Marc Iturriaga

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

As the Executive Director of Mohawk Students’ Association (MSA), whose mission is to support the social, mental, and physical well-being of students, I work with college administration to advocate for success factors that enhance the student experience. One example is when I worked with the Director of Athletics and Recreation in preparing a successful proposal for the increase of student ancillary fees to support college recreation programs that required the support of the Student Government. My experience made me a trusted resource to the student Board of Directors, highlighting the positive impact that campus recreation has on the student experience and the return of investment the increased fees would have in supporting MSA goals.

Through my consulting, I work with collegiate recreation programs to help them align their practices with institutional strategic plans to demonstrate to senior administration the critical role college recreation plays in achieving institutional goals and outcomes. Higher education has embraced the importance of Sense of Belonging as a critical factor to student success, and I have facilitated multiple presentations and workshops on fostering belonging for higher education associations such as NIRSA, ACUI, Canadian Association of College & University Student Services, and Ontario Colleges Athletic Association.

As a career-long supporter of NIRSA, I have volunteered wherever I felt I could be purposeful, including: Member | Co-Chair Commission for Sustainable Communities, Assembly Member, NIRSA School of Collegiate Recreation Faculty, Canadian Region Task Force, CSAE Subject Matter Expert, and Member | Co-Chair JDEI Implementation Team. Through these experiences I have used my voice to ensure that collegiate recreation is understood and valued as a necessary component to a post-secondary student’s developmental success.

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?

1. Ensuring staff and student leaders are developing justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion (JDEI) competencies to meet the complex needs of an ever growing diverse student population. JDEI is more than just checklists, and we need critical shifts in our inequitable systems to ensure everyone can benefit. Further intentional actions are critical within NIRSA and collegiate recreation, specifically in dismantling systems of inequity that create barriers for historically excluded students. We need to ensure current and future leaders of our profession have the tools and support necessary to address and co-create new systems that support all of our students. This can be accomplished through focused JDEI professional development opportunities, a robust and evolving resource library that support JDEI learning, increased caucuses and roundtables allowing for accountable conversations, and continued role modelling of JDEI practices within the Association.

2. The role collegiate recreation has in supporting the health and wellbeing of students. We need to continue evolving from the output of traditional sport and recreation to the outcome of healthy and active students that speak to the vision and mission of our institutions. Developing resources such as wellbeing indexes, assessments measuring belonging, and research that connects collegiate recreation to institutional goals would provide members with proof of impact that is often hard to demonstrate. We need to provide more development offerings that include outcome based approaches that span beyond collegiate recreation. Partnerships between NIRSA and other higher education associations is a positive approach, as it takes us and our profession away from the often siloed nature of our work into new spotlights and collaborations, allowing us to not only learn from other perspectives in student affairs, but also to share our experiences and highlight our impacts as critical to our shared success.

What attributes could you contribute to the NIRSA Board of Directors?

I train student leaders in understanding their accountabilities as elected Board Members in fiduciary responsibilities, advocacy, and governance, while leading an association that serves 13,000+ members, through long term strategic planning and daily service interactions that respond to member needs.

As a consultant, I have experience in leading strategic planning and organizational change management, and have facilitated the development of Mission, Vision and Values for several organizations. I have professional experience in other Student Affair roles such as Residence Life and International Students, as well as roles in Municipal Community Development that allow me to bring a different lens to conversations.

I have utilized omni-channel approaches to advocate and educate the value of collegiate recreation in higher education through presentations at NIRSA conferences, facilitating conversations on Belonging through the NIRSA Ideas in Motion webinar series, and written articles for Athletic Business and Campus Rec Magazine. .

Through these roles, I would contribute to the Board of Directors as both a Disruptor and Connector.

As a Disruptor, I challenge our perceptions and ensure we are always focused on our outcomes. When I was asked to collaborate on a NIRSA presentation on Indigenous Land Acknowledgements, a challenge I had and vocally shared was the lack of Indigenous knowledge and lived experience represented in the group. I didn’t let this be a distraction to the team, but felt it necessary as part of our learning journey to acknowledge that we missed an opportunity to take stronger steps to represent and compensate indigenous voices.

As a Connector, I love finding voices from varied lived experiences. I cherished the opportunity to connect and share the voices of varied thought leaders from across the association through my Belonging Webinar series and have had success in sharing the voices of people in our profession that don’t always feel heard.