Blog Series Inspires Higher Education Professionals in 2015

(by Liz Gross, Social Media & Market Research Strategist at Great Lakes)

We’re two weeks into the new year. Hopefully, you haven’t given up on your resolution yet—or maybe you haven’t gotten around to making one. I’d like to tell you about Resolve 2015, a series of 30 blog posts in 30 days from higher ed professionals in the U.S. and Canada designed to inform and inspire you to make 2015 the best year of your career.

The series kicked off on January 2 with reflective post from Lisa Endersby, National Chair-Elect of the NASPA Technology Knowledge Community, which encouraged us to define success by ourselves and for ourselves, not by what we’re seeing and hearing from others. In a world full of “humble brags” on social media, this is a very poignant message.

MASFAA institutions have been well-represented so far:

• Brenda Bethman, director of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Women’s Center, reminded us not to forget to take care of ourselves while pursuing ambitious professional goals.
• Kristen Abell, web developer at UMKC, encouraged younger professionals to consider non-traditional career paths instead of marching straight up the career ladder.
• Ma’ayan Plaut, manager of social strategy and projects at Oberlin College, wrote about the value of investing in your own professional development.
• I authored a post about creating your first professional conference presentation, which incorporates some tips I’ve learned from presenting at two MASFAA conferences.

The rest of the country, as well as our neighbors to the north, contributed many Resolve 2015 posts. But, the MASFAA region has even more authors on the docket!

• Keri Duce, external relations manager at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will publish a post tomorrow about the importance of understanding your sphere of control.
• Deborah Maue, senior strategist at mStoner (based in Chicago), is writing about mindful meditation.
• Laurie Berry, director of Housing & Residence Life at the University of Southern Indiana, will encourage us to be flexible when it comes to defining goal achievement and success.
• Becca Obergefell, director of the Center for Student Involvement at Ohio Dominican University, will remind us all that writing simply for ourselves (journaling) can be a powerful personal and professional development exercise.
• Matt Klawitter, program director at the University of Notre Dame, will write about the importance of getting to know your colleagues all across campus.
• Mandi Stewart, transfer admissions counselor at Lincoln College, is going to give us tips to stay in contact with long-distance colleagues.
• Mickey Fitch, director of Residence Life at The College of St. Scholastica, will walk us through how to create a professional development plan.
• Julie Payne-Kirchmeier, Associate Vice President for Student Auxiliary Services at Northwestern University, will remind of us the opportunity to look outside of higher education to learn new skills.

Don’t Miss A Single Post!

All of the posts are hosted on my personal blog, Gross, Point-Blank. If you’d like to receive every post for the rest of the series in your inbox, you can subscribe here. This will also add you to my mailing list, so you’ll continue to receive future blog posts when Resolve 2015 is finished. I’ll be blogging much less frequently (usually only a few times per month), and you can unsubscribe at any time.