Andre Love
The Ohio State University

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

To be a great advocate requires you to be knowledgeable of the subject matter, requires you to believe in what you’re advocating for, and requires you to operate from a position of strength. Advocating for collegiate recreation in higher education in many ways comes easy for me. It’s easy for me because it is personal, as I am a product of collegiate recreation. From the very first day of my arrival on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi as an undergraduate student, I was engaged with recreational sports as an intramural sports staff member and as a participant. At that time, I had no way of knowing my involvement in the recreational sports program would ultimately be one of the factors that influenced me to remain in school and pursue a degree. We now know and have evidence that shows the use of student recreation centers has significant correlations with positive student outcomes including higher student retention rates, improved student satisfaction, and a greater sense of community within an educational institution (Hall, 2006).

My professional philosophy includes a focus on providing recreational opportunities that champion inclusion, growth, and personal development. On my campus advocation for collegiate recreation begins with my assurance that our department is consistent in delivering high quality engagement opportunities at our facilities and through our programs and services. Ultimately this provides opportunities to partner with groups such as the Center for the Study of Student Life that synthesizes the participation data that we collect and cross references this student demographic information with other known institutional metrics utilized to measure student engagement, campus satisfaction, and validate matriculation toward graduation. As we are emerging from the global pandemic, many of us are having to pivot and redefine best practices for recreation facilities and reimagine program and service offerings to successfully serve our participants and continue to provide job opportunities for student employees. This is an excellent opportunity to reengage campus constituents and other university partners by telling our story of student success and involvement and thusly reemphasizing the importance of collegiate recreation to the overall student experience. Our strength as a department is rooted in on our ability to consistently demonstrate that we are good stewards of campus resources and that we utilize these resources to show the students, faculty, and staff that their well-being matters.

Another important aspect of being a successful advocate is reflective of the audience and platform of which you deliver your message. We as recreation professionals often engage in conversations about how to ensure we have a “seat at the table” for discussions that relate to student well-being on our respective campuses. I currently serve on our University’s Health and Wellness Strategic Planning Committee and our One University Health and Wellness Council where we as a committee are helping to influence the well-being culture on our campus for students, faculty, and staff. This has been great exposure for our department but also exposure for our profession as I have been able to share the many publications and research that is generated by NIRSA members with these committees and other campus and community influencers.

Hall D.A. (2006). Participation in a campus recreation program and its effect on student retention. Recreational Sports Journal, 30, 40–45.

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?

NIRSA’s six strategic values were adopted in 2012 and emerged as a product of the strategic planning process from the previous year. The NIRSA Board of Directors, at that time, had the foresight to include these strategic values to aid in the articulation of NIRSA’s value proposition. My current leadership position in NIRSA provides me with insight to challenges and successes our colleagues are experiencing on their respective campuses. Based on my interactions with my NIRSA colleagues and other higher education professionals, I believe the following pose as critical issues for collegiate recreation over the next three to five years.

1)Evolution of Our Workforce – Challenges of Recruiting, Retaining, and Supporting Professional and Student Staff
This is not unique to collegiate recreation or higher education. Yet, it is of significant concern as it represents a reduction of our most valuable asset. Many institutions are faced with staffing shortages for their most critical student and professional positions. There are multiple reasons identified as contributors to staffing shortages. The reasons range from low wages to staff burnout. A recent Gallop poll reports that burnout remains high (between 50 and 70% in many organizations across the US) and is strongly associated with depression and clinical anxiety. The poll also showed that 60% of employees are quietly quitting. If we are unable to feel key roles in our department whether it be recruiting graduate assistants, program coordinators, or lifeguards the impact is felt throughout the department. Ultimately, we end up asking others to take on additional responsibilities which adds to their workload and infringes on their balance between work and their other competing interest. As we look to cultivate the next wave of leaders for our department and our profession, we are finding more and more of our colleagues are reluctant to assume any more responsibilities and many feel they are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. Many students are seeking employment off campus that pay higher hourly rates. This is all very prevalent now in our departments and we cannot wait three to five years to begin to fix it. There are no easy solutions for remedying the challenges we are all seeing with recruiting and retaining employees. The problem becomes more complex when you look at the rising cost of goods and services, shrinking or flat budgets, and a smaller pool of qualified applicants. However, we can begin addressing these issues by reinforcing to our employees their value to the organization. We can put measures in place that shows that their well-being matters. For example, because of the pandemic many universities began hybrid work practices and if this is an option for your department utilize it. The price of commitment is flexibility. Flexible work schedules that allow employees to have some control and input to their life balance can be beneficial in creating a culture of care for your department. Celebrating employees and recognizing accomplishments no matter how small makes a difference in boosting employee morale. A new divisional practice for us here at Ohio State is “no meeting Fridays”. Departments are strongly encouraged to not have any mandatory staff meetings on Fridays. Instead, employees are to utilize Fridays as a day to catch up on projects and other task they may not have had an opportunity to address earlier in the work week. However, policies such as this are only successful if the department leaders model the desired behavior. We must define our values and culture that we want to create and remove ambiguity of navigating in those spaces.

2) Articulation of Recreations Value and Strengths in the Emergence of Campus-wide Well-being Portfolios
It is probably no surprise, reports that show value of collegiate recreation is amongst the top reasons why individuals decide to join or be involved with NIRSA. You’re probably not surprised either that most students don’t care about how we are organized, their only concern is the experience! As it should be, the well-being of students has become a top priority for many institutions. Through this there has been a flood of new wellness units that may encompass recreation, counseling, health centers, and/or health promotion. Each of these areas are unique in the value and services they provide to the campus community, and they all want visibility and validity. I offer the following suggestions of how we in collegiate recreation can maintain our unique identity and be a good campus partner. “Without data you’re just another person with an opinion” – W. Edwards Deming. Move beyond the basics of data collection and reporting. Learn what data is important to your administration. Then partner with those units on campus that regularly report that important data. Retention, academic performance, and persistence are valued metrics. These metrics are engrained in collegiate recs story. Make your department’s story longer by adding one data bite at a time. Operate with defined purpose. Revisit your “why” as a department and as individuals. Collegiate recreation is a student centered, service focused industry. Serving students should remain or primary focus. As individuals we must continue to educate ourselves and be up to speed on relevant subject matter. We must learn to speak a different language. Commit to knowing your audience and always be prepared.

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?

The competencies identified as essential to being a member of the NIRSA Board of Directors cannot be isolated as each are dependent of each other in some capacity. In my opinion, a successful board member must possess attributes in each of these competencies to be successful. I can think of multiple times during my career where my duties and responsibilities have required me to exhibit concurrent proficiency in multiple competency areas to produce appropriate solutions and strategies. As such, the competencies that I possess that would be an asset to the NIRSA Board of Directors and have prepared me to serve in the Presidential track of the NIRSA Board of Directors include leadership and critical thinking.

In my current role as Director of Recreational Sports at The Ohio State University (OSU), I am responsible for providing visionary leadership, executive oversight, and strategic direction for a comprehensive campus recreation program. Through the optimization of resources and refining processes, in my short tenure here at OSU I have led our team in successfully navigating many of the uncertainties that accompanied the return of in person classes and programming as we emerged from the peak of the COVID pandemic. This includes new challenges associated with aging facilities, shrinking budgets, the rising costs of goods and services, and staffing shortages. With more than sixty full-time professional and support staff, and a team of 1000 student leaders, my responsibilities include significant personnel management, coaching, and mentoring. The effective management of this team is foundationally based in shared vision and reinforcing expectations of excellence in service.

Additionally, I provide leadership and direction for the management and operation of six unique recreation facilities that have more than 2 million visits annually. Thusly, I am responsible for the fiscal oversight of an annual operating budget in excess of $20,000,000. This includes significant planning for capital expenditures, managing costs through the development of administrative efficiencies, better aligning human systems with changing divisional and university strategic priorities, and appropriate use of cash-based funding. Furthermore, under my leadership as director, Recreational Sports continues to evaluate and adjust its master plan for facilities as the needs and priorities of the campus evolves. These accomplishments and others are possible largely through the establishment of strategic priorities, effective management of resources, and the use of systematic inquiry to make informed decisions.

As a recreation professional I have been exposed to and have taken on leadership positions at multiple universities with varying enrollment sizes, unique programmatic offerings, and varying philosophical approaches to collegiate recreation. Through my experiences I have learned that no matter the size of the institution or the size of the recreation program, they all have one commonality that links them. That common bond has been and continues to be the students that we serve. We provide a valuable service to our campus communities by fostering environments of empowerment, inclusion and acceptance, and responsibility all while promoting health, well-being, and life-long learning.