2014 had so many was such a fun year on the podcast that we decided to put together a "best of" episode to recap everything.  Going through everything was a fairly large task, but we came up with a few of the clips that we thought you would enjoy hearing again.  

Unfortunately, with so many episodes, some really great stuff got left out.  But everything is listed on the podcast section of our blog, for you to go and revisit or listen for the very first time.  

We hope you enjoy a few of our favorite moments from this past year.  From all of us at the Student Housing Matters blog, we hope you have a very happy holiday season!  

Joining the Conversation today is Ron Campbell, the Executive Director of the National Association of College Auxiliary Services, or NACAS.  

This is Ron’s second time joining us on the podcast after we originally interviewed him in 2012.  Today Ron joined us, not only to catch up on what is going on with NACAS, but to share some insight he has gained on striving toward a healthy work-life balance.  

Prior to serving at NACAS, Ron was president and CEO of College Business Concepts, a company dedicated to developing educational and business partnerships between higher education institutions and corporations.  Ron has experience in higher education, working for six years at the University of Minnesota, and for 4 years at George Mason University, where he served as the Director of Housing and Residence Life.  

Today we’re doing something a little different… Instead of an individual interview, we have a panel of senior leaders from Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor, Michigan.  The individuals participating are:

·         Bob Harrison, President

·         Kelly Hahn, CFO

·         Dr. Clinton Gabbert, VP of Student Services

·         Anne Erdman, VP for Administration

This team has been working together on a large project, the college’s first residence hall.  Although it is a little unique for a community college to have housing, Lake Michigan College is actually the seventh two-year institution in Michigan to open housing.  Not only did the team talk about their foray into student housing, but they covered several other topics of interest to both, two and four year institutions across the country.  In this podcast, you’ll see/hear their team dynamic, how well they know each other, and why they’ve been able to be successful in their endeavors. 

We're on the road at the 2014 NACAS Annual Conference.  On Monday of the conference, we spoke to Steven Lacker (Sasaki), Tom Petrinni (EVIVE), Greg Powell (Denny's Corporation), and Kristan Wun (Caldwell and Gregory), about what they're up to and what the world of higher education is facing now.  

Today we had the opportunity to interview one of the keynote speakers for the conference, best-selling author, Frans Johansson.  If you’ve listened to the podcast to the podcast for a while, that name may sound familiar.  That’s because we interviewed him a little over a year ago, about his book, The Click Moment.  Frans is also the author of the book, The Medici Effect, which was named one of the top 10 best business books of the year by Amazon.com.

Frans was kind enough to speak with us right before he stepped on stage for his keynote address, to talk to us about dynamic leadership and shaping ideas to lead to success.

In the student affairs world, dealing with parents is something we do almost as much as dealing with the students.  In this episode, we spoke with the interim Vice President for Student Affairs at Auburn University, Lady Cox about dealing with student's parents. She told us some funny stories about some experiences she's had and gave some great advice to parents as they send their children off to college (and attempt to avoid being helicopter/snowplow parents).

Lady began her professional career in sales and marketing with a Fortune 50 company. However, over time, she missed the university community and took a position as the Marketing Coordinator for Student Housing at Mississippi State University, later becoming the Director of Parent and Student Services in the Dean of Students Office. She joined the Division of Student Affairs at Auburn University in September 2010. 

Lady holds an undergraduate degree in Communications from Mississippi State University, and a masters in Higher Education from Auburn University.

Dr. Nancy Uscher, president of Cornish College of the Arts, in Seattle, Washington, sat down to talk with us about how her roles as a president and a musician have some key similarities.  Dr. Uscher became president of Cornish in August 2011, becoming the 1st female president of the College since its founding in 1914.  

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.  

Camille Barkley is the Executive Director of the Office of Communications and Marketing at Auburn University.  She sat down with us to talk about what marketing an institution in the higher education world looks like (and specifically with housing) and what strategies they are using at Auburn.

Ms. Barkley has more than 25 years of marketing experience, having worked in print production, promotion and marketing for several publishers, including Rolling Stone, Random House and Simon & Schuster. She has spent the last 10 years serving at Auburn in their Marketing Department.  

Dr. Peggy Williams joined us for a chat about her experiences from living in a residence hall, to working in higher education, to being a university president.  She talks about what higher ed means to her and the concept of "Knowing and Knowing Better."

Dr. Williams began her career as a social worker, and upon entering the field of higher education she held various faculty and administrative positions within the Vermont State College system and at Trinity College in Burlington, VT. She served as president of Lyndon State College for eight years prior to being named the seventh—and first woman—president of Ithaca College, where she served for 11 years. 

Back for day two at the NACUBO Annual Meeting.

This week on the “Student Housing Matters” podcast, we packed up our microphones and headed to the National Association of College and University Business Officers (or NACUBO) Annual meeting in Seattle, Washington, to talk to some of the leaders and big thinkers in the higher ed community.  Throughout this week we’ll be posting a few short interviews from the conference each day.  We’ll talk about things  ranging from specific topics going on at the conference to current trends in the higher education world from all different perspectives.  So check back every day for new content.