Talking Stick - July/August 2017 - 38

James C. Grimm Leadership &
Service Award

Pam Schreiber
University of Washington

The James C. Grimm Leadership & Service Award honors individuals who
show dedicated service and outstanding leadership by devoting themselves
to strengthening the mission and objectives of the Association.

am Schreiber is the vice
president for student life
and executive director for
housing and food services
(HFS) at the University
of Washington in Seattle. HFS is
a comprehensive student housing
and dining program that focuses on
student success.
On her campus, Pam serves as a
member of the student life leadership
team and assists the Division with
strategic planning. She serves on a
number of university committees including the Diversity Council and the
Environmental Stewardship Advisory
Committee.
Pam has been involved in
ACUHO-I in a number of ways for the
past 25 years, including serving on
the Executive Board as the director
of workforce development. Currently, she serves on the Public Policy
Committee, co-authors discussion
questions for ACUHO-I's The Journal
of College and University Student
Housing articles, and is concluding
service as a tri-chair of the NHTI 25th
Anniversary Capital Campaign.
Previously, Pam served on the
Credentialing Task Force and Board
and the Residential Colleges Task
Force. She also was co-editor of
ACUHO-I Core Competencies: The
Body of Knowledge for Campus
Housing Professionals. Along with Jim
Grimm and Norb Dunkel, Pam was
the co-founder of the James C. Grimm
National Housing Training Institute
and served as the institute's co-director during its first 10 years.

What is the first memory that jumps into your mind when you
think about your career in campus housing?
My response to this is likely true for many of us in the field: deciding to pursue
the RA job as a way to pay for school and then realizing that it was actually
a pathway to a real career! Quite fortuitously, as an RA I was surrounded by
people who were active in the profession at that time and, over time, rose
through the ranks into leadership positions in student housing and in the
Association. While I didn't appreciate it then, I realize now how much I was
influenced by the amazing training and supervision we received as RAs from
these professionals.

When do you first remember being aware of ACUHO-I, and
why did you get involved with the Association?
I first learned about ACUHO-I when I started working at the University of
Florida. Jim Grimm was the director at the time and was, of course, very involved in the work of the Association. He encouraged all of us to get involved,
if not already so. I became a chair of the now-defunct committee called the
Professional Development Committee which was charged with planning and
executing the pre-conference workshops. I was completely in over my head but
learned quickly that the Association needed members to engage in creating
opportunities for learning and professional development.

Who were your mentors and influencers when you first got
started? How did they assist you?
Certainly, Jim (Grimm) was a significant mentor, the very thing that makes
this recognition so meaningful to me. If I were to list all the lessons I learned
from him, it would be a book! In regard to Association service, Jim was truly
an advocate and role model. Jim also always emphasized the importance of
first "taking care of the shop at home" and never compromising on the job you
were hired to do for your college or university as the result of other opportunities. This has always helped me to gauge my involvement and consequently
ensure I could deliver on all of my commitments.
I also recall attending a program session at one of my first annual conferences that was a panel of women who held housing director positions. The
participants were some of the great leaders in our field, many of whom were
the first female housing director at their respective institutions. They were inspiring, no nonsense, funny, and thoughtful. I continued to pay close attention
to those women and took every opportunity thereafter to interact with them.

2017 ACUHO-I WALL of HONOR
38

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