Talking Stick - July/August 2017 - 40

Herstory Award

Stacy Oliver-Sikorski
Lake Forest College

The Herstory Award recognizes an outstanding woman professional who
has served campus housing through courage, leadership, a pioneering spirit,
honor, and commitment.

tacy Oliver-Sikorski is the
senior associate director of residence life for
community standards and
operations at Lake Forest
College, where she has worked since
2011. After earning her bachelor's
degree in journalism and master's
degree in college student personnel, both from Ohio University, she
served as a residential learning
coordinator at Valparaiso University. In 2008, serving as assistant
director at Indiana University South

Bend, she played an integral role in
the opening and implementation of
student housing on that campus for
the first time.
Stacy served on the GLACUHO
board as conference host, committee chair, and president. Within
ACUHO-I, she is a regular contributor
to the Talking Stick magazine and
chaired the Talking Stick Writers
Committee. She most recently served
as co-facilitator of the Regional
Affiliation Task Force. Additionally,
she was a faculty member at the

What is the first memory that jumps into your
mind when you think about your career in
campus housing?

Who were your mentors and influencers
when you first got started? How did they assist you?

When I was a resident assistant, I had a particularly difficult night of duty that culminated in my hallway being
vandalized by a group of unknown students. As I cleaned
up the remnants of my bulletin board and washed liquid
dish soap from the walls, I considered the perspective of
the students who were responsible for the mess. It would
have been easy to be mad or frustrated; instead, I considered that those students held the opposite side of the
same memory. Maybe they fondly reminisce about it being one of the most fun nights of their college experience.
Maybe it's a story they tell repeatedly. I've tried to keep
that mentality throughout my career, that there's positive
value in all sides of a story if we can open our hearts and
minds to hear those stories without judgment. It's part of
why the Women in Housing blog series is so important to
me - it creates space for stories that may otherwise never
be heard and elevates voices of women who have differing experiences.

Dan Pedersen, now at St. Cloud State University, was my
supervisor in my first professional position at Valparaiso
University. His influence on my career is immeasurable.
My path to residence life was a bit unconventional as my
graduate assistantship was in student activities and leadership. As I transitioned into my job, he helped me find
the intersection of those experiences and skills to successfully create communities where students could thrive. He
and I have stayed connected throughout my career, and
he's someone whose advice and guidance I actively seek.
In addition, Julie Payne-Kirchmeier and I met very
early during my involvement in GLACUHO, and I got to
know her better while pursuing my first leadership role
within the organization. She served as an advocate and
advisor to me, especially encouraging me to embrace my
strengths and trust my own instincts. As a woman, it was
refreshing to hear from another woman that being my
authentic self, though not always without obstacles, was
welcomed and celebrated.

2017 ACUHO-I WALL of HONOR
40

ACUHO-I Chief Housing Officer Institute in 2012 and GLACUHO Professional Development Institute in 2017.
Independently, Stacy runs the
Women in Housing blog series in
which she annually curates stories
from women who work in housing
and residence life. More than 75
women from a variety of personal
and professional backgrounds have
shared their narratives through the
series, exploring the many facets of
what it means to work in housing
and residence life as a woman.

talking stiCk

Talking Stick - July/August 2017

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