James E. Wilkening
University of Central Florida

How are you currently advocating for collegiate recreation’s value in higher education?

Advocating for the value of collegiate recreation in higher education is an ongoing process that requires many different approaches. This advocation includes research, communication and aligning with the various institutional strategic plans. Additionally, we must highlight the positive impact on wellbeing these programs have that lead to student success and move past the fact that we roll out the balls and we are all fun and games. I take any opportunity I get when presenting budgets, , update reports, annual reports and more to highlight the impact collegiate recreation has on overall student success.

NIRSA has provided valuable resources that shows the benefit of what we do by sharing through research that the more the student body are using the recreation center the more successful those students are. I have been able to experience these principles firsthand as we did same research at UCF and found similar results. The fact is that the student body is positively impacted with higher retention rates, academic progression with higher GPAs, and ultimately to graduation if we can minimize the academic impediments through a community of care. As we have begun to work on at UCF the efforts can be highlighted by providing a culturally conscious approach that focuses on skill building in the areas of purpose, resilience, financial literacy, engagement as well as harm reducing choices.

The NIRSA BOD expected competencies provide a road map that can assist in this advocacy effort. We all know that Campus Recreation and even more broadly Higher Education are under attack by many but by highlighting the positive impact of our programs on student wellbeing and academic success we can more securely align our work. We have been challenged with recruiting and retaining staff as quite frankly other environments outside this arena are doing a better job. They have adapted with higher pay, more flexibility, and overall, a more focused approach on personal wellbeing. If our staff are not encouraged or able to focus on their wellbeing, then we will not be as effective in impacting our students. The goal should be that this advocacy ultimately leads to students having the facilities, programs and services that will contribute to their growth.

We must continue to tell our story and in campus recreation we do have quite the story to share. My story, without me even knowing it, was one of engagement and involvement into something I enjoyed and getting me hooked. This same story exists for so many others because we are a fun environment, but we must continue to communicate our value.

Using the strategic values as a frame of reference, what do you believe are two critical issues for the field over the next three to five years? What are action steps for addressing those concerns?

The issues I would like to focus on that will be prevalent over the next 3 to 5 years are Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Mental Health or our students’ overall wellbeing. Take this scenario where two friends are fishing at the bottom of a cliff and to their surprise a student had fallen into the water so of course one of the friends jumped in to save the student. Issue averted or so they thought. Shortly thereafter student after student was seen in the water so finally one friend went to the top of the cliff and noticed the fence was broken and that is why the students kept falling in. Let’s fix the fence and we likely will have many less students falling in. This is often the state of our students in the higher education setting as Colleges and Universities across the country can’t keep up with the amount of counselor’s needed to take on the issues and challenges that students are dealing with.

NIRSA has the opportunity with our membership to lead an exciting trajectory and enhance the efforts to provide students the tools necessary for student success and wellbeing. I believe it all starts with training and development of a progressive group of professionals. This group must develop the necessary skills within the work of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. This may take place in the form of leadership or service, but we need to be able to meet our members where they are in their personal EDI journey. Moving the needle forward in the recent JEDI report as we must be intentional and learn the ability to be comfortable being uncomfortable. If we are open and willing the step here is to expand on the EDI journey. Are you willing to join me in this journey? Are you willing to find work arounds when you are faced with obstacles? This will include education, support and ultimately the willingness to dismantle inequities. This work must not be a check mark item but part of a transformation to return the NIRSA organization to its roots and be and organization for everybody.

As campus recreation continues down the path of wellbeing it is important to lead that connection with our counterparts within higher education. The path hear will include relationships with our Counseling and Physiological services, Student Health Services, Student Care Servies, Student Accessibility Services and more. Many universities have begun to put those units together but there is an opportunity to allow the professional organizations such as the ACCA, ACHA, or other organizations to build those relationships and provide guidance in making those connections. This provides us an opportunity to build a sustainable community and relationship that can ultimately lead to improved student wellbeing.

NIRSA has the unique opportunity to helping to develop staff, allowing the association to serve all members in a way that is safe and equitable and ultimately lead to each person, student and eventually NIRSA in the Wellbeing journey. Let’s partner together to make that happen.

What attributes, experiences, and knowledge could you contribute to the NIRSA Board of Directors that speak to at least two of the competency-based requirements?

Each of the NIRSA competency-based requirements are critical to successfully serve the organization. The two that I feel I align most with are Leadership and Communication.

The first line of leadership focuses on the ability to lead with honesty, integrity, and trust. One of my biggest motto’s is if you always tell the truth you don’t have to remember what you said. As a member of NIRSA I will pride myself on representing the organization with pride, commitment, and the ability to act as a team player. Leadership considers many different styles and while I might tend to be quiet, even introverted at times, I am not shy and certainly can stand on sound principles and step up as necessary. True leadership includes many different facets but ultimately the most important one to me is listening. How can you lead if you don’t listen to the group you are leading? If you are leading and nobody is following, then you are just going for a walk. When you lead a group that means folks are following and to truly lead within NIRSA you must have the ability to listen and then lead the membership. Sometimes you lead from out front and other times from behind, but I am confident I have that ability to serve the association. A great example to share is the ability to lead a basketball officiating class where I listen to input from past participants through surveys and feedback, surround myself with strong people through established relationships, and then lead the class to helping each person develop individually as an official. The class consistently, after 27 years, receives a rating of 9.5 or higher out of 10 showing that the style and approach is successful. Another example is the work I do downtown in the Paramore community where i consistently show up and other team members will begin to follow you because they believe in you. When the administrators say “you keep coming” then i know I have been successful in that leadership role.

Communication is the other competency I align with. Communication is the ability to present ideas effectively and the ability to make connections and bring people together. I find much of the work we all must make within EDI is bringing individuals together through transparent, honest and humble conversation. Sometimes it just takes a phone call to invite somebody to participate so they are included as we can’t just wait to see what happens. A great example is the current SVP for the San Antonio Spurs, Samantha Simmons, a former UCF student, is a great example of the reality of just asking. I just “asked” Sam to work for the Rec Center and after first saying no she then said yes. The power of a relationship will be the conduit to fulfilling this board role successfully and am confident in the relationships I have built and the ones I will build will lead to success as a member of the Board of Directors.