In the latest episode of NASPA's Student Affairs Voices from the Field, Dr. Jill Creighton sits down with Dr. Richard Walker, President of the University of Houston Clear Lake, to explore the past, present, and future of student affairs in higher education. With over four decades of experience, Dr. Walker brings a wealth of knowledge and unique perspectives, having transitioned from a career in student affairs to the presidency. Here’s a glimpse into the key themes covered in their enlightening conversation.
Dr. Walker’s journey to the presidency is a testament to the value of diverse experiences and the encouragement of mentors. Initially set on retiring as a Vice President for Student Affairs (VPSA), Walker’s career took an unexpected turn when he was encouraged to consider a presidential role. His story underscores the importance of being open to new opportunities and the impact of leaders who recognize potential.
Once in the presidential seat, Dr. Walker’s student affairs background provided him with a distinct advantage. His approach to leadership is deeply rooted in fostering a holistic view of student success and engagement, emphasizing the importance of seamless support systems that include academic advising, student activities, and mental health services. His tenure at UHCL has been marked by significant achievements, including strategic partnerships with industry giants like Boeing and NASA, enhancing student career readiness through experiential learning.
Dr. Walker candidly discusses current challenges, particularly in light of recent legislative changes affecting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in Texas. He shares the innovative strategies UHCL has employed to comply with new laws while maintaining robust support systems for all students, emphasizing the university’s commitment to providing a welcoming environment despite external challenges.
Looking forward, Walker encourages a continued focus on student success, affordability, and the evolving role of student affairs professionals. He highlights the need for institutions to adapt to changing needs, particularly in mental health services and career readiness, ensuring that all students have the support necessary to succeed academically and personally.
For student affairs professionals and higher education leaders, Dr. Walker’s insights offer a valuable perspective on navigating the complexities of modern academia. His dedication to student engagement, community partnerships, and strategic leadership is both inspiring and instructive.
Tune in to hear more from Dr. Richard Walker about the evolving landscape of student affairs and the vital role it plays in shaping the future of higher education. Whether you’re an aspiring university leader or a seasoned professional, this conversation provides rich insights and motivation to make a lasting impact in your field. Listen now to engage with the full discussion and gather insights that could transform your approach to student affairs leadership.
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 Essay Voices from the Field where today we're bringing you the third conversation we had live and in person at the NASPA annual conference, this time with one of our keynote speakers, doctor Richard Walker. Richard joined the University of Houston Clear Lake as its sixth president on 05/20/2022, bringing over forty years of leadership experience in higher ed at both public and private institutions. Under his leadership, UHCL has experienced significant success. He led the implementation of the university's strategic plan, Impact 2025 and beyond, transform, translate, transcend, which has been pivotal in transforming student lives through experiential learning and workforce readiness.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:03]: This period has seen record breaking fundraising efforts with nearly $2,800,000 raised, surpassing the goal by over a million dollars. Additionally, the successful acquisition of 53 grants has yielded over 7,200,000.0 in funding for various educational and community projects in the twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three period. Under his leadership, the university has marked several notable achievements. During his first year, UHCL graduated its largest class ever with 2,427 students. Additionally, Walker's tenure has significantly increased the institution's economic impact on the local area, contributing $1,100,000,000, which equates to supporting 12,578 jobs in the university's service region. Moreover, UHCL has made considerable strides in national and regional academic standings. In the 2024 US News and World Report rankings, the university climbed 27 places to number 304 nationally and rose to number 12 amongst public universities in Texas. It also advanced 66 spots to number a 43 in the top performer for social mobility category among national universities.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:06]: Walker's impact extends beyond the campus as he actively contributes to regional and national development. He's a member of the board of trustees for HCA Houston Healthcare Clear Lake and the board of directors for Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership. He also serves on the executive committee of the Council of Public University Presidents and Chancellors or CPUPC. Strategic partnerships with major organizations like Boeing and NASA have provided invaluable real world experiences to UHCL students, further enhancing their education and career readiness, supporting community and workforce development. Recognized as one of our pillars of the profession here at NASPA in 2016, his dedication to education is evident in his administrative achievements and active involvement in various professional and honor societies. His vision for UHCL focuses on elevating the university among the top universities in Texas, enhancing the student experience, and anticipating educational needs to ensure UHCL's relevance and influence in an evolving workplace landscape. Prior to his current role, Walker served as vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment services for the University of Houston system and vice president for student affairs and enrollment services at the University of Houston. He also spent twenty four years in significant leadership roles at the University of Miami.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:03:18]: Walker received his EDD in higher ed leadership from the University of Miami. He earned a specialist in education and administration and supervision from Middle State Tennessee University, a master of education administration and supervision from Memphis State University, and a bachelor of science in history from Middle Tennessee State University. He's also a graduate of the Harvard Institute for Higher Ed Management development program. Hope you enjoy our conversation. It was a delight to talk to Richard. Hi, Richard. Hey, Joe. Thanks so much for making time out of your conference schedule sit down with me.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:03:46]: It is absolutely my pleasure.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:03:48]: And for our listeners, our audio quality might be a little bit different today than you're used to because we're live and in person at NASPA in New Orleans sitting in a gorgeous, very fancy boardroom in one of the conference hotels. But you were on the panel this morning with three other university presidents who've come up through student affairs and are now sitting in the president's seat. So we always like to start our conversations by asking you, how did you get to your current spot?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:04:12]: It's an interesting story. So my career goal when I got in the field of student affairs was to become a vice president for student affairs. That was my, you know, the ultimate kind of goal for my career, which I achieved when I became vice president for student affairs at the University of Houston. And then I was with my boss, the president of the University Houston and the chancellor for the University of Houston system and her husband. One night at dinner, actually, we were at a c o a CEO in San Diego, and we were talking about what's next for both of us. And I said, what's next for you? What's your what are your plans? She said, what's next for you? And I said, I'm good. If you're good at my performance, I'm good at Houston. I can retire with you at Houston.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:04:51]: And she said, I really think you should become a college president. And I said, well, I'm very flattered, but I don't know if I really wanna do that. I watch what you do, and I'm like, not so sure I really wanna do that. So, anyway, years go by, and one Friday afternoon, September or the fall of twenty twenty one, she pops into my office and sits down. And you never know on a Friday afternoon when your boss pops into your office and sits down about, what was this all about? Please, there's not be a pink slip. She said, no. I need to make a change in the presidency at Clear Lake, and I want you to go down there and be the interim president.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:24]: Wow.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:05:24]: And I said, okay. And when would this be? She said, in two weeks.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:29]: Wow.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:05:30]: She said, but you don't have to tell me now. You can think about it over the weekend and get back to me on Monday. It's one of those things where you're not gonna tell her no. But I'm like, okay. I'll get back to you on Monday. So it's an interesting story because she's always thought I should be a president. I didn't really think I wanted to be a president, but I thought, you know what? This will be a test run. The agreement we had was I'd go down there for the academic year.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:05:50]: She was gonna do a national search, and then I'd come back to my position at the University of Houston. And so I got down there, and I liked it.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:57]: Okay.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:05:59]: And everybody there kept saying, you're applying for the job. Right? And it's a closed search closed presidential search. The only people that knew about it was the search firm and the search committee. So I couldn't say anything. I just said, well, I'm thinking about it. And so I thought about it over holiday. She launched the search committee in December, went to see her in January and said, well, what would you think if I wanted to stay? We talked for a while and she said, I want you to do what you wanna do, but you'll have to compete for it.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:25]: Okay.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:06:26]: Because I've already lost the search.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:27]: Mhmm.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:06:27]: I'm like, well, that's fair. So after ten years of not writing a cover letter and polishing up my resume, I had to get to work. And so I put my name in the hat. The search committee selected four finalists. Mhmm. I was one of the four finalists and actually had to interview for the job and was fortunate enough to be selected. And on May 2022, was named the sixth president of the University of Houston, Colorado. So I let her tell her you were white.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:06:52]: You know, it's a it's a funny thing about sometimes people see things in you you don't see in yourself.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:57]: Mhmm.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:06:57]: And this is one of those occasions. I've had several happen over the course of my career, but that's how I landed at being president of the University of Houston Clear Lake.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:07:05]: Your university is only 50 years old, which is, I think, really unique in American higher education in a public university, specifically. I mean, we see that all the time with for profits that are popping up and even some privates, but to have a young public like that is a very unique thing. I believe you said in the panel this morning that your institution exists because of NASA?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:07:24]: Correct.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:07:24]: How did that all happen?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:07:26]: So they formed the university before me in 1974 at the request of NASA. NASA really wanted a four year institution close to NASA where its staff could either finish an undergraduate degree or get a master's degree. So through the help of legislators in Texas, they formed the University of Houston Clear Lake, which was launched in 1974 as a upper division institution, so juniors, seniors, and masters. We later, in 2014, we went to downward expansion and started taking freshmen and sophomores. And in 2016, I had a doctoral program. So over the course of our fifty years, we've grown now into a full four year public institution. But it's interesting because we sit in in the city of Houston, but we're in the Bay Area. And that's very different event of the evening about Houston.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:08:13]: We're not downtown. We're not the main campus. We are literally on the interstate between downtown and Galveston. So it's called the Bay Area, and it's very unique because the industry that is thriving there is the aerospace and space industry. So I like to tell the story that NASA is literally in our backyard. They're our back backyard neighbor. Boeing is literally our next door neighbor, and the Houston Space Port is just down the road. So very community oriented, partnership oriented workforce development institution, and we're very different than other institutions within the University of Houston system in that we sit on a 524 acre wildlife reserve.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:50]: It's huge.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:08:50]: So we worry about deer, alligator, hawks. We don't worry about being in Downtown Houston where the University of Houston downtown has interstates running through your campus. And so it's a very unique opportunity to experience, and I think that makes us stand out as a unique institution and a regional comprehensive in the Greater Houston area.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:09:09]: Do you thought for a long time that the VPSAC was the pinnacle of career and and where you wanted to retire from ultimately? And, you know, you talked about having made the switch. I'm wondering how you look at higher education differently now from the presidency compared to when the VPSA role was a viewpoint that you had perspective from.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:09:28]: That's a great question. Let me back pedal a second. So I went in to be the vice president for student affairs at University Houston, the flagship campus, and then the University of Houston system, the vice presidents on the flagship campus were also vice chancellors for the system. Mhmm. Two years into that vice presidency, another opportunity on the Friday afternoon, the chancellor pops into my office. And she said, I'm reorganizing academic affairs, and I want you to take over enrollment management. Again, you don't tell the chancellor no. And I said to her, you know I don't have any experience in enrollment management.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:10:00]: I know. But I need you to turn it around. You've done a great job in student affairs. You can do it. So I said to her, if you think I can do it, I will give it I will give it my best shot. And I tell her that to say, I think she was setting me up because I had a student affairs background. Now she wanted me to have an enrollment background, and she said this will be good for your career, ultimately. So I've got the perspective of student affairs and enrollment management now just sitting in the president's seat.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:10:27]: So I think it has provided me with a unique opportunity. I don't come from the academic area. I've taught in both the master's and doctoral level in the College of Education at the University of Houston, but I'm not a full time faculty member. So I've got the faculty experience. But I think the unique part for me is that I'm truly a practitioner. So I know enrollment. I know student affairs. I've learned academic affairs.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:10:49]: I've got a great pro I know to hire a great provost to help manage all of that aspect of the institution. But I feel it allows me to have a very different perspective of the student experience and a different way to look at student success. And so I truly look at it holistically, and it's really about everybody being on the same page. No silos. You know, for a long time, this whole thing was about, well, what's the relationship between academic affairs and student affairs? And we talked about that a lot and even in Nasport, like, how do you bridge that gap?
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:11:17]: And We're still having that conversation.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:11:19]: Still having that kind of you're trying. And but now I look at it from the perspective of it's everybody. And so my philosophy has been that enrollment is everybody's business. Mhmm. It's not just enrollment. It's not just academic affairs. It's not just student affairs. And student success is everybody's business.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:11:34]: We all have to be working together. So I think as being a president now and sitting in a little different perspective, I think I've got a better understanding of truly what student success means and what a true student engagement experience and really creating the environment at the institution to make our students successful. I don't know if I had the same perspective if I had gone to complete academic ground. I just think I have a much more holistic view of sitting in the presidency seat.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:12:02]: So what does student success mean for you now, and and how is that different than when you were a VPSA?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:12:07]: So for now, it really it is a combination of everybody working together in the academic arena. And so sometimes in higher education, things are organized in different buckets in different ways. So at the University of Houston Clear Lake, I have vice presidents and I have a vice president for student affairs, obviously, that reports to me. I also have a vice president for strategic enrollment management that reports to me. Student success, I have associate vice president for student success that reports through academic affairs. And so our student success structure, we call it student success, is academic advising, student success support services, writing center, testing center, math center, and all those aspects. But it's student affairs that house orientation in your student programs Mhmm. Which is a key component of this global process.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:12:45]: Then you've got enrollment management, which is all the recruitment pieces. So I think what for me, it's about retention and graduation rates. It's about the process of entering the institution and trying to make it a seamless experience. We have thirty nine percent first generation college students on our campus. We have 41% Pell eligible. We're a Hispanic serving, a minority serving institution. Many of our students don't have somebody to go to and turn to. So it's thinking about how do we not create barriers and roadblocks.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:13:15]: To the students, how we're organized, they don't care. And they don't know. They shouldn't have to know. To them, it should be a seamless experience. So for me, it's really about looking at, are we retaining the students? Are we doing the things from a student engagement component outside the classroom? Are we providing those academic support services? Are we drilling down to really see who's having difficulty, why they're having difficulty in making those services available? So it's about graduation rates. It's about retention. At the end of the day, the ultimate sign of success is that those students walk across that commencement stage. And I tell them that at orientation.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:13:50]: I've seen you now as you're coming into the institution. My last the senior will be when you walk across that stage, and I'll give you a call. That to me is what's truly successful, and that's what student success is to me. And it's again, I said earlier, but it's the holistic aspect of everybody working together for the same goal. I actually go speak to every new employee orientation, and there's custodians in there, there's finance people in there, there's deans who are in the same orientations. And I tell them, everybody sitting in this room has a role to play in student success. Mhmm. And whether it's bringing in new students, whether it's keeping students here, keeping them engaged, every interaction you have with a student, a parent, a community member is gonna determine our success.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:14:32]: And that's been my philosophy as president.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:14:35]: So if I'm a student affairs professional, sometimes the president can feel really far away, especially if I'm in maybe my first couple of years as a new professional, and I think it's really clear when you're on a campus when that that kind of drive and passion for a president, permeates through the experience of an institution. But if if I'm, your average student affairs professional, how do I kind of take that lead from my president and move forward for student success knowing that my day job is probably focused on a very specific function of the university?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:15:06]: So what I tell my team is, I try to be visible first and foremost. I try to be out there. I try to go to events and student events. We try to host events for faculty and staff in terms of their engagement with the institution. I'm a I'm a big enough campus with a small enough campus to be seen. They know who I am. I try to do regular communications about different issues that are happening on the campus so that they can hear from the president. It's not in person.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:15:29]: It leads to regular communications of things that that interest them. But But I really would advise any professional in student affairs, maybe in the university. This morning, I talked about it a little bit in the president's panel. I said it's about building relationships. And I truly believe that my success over my forty plus years career, which has predominantly been in student affairs until the last three and a half years, is because I was able to engage and build relationships across the entire institution, whether it was deans in academic affairs or faculty or whether it was in administration finance, whether it was in advancement in fundraising, whether it was enrollment management, it does not matter. I believe that both from the University of Houston system where I've been for the last in my fourteenth year and twenty four years at the University of Miami, I really truly believe it was about building those relationships. And I tell younger professionals, make sure you're reaching across the institution. Don't silo yourself only with getting to know and understand your job.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:16:27]: Yes. That's your top priority. I want you to be successful in that first. But as you think about the work that you're doing, take opportunities or ask for those opportunities Mhmm. To get involved and engage in other aspects of the institution. That will make you a better student affairs professional. It will make your institution. That will make you a better student affairs professional.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:16:43]: It will make your career trajectory something that you can talk about, how you've been able to interact and interface with multiple areas of the institution. Everybody doesn't get that opportunity. But especially at Cleric, we're a small enough institution, you have that opportunity to do so, and don't lose the advantage of that. Take advantage of that. Ask. Can I do this? Can I do that? Can I be involved in this? You know, sometimes I think my my team can be a little annoyed with me because because I was in enrollment management, the first thing I do every morning is look at the enrollment reports. As a president? As a president. When I turn on my computer, the enrollment reports pop up.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:17:18]: And so I look at those every every morning, and so I dive into the data. And so because I I understand it and know it, I know that can be a little annoying. I try not to annoy them in too much, but I know how to ask the questions. And so I also tell people to learn about how to how to use data to your advantage. I think using data is really important as well. So I would say professionals in student affairs, youngers who go into the career, take advantage of all those kinds of opportunities that might present themselves or ask for them to have those professional development type
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:17:57]: time. And, you know, we've seen the provost rule really being that kind of pipeline into the presidency, and that's really to shift, I think, in the last five to ten years in particular. We're seeing, you know, just with our panel today, we had Leah Barrett from Northeast Community College. We had doctor Lourdes White from DePauw, who Lourdes has been on the podcast as well. So listeners, if you wanna hear more from Lourdes, I think you have to go back probably two or three seasons to find her episode. Yourself, Richard, and then also, Dwan Womack from, Claflin University. So seeing all of you make that shift from student affairs to president, we also see folks like, doctor John Hoffman, who's at Bemidji State, Mordecai doctor Mordecai Brownlee who's at Community College of Aurora. You all are making the move that I think a lot of us didn't really think of as possible or we thought the VPSA role was the ceiling for a long time.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:18:42]: How are you seeing that shift happen, and how are you seeing VPSAs who want to move into that presidency be most successful with that journey?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:18:50]: I think the shift is that institutions of higher education and boards of trustees or boards of regents who actually do the recruiting for these presidencies and higher search firms and search firms themselves understand that there is a skill set that's developed in student affairs that's different than academic affairs. And if you're looking now at the challenges that institutions of higher education are facing, the things that are challenges or as above, you look at those opportunities. Those are not the same as they used to be. Yeah. And so some of the training that folks coming from a traditional academic background, from a faculty member to a department chair, to a dean, to a provost, to a president. I don't think some of those skill sets are as developed. That's why now you're also seeing a lot of provost institutes of provosts that wanna be a president, and now they're really training provosts. How do you be a president? And then I say that in in a way that's really about taking the opportunity to think about the skill set and what you bring to the table.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:19:51]: You know, I'll go back to COVID, and this was said this morning, I think, in the, I don't know, presidential panel. Who did most presidents and institutions turn to to get the institution through COVID?
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:20:01]: Student affairs.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:20:01]: Student affairs.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:20:02]: Yeah.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:20:02]: And that's why I'm talking about that about that skill set because they have student affairs and student affairs vice presidents, and teams in student affairs have the ability and the skill set to look at it broadly, with a different lens and a truly academic lens. Yeah. We had to switch academic programs and everything had to go online. That was the faculty. That was the dean. That was the provost. That was IT. Mhmm.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:20:23]: But constructing how you make all that happen and being at the table to help guide that process and thinking about health and mental health and all these factors that intervene in COVID and even having to go online with therapy and and and having psychologists and psych and psychiatrists available in teletherapy. I remember at, I tried for the longest time to get my director of counseling center to move into teletherapy, and she just resisted and resisted. It was amazing how fast when COVID hit, she converted.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:20:54]: Instantly. Yeah.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:20:54]: Instantly. Mhmm. And now it's successful. Mhmm. So I think part of it is just this transition of what's the skill set needed. I think leaders at at the at the board level understand a little difference. You're also not you're also seeing people come into presences outside of higher education. Mhmm.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:21:10]: Like, people who've led industry and business. Mhmm. You see that's been developing as well. And so I think some of the search firms and the people who lead these processes are now saying, don't think in the box. Start to look outside the box as well. Mhmm. To find the best fit for your institution.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:21:29]: So if I'm a coordinator of in student affairs right now and I know that my aspiration is to be a president, what advice would you give that professional who is just starting out but knows they need to build these skills along the way?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:21:42]: I would say just to take advantage of the opportunities as they present themselves, and I'm gonna use myself as a story. So when I started into student affairs, my first full time job was at the, at the time, the Central Missouri State University or the University of Central Missouri. And I took a job as a coordinator of Greek affairs, but it was housed in student housing and residential life Interesting. Because I was gonna have fraternity and sororities, pandemic, advising, all that. But on that campus, all the Greeks are housed in on campus housing. So I also had all their housing responsibilities. So my I said to myself, I'm getting two kinds of different opportunities in one job. I left there, went to the University of Miami's assistant dean of students, and stayed in the dean of student assistant dean associate dean for ten years doing fraternities and sororities, Greek life, and student conduct.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:22:32]: Mhmm. I took the Miami job because I've already been doing Greek life, so that I had to kind of had that down. But it had conduct from a residence hall perspective, but not full judicial conduct for the campus. Campus. So I thought about that. That would help my portfolio. This is ultimately where I wanna go to be a vice president. And then about ten years in, doctor Patricia Whiteley became the vice president for student affairs at the University of Miami.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:22:54]: And doctor Whiteley is the NASCO board chair and was my mentor.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:22:59]: Yeah. Pillar of the profession.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:23:00]: Yes. Pillar of the profession, my mentor in this whole process. She was the director of student life in the university center. When she was named vice president, she said, I want you to move out of the dean's office and move into my position. Interesting story is I initially told her no because I really wanna be the dean's student, and I thought the dean was gonna retire in two years. So I was gonna hang on two more years in the dean's office, and then you may be the dean of students. I'll be happy. And about a week later, I always said, maybe it would be good for me to go do this.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:23:25]: Even if it's for two years, it's a different experience. It's a skill set I don't have. I was gonna have the student center, run the student center. I was gonna have orientation and student activities and all those kinds of pieces that I had not not done. There's a RAS Keller, which is a campus pub and restaurant on that campus. It's not managed by food service. It was gonna report to me. I was gonna learn how to run a bar and a and a pub, but that was interesting.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:23:49]: But I did I said finally said, you know what? I'm gonna I wanna do this. She said, okay. And it's a good thing I did because the dean didn't retire for seven more years. And I say that because she saw a different skill set in Navy that I wasn't sure, you know, if that's really what I wanted to do. But when I thought about it, I'm like, it's a difference. It's another experience to add to my portfolio. Mhmm. It's something I haven't done.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:24:08]: And so from there, I was promoted to assistant vice president, ultimately associate vice president to keep adding stuff to my portfolio like career services and special projects for the president and all kind of fun stuff. But I say that to say, think about the opportunities you're given. And what I tell people is that sometimes those opportunities present themselves when they're not even looking for them. In that case, I wasn't looking to I wasn't comfortable. I wasn't looking to move. But I'd have turned it down. I wouldn't have advanced and had knowledge in all these other aspects of student affairs that I end up gaining. The same thing with doctor Couture in at If I had said no to her opportunities to take on enrollment and ultimately become a president, I wouldn't have gotten to the presidency.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:24:49]: So I tell people all the time is don't have this road map that's so stringent that you can't adjust if the opportunity presents itself. And I also tell people, people are watching you. They're watching your job performance. Mhmm. Even when you don't know they're watching your job
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:25:04]: performance. Yeah.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:25:05]: And they so make sure you always put your best foot forward. But as people are observing you and if you're good at what you do, then people take note of that. And those opportunities that will begin to develop because people have been watching your career and saying that person is really good. They're talented. They can do something different. I can help them advance in their career. So that I don't know if that makes any sense, but that's I think that's kinda how, you know, you have to think about it is, think about those opportunities as they present themselves to you.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:25:33]: I try to live by the personal model of life is better when you say yes to things, and it sounds very similar to kind of what you're advising folks to do. But we also have a lot of professionals who are hungry for those experiences and maybe aren't in a position where those opportunities are as easily as available. What advice would you give those professionals on how to find them or how to ask for them?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:25:51]: So typically, I would say start with those conversations with your supervisor. Or if you report to a director and directors report to ADPs or to the VP, have those conversations with your ADP and even with your vice president about those opportunities that interest you. I will tell the story about my current vice president for student affairs, Doctor. Tina Palson. She worked for me at the University of Houston as director of the student center, student center for involvement and leadership. We sat down and had coffee at Starbucks one day to talk about her career and where she really wanted to go. And she was kind of landlocked. And I and what I mean is that her husband is a physician.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:26:28]: His practice is in The Woodlands, which is North North Of Houston. She goes, we're not going anywhere. Mhmm. Like, his successful practice, I'm kinda locked into the greater Houston area. I really wanna become a vice president. And I said, well, that's because that's a challenge because you can't you can't really move. So you're in the greater Houston area. You have to think about that.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:26:48]: So when my vice president left and I had to hire an interim, I remember that conversation that we had at Starbucks about her desire to advance in her career. So I took her to lunch, and I said, how do you feel about coming to Clear Life and being being interim vice president for student affairs? And she thought to me, really? I said, yes. Really? I'm I'm giving you an opportunity. Now I'm gonna do a search. If you like it, you've qualified. You meet the qualification. You can apply, and we'll we'll see where it goes. But it's an opportunity, and I said I went back to that Starbucks conversation.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:27:20]: It said it came to mind as I was thinking about this. So who do I know that I trust to come in here right away within the next few weeks and step in and do a great job for me? At the end of the day, I did a national search. I had three finalists, and she was the top candidate. Mhmm. And she got the position. And so I think part of it was just being willing to have conversations with people, you know, to say this is kind of what I'm thinking. This is what I wanna do. And, you know, even though sometimes that intentionally make those up, go have coffee.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:27:46]: Go do I think most anybody, whether it's a director or a vice president or associate vice president, they'll have those conversations. They're very willing to have those conversations. I think in our profession, people like people coming to them, kind of the mentor thing, and for advice and give me guidance. And they kept me think through how do I get to where I ultimately wanna go, and what's that career ambition.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:28:07]: Both you and your, your vice president took the risk of becoming an interim leader before taking the full time position. That's a really scary move.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:28:16]: It is.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:28:17]: Especially knowing that if you're vacating something, you may not be able to go back to that thing.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:28:21]: Point of advice, always guarantee you can go back because I made sure that when I agreed to go to Clear Lake, I had it in writing from the chancellor that at the end of the interim term, I was going back to my existing position. I said to doctor Palson, I'm gonna give you the offer to come as interim. You go to your the vice president. The time it's gonna be the interim vice president, and you get it in writing that your position is guaranteed to go back.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:28:45]: That is a very, very important move. We don't always see that because sometimes the interim position's at a different university system Right. Or maybe even in a different Right. Different state or something like that. So that security feels really good Yes. Comparative to, you know, maybe you don't have something to go back to. Right. But but even if you go back to that position, you're not the same professionals when you left it.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:29:05]: So had you decided to go back to that VPSA role, how do you think you would have been different as a professional?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:29:12]: That's a a really good question. I think I would have had different insights. I did at the in that role as VP for ten years. So I was kind of at that tipping point of what's next. I I kind of tackled the initial goals that the president and chancellor had given me when I stepped into the role. She was very specific. Two specific goals I need you to accomplish initially. That's why I think then the enrollment came later because she's like, okay.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:29:36]: You did those pretty quickly. Now now I need you to do this. But I think the challenge for me would have been, okay. What's next? Like, what's the next big thing for student affairs going back into my role at the University of Houston? Mhmm. I think that and that's a question that she was starting to ask herself and asking interims and and etcetera. And me, I think, would ask me the same question. What is next? What's the next big thing in student affairs? What are we not doing at the University of Houston that the best in affairs divisions across the country are doing? So I think I would've been challenged to think differently, and that was a little bit scary because I felt the division was in really good shape, and it was very steady. But I had a chance for a president who pushed the envelope, and she was never satisfied.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:30:19]: She called her big rocks. What's the next big thing? What's the next big rock? I mean, the University of Houston, as president, when she came in, the first big thing was to become a research one institution. She did that a year ahead of schedule, became an art. And then, you know, what's the next big thing? And then we were sitting in cabinets and retreats talking about the next big thing. We all decided, what about we just have some medical school? Not an easy task. We all agreed. We were gonna give it a shot. University of Houston now has a medical school.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:30:46]: Next big goal was I wanna be in a power five athletic, also not easily attainable. University of Houston is now in the big 12. Now her new big rock is getting to AAU, has become an AAU institution. So I say all that to say I was gonna be challenged Yeah.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:31:02]: Because
Dr. Richard Walker [00:31:02]: I was gonna have to think differently and figure out what what was gonna be next. But I think the presidency would have given me a different ability to look at things a little bit differently in that way as not having run the entire institution.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:31:16]: What surprised you most coming into the presidency?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:31:19]: I'll be honest for me, shifting size of institutions and shifting budget. I was on the flagship campus, 47,000 students. My divisional budget was double my entire institution budget in front of me. That's a challenge.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:31:32]: That's definitely a different scale.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:31:33]: That's a completely different scale. So that was probably my biggest adjustment. The other piece I would say, given a thought about earlier where we are in the Bay Area, it is very, very, very community oriented. We have more little mayors of townships and chambers of commerce. I got the more chamber events than I ever fall about being in the city at the at the University of Houston. But that's important. That community engagement and the visibility of the presidency is highly well respected in those arenas, and people wanna see that president. So I now sit on two boards, community boards.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:32:08]: I'm on the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership board of directors, and I'm on the Clear Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce. I'm not sure. Like, the HCA, Clear Lake Hospital Mhmm. Board of trustees. And I'm on also an unofficial ex officio member of the Clear Lake chamber board. But those kinds of things are important that I didn't see see at the university Mhmm. If that makes sense. Like, doctor Couture was the president was not she'd go to these events, but she wasn't that engaged.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:32:35]: And here is a community expectation. Majority of our alums stay in the Clear Lake area. We've got 80,000 plus alumni now, but most of them work in the greater Houston area, and many of them right there in the greater Clear Lake area. So that connectivity, is really, really important. I
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:32:51]: wanna talk a little bit of the hard stuff because you're in Texas
Dr. Richard Walker [00:32:54]: Yep.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:32:55]: And Texas state Legislature has made a lot of choices lately around trans identity, around DEI in general, around some other things that are kind of challenging for universities who are trying to meet the needs to be inclusive for students who come with all sorts of identities. So how are you navigating this with your teams and with the students who still need the support, but maybe you're a bit hampered by what you can actually do according to the law?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:33:20]: So the so Texas legislature only meets every other year. Mhmm. So maybe they meet in the odd years. So
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:33:26]: And only for about sixty days.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:33:28]: Yes. From January till the May first of June. So the last legislative session in '23, '2 big bills, but I'll talk about the DEI bill. It's called senate bill 17, which called for the elimination of DEI at public institutions of higher education in the state of Texas. All aspects, training, programming, positions. So as we work through that bill process, and this is something about just the politics and it's probably similar in most states within Texas. Bills always start on the drastic end. Mhmm.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:34:09]: And so we had to tell everybody, don't freak out when the first version of the bill comes up. We're gonna work through it. At some point, we'll get it hopefully better than where where it started. It may not be perfect. So we advocated and worked through the process and worked with legislators on both sides of the aisle to kinda find a happy medium of where the majority wanted to go, but the things that we needed to do to continue to support our students. So there were a few carve outs in that process. So there were a few carve outs in that process in the final bill that got passed. We still were gonna have to eliminate all DEI and the training and those kinds of things, but there were carve outs for academic programs around diversity, equity, inclusion, for faculty research, For student organizations, this was not gonna apply to them.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:34:56]: They wanted to make sure that programs and services were being provided to all students. Then they did some carve out around first generation, low economic, economically disadvantaged. Those are all words that are in the bill. So at the University of Sinclair, like, I had a chief diversity and inclusion officer that reported directly to me. Interestingly enough, I was the only institution of four in the University of Houston system that had a chief diversity and inclusion officer. So I had to ultimately eliminate that position. We had a student center for diversity, equity, and inclusion, which we had to eliminate. And what we did is we redesigned the support services to create the center for student advocacy and Community.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:35:36]: Mhmm. And then we wrote job descriptions. We already had basic needs in terms of food pantry, emergency grants, and all those kind of things. And and student advocacy was actually already housed in the Dean of Students Office. We pulled it out of the Dean of Students Office, put it in this department, and then focus the community piece on the belonging stuff and working with students, student organizations to provide this belonging activities. Everything, any advertisements even for the student organizations had to say all students are invited. You had to make it clear that everything is for everybody. And so that's how we kind of worked through the process.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:36:09]: We did that. University of Houston did something similar that they copied. I was proud. We actually were ahead of them. They said, can we have all your job descriptions? Can we see what you're doing? Now part of this process and in this bill required each board of regents in their seven systems of higher education in Texas. Each board at the end of this last year had to certify that that all of its institutions in their system complied with s p 17. So they all we all had to submit reports. Each board submitted a report.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:36:37]: It's interesting. About two weeks ago, a letter came out from the Senate Higher Education Committee and one of the other senators saying, well, every border we just complied and submitted their reports, they did not find them to be satisfied. We also had they dealt with the situation in in the state with UT Austin back in the summer where they kinda went after UT Austin first, and that's very politics. Flagship between UT and A and M. They're the two that, you know, are the most well done. The Diddy field that they had all that they had done is reorganize and rename things and really didn't eliminate it. So last summer, they literally had to completely redo. They created a division of, I think, community engagement, and they literally had to close it down and eliminate 60 something exact positions.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:37:19]: So we're going through a similar process right now. I don't think we're on the list, but did everybody go far enough in what their intent was? So we'll see what comes out of this legislative session. We may have additional bills. But what we've tried to say is we're going to support all of our students. And so some of the services, like, in our campus, LGBT services were were part of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion. At the University Maybe it was a completely separate department, but they had to close that. So still trying to provide those services, but trying to operate, we eliminate all of our training. We eliminate all of our programming.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:37:50]: We said we're gonna start all over. We don't want any perception that we're still trying to hang on to this or hang on to that because that's not gonna get us anywhere. So we really have really kinda started from scratch and tried to redesign everything. And if you go to our website, it's we're very careful about what we do, what we say we do, the things that we're providing to our students. So it's still supporting our students and all of our students, but shifting the contacts. You just don't use d, e, or I in your language, in your description, and it's totally interesting to see. But so far, so taxes with like Florida and some others were kind of the first ones to get down that path, and now you see what's kinda happening in other states and happening at the federal level. So you can do it.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:38:30]: You can still provide the support. I think the importance is to make sure you're always just gonna you're gonna support the students and figure out a way to do that without tripping over yourself or using the inappropriate language that they feel is inappropriate. Not everybody feels is inappropriate. And so you have to work within the box you're given, but still have got to make sure your students are supported.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:38:49]: How have the students been responding to these changes?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:38:52]: Our students have responded pretty well to that. I think they understood it, and they've worked well with us to kinda make sure that we are providing the support that they need. And so far, it's been so good. So we'll see where all this goes because it's we're in a legislative session now, and so they're not finished with DEI. I think there'll be something more coming out. I think the the fear now is that they could try to tackle academic programs and academic research, but we're not there again.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:39:20]: We're also in a position where it's, you know, it's March what's today? The sixteenth Mhmm. 2025, and we are about a week past the Office of Civil Rights being effectively eliminated. So I'm sure we're still awaiting what will happen at the federal level for how this is gonna affect education looks like.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:39:35]: Yes. The whole thing around Title nine and how that's been implemented, it's it's changed so many times. It's been that's been frustrating because it's changed with each administration. Yes.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:39:44]: The 02/2004.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:39:46]: I feel like we have constantly been rewriting our sexual harassment and our sexual misconduct policies, and they're lengthy. We have a system policy, and it's a lengthy process. And just when you think you've got it figured out
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:39:57]: It changes.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:39:58]: It changes. So we'll see where where all of this goes now in the in the new standpoint student financial aid Yeah. Pell Grants and those kind of things. I mean, 41% of our students are on Pell Grants. I mean, that's not something that functionally, I don't believe, you could just put back to The States. That's a massive undertaking with the student financial aid and the loan process and all of that. I'm really worried about how that impacts students and the the affordability because many of our students, if that if that goes under and we can't get that to the point where it's functional and and serving the students that we need to serve, that's what worries me.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:40:38]: You talked about this morning that affordability is the number one concern for you and your students at your university. I think that's probably shared by most college presidents. Is there anything specific or unique that your institution is doing to support that affordability mission?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:40:51]: Well, I think even the state of Texas, I think our our governors even concerned about access and affordability. That's why the two years coming out of COVID, we did not raise local tuition, and that was our decision because we just didn't think that was the right thing to do coming out of COVID. Then the last two years, the governor said he wouldn't approve a local tuition increase, and now he said the same thing for the next. So we will go six years without increasing that local tuition stream. So we're really trying to take a look at our awarding philosophy. I challenged my new vice president for strategic role management to take a step back and see, are we utilizing all of the aid that we have available? Available? Because we get Texas grants and other grants from the state, and then we have to set aside a certain amount of our local tuition dollars. 15 percent has to go to students in need with Texas residency. So there are some built in aid programs.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:41:41]: We've asked for an increase in Texas grant for the legislature for this next cycle, again, to try to address the affordability piece. We have transfer money for transfer students that's not meeting the the gap that needs to meet for students who are transferring in, so that's kind of a different population. As part of my investiture to become president, we created the presidential excellence scholarship. So we've been raising money for that program, raising trying to get more endowed scholarships, getting people to invest in students and presenting and doing scholarships on that aspect of so we're trying to do but I just I wanna make sure I think we can do a better job at our awarding philosophy and make sure we're max optimizing the funds that we have available to award, and are we award and are we awarding that strategically? Mhmm. And really taking a look and that can change annually. I mean, if you do your if you do your homework and really dive into how you're awarding, there are shifts that happen almost on an annual basis. So for example, if you're awarding a scholarship at the University of Houston, we had something about academic excellence, and there were three tiers. Might be a 5,000, a 3,000, and then 1,000.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:42:45]: Academically, you performed perform to certain levels. You were guaranteed those tiers. We would do an analysis every year. But what if we lowered this one by 500? We put 500 more on this one, and there's you can run the data to show you, yes. That would make an impact here. We're not making an impact here. So if you use analytics to truly help you do your awarding philosophies and making sure you're really meeting the needs of the students, because many students today, especially being a HSIMS, they don't want debt. And so you also are are braided as an institution on how much debt do your students graduate having.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:43:19]: Mhmm. And they don't wanna see high levels of debt. I mean, that's a bragging point. If you can get your amount of debt your students leave the institution with low adopt, it's something to talk about about when you're talking about affordability in higher education. It's a selling point. And it's
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:43:34]: something that students will talk to each other about. The theme of our season is the past, present, and future of student affairs. So I'm gonna dig into our theme questions. So looking at the past, what's one component of the history of the student affairs profession that you think we should continue to carry forward or alternatively let go of?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:43:50]: That's a fascinating question. I'm gonna have to think back after forty something
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:43:53]: years. You've seen some changes in
Dr. Richard Walker [00:43:55]: the past.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:43:55]: I have
Dr. Richard Walker [00:43:56]: seen a lot of changes, so I'm trying to figure out historically from the profession. You know, when I first got into the fashion profession, I'll be honest, student success wasn't a buzzword. He really wasn't well defined. That's not what we really at least in my career, we had talked about that. We talked about recruitment and engagement, but we didn't frame it in the context of retention and success, like, measuring that.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:44:21]: Yeah.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:44:22]: That wasn't early on in my career, but I think that's something now that forever will be ingrained in who we are. It's part of the what we have to do to convince the public as well. Higher education is well worth the investment dollars Mhmm. And to talk about how much does it cost, how quickly can you get your degree. Because the sooner you can get into job market, the sooner you will make a good living for yourself and your family. And so really thinking about don't take six years. You know, we talk about six year graduation rates. We really started to try to shift or what does top don't talk about six.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:44:56]: Yes. Nationally, that's the methodology. We need to be talking about four year graduation rates. That's where we need to focus. Six is long in my opinion. When I was going to school and my parents put me through, they're like, you have four years. I had to figure it out. I had to go to summer school, but I've got finished in four years.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:45:13]: So now it's more about trying to say to students, you have to take 30 credits over the course of a year, not fifteen and fifteen because everybody used to think about spring and didn't really talk about summer. Now it's really trying to say to them, then you have to do it all. You can do it fall, spring, and summer. You can do twelve and twelve and six over the summer. So I think part of the shift for me is about also talking about student success in the context of time to completion. Also, we've started talking about much more than we did early on about wasted credit hours, making sure we're creating pathways for students, especially transfer students, going to a community college who have a desire to transfer into a four year institution, to focus on only take the classes you need. If you know the community college, when you get your associate's degree, you wanna transfer to the University of Houston Clear Lake in engineering, we've got a path. And working with community colleges in those paths, yeah, we've had MOUs and transfer agreements and those kind of things.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:46:09]: We gotta look at it even a little bit more differently. And, really, what we started to assume, what why I've seen it change as president, we have something called the Houston DPS, Houston pathways dotted pathways, which all the four year institutions and the community colleges in the greater Houston areas are working together to make these seamless pathways. We have faculty at the community college and at the universities in Clear Lake get together, especially with San Jacinto, who's our largest speaker transfer, and talk about curriculum challenges. Okay. This math at at San Jacinto is not exactly this math at Clear Lake and the two faculties had about to get together. So I think that's been a shift also that you didn't hear as much about. We had articulation agreements, but, sometimes they paid attention to them and they necessarily didn't. So I think that's been a change.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:46:53]: Also, in student affairs, development and fundraising. Early on was not something that was invested in and looked at as the institution as a funding source to raise philanthropic dollars. Mhmm. I think what we had to start saying to folks is they're outside of the classroom engagement experiences. For some students, that was their connectivity. In fundraising and development, there's always that, oh, what college were you in? When college did you graduate for? And everybody was putting a college bucket, and that's how the fundraising was developed. And some of us in student affairs had to start going to our advancement officers, and I did that at the University of Houston. I said, you're missing an opportunity.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:47:25]: You're leaving money on the table. Some of these students are not gonna give to you from the College of Engineering. They just don't want to. But all these student leaders that were RAs and key student leaders on the campus, they did not get to opportunities within student affairs, more private philanthropy. That's been a big shift in my opinion from the start to kind of where we are today.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:47:44]: I've seen a big shift in that specifically related to fundraising for fundamental needs works, and people being willing to put their donation dollars towards knowing that this is going to go to food pantries or, going to provide emergency grants to students, that type of thing. And we weren't fundraising for that ten years ago either.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:47:59]: We weren't. I was actually in gags with Amelia, actually, around the whole looking at emergency financial aid, emergency grants, emergency loan programs. When NASPA first kinda got into that space and started taking a look at, with some help, NASPA got some grants on. I was on several of those work group task force that Amelia was heading up as we start to think about what does this now begin? Should it begin to look like? And I think in both the University of Houston Clear Lake and then my work at University of Houston, basic needs, food pantries, emergency grants, all those kinds of things are much more well established. And to your point, I think, yes, people are much more willing because they see that as something tangible. It's an immediate need students have. So we started seeing a lot more gifts of of people willing to invest in the basic needs programs.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:48:46]: Looking at the present, what's happening in the field right now that's going well for student affairs?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:48:50]: I think the continued focus on student life, student engagement, student involvement on the campus. I think that's going well. I think career development, career opportunities, career engagement, intern we call it internships, spiritual learning opportunities, anything that that's in that nature. I think there's been a shift in the turn in mental mental health. I think institutions now are putting the money that they need to put into mental health. I think we saw that coming out of COVID. There was a real real section. And as talked about earlier, teletherapy, and investing in these those different kind of opportunities to create teletherapy so students can get contact anytime they want it, anytime they need it, 03:00 in the morning.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:49:33]: Mhmm. I think those kinds of things are going well. I think there's a understanding and a need that you gotta invest. That's a key component of the student success because if they're not physically well and mentally well, they're gonna drop out or stop out, and you won't you don't want those to be reasons that they're not completing and continuing their education. I think those things are going well in student affairs.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:49:55]: Mental health emergencies almost never happen during business hours. Correct. So it makes sense that we've shifted to a more after hours type of model. And, you know, we still want students to be able to see our counselors during business hours for their regular sessions. It's difficult to say, I'm so sorry. We can't answer your call even though you're in absolute distress because it's 9PM.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:50:14]: Correct. I absolutely agree. In fact, we pulled some data recently. We're looking at our our data in our counseling and mental health center. And I think last year, we had 420 some or 60 something unique users coming into the counseling center. We had over 1,200 using our teletherapy.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:50:31]: I think that also speaks to some of the needs of Gen z, right, and their comfort with, technology and FaceTiming their families. It makes sense to feel comfort in FaceTiming a therapist as well. Yeah. Maybe And you
Dr. Richard Walker [00:50:41]: can even FaceTime a therapist that's sitting in the counseling center in their office now too, which that didn't used to happen.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:50:46]: Yeah. I have a a family member who's a professional therapist and she says she has some tension around around that because you wanna meet the the person where they're at, but also sometimes if you're struggling, for example, with depression, actually getting out of your space and and into a different space can be really helpful too. So, yeah, it's it's an interesting balance that I know the mental health field is working through.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:51:05]: Absolutely.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:06]: And then our last question is, future related. In an ideal world, what does the field need to do to thrive towards our future?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:51:12]: I think a lot of it is to keep doing what we do and do what, you know. Amelia in the the kinda opening session talked about the work that we do is not gonna go over that even in this changing, challenging environment.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:24]: Mhmm.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:51:25]: Students need us. Mhmm. Our students need to continue to provide that support. NASPA needs to continue to provide that professional development support. It's just that things may look a little different, and it's a professional association. We're going to be here for the people in the field of student affairs. As challenging as that may be, the landscape may look different, but we will work through it. Mhmm.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:51:45]: I think I said it in the panel today. You know, resiliency is something that we do well at student affairs. As challenging as it can be. The passion for the work. I would not have done this forty something years if I didn't have passion for this work. In all the the changing environments we've talked about the diapers, things have gone over forty years and things have changed over forty years, I love getting up every morning and going to work. And it's because I think I come from that student affairs background. I come from that aspect of really caring and feeling like I really can make a difference and the teams can make a difference and student affairs professionals can make a difference.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:52:19]: As challenging as it's going to be, as I like to always say. I'm an optimist. I believe the glass is half full. It is not half empty. I believe this is a marathon. It is not a sprint. And so don't panic. Roll with it.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:52:33]: We'll work through it together. I'm hopeful and convinced that hopefully, sharp minds and smart people will prevail in the long run. But there's a need there's a need for this field, and what I don't want to happen is younger professionals get so frustrated. They aren't going with the way they think they needed it to go. You know, I'm just being honest. I'm gonna tell my I'm a baby boomer. So So I'll be I'm always honest about this. I sometimes had challenges with the different generations of people that's, you know, gone from m z's.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:53:02]: I don't I lose track of it all, but I get it. Millennials, the whole nine yards. But I think I would just always say that to folks, you know, as the future, higher education is going to be around. The need for connectivity to students and supporting our students, that is not gonna go by. Back. Whether that's higher education or k k through 12, the same, you know, some of the same things are happening in k through 12. But again, I think the future this we're gonna be around. We're not going anywhere.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:53:27]: Now the challenging things you're seeing around enrolling with smaller, little arts colleges and some smaller institutions, and you already seen some of that closing. And that's probably gonna continue to happen in some capacity, although I think some of that slowed down a little bit. Now that COVID has run its course, people are rebounding and regrouping, and we saw the climb. But, again, I think we will rebound in our enrollment as well. But I believe that we will continue to be needed. Our education is going to be here. It's just how will it look?
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:53:53]: It's time to take a quick break and toss it over to producer Chris to learn what's going on in the NASPA world.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:53:59]: Thanks so much, Jill. So excited to be back in the NASPA world, and there's a ton of things happening in NASPA. On April 29 at twelve eastern, there will be a new policy insights for higher education in the first hundred days member briefing. Join higher education public policy leaders for a discussion for a discussion centered on federal policy updates, implications for student affairs professionals, and reflections on how to move forward in the current policy environment. Panelists will share perspectives on how student affairs professionals can stay up to date on federal and state policy changes and discuss ways they can advocate for both their institution and the field more broadly. This is a free webinar for you as a member. Encourage you to sign up today. You can go to learning.naspa.org to sign up today.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:54:57]: The Student Success and Higher Education Conference is happening June in Denver, Colorado. As we get closer to the start of this amazing conference, there is some new news to share regarding some of the powerful content that is going to be there as well as thought leadership at the core of the event. Just recently, the keynotes were announced. The opening keynote will be doctor Tia McNair, partner at Sova, who's well known for driving transformational change through actionable strategies and practical implementation support. And the closing keynote will feature a senior leader panel comprised of three leading professionals and voices in the field, including doctor Mordecai Ian Brownlee, president of the Community College of Aurora, doctor Delmi Landoff, vice president for student affairs at Pratt Institute, and doctor Joe Thomas, senior associate vice chancellor for student affairs at CU Boulder. There's still time for you to be able to sign up for this amazing conference. We are now in the regular registration deadline, but you can still be a part of this amazing conference by going to the NASPA website and signing up today. Two, journal of college and character that was recently published.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:56:09]: And in this journal, we have a ton of amazing articles that have been that have been that have been peer reviewed and focus on character development and how colleges and universities influence both intentionally and unintentionally the moral and civic learning and behavior of their students. As a member of NASPA, you have access to this journal by going into NASPA.org. You can go into the Journal of College and Character as one of the journals that are available to you as a member. And inside this issue, there are some amazing articles, all of which are focusing around ethical higher education in the anti DEI legislative climate. As you can probably guess, these articles are ones that are hitting all of our campuses, and I highly encourage you to review all of them and check them out and read through them to help your own campus to be stronger in the advocacy that you are offering your students. Finally, today, there is a spring twenty twenty five certification exam prep course that will be kicking off very soon. You can prepare to become a certified student affairs educator with the NASPA certification exam prep course. This five week exam prep course for the certified student affairs educator core exam includes four live moderated study sessions, plus a library of on demand and self paced exam prep resources.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:57:37]: Through this enhanced exam prep, you'll have the opportunity to connect with other prospective certificates, learn from colleagues who have taken and passed the exam, and brush up on your student affairs knowledge and skills through a series of self paced study modules. The prep course is available at a member rate of only $75 for members, which is definitely a no. The certification exam prep course is available at a member rate of only $75 Find out more about this amazing resource at learning.NASPA.org. Every week, we're going to be sharing some amazing things that are happening within the association. So we are going to be able to try and keep you up to date on everything that's happening and allow for you to be able to get involved in different ways because the association is as strong as its members. And for all of us, we have to find our place within the association, whether it be getting involved with a knowledge community, giving back within one of the the centers or the divisions of the association. And as you're doing that, it's important to be able to identify for yourself where do you fit? Where do you wanna give back? Each week, we're hoping that we will share some things that might encourage you, might allow for you to be able to get some ideas that will provide you with an opportunity to be able to say, Hey, I see myself in that knowledge community. I see myself doing something like that.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:59:07]: Or encourage you in other ways that allow for you to be able to think beyond what's available right now to offer other things to the association, to bring your gifts, your talents to the association, and to all of the members within the association. Because through doing that, all of us are stronger and the association is better. Tune in again next week as we find out more about what is happening in NASPA.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:59:35]: Chris, thank you so much for keeping us informed on what's going on in and around NASPA. And, Richard, we have reached our lightning round. So I have seven questions for you to answer in about ninety seconds.
Dr. Richard Walker [00:59:45]: Okay.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:59:45]: Alright. Question one. If you were a conference keynote speaker, which I know you were today, but what would your entrance music be if you got to choose it?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:59:53]: Oh, that's challenging. Celebrating.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:59:55]: Number two. When you were five years old, what did you wanna be when you grew up?
Dr. Richard Walker [00:59:58]: A teacher.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:59:59]: Number three. Who is your most influential professional mentor?
Dr. Richard Walker [01:00:02]: Doctor Patricia Whiteley.
Dr. Jill Creighton [01:00:03]: Number four, your essential student affairs read.
Dr. Richard Walker [01:00:05]: That's a difficult one for me.
Dr. Jill Creighton [01:00:07]: Number five, the best TV show you've been binging lately.
Dr. Richard Walker [01:00:10]: Matlock, the new person.
Dr. Jill Creighton [01:00:12]: Number six, the podcast you spent the most hours listening to in the last year.
Dr. Richard Walker [01:00:15]: I don't really listen to the podcast. Well, now it is gonna be the Student Affairs podcast.
Dr. Jill Creighton [01:00:20]: And finally, number seven, any shout outs you'd like to give personal or professional?
Dr. Richard Walker [01:00:24]: To everybody who's influenced me in my career, mentioned doctor Peashua as a mentor, my chancellor, Lenore Couture. The team that I surround myself with each and every day can't do this work by yourself. And I've had lots over my career, lots of supportive staff, lots of supportive team members, so I give a shout out to everybody.
Dr. Jill Creighton [01:00:40]: It's been a pleasure to speak with you, and I really appreciate you taking time out of your conference schedule to come chat with us. Anyone who's listening would like to connect with you after this airs, how can they find you?
Dr. Richard Walker [01:00:49]: They can find me on LinkedIn, or they can email me at [email protected].
Dr. Jill Creighton [01:00:53]: Thank you so much for sharing your voice with us, Richard.
Dr. Richard Walker [01:00:56]: My pleasure.
Dr. Jill Creighton [01:01:02]: 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 audio engineered by doctor Chris Lewis.
Dr. Jill Creighton [01:01:44]: Special thanks to the University of Michigan Flint for your support as we create this project. Catch you next time.
