Talking Stick - January/February 2013 - 47

I did not want to do K-12 education. That position gave me hands-on experience and allowed me to work on my M.Ed. for free. After finishing my M.Ed., I spent three years as an assistant director for the functional areas of housing operations (facilities, access, desk staff, and RA selection). It was a very broad-based position and gave me a lot of different experiences which I feel made me more marketable for a chief housing officer level position.

Oliver-Sikorski: What unique challenges do
you face being a young Senior Housing Officer (SHO)/Chief Housing Officer (CHO)?

seasoning in the areas of in-depth, big-picture decision-making. My previous roles really had me working with rather specific functional areas. The role of the SHO/CHO puts you outside of that functional realm a bit and makes decisionmaking a much more complex task. I believe this is some of the information we (Brouillard-Bruce, Harrison, Golz, Iwamiya, and Beebe) were getting at with our presentation, “Young, Dumb and in Charge (YDIC): The Changing Face of Chief Housing Officers,” at the 2012 ACUHO-I Annual Conference and what we were feeling: the fact that we haven’t really taken a logical trajectory or served as much time as other CHOs have.

TORRy BROUILLARDBRUCE

Golz: A unique challenge that I face as a youngish senior housing director is that I don’t quite have the network of other SHOs that others might have. When I took this position at Lake Forest, I thought I was leaving residence life behind – I didn’t stay connected in residence life because conduct had become my full-time focus. I spent two years away from residence life, and now it feels like I have a lot of work to do to catch up.

Iwamiya: For me some of the challenge of being that young CHO has been that sometimes that level of respect isn’t there across the campus as well. I think that might contribute to the fact that I can be a big goofball, but I feel that when I need to get things done, that “oh wise one” title isn’t immediately assumed of me either. I can only imagine how people treat Chuck Lamb when he walks into a meeting. (Sorry, Chuck, it’s not your age, it’s your experience!) Beebe: One of the toughest parts for of being a young(er?) CHO for me is the balancing act of taking charge and making big decisions confidently versus sitting back, surveying the landscape, and learning from others – colleagues, faculty, more experienced CHOs. Even now in my fourth year as a CHO, my inclination is to soak it all up, to be a student of the position. But my staff and my bosses generally need me to be a decision-maker. I suppose this is why a wise person once said “Fake it ‘til you make it.” Iwamiya: Wow, Craig, that’s very insightful. That balance between observation and decisions was a great call. Beebe: Now, I’ve been called a lot of things in my day . . . but insightful is a new one. Oliver-Sikorski: What advantages do you have

CRAIG W. BEEBE

Iwamiya: LOL, young-ish. Harrison: I think it is hard to say if being a young CHO brings with it unique challenges or advantages; I don’t have anything to compare it to. However, in this role more than in others I’ve held I am surprised how quickly and completely I must be able to switch between topics. Each person who comes to my office – and it sometimes feels like they are lined up at my door – has spent a considerable amount of time thinking, researching, and working on something and can’t resolve the issue. They come to me, and I have to decide with less time on task and at a higher level of accountability. Then I get a new topic. Brouillard-Bruce: I agree, Steve. I’m not quite
sure I have anything to compare my experience with. I will say that I could have used a bit more

January + February 2013

Talking Stick - January/February 2013

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