those are pieces that are making a difference, hopefully modeling, but also I know making a difference for me and my own health.

Rachel Omara [00:40:36]: Rachel O'Mara, admissions and academic advisor for the Department of Educational Leadership at Cal State Fullerton. I think that a good way to model sort of healthy excellence is to remember that we're all going through a lived experience and that as professionals, maybe we sometimes appear like we know more than our students or the people that we serve, and I think it's really crucial for us to make those connections and make the spaces really important for us to show ourselves and the things that we care about so that the students understand that we have those connections to them. Even if you have random posters in your director of volunteer engagement at NASPA.

Rachel Duvall [00:41:29]: I'm Rachel Duvall. I'm the associate director of volunteer engagement at NASPA. I am from Memphis, Tennessee. So how student affairs can professionals can model healthy excellence in their own lives and institutional cultures while supporting students' well-being. I think the really big thing here is to remember your roots in your professional journey and how you have evolved throughout the profession. Everyone's trajectory looks different, so honoring that in all folks. And so if your journey doesn't look the same as someone else's, really being conscious of that and supporting folks in whatever they decide to do in their current role, next role, and all that and encouraging them to get involved with the professional track that works for them. So if that's regions or knowledge communities with us here at NASPO or a steering committee, I think that is how you can encourage someone to find community at their institution or with a professional organization, but just supporting them in whatever decisions they make.

Ray Fisco [00:42:27]: Hi. Ray Fisco, he, him pronouns. I am from Colorado Springs, Colorado, and I serve NASPA as the assistant director of statewide coalitions, trainings, and partnerships. I think this is a really fantastic question. I actually run a coalition in Colorado where we have a campaign called the Time to Ungrind campaign, where it really looks at the culture around hustling. Because I know we as student affairs professionals fall into this culture, and we ultimately do see that with our students as well. So I think it's important that when we tell students about really taking care of yourself and really not falling into this culture of feeling like you have have to hustle and grind all the time to feel successful. I think it's important to model to students that, you know, it's important to rest. It's important to have self care. It's important to take a break. It's important to say no. Because especially in the field of student affairs, it's, like, very hard to say no. But when you're able to say no, that really shows growth, that really shows the opportunity to really be taking care of yourself and really be taking care of your own well-being.

Sean Devoe [00:43:36]: Hi. Sean Devoe. I serve as the associate vice chancellor for student affairs and dean of students at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Really focused on making sure that you're doing good stuff for yourself in your work that excites you and that really promotes the best work that you can do on behalf of your students. If you're not doing stuff that's exciting you, you're probably not doing stuff that's exciting your students as well.

Sarah Edmonson [00:44:04]: Hello. I am Sarah Edmonson. She, her pronouns, I serve as the associate director for student involvement at Washington University in Saint Louis or WashU. For me personally, one of the things I think is really important is setting boundaries. I set boundaries with the students I work with, and I'm very clear about communication. I do share my phone number with a handful of students that I work with, but I make it very clear that I reserve the right to not respond outside of business hours. I also try to do a really good job of working when I'm at work and not working when I'm not at work. So try to be really thoughtful about turning off notifications to technology and Teams, Outlook, all of those different pieces so that I'm not really distracted by or getting sucked into work while I'm not there.

Sarah Edmonson [00:44:45]: I also try to think about, like, if I need to do work outside of my kind of typical work schedule, which what is a typical work schedule in student affairs, but I try to be thoughtful of, like, is this urgent? Do I need to do this now? Or, like, can this really wait, and can I prioritize it, you know, tomorrow or when I have a moment? End up really doing better work because I think part of that balance piece is having a healthy, productive life outside of work and and then supporting that culture for my staff. Absolutely. And so really encouraging them to take their vacation time, to take flex time where it's appropriate, to have varied interests outside of work that does not that have nothing to do with work. And I think modeling those things for our students and explaining that of, like, I'm not gonna get to your email that you sent at 8PM until tomorrow or maybe even the next day, depending on what I've got going on, especially if it's not urgent, and saying, like, we don't need to buy into this this hustle culture or this everything is urgent culture when everything is not necessarily urgent. There are some things that are, but outside of that, we need to be really thoughtful and model for our students what is productive and healthy.

Dr. Sheila Carusel [00:45:48]: Hi. I'm doctor Sheila Carussell. I work at Ohio Northern University, and I'm the director of pharmacy student affairs. I've been in student affairs for over twenty five years, and I think one of the best ways that we, as professionals, can model the healthy excellence in our lives and supporting our institutional cultures is to really work on showing that work life balance. And so what that means is whenever it's possible, leave your office, go have fun, go home, and do what's best for you. Talk with your students about your hobbies. Talk about how you de stress and that you can refill how you refill your your cup for the students.

Sylvester Gaskin [00:46:38]: Name is Sylvester Gaskin. I'm a leadership development program leader for the Association of American Medical Colleges. We see this field as like an extension of ourselves when it may be at times we just need to see it just as a job, as a career, and to put yourself first. So the best advice that I got about this was actually from my father, who said you have to make business decisions. And sometimes the best business decision you could make is to just take care of yourself. And so in my experience, I didn't really model healthy behaviors and I ended up burning out, getting really sick. And I found that the institution really wasn't concerned about my own well-being. And so I see myself as the CEO of my own business and sometimes the best interest of the business is that I didn't go to a late night event or I didn't attend a meeting and and if I got in trouble for it, well, you know, that's just part of the business.

Dr. Alyssa Bivens [00:47:29]: So

Taylor Henderson [00:47:30]: Hi. This is Taylor Henderson. I'm the director of the Reliance Student Experience office at Texas A and M University's Mays Business School. I think it's really important to acknowledge challenge. I think sometimes we find ourselves in our profession staying late, helping students with things after hours, before work, after work, on the weekends, and just we feel such a responsibility to be 100% available because we know that the student experience happens primarily of their classroom. And I think that that is an unrealistic expectation for any profession. And it's an unrealistic model for us to put in front of students whenever they see us as working professionals. So I think, you know, establishing boundaries and showing them that it's okay to have boundaries for for yourself and to take care of yourself is just so important.

Terrence Duffy [00:48:17]: Hi. My name is Terrence Duffy, t. I'm a first year graduate student at Baldwin Wallace University in the leadership in higher education program. My biggest thing is boundaries. People always assume boundaries just kind of mean those are your you will not pass. It's like, no. It's just setting healthy boundaries with not only where you work or your school work because, you know, you do need a break from time to time. So I think showing them that, yes, as professionals, we work hard and long sometimes.

Terrence Duffy [00:48:44]: Having those times where we're like, okay. We need to stop for a minute, take a step back and take a breather, I think is something that can really help show students that they can also do the same, especially in their schoolwork.

Dr. TJ Pegg [00:49:02]: Hello. I'm doctor TJ Pegg from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Hello. I'm doctor TJ Pegg from from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. I think as far as student affairs professionals and modeling excellence in our own lives and institutional cultures is really communicating our boundaries and letting students know that they have the ability to do that as well and setting their boundaries as within their program, setting their boundaries and how they're getting engaged on campus, and letting their professors, faculty, and staff on campus, and campus resources that they utilize know what their boundaries are so that they can be their best self when they're on campus. We talk to students a lot of times in the work that I do about meeting their own definition of success, and part of that is setting boundaries and communicating with those that are in their circle to support their experience.

Travis Tucker [00:49:55]: Alright. Hello there. My name is Travis Tucker. I use him as pronouns. I serve as the assistant dean and director of the Carley Field Center at Princeton University. I also am a member of the JSKC as the cochair elect. So when I think about healthy excellence, and thinking about marrying and monitoring healthy excellence in my life, I really think about creating proper boundaries. What does it look like for me to really model with navigating how to turn off my email at a given time? I'm really navigating expectations around what that looks like for my staff.

Travis Tucker [00:50:24]: I'm really encouraging them to really think about what it makes sense for them to do. I really don't ever try to put people into a box. I don't believe in toxic positivity when it comes to healthy healthy boundaries, and so really making sure that people have the that capacity to learn and lean into that is really important to me.

Val Shepherd [00:50:44]: Hi. I'm Val Shepherd. I'm a senior analyst with UCLA Recreation, practicing what we preach. Basically, doing the same things, modeling that for our students. We can't expect our students to do anything different than we do. Talking about our families, working across across disciplines, partnering with academic affairs, especially in student affairs. I've had wonderful partnerships with colleagues in the School of Public Health, for example. So I think definitely modeling what we would like students to do is how I see

Sabina Kapoor [00:51:21]: that. Hi. My name is Sabina Kapoor and I'm the new co chair, one of the new co chairs for the SAPA knowledge community with NASPA. I've been in higher ed for a little over twenty years and in that time I've served roles in student affairs, academic affairs, student success, and after a little over twenty years I decided to go back to school full time and pursue my PhD. So if all goes well, I'll get that by the end of this year. I think this is something where there needs to be an organizational cultural shift. While we can't focus on the whole institution, maybe just focusing on the student affairs division and the workplace culture there. And so I think it begins with leadership to say in student affairs to say, work life balance.

Val Shepherd [00:52:05]: And, you know, sometimes I think student affairs staff, they're so devoted to the job that they will maybe not do a flex schedule or compensate their hours that over work, you know, over forty hours or whatever the minimum is for full time. But there needs to be a workplace cultural shift to say, and we all know this, is that we all need to be healthy so that we can best serve others. But sometimes we get in a zone and we compromise our health, skip lunch to meet with the student or stay just two hours extra to finish decorating for an event the next day. And so the problem is that one, sometimes leadership doesn't realize that that's what you're doing. And then if you've agreed to work a certain schedule and you kinda veer away from that, then it's really hard for leadership to compensate at that point. So when I say cultural shift, I mean leadership mid level supervisors facing staff work together and be proactive with scheduling, knowing peak times, knowing when events are, etcetera. So I think this is a bigger thing and it requires an organizational or divisional workplace cultural shift. And this is including institutional cultures and that ties into that part of institutional cultures while supporting students' well-being.

Val Shepherd [00:53:27]: The key of this is that there is a servicing students. You can manage and operate in a way that you are serving students without overworking some individuals or student student affairs staff. You can work schedules can be arranged in a way to where they get a break and at the same time they get a break but at the same time they continue with that student service.

Vanessa Vera [00:53:55]: Hi. My name is Vanessa Vera. I'm a conduct education graduate assistant at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. I think what comes to mind is really a human centered approach to navigating student support and just the communication and relationships that we value in our life. I think sometimes just having grace with ourselves, having grace with our colleagues, having grace for our students, and that sometimes life happens to put it simply, and that there really is no right way to go about things. I think sometimes in the procedure of every day and the routines that we fall into, it's easy to get in a groove and expect things to go the way they do, but they never really do, and there's so much uncertainty every day in our lives that we navigate professionally, personally, and just in all spaces.

Dr. Will Simpkins [00:54:43]: This is Will Simpkins. I'm vice president of student affairs at Metropolitan State University of Denver. I think you have to make the time. You have to create the boundaries and make it a priority in your life. You can't be everything to everyone. And if your own internal sense of validation is how many people that I helped today, you're not helping yourself. And so always put at the front, what do I need to get through today? Whether that's coffee or a walk with the dog or a massage at the end of the day or a workout, whatever it is, put the boundaries around the work.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:55:25]: This has been an episode of SA Voices from the Field, a podcast brought to you by NASPA. This show is made possible because of you, the listeners, and we continue to be grateful that you spend your time with us. If you'd like to reach the show, you can always email us at [email protected] or find me on LinkedIn by searching for doctor Jill L. Creighton. We always welcome your feedback and your topic and guest suggestions. We'd love it if you take a moment to tell a colleague about the show, and please leave us a five star rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening now. It really helps other student affairs professionals find our show and helps us to become more visible in the larger podcasting community. This episode was produced and hosted by doctor Jill Creighton.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:56:04]: That's me. Produced and audio engineered by doctor Chris Lewis. Special thanks to the University of Michigan Flint for your support as we create this project. Catch you next

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:56:16]: time.