SA Voices From the Field Dr. Jill Creighton, NASPA

In this episode of "Student Affairs Voices from the Field," Dr. Kevin Kruger, President of NASPA, discusses his upcoming retirement and the transitions in student affairs. Dr. Kruger reflects on his 30-year journey at NASPA and the reasons behind his decision to step down as president. He emphasizes the importance of retiring on his own terms and while still making meaningful contributions to the field. Dr. Kruger also discusses the challenges and opportunities facing student affairs professionals, including the need to close attainment gaps for underrepresented students and navigate financial pressures on higher education institutions.
He highlights the importance of staying intellectually engaged in retirement and shares his interests in history and leadership. Dr. Kruger also expresses his hope for NASPA's continued role in supporting student affairs professionals and advocating for the value of their work in higher education. He discusses some of the initiatives and partnerships NASPA has undertaken during his tenure, including the Center for First Generation Student Success and efforts to secure external resources to benefit NASPA members.
Dr. Kruger concludes with gratitude for the privilege of working in the field of student affairs and the incredible people and teams he has had the opportunity to work with during his career. He reflects on his love for the work he has done and the positive changes he has witnessed in student affairs over the years.
Dr. Kruger's unwavering dedication to NASPA and his desire to leave a lasting legacy have guided his decision-making process, ensuring a smooth transition for the organization as it enters its next chapter.
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Transcript
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:02]:
Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts. This is season nine on transitions in Student Affairs. This podcast is brought to you by NASPA. And I'm Dr. Jill Creighton. She her hers your essay Voices from the Field, host today on SA Voices, it's truly my pleasure to welcome back Dr. Kevin Krueger, president of NASPA, to this season of Transitions. We've introduced Kevin a couple of times before. He's our only three peak guest on the podcast, so I'm not going to read his bio again, but just know that this is probably the last time we're going to have Dr. Kruger on the podcast as he has announced his own major transition. I really hope you enjoyed this episode, Kevin. We're so glad to have you back on SA Voices.
Dr. Kevin Kruger [00:00:50]:
I'm super thrilled to be here, and I understand I'm the only person so far who has had three podcasts with you all. So it's exciting to be doing my number third podcast.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:00]:
Yes, you are the only three-pete, so far in the history of the show. There's a couple two Peters that we've got, but we're so glad to have you on for the season on Transitions. And I think this was actually a really apt theme given everything that's going on for you personally and for NASPA. So for those who have not yet read their NASPA email, kevin has announced a really, really big transition, which is coming very soon. And Kevin, do you want to tell us what that is?
Dr. Kevin Kruger [00:01:24]:
Yeah, sure. So I've made the decision to step down in my role as President of NASPA. There's some sort of timing around that that made sense for me. My contract ends this March of 24, and June 30 of 24 will be my 30 year anniversary of working at NASPA. So it made sense to lots of different personal ways as well as some professional ways to use that as an opportunity to open up a transition for NASPA. So me being here for 30 years and being serving as president for the last twelve, I think, creates a really unique opportunity for some new leadersh

Welcome back to SA Voices From the Field. In this episode, titled "Discovering Resilience: Clarissa Mae Calimbas' Story of Professional Transformation," we are joined by Clarissa Mae Calimbas, Assistant Director for Student Organizations at San Jose State University. Clarissa Mae takes us on a journey through her professional career, from her early days as a transfer student to her current role overseeing 350 student organizations. She shares her experiences of being terminated from her first professional position during the height of the pandemic, and how she found the strength to rebuild her professional confidence.
Through her story, Clarissa Mae reveals the importance of finding the right fit and staying true to one's values, even in the face of uncertainty. We also delve into the topic of transitions in Student Affairs, exploring the challenges faced by professionals and the various opportunities for growth and development.
Join us as we dive deep into Clarissa Mae's inspiring journey and gain valuable insights into navigating transitions, building resilience, and finding one's voice in the world of Student Affairs.
 
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:02]:
Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts. This is season nine on transitions in Student Affairs. This podcast is brought to you by NASPA. And I'm Dr. Jill Creighton. She her hers your essay, Voices from the Field. Host
Welcome back to a new episode of SA voices where our Transitions guest today is Clarissa Mae Calimbas. Clarissa Mae is the assistant director for student organizations at San Jose State University, or SJSU. In her role, she oversees the recognition and compliance processes of 350 plus recognized student organizations. She did her undergrad at SJSU, where she majored in Child and Adolescent development and completed her master's in Educational leadership at Old Dominion University. Clarissa Mae is also a current first year doctoral student studying Educational Leadership at SJSU. Outside of work, Clarissa Mae enjoys going to Orange Theory Fitness and learning how to DJ. You can connect with her on Linkedin. You can find her on Twitter @_Clarissamae or on Instagram @_Clarissamae. Clarissa, welcome to the show.
Clarissa Mae Calimbas [00:01:14]:
Hi.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:15]:
How's it going for our listeners? Clarissa and I met, I think, two annual conferences ago, maybe two or three annual conferences ago now when we were doing some sort of I think it was a scavenger hunt for discord. Does that sound right?
Clarissa Mae Calimbas [00:01:27]:
Yeah, it was like a discord group.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:29]:
And I ended up finding you in person at the Apikc Social.
Clarissa Mae Calimbas [00:01:33]:
Yes. Now I'm starting to remember. Yeah, that tracks.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:35]:
We're glad to have you today to talk about your transitions in higher education. We always like to kick off our episodes by asking our guests how they got to their current seat.
Clarissa Mae Calimbas [00:01:44]:
That is such a good question. I've been really reflecting on this because this academic year is my fifth year as a professional, and I also currently work at my alma mater. So it's been exactly ten years since I first attended my current institution that I work at. How did I get there? I think I first came in as a transfer student. Didn't really like, there wasn't much for transfer students to get involved, and I kind of put myself out there because all my friends were out there, and then people took notice and were like, hey, you're good at this. You should do this field of student affairs. And they always told me, if you're going to go do this, you have to go away before you come back. And so I went to grad school across the country before coming back to my home state of California, worked at a couple institutions. Before I came into my current po

In this episode of "Student Affairs Voices from the Field," Dr. Jill Creighton, the host, welcomes Dr. Chicora Martin as the season premiere guest. They discuss transitions in higher education and leadership within NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators). Dr. Martin shares her personal journey into student affairs, highlighting her circuitous path from aspiring to be a judge to finding her passion in student affairs.
Dr. Martin praises the podcast for its role in bringing forward the student affairs profession and shares how her chance meeting with a graduate student reflects her commitment to mentorship. She emphasizes the importance of seizing opportunities, even if they seem serendipitous, and how her own journey into student affairs was influenced by unexpected connections and experiences.
Dr. Creighton and Dr. Martin reminisce about their first meeting at the University of Oregon, highlighting the interconnectedness of the student affairs profession and the smallness of the community, which can be both a benefit and a challenge, especially for newcomers and those from underrepresented backgrounds.
They delve into Dr. Martin's transition into her role as NASPA Board Chair, discussing the selection process and the responsibilities associated with it. Dr. Martin shares her approach to this role, focusing on community engagement and connecting with NASPA members to ensure that the organization remains member-centric.
The conversation then shifts to Dr. Martin's experiences with transitioning between different types of institutions and geographic locations. She emphasizes the importance of remaining open to learning and adapting one's experiences to fit the new environment. Dr. Martin shares a valuable lesson about recognizing that her way of doing things is not the only way, citing an example from her time at Mills College. She acknowledges that leadership requires understanding and accommodating different individuals' tolerance for change and making decisions with grace and collaboration.
The episode concludes with Dr. Martin's reflections on the importance of building trust within her team and being open to feedback and adjustments in leadership decisions.
Overall, this episode highlights the significance of embracing transitions, seizing opportunities, and fostering inclusivity and trust in leadership roles within the student affairs profession and organizations like NASPA.
Please subscribe to SA Voices from the Field on your favorite podcasting device and share the podcast with other student affairs colleagues!
Transcript
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:02]:
Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts. This is season nine on transitions in Student Affairs. This podcast is brought to you by NASPA. And I'm Dr. Jill Creighton. She her hers your SA Voices from the Field. Host.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:24]:
Welcome to SA. Voices thank you so much.
Dr. Chicora Martin [00:00:27]:
I'm excited to be here with you.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:28]:
We're so glad you agreed to be our season premiere of season nine, transitions in Higher Education. Think you're the perfect person to kick off our season because of your professional transitions, your institutional type transitions, and also your leadership transitions within NASPA. But as our season premiere person, that also means that we get to explore the direction of where we're going to go. And one of the things we will always keep consistent though, is we like to start our episodes with your come up. So how did you get to your current seat both at your institution and in NASPA?
Dr. Chicora Martin [00:00:59]:
Well, first of all, let me congratulate you on nine seasons of bringing forward our profession in a way that's really accessible to folks and interesting and lets us tell a little bit deeper story about what we're doing. So that's an

We are very excited to be preparing for Season 9 of SA Voices from the Field. This season we will be looking at things that we do something we do many times in our careers, transitions. Take a listen while Jill Creighton and Chris Lewis talk abmany times in ourout the new season.
Please subscribe to SA Voices from the Field on your favorite podcasting device and share the podcast with other student affairs colleagues!
 
Transcript
Jill Creighton:
Welcome to Student Affairs voices from the field. The podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts. This is season 9 on transitions in student affairs. This podcast is brought to you by NASPA. And I'm Doctor Jill Creighton. Sheherhers, your SA voices from the field host.
Happy August, Chris.
Christopher Lewis:
It is great to be back and really excited about this new season and new school year. and just new in general.
Jill Creighton:
You've got a lot of major things happening in your life right now about to sun. Well, I'll I'll let you talk about it.
Christopher Lewis:
that we do. And not only with work, but personally, I'm sending my oldest to college. So she is a freshman the university of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She's there. She started, and she is living her best life. So we are stepping back and watching from a distance and doing the whole parent thing. And I'm watching from the pilons and watching to see how student affairs works at other institutions.
Jill Creighton:
It's such a fascinating thing to going from the person who's behind the scenes to the person who's experiencing the thing that we all try to make sure it works. And that's a huge transition for you. I also know that I've got a huge transition on my campus this fall Over the summer here at DKU, we opened 22 new buildings. And I know that is such a wild concept for pretty much anyone in American Higher Ed. But because my institution is only a decade old, we're still building infrastructure. So our phase 2 campus just opened out of 22 of those facilities. 11 of them are under student affairs. And I've got a new sports complex opening, our student union building, which is called our community center. Just came online. And I also have 8 undergraduate residence halls and 1 graduate student residence hall. And, you know, I've opened new buildings in my career before. but I've literally never opened 11 at once. So big transitions for both of us, which got us really thinking, what do we wanna focus on this season? So, Chris, do you wanna make the big announcement?
Christopher Lewis:
Really excited because this season, we're going to be talking about transitions gonna be talking about transitions in our personal life, but we're also gonna be talking about transitions in student affairs to get some amazing guests throughout the entire season. they're gonna be talking about transitions that they've gone through in their careers and the things that worked, the things that didn't work, or might not have worked, and we'll definitely be learning from all of them along the way and pass that learning on to you.
Jill Creighton:
And we want to really take your guest suggestions this season as well. We're always open to them. But if you know someone who's making a transition in their career, whether it be from undergraduate to graduate student pursuing a master's in higher ed or a graduate student to 1st full time position or from a new professional to mid level professional, especially if you're going from never supervising full time professionals before to leading and supervising full time professionals. We're also very excited to be experiencing along with them at the transition to NASA board chair for Doctor Shikora Martin. And then I'll also give a teaser that one of our long time NASA members and pillar of the profession, Doctor. Lori S White, will be coming on to talk about transition from VPSA to a university president, which is a very, very big tra

This week on  SA Voices From the Field, we interviewed Gian Luca Giovannucci, President of the European University College Association. 
Gian Luca is a lawyer registered with the Italian bar association.
He has been on the board of directors of Collegio Universitario Internazionale di Roma (CUIR) since 1992, advocating for the integration of life skills in the academic curricula and working for national recognition of University Colleges of Merit (Collegi di Merito) to foster academic excellence in Italy. 
Recognizing the added value of internationalization in higher education, Gian Luca promoted the creation of the European University College Association (EucA) in 2006, and he has been its president ever since. During his tenure with EucA, Gian Luca has pursued the association’s growth, and official recognition by European Union institutions of University Colleges’ role in providing a holistic education for students that strengthens their development and employability.
While at EucA, he has overseen the creation and management of European research projects, namely Modernising Higher Education through Soft Skills Accreditation (MODES).
He is a keen supporter of NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, with which he has collaborated since 2012 in the organization of International Events.

From the beginning, Gian Luca has enthusiastically participated in IASAS's creation. He has participated from the first meeting in 2010 in Venice, with IASAS President Emeritus Roger Ludeman, to his current role as Treasurer.

In 2012, he attended the first IASAS Global Summit in Washington D.C., USA. He organized the second in Rome, Italy in 2014, continuing the collaboration until the Global Summit in Cork, Ireland in 2022.

Gian Luca is a co-author of the volume "Supporting Students globally in the Higher Education", published in 2016 by IASAS and NASPA.

When not engaging with EucA projects and students in Brussels, Rome or other European cities, Gian Luca is an enthusiastic promoter of “made in Italy” products: be it Italian fashion, cuisine or wines, he persuasively argues-as any lawyer does-the advantages of buying Italian goods. 
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This week on SA Voices From the Field, we interviewed Dr. Niamh Nestor, Student Adviser at the Veterinary Sciences Centre, University College Dublin. 
Niamh’s work is focused on student support, primarily on mental health and well-being among veterinary medicine and veterinary nursing students. Niamh’s background is in sociolinguistics, migration, and integration, and her doctoral research focused on Polish children and teenagers who had migrated to Ireland since Poland joined the European Union in 2004. At UCD, Niamh’s work is focused on student support, primarily on mental health and well-being among veterinary medicine and veterinary nursing students.
 She supports the rollout of the HEA National Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Framework at UCD. Niamh is an active member of the community life of the university. She runs UCD Purl Jam, the university’s craft/creative group. She co-founded the Veterinary Community Garden on campus. She is also an active member of the UCD Community Choir. Niamh is involved in implementing equality, diversity, and inclusion initiatives in her School and the wider UCD community. She co-chairs the UCD LGBTQI+ EDI committee and the UCD LGBTQI+ Staff Network. She is an active member of the Athena SWAN Committee in her school. She joined this committee because she is deeply committed to challenging injustice, intolerance, and bigotry and to achieving equality, diversity, and inclusion for all. She believes in active allyship and is passionate about fighting against complacency. Rights that have been hard won can be easily lost, and every small thing we do to protect those rights matters. EDI work on higher-level campuses is vital in this regard, and Niamh is particularly interested in empowering and supporting students to continue the fight for equality into the future.
Outside of work, Niamh loves to work in her garden. She has recently joined a dance class and taken up carpentry. She volunteers for Dublin Lesbian Line, teaches piano, and likes to travel. 
Niamh Nestor is on LinkedIn, and also people can get me by email: niamh.nestor@ucd.ie
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