Talking Stick - May/June 2017 - 72

SNAPSHOT

VIRGINIA IBRAHIM-OLIN
What motivates you the most in your job?
Without a doubt, the wonderful people I get to work with every
day. Occupancy management may be all about the numbers on the
surface, but remembering that each number represents a student
we support is what keeps me going. I find it exciting to create
administrative processes that meet our students' developmental
needs as growing citizens. Piecing together the puzzle of livinglearning communities and room assignments can be a daunting
task, one that is made easier with great ideas from my staff. Not
a day goes by that I don't learn something new from the people
around me - students, staff, and parents alike. I feel so fortunate to
have delightful colleagues in Iowa and across the country who will
provide a laughter break at a moment's notice when times get a little
bonkers.

What is the most challenging part of your work?

VIRGINIA IBRAHIM-OLIN is the
assistant director of contracts
and assignments for university
housing and dining at The University of Iowa in Iowa City.
What is your favorite parent story?
We all know that residence halls offer
amazing opportunities for connection
beyond the classroom. Back when the
halls were called dorms, Bob and Pat
met at the University of Wisconsin-Eau
Claire organizing a fall dance between
Horan and Sutherland halls. Thirty-eight
years later my parents are still dancing
to "Nights in White Satin" by the Moody
Blues. Each year during move-in, I can't
help but wonder whose future parents
may be meeting for the first time.

TALKING STICK

The hurt and pain that comes into our halls. Community can be
a beautiful thing when everyone is welcome - and distressing
to those on the margins. Fortunately, our staff and students
are always speaking, and if we just listen, we will hear their
recommendations for change. Overwhelmingly, what our fellow
community members are asking for is to be welcomed wholly
on campus. On the most basic level, they deserve to know that
their Black lives matter in their roommate relationships, that
their trans*gender selves can use the restroom in peace, and
that their spiritual beings can feel whole worshipping or not
worshipping according to their cultural upbringing. I believe it is
our responsibility to build trust with students and campus partners,
work proactively to recognize administrative opportunities for
advocacy, and take action on constructive feedback when we
exclude the residents we hope to support.

What do you think will be the most significant change in
student housing in the next five years?
I am hopeful that our technology and staffing will continue to evolve
with students' needs. If anyone told me in graduate school at the
University of Louisville that my daily responsibilities would include
database management, I'd have laughed out loud. I became a
housing professional because I loved interacting with students, and
I was as far from an IT wizard as one can get. And yet now I care
about access permissions, server outages, and web portals. We
all should have some knowledge of our systems because of how
much they influence our students' experience. My IT colleagues
are currently developing strategies to input preferred name and
pronouns of reference from our campus database to display in our
housing software. We're also working to share our student data with
retention specialists on campus. It will take a lot of brainpower,
but those seemingly small data points will have a major impact
in making students feel at home and will help them get closer to
graduation. I especially love that my tech teammates are as equally
committed to the "why" as traditional student affairs folks.

Talking Stick - May/June 2017

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