NIRSA Ideas in Motion

Small Programs Directors Roundtable

Tuesday, April 28, 9:00am PT / 12:00pm ET

Facilitated by Marc Falkenstein, Mila Padgett, and Alicia Rossow

Chat Transcript

00:34:51Mila Padgett

Social Media theme days - content that fits into the theme days that surround health and wellbeing

00:35:07Alicia Rossow

Don't forget to add any questions or topics you want to discuss.

00:35:20Philip Ems

I am interested to hear how other community colleges participation is going

00:36:34Matt Grimm

Matt Grimm checking in - Stevenson University - 4 year private school (outside of Baltimore, MD)

00:36:39rob simpson

We are getting ready to start a Starve running, cycling and walking/cycling challenge for the month of May. We’ve had strong interest from our campus community thus far as we just opened signups.

00:37:59Deb Gisvold

Hi Sorry, Sound problems just now getting audio.

00:38:50Mila Padgett

Would love to have everyone check in via chat. Write your name, university here

00:39:10Hollie Power

Hollie Power- Indiana State University (4 year)

00:39:18Haley Colpitts

Haley Colpitts - Florida Tech

00:39:24Anthony Fillippino

Anthony from University of Central Arkansas. Four year.

00:39:25Andrew Doyle

Andrew Doyle - Southern New Hampshire University Private 4year w/ around 3k on campus

00:39:31Drew Meadows

Drew Meadows - Charleston Southern University (4 year, private)

00:39:35Haley Sorenson

Northwest College, WY 2 year public college—-we are offering virtual fitness classes and those are mainly attended by employees.

00:39:48Haley Sorenson

Oh, my name is Haley Sorenson :)

00:39:53Stephen Whitmer

leslie whitmer embry riddle aeron. univ private 4 yr

00:40:04marc iturriaga

Marc Iturriaga - past director, founder bonobo consulting

00:40:05Greg Homol

Greg Homol UMass Dartmouth - 4 year Public

00:40:05Chris Crume

Rob, could you send that to me? crumec@denison.edu

00:40:14Joe Hoff

Joe Hoff, Texas A&M University at Galveston, 4 year public

00:40:17Lindsey Logue

Lindsey Logue - University of South Carolina Beaufort - 4 year public

00:40:20Matt Grimm

We are using the Challenge Runner App for a fitness challenge, with two different levels of winners

00:40:26Matt McGregor

Matt McGregor, Longwood University, 4 yr public

00:40:28Haley Sorenson

Students-athletes I have been utilizing at home workouts that we sent out to students as well

00:40:29Courtney Berntsen

Courtney Berntsen - North Dakota State University (4 year - public)

00:40:29Tiffany Lane

I’m interested Rob, tiffany.n.lane@lonestar.edu

00:40:31Andrew Doyle

also using challenge runner at SNHU

00:40:35Chris Crume

Chris Crume - Denison University - 4 year private.

00:40:50Brian Mills

Brian Mills, University of Houston Clear Lake, four year public,

00:40:52Camille Jackson

Camille Jackson Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

00:40:56Anna Champion

Anna Champion, Auburn University at Montgomery, 4 year, public

00:41:33Robert Simels

We are in the last week of a self-care challenge. Different task to do each day that promotes self care. Each week had a different them. Eat, Sleep, Move and Breath were the themes.

00:41:42Colleen Fritze

We have just launched our virtual engagement recreation piece so we will see how it goes... Northeastern University... includes a variety of platforms 5 year private urban university-Boston

00:41:51Mark Ritter

Mark Ritter - USC Upstate 4 year Public

00:42:25Ian Brown

Did something similar to Rob's challenge. We did a virtual marathon via social media. 26 days to complete 26.2 miles. All they had to do was post proof of completion - not time based either.

00:43:10Mary Catherine Martinez

MC from Innosoft/Fusion, just listening in :)

00:43:28Philip Ems

We have done a 60 mile challenge to run/walk 60 miles in April.

00:43:46Owen McFadden

Owen McFadden. Furman University. 4 year private

00:43:56Anthony Fillippino

Q: Any prizes or just more or less get out and be active?

00:44:10marc iturriaga

I would love to know how much energy is spent on current programming during this pandemic versus planning for the future post?

00:44:33Andrew Doyle

i agree with marc

00:45:03Robert Simels

Here is the webpage for our challenge - https://recreation.tcnj.edu/wellness-challenge/

00:45:23Ian Brown

Splitting time @andrew and @marc to help justify keeping rec fee.

00:45:27Matt Grimm

I'd say early on it was all programming, but since we got stuff off the ground it has transitioned to the future now

00:45:30Alicia Rossow

We are sending champ shirts to everyone and mailing them

00:45:47Matt Grimm

champ shirts for challenge runner stuff as well

00:46:01Colleen Fritze

Prizes are still pending per budget approval

00:46:03rob simpson

Here are the notes for the cycling challenge

00:46:09Ian Brown

Yes, we partnered with Student Activities, because they had to cancel all of their Spring programs they had $ to spend. They provided money for shirts and prizes.

00:46:25Tiffany Lane

Giving prizes as well as just providing information for engagement

00:46:46Marc Falkenstein

We are providing IM Champ Shirts, and other small prizes that we are mailing directly to winners.

00:47:03Haley Sorenson

our planning is mainly on how we are going to open

00:48:12Hollie Power

Indiana State did a few online gaming/ esports weekly tournaments (NBA 2k) etc and the winner was mailed a IM champ shirt. We had 10-20 participants per game and method(xbox or PS4). we are trying to plan as normal for future but with back up plans for virtual programs encase we can't do in person programs.

00:48:31Colleen Fritze

Future planning includes various scenarios and what buildings will look like in that re-entry

00:48:42Philip Ems

Is programming through May common in here?

00:48:54Philip Ems

when classes are not meeting.

00:48:54Ian Brown

Not from our end.

00:49:20Matt Grimm

Our programming usually ends the Friday before Finals, which for us is next week

00:49:40marc iturriaga

how much of the future planning goes beyond reopening? with budget cuts and previous engagement issues where are energies in developing new strategies post pandemic.

00:50:18marc iturriaga

planning vs change in strategy?

00:51:00Colleen Fritze

We have been challenge to include virtual engagement in Campus Recreation for seven day a week.

00:51:36Anthony Fillippino

Shortening hours is something to look at.

00:51:37Colleen Fritze

Actually we are just trying to wrap our heads on refunds from Spring...

00:51:51Brenna Lacey

we are considering renting dumbbells and BOSU to employees who have been asking about equipment since all summer in-02 is

00:52:12Brenna Lacey

sorry- in-person programming for summer is cancelled

00:52:44Marc Falkenstein

@Marc I’m spending about 40% of my time focusing on re-opening and 60% of my time as what the future looks like. I have been working with our colleagues across student affairs to find out how we can program together and save institutional dollars.

00:53:00marc iturriaga

collaboration! love it mila!

00:53:03Joe Hoff

We have gone and done our budget cuts, and our now shifting towards re-evaluating what our department looks like in the future. Using this as an opportunity to potentially re-prioritize and refocus what we do.

00:53:35marc iturriaga

@marc that’s awesome

00:53:51Matt Grimm

Have there been any schools out there that have already been told exactly what is being cut for next year due to COVID-19? Or are most schools not that far down the road yet?

00:53:59marc iturriaga

@joe that’s great

00:54:35Joe Hoff

@Matt, we’ve been told to plan for 7.5% reduction from central funds and then a real soft number projection for enrollment based fee accounts.

00:55:04Anthony Fillippino

@Matt, we have been to told to work on a plan for a % to cut as well.

00:55:27Colleen Fritze

All employee incentive raises have been frozen here

00:55:40marc iturriaga

I’m hearing a lot of focus on structure - hours, fees; revenue and cuts. are there any prioritized strategies focused on the people aspect - what students want \ need and increasing participation from those not engages?

00:55:42Haley Sorenson

We have not been told exact amounts

00:55:43Marc Falkenstein

@Matt - Not that far down the road yet. Planning on enrollment reductions for fees, don’t know institutional contribution reduction yet.

00:55:50Anthony Fillippino

Hiring freeze as well.

00:56:18Tom Verrico

Springfield College is still up in the air @ Matt Grimm

00:56:29Colleen Fritze

personal touch points are important ...

00:57:11Tiffany Lane

Hiring freeze at Lone Star College-CyFair we are fee based, so budget will depend on our enrollment

00:57:58Alicia Rossow

Does everyone want to write when they are hearing that when will school start and when are you planning on going back to the office?

00:58:30Chris Crume

We are 100% up in the air on when we will return at this point.

00:58:56Joe Hoff

@Marc with our looking at reimagining our department we went back to our mission statement and the Division’s new Curricular Approach (Learning Outcomes & Goals) as our guiding principles. We will probably ask our students in an upcoming end of year survey what they want to see from us as well.

00:59:22Marci Iverson

Decision on the fall semester won't be made until after July 1. We are also 100% in the air about when we are going to reopen.

00:59:29Brenna Lacey

speaking of intramural opportunity, my AD said that they are looking to use NIRSA

00:59:31Greg Homol

Our facility is being used as a Surge Hospital so no telling when that will be cleared out.

00:59:33Haley Sorenson

Yes—-we’re a small college and we created a list of all students that were unable to meet with their advisors (our advising day was last Tuesday). A list was created that included theses students and employees across all different departments took a chunk of that list and reached out, made sure they knew who their advisor was, let them know there advisor was available to meet virtually, and if they were unsure who their advisor was we were able to guide them to that through their student portal or set them up with an appointment with one of our general studies advisor

00:59:50SETH WOODASON

Rose-Hulman (Indiana) a decision won't be made until after July 4th

00:59:52Mark Ritter

Has anyone reached out regularly to their external customers (if you have them) to give them updates regarding reopening, membership extensions, their concerns, etc?

00:59:55Joe Hoff

No decision on fall yet, all summer classes online, and no info on when we might return to in-person work.

01:00:06Brenna Lacey

I’m obviously not at at computer, so sorry. our football program is considering using flag football rules. 2

01:00:09Colleen Fritze

Non -credit Instruction is taking a pause to look a smaller ind/dual sports and more personal enrichment,

01:00:24Matt McGregor

Especially us small schools, we need to be looking at these things Marc is talking about. I think our normal is going to change, we need to define it.

01:00:29Philip Ems

we started doing drop-in/organized pickup games in multiple sports this year

01:00:38Philip Ems

big hit in basketball

01:00:45Stephen Whitmer

Leslie, Embry Riddle budgets were taken back early April, have to get permission to spend anything even if $50 or shipping out a t-shirt. Nothing been said about next year, expecting cuts. Hiring freeze currently; also majority of staff given options one of which was to take for summer 30 hours w/25% cut full benefits.\

01:00:46Philip Ems

pickleball too

01:03:58marc iturriaga

that’s awesome @philip would love to hear more about the success of those dropin programs.

01:04:05Robert Simels

We are getting really positive feedback about virtual group X. During normal schedules we have a lot of students on internships or in classrooms off campus so they cannot be part of our program due to not being on campus or close to campus. We plan to add a big virtual component to our group X offering moving forward.

01:04:17Philip Ems

our basketball league is still popular as well

01:04:38Philip Ems

for basketball we just provide a scorer and run the clock.

01:04:43marc iturriaga

that’s great @ian.

01:05:00Philip Ems

make sure everyone is getting a chance to play

01:05:17marc iturriaga

inclusion!

01:06:19Philip Ems

students started making their own rules...winners could only stay on the court for 3 straight games

01:06:28Philip Ems

8-10 minute games

01:06:37Philip Ems

depending how many are waiting to play

01:06:38Brenna Lacey

Is there any concern about so many of the free virtual resources cutting off in the fall and then our budget takes a hit to continue to offer the services we are finding success with right now?

01:07:49Camille Jackson

@Philip Are your games typically 5on5 self officiated?

01:08:00marc iturriaga

that’s a great question @brenna. maybe it means cutting some activities that are less successful to your mission so that you can continue the things that are working.

01:08:03Philip Ems

yes. no officials

01:08:06Joe Hoff

@Brenna, I’m definitely concerned about that as we relied very heavily on things like Les Mills since our group X is only about a year old. We have seen good success with our small group training participants maintaining community through Facebook groups.

01:08:07Philip Ems

5 on 5

01:08:30Lashica Thomas

YouTube has analytics and FB live has analytics

01:09:18Colleen Fritze

Every decision will be data driven...

01:10:25Ian Brown

@Mila,

I think of participants as customers. Customer retention and relationships require conscious effort on our department's part. I believe consistent engagement, however small, is a key piece to retention. Maybe model your justification around enrollment management model?

01:10:53Philip Ems

We only had the pickup basketball scheduled 1 day a week. FYI

01:11:21marc iturriaga

I have a devils advocate position on assessment.

01:11:28Mark Ritter

Is your University increasing bandwidth for these online capabilities?

01:11:30Lashica Thomas

Reaches, Impressions vs attendance

01:12:34Mark Ritter

We have just been told we have to use Microsoft teams for all video communication we initiate.

01:12:49Brenna Lacey

I think my VP is likely to ask what I can cut if I want to proceed, regardless of the data, unfortunately.

01:12:50Ian Brown

I'm curious what Marc's stance is on assessment.

01:13:04Joe Hoff

I have heard of some schools using their virtual programming to justify now charging online students the rec fee (if you have a rec fee).

01:13:45Ian Brown

^ We fall into this category @joe. Campus is still 'open'.

01:14:10Colleen Fritze

prep budget for 10%, 15% or 20% cuts and what that would look like in terms of scenario planning.

01:14:32Tiffany Lane

@mark Ritter we have to initiate virtual communication WebEX or MS Teams as well

01:14:33Philip Ems

@joeH I would assume we are in that category. Our rec fee is only $15/semester though.

01:15:51Colleen Fritze

Important point ...as with Rec. is experiential and learning is Everywhere

01:16:46Colleen Fritze

Getting contextual understanding through journaling and experiential moments

01:18:19Brenna Lacey

Students have been hammered with COVID-19 related impact surveys and course evals, so we are left to informal surveying right now

01:19:35Marc Falkenstein

Has anyone experienced push back on conducting assessments/surveys due to institutional priorities/divisional priorities or concerns from assessment/survey fatigue?

01:19:44Colleen Fritze

Have to leave everyone ..thank you for another Zoom...thank you for the engagement :)

01:20:33Alicia Rossow

Thanks Colleen

01:21:15Brenna Lacey

also, where I would normally do a sit down with each group of student employees (fitness, group fit, intramurals & rec), I am doing them over zoom- similar to focus group but only with employee feedback

01:22:01Haley Sorenson

In Wyoming, businesses/schools that want to re-open have to submit a plan to their public health officials that will show they can practice social distancing, proper cleaning and sanitation, PPE, ect

01:22:48marc iturriaga

a counterpoint to assessment - read some material regarding assessing activities during a crisis is almost impossible to get any relevant data as you are dealing with an extreme outlier and emotional responses that are not normal to regular activity.

01:23:36Roger Watson

Thank you for this headed to another meeting.

01:23:51Alicia Rossow

Thank you Roger. Have a good day

01:23:57Brenna Lacey

I am definitely interested in how programs plan to acquire cleaning and disinfectant!

01:24:07Carly Hopper

Thank you! Lots of helpful info!

01:24:08Brenna Lacey

(great future thought :))

01:24:19Anthony Fillippino

Thank you. Wash your hands!!!

01:24:40Alicia Rossow

Thanks everyone. Reach out if you need anything else!

01:24:45Hollie Power

great info! NIRSA Strong!

01:24:47Tiffany Lane

Thank you guys for hosting this roundtable

01:24:50Linda Gundrum

thank you all. Very thoughtful discussion.

01:25:01Ian Brown

I echo Brenna's discussion point. After tomorrow's broader call, I'd like to circle-back to smaller group and get into specifics of re-opening and logistics.

01:25:07Chris Crume

Great job y’all!!!

01:25:15marc iturriaga

thanks. wonderfully facilitated and great discussion. thanks everyone.

01:25:23Linda Gundrum

what is the document called that NIRSA is managing regarding reopening?

01:25:27Alicia Rossow

We will see if we can host another one about re-opening! Thanks Ian and Brenna!

01:25:30Brenna Lacey

thank you to you all for a very co

01:25:32Brenna Lacey

p

01:25:34Mila Padgett

Thanks everyone!

01:25:39Matt Grimm

Thanks!

01:25:42Haley Sorenson

Thanks all!

01:25:43Joe Hoff

Thanks everyone!