Student Housing Matters

President of COCM, Doug Brown and Executive Vice President, Sandy Hill sat down with us to talk about how they got into the student housing world and then to COCM. The conversation winds through their background, funny stories they've had while traveling, and where they see the future of COCM.

This is a special video podcast version of a series we've had on our regular podcast, "How I Got Into Student Housing." If you haven't been following this series, the episodes are designed to be a fairly quick look into how these housing professionals got into this field.

This episode, Dr. Nancy Uscher joins us to chat with us about the relationship between a research university and its school of fine arts, and why that relationship is important.

Dr. Uscher holds a bachelor's degree in music from the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music, a master's degree in music from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and a Ph.D. in music from New York University. She is also an Associate of the Royal College of Music in London, where she spent her junior year in college. Additionally, she spent two decades as a concert violist, performing and teaching around the world, including six years leading the viola section of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, before transitioning full-time into academe. She is also the author of dozens of articles and 2 books.

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

Joe Cantona is a Site Operations Specialist for COCM. In his role, he has worked on site at almost every one of COCM's sites across the country, performing tasks from opening sites for the first time, to filling the gap while critical staff when they are on leave. He joined us for the latest installment of our "How I Got Into Student Housing" series.

If you haven't been following this series, the episodes are designed to be a fairly quick look into how these housing professionals got into this field. In every episode you hear, you'll hear how a mentor and/or a situation guided every person into something they love.

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

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

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

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

Best selling author and award winning columnist, Jeff Selingo joined us to talk about his most recent book, There Is Life After College. We talked about the way this generation is learning and how it affects the transition to life after college, how residential education is more important than ever, and his favorite phone apps.

We're also giving away five signed copies of his book to the first five people to email us at [email protected]. Don't miss out!

Melynda Davis is COCM's director at Campus Town at The College of New Jersey. She joined us for the latest installment of our "How I Got Into Student Housing" series.

If you haven't been following this series, the episodes are designed to be a fairly quick look into how these housing professionals got into this field. In every episode you hear, you'll hear how a mentor and/or a situation guided every person into something they love.