Sean Olmstead, Student

Sean Olmstead. Leader, volunteer and soon-to-be graduate with a bachelor’s of business administration in marketing. He has assisted and served someone at any given time on and off campus since entering college in 2008.

In addition to working with New Student and Family Programs, the Career Center, and University Housing, Sean has served in ASBSU, participated in Boise State’s LeaderShape Institute, and volunteered for the Hugh O’brien Youth Leadership Program for high school sophomores. And that’s not all.  
As a programming assistant for the Student Involvement and Leadership Center (SILC), he works with other student employees to plan and organize everything from concerts to movies to events that celebrate the Bronco spirit. “I love it,” he said. “We’re able to bring some pretty awesome events that allow students to have a blast.”

The work Sean does also serves to further SILC’s mission by helping students find their passion and the confidence to believe they can go out and change the world—something he has found in himself. Like many students who first enter college, Sean had some kind of plan for his future, but along the way he discovered a detour and took it. He will tell you that firsthand experience matters when it comes to figuring out the future and that he’s become passionate about helping others learn their potential.

“As a first–generation college student, I can understand that sometimes you feel like the odds are against you. I want to work to create programs and communities where we support each other’s interests and goals.”

Last year, Sean joined other Boise State students in Project Jamaica, an intensive service experience for students who want to make a positive difference by rebuilding schools. “The experience was remarkable because it showed me how much I take my own education for granted. In Jamaica the schools struggle to have up-to-date textbooks and supplies. I’ve had so much privilege and I came to understand more about how I can use that to help others in the world.”

Originally from Fairbanks, Alaska, Sean will graduate this May, then move to San Marcos, Texas, where he’s been accepted at Texas State University. This summer he’ll start his assistantship in the A.C.T. Program (Achieving Communities Together) before beginning fall classes to pursue his master’s in student affairs in higher education.

We have been busy in Student Affairs this semester and I want to congratulate you on keeping students at the forefront of all that you do every day. Our work is not standard, nor is it always joyful and easy—we work with people who come from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints. However, what I appreciate so much about you is that you understand those differences about our students, faculty, staff, parents, and others we serve, always striving to be flexible and sensitive to their needs.

Your caring attitude is what makes groups of people stand out in service, and I highly encourage you to keep striving for excellence. Our students deserve our very best and we need to remember to deliver it to them each and every time we are asked to provide service.

Here is what’s been happening since I last wrote:

• Dr. Leslie Webb was promoted this past year to associate vice president for Student Affairs. Her new position comes with an increase in responsibilities that includes supervision of Housing and Residential Life and the Career Center.
• Jim Anderson was hired as the associate vice president for Enrollment Services and began work April 1. Jim comes to us from Texas Tech and has experience as a consultant at Noel Levitz, the nation’s leading recruitment and retention service. Please be sure to welcome Jim when you see him learning his way around campus.
• Dr. Dean Kennedy was hired to be director of Housing and Residence Life and will begin early this summer. Dean comes to us from the University of Houston.
• Many other recruitments/searches are underway, including a new director for Recreation Services. I appreciate your willingness to be part of the screening and welcoming of these candidates. It says quite a lot about our division and Boise State that we continue to receive great interest from professionals in our field from all over the country.
• Thank you for your patience with all the construction going on. I know how it impacts your work. For those in the SUB, you already know that the grass field is in the middle of an overhaul. Soon, the first floor will also be under reconstruction to put on a “new face” for our students in the fall. While the ultimate outcome will be wonderful, the short term will be difficult, so thank you, again, for your patience and your understanding and good humor as you show our guests a smiling face in spite of the work zones.
• It has been quite a year for the CARE team as we have established a fully functioning protocol for the concerns of our campus. While all members of the team have worked diligently on behalf of all we serve, I want to give a “shout out” to our University Health Services medical and counseling teams. They have performed above and beyond this year under some very trying circumstances. THANK YOU for your dedication and hard work.

It has been a great semester and I look forward to ending it on a high note, as many activities will occur in April and May. Here are just a few upcoming events to enjoy:

• The 20th Annual Seven Arrows POWWOW will be held April 20 – 21.
• The Beat Coach Pete Scholarship Run and Walk is April 13.
• We will host NASPA’s Power of One conference April 26-27.
• Several events are scheduled for Sexual Assault Awareness Month, so check the events calendar.
• There are a multitude of student projects, recitals, awards programs, concerts, and events that take place this time of year. I hope you have the chance to catch some of them in celebration of our students’ work.

Enjoy the end of the semester and the beautiful spring weather. I think the thunderstorm yesterday was just for me, as I do tend to miss them this time of year.

Best,

Lisa B. Harris, Ph.D.
Vice President for Student Affairs

It’s been too long since I sat down to share with you any news from our division, so it’s time. Speaking of time, where does it go?  It seems like I just arrived and then I realized I now have almost as many pairs of boots as golf shoes!  That is just wrong, I am thinking, but it does fit the lifestyle here much better, so I guess I’m getting used to the weather.   I will believe this is a good sign.  :)

I hope you have found this semester as rewarding as I have.  We could use words like busy, challenging, opportunity, or interesting to describe the last several months.  Whatever your words may be it’s fair to say that our division planned and executed many activities, programs, initiatives, sessions, classes and celebrations with much success.  I’m sure, that like me, you discovered something new about yourself or participated in something that stretched your brain or boundaries a bit.

I was able to teach a discussion group as part of the Foundational Studies program and that placed me up close and personal with some of our incoming students—a place I thoroughly enjoy.  They taught me about being new at Boise State, their expectations for themselves, and us, and helped me to see our university through another lens.  So, “rewarding” is my word for this semester for the many lessons learned from both you and our students.

Some news for you to ponder:

• The search for the assistant vice president for Enrollment Services continues to move forward and the search committee has identified and is calling selected candidates to determine who will visit campus.  Stay tuned in 2013 as we meet the finalists on the path to selecting a new AVP.
• We are currently advertising for a director of Housing and Residence Life, with review of applications to begin January 15, 2013.
• We will initiate a search for a director of Admissions next year, so stay tuned for that.
• This fall, the Staff Development Committee planned and implemented the first Orientation to Student Affairs.  WOO HOO, as we say in the South (or where anyone is excited).  We’re in planning mode to host the second of these sessions, including some fun activities and/or services for all. More to come on this, too.
• The Strategic Plan for our division is almost complete.  In fact, look soon for an entire section on the VPSA home page for plans, reports and documentation of our Assessment and Planning.  Thanks to all who have worked diligently on this!

I have finished my annual visits to departments and the annual budget meetings with all department heads, and I’m happy to report that we’re in good shape.  Does that mean we have plenty of money or that we have everything we need or that we have all the answers to our questions for the future?  No, but how much fun would that be anyway?  It does mean we are being intentional stewards of our precious resources and that we are using strategic planning and quantifiable analytics to make decisions about the future.

I’m very pleased and encouraged about the direction in which we are moving with so many of our initiatives, and I know we’re making decisions and finding solutions to better serve our students.  Thanks to you all for the work you do for Boise State University and our division.

I’ll close with a reminder about our annual holiday dessert sharing next Tuesday, December 18 at 3:30 p.m. in the Simplot Ballroom of the Student Union.  Please find some time to drop by, maybe bring a dessert, and enjoy some time with colleagues in the division.

May you enjoy your holiday break and come back in the New Year refreshed and ready for another great semester.   Thank you for being part of our team!

Best,

Dr. Lisa B. Harris
Vice President for Student Affairs

Hello to you on this chilly March day—although it is warming up as I write. How did it get to be the end of March already, is what I am thinking? In fact, about a year ago, I visited Bronco State for the very first time in an interview process that ultimately brought me here to be your vice president. Now, as then, I am enjoying the beautiful mountains that are more filled with snow than a week ago. I have learned to hike some in the foothills and play golf on those days it is warmer. I think someone was extra nice to me this winter, as I have enjoyed the “mild” climate and beautiful sunshine. In fact, when it snowed yesterday, I was sad that it didn’t stay around very long! While this is not a year in review report yet, I did think it was time to update you on several ongoing initiatives in the division and to wish you a happy spring, as it is almost upon us, right?

Let me first congratulate those serving you on the professional development committee, as they are busy at work preparing to introduce interesting and job-enhancing programs to new and continuing colleagues in our profession. I will meet with them later in April to see what great programs and activities they will bring to us, but please know that they are currently crafting a structured concept of how the division will address professional development for those at all jobs and all years of experience. Thank you again to Rebecca Young, Victoria Coale, Teresa Church, Damoni Wright, Elise Alford-Claffey, Geoff Harrison, Jack Rahmann, Malinda Jensen and Melissa Wintrow for working to provide a framework for this important endeavor.

I have been meeting twice a month with the department heads to begin planning on a division-wide strategic plan that will underscore the foundations laid by the University’s strategic plan, which is being vetted and strengthened this spring semester across our campus community. We will continue to discuss our thoughts about the kind of division we are and want to be and align our mission and priorities with our resources. It is likely that we will not complete this work until sometime in the fall semester, but we want to ensure that it will give us a structure that will take us into the future in a direction that has purpose, strength, inclusion, and flexibility.

If you see a notice for a Dean of Students here at Bronco State, please read it with interest and pass it along to anyone who you wish would apply. You can read more about it on the webpage, but feel free to ask me any questions as well:

http://vpsa.boisestate.edu/dean-of-students-candidate-search-2/

Meeting with our individual departments about your assessment activities has given me even more insight into the work that you accomplish every day. There are many great things happening here in our division and I am trying to make sure that I am your strongest advocate as we solve issues, address concerns, and provide exemplary programs, services, and activities for the students of Bronco State University. So, what did I learn, you may wonder? I will capture a very few of the nuggets I gathered from those meetings in the next couple of paragraphs.

It did not take me long to learn that we are a caring, compassionate, and dedicated staff who want to achieve excellence in our endeavors, whatever they are. I have seen your touch in the smiling faces of the children in our “pink building” (they just walked by outside singing and happily chatting), in the cleanliness of our buildings whether the residence halls or the frequently populated SUB, and in the work to host one of the largest career fairs for employers in the city, region, and nation that we have had in years. Whether I am welcoming a group of 500 students and parents on a Saturday of Discover Bronco State or watching students campaign for ASBSU elections, I know our staff has been behind these events. When I am greeted politely and with care by the Health Center staff on my way upstairs to see our students waiting for their appointments, I know they will receive the care and attention they need from the counseling or medical care. When I read about the many opportunities available to students in 4students.boisestate.edu or the ISS newsletter, I am also informed about events I want to attend. Getting to know more about our leadership programs, residential learning communities, intramural sports competitions, and activities of our multicultural center has been fun and I really enjoyed the very small part I played in assisting our Women’s Center director, staff, and students win a bid from NASPA to host the regional workshop, The Power of One. Congrats again, Jess! Congrats again also to Jack and his students and staff for the Gold Excellence Award from NASPA on the rooftop garden. Several members of our division were able to host a poster session about this activity at NASPA last week and they were questioned intently about our activities at Bronco State with that endeavor.

Learning our new scheduling system for fall and aligning classrooms to class inventory, watching the new financial aid rules be enacted, struggling with the Disability Resource Center to provide resources for adequate accommodations, working with the veterans center as it continues to transition in its new home, and assisting New Student & Family Programs craft a more robust and structured orientation program has helped me better understand your challenges and priorities. I enjoy walking around to see our students plan the next edition of the paper or to see them broadcasting from the Pulse’s home in the SUB, or even to hear those bowling balls knocking down pins. Eating at any of our dining locations is still a treat for me and I don’t remember food being that good or the variety that great as a college student myself.

If you haven’t noticed that things are changing around in the Bronco Shop a bit, go take a look and see. I wonder what is in store next? I am impressed with the manner in which our health promotions staff has opened up and shared space with our students rights and responsibilities staff—that is true partnership and collegiality at its finest and I thank them for their gracious partnership. And the Cycle Learning Center continues to amaze me in its first year of operation and stands as yet another fine example of partnerships across the division. I can go on and on, but what those assessment meetings told me is that we are working hard to provide for our students in meaningful ways.

I am proud of your work, can you tell? I am proud of the way you show up, do your homework, and deliver the kind of inclusive excellence that gives students a voice and a heightened service encounter that all constituents notice. I am proud to be a Bronco State Bronco and your vice president as we work to make our efforts intentional and purposeful for our students. Wow, what a difference a year makes and while I must honestly say that I miss playing golf year round, there are so many other new adventures I am discovering that I don’t miss it nearly as much as I had expected. Thanks for all that you do for our students, our division and our University. Please continue to say hello when we pass—I like your smiling faces!

Best,

Lisa B. Harris
Vice President for Student Affairs

All professional staff have received an invitation to attend an interactive discussion on Tuesday, January 10 where I will talk about conducting effective performance evaluations. I plan to share my thoughts about the value of a consistent and equitable system for evaluating performance and the strategies I use when completing employee evaluations. Please feel free to share the invitation with any staff members in your departments who are required to conduct performance evaluations or who may be interested in this topic.

Boise State University’s current forms and directions that will be discussed at the session are attached for your reference (see original email message). It may be helpful to print these documents and bring them to the session.

I hope you will be able to join me on Tuesday, January 10th at 9:00 am in the Special Events Center (SPEC).

Dr. Lisa Harris
Vice President for Student Affairs

Happy Holidays!

After some very astute colleagues asked me some good questions today about activities going on in our division this semester, I was reminded that I owe you another update. Forgive me for getting consumed in work and forgetting to communicate to you about what is happening in the division.

Since I last visited with you, your department head and I have been meeting about budgets and our goals as it relates to what we can afford and how we strategically target our resources. I think the exercise was a good one for all, as it helped me learn a lot about your needs as departments and more about your wishes and goals going forward. I see great potential for innovation and new thinking from many of you, as we live in a time where funding models of the past are changing permanently and we will need to look at new strategies to provide basic services or even improve. It is an exciting time to think about these challenges and I appreciate your willingness to work through them with me.

I have also been meeting with a few committees that existed before I came to Bronco State. In particular, I asked the Professional Development Committee to give me some recommendations on what a professional development plan looks like for our division. This group did an excellent job of thoughtfully preparing ideas that will give us a foundation upon which to build the kind of activities and initiatives for orientation, training, and development. I am reviewing those ideas and will meet with them again after the holidays in order to get a specific direction from which to launch their efforts on behalf of the division.

Finally, I want to announce that Dr. Blaine Eckles has been promoted to Associate Dean of Students and Director of Students Rights and Responsibilities. Blaine is assisting me with repurposing the mission of his office and in establishing a Dean of Students Office, which I discussed with you in September and we continue to work towards establishing one in the coming year. Specifically, I asked Blaine to lead a small group to review the efforts of Support Our Students (SOS) and to tackle a project that the President’s Executive Council had asked us to undertake, incorporating faculty and staff into the SOS model. This group has accomplished this under Blaine’s leadership, and a new group known as the Care Team will be in place next semester with more information forthcoming at that time. Please feel free to send him your congratulations and thanks for his specific efforts in leading the change to the Care Team.

Happy Holidays, if I don’t see you at our “dessert pot-luck” on Monday. Thank you for making me feel like a part of this wonderful university and I look forward to sharing with you a very happy, productive, and engaging new year!!

Dr. Lisa B. Harris
Vice President for Student Affairs

Dear Student Affairs Staff,

Thank you so much for the warm welcome you have given to me as I have made my rounds visiting with each of you in your departments. You have asked me many wonderful questions, have laughed at my silly jokes, have given me excellent advice about the city and the climate, and have graciously toured me through your spaces. I have thoroughly enjoyed the start of our relationship, but understand that it is just the beginning of getting to know you.

As we move forward together as a division, I am pleased to see that many good ideas continue to emerge from you in a variety of ways. Please know that I embrace your thoughts, even if I don’t know anything about your suggestions or always agree with them. More importantly, I want to hear your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions, so I hope you never hesitate to email them to me or stop me with a thought if you see me. We will always function best when we have an environment of honest and respectful sharing and my promise to you is that is that I will always listen.

Thank you again for your hard work and dedication to this great university and our division. In a short time, I have been able to see how you value your jobs, your colleagues, and the work we do together. As my first three months comes to an end, I can say to you with great enthusiasm that I am so excited to have joined you here at Bronco State University. We have many great opportunities ahead and I am glad that you stand beside me as we embrace them.

Best,

Dr. Lisa B. Harris

Dear Student Affairs Staff,

First of all, thank you for welcoming me in such a warm manner to this great university. While I have not seen all “Y’all” as yet, I can feel your support already and appreciate the words of welcome and smiles that you are sending me when you do see me. I hope that you are as excited about having me here, as I am to be here.

I thought I would share a few things with you as I begin as your Vice President. First of all, thank you in advance for tolerating my southern manners, accent, and occasional regional slang. I don’t ask that you pardon my SEC loyalties, but I promise that I will never let them interfere with my fierce and firm support of the Bronco State Broncos. And here is a warning—I will ask a lot of questions. Not only do I need to learn all about this fine institution, the state and region, the west, and the weather, but I often ask questions to learn about you as well. I hope that you will feel comfortable in answering them as they are always asked with my best intentions in mind—to make the best decisions for you, your department, our division, and for Bronco State University.

I plan to visit every department and meet with you in person. I hope that you will feel free to share your thoughts, goals, and dreams with me at this time and to ask me whatever you want to know about me. As a warning, don’t ask too many sports-related questions or else I will launch into that discussion and may need to be brought back into focus.

I also plan to share with you my vision for the division when we meet for the State of the Division address on September 21. More details about that event will be forthcoming.

As you pass me in the hallways or see me on campus, please introduce yourself to me and let me know where you work. I don’t promise to remember everything you tell me immediately, but I will try to remember most things and I am always interested in hearing about our division and my new home.

Thanks again for the warm welcome and I look forward to meeting each of you in person in the very near future.

Best,

Dr. Lisa B. Harris