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![001 - Reflections From a Single Institution Career | Kent Sampson [Past President] image](https://media.zencastr.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=54,quality=85/image-files/605db9539a00e40074826685/733e7e3d-9d73-4dce-9fd9-65d29d14b4dd.)
001 - Reflections From a Single Institution Career | Kent Sampson [Past President]
15 Plays4 years ago
On the inaugural episode of the SWACUHO Podcast, we talk to Past President Kent Sampson, who served as the SWACUHO President in 1980 and 1981. Kent reflects on his career, the entirety of which was spent at Oklahoma State University. Kent not only discusses being an internal candidate as he progressed at Oklahoma State, but also talks about trying to determine where the grass was greener when opportunities to leave came about. We then move into his involvement with SWACUHO that led him to the presidency role and the importance of visibility and timing. Kent imparts a lot of wisdom with a sense of humor and humility you definitely don’t want to miss.
People, Places, and Things Mentioned:
Oklahoma State University [University Website]
Dr. Ron Beer [LinkedIn Profile]
Semester at Sea [Organization Website]
Marquette University [University Website]
New York University [University Website]
OSU Emeriti Association [Association Website]
United Way [Organization Website]
ACUHO-I [Association Website]
SEAHO [Association Website]
Dan Hallenbeck
Garry Johnson [LinkedIn]
Western Illinois [University Website]
University of Arkansas [University Website]
Lynn Jackson
Jim Gibson Award [Website]
Campus Life: In Search of Community [Book]
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference [Book]
Radical Integrity [Book]
Betty Greenleaf
Indiana University [University Website]
NACURH[Association Website]
Slow News Day [TV Show Episode]
Honorary Biological Sciences Fraternity [Website]
Chuck Werring [Obituary]
Kansas State University [Website]
STARS College [Website]
NHTI [Website]
University of Florida [Website]
James C. “Jim” Grimm
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Origin
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the first Swakuho podcast.
00:00:03
Speaker
I'm your host, JC Stoner.
00:00:05
Speaker
After I rolled off the Swakuho Executive Board in March, I approached President Katie Pelton and past President Maggie Guzman and pitched the idea for a professional development podcast for the Swakuho region.
00:00:16
Speaker
They were both supportive of the idea, and thankfully they were also supportive when I told them I wanted to play it close to the chest in the beginning since I had zero experience with creating and sustaining a podcast.
00:00:28
Speaker
I told them I would put forth four demo episodes for the Executive Board to review to get a sense of how much time and energy it would take.
00:00:35
Speaker
I didn't want to get people excited to only determine it was unsustainable.
00:00:39
Speaker
So this podcast is going to start small and see if there's potential to scale up slowly.
00:00:44
Speaker
In my career, I found that sometimes new ideas are difficult to explain well enough to get legs as a value-added project due to competing resource needs and shifting priorities.
00:00:55
Speaker
So I've always been of the opinion to just do something behind the scenes, then have something small yet tangible to present with the potential to scale it
Podcast Goals and First Episode Overview
00:01:03
Speaker
up.
00:01:03
Speaker
I've seen way too many projects never get off the ground or fail to fully materialize due to being too big too fast.
00:01:11
Speaker
So the first four episodes are basically that.
00:01:14
Speaker
Four demos exploring the potential content themes to get my feet wet.
00:01:18
Speaker
The goal of this podcast is to deliver practical and tangible small-scale professional development for our regional members.
00:01:25
Speaker
The different themes will allow for actionable takeaways for members to self-direct their own professional development when it fits within their never-ending action item list.
00:01:34
Speaker
Within the first four episodes, we'll talk about a research article authored by a Swakuho-affiliated practitioner, we'll facilitate a book club, and have a featured topic with a panel of housing staff.
00:01:46
Speaker
Today's episode, though, is an interview with one of Swakuho's past presidents, Kent Sampson.
Interview with Kent Sampson: Career and Reflections
00:01:53
Speaker
Today, Kent and I start by talking about his career at Oklahoma State University, his experience being an internal candidate in several job interviews, and various opportunities he's had throughout his career.
00:02:04
Speaker
We then talk about Swakuho involvement, various ways he served the region, his pathway to the president role, and platform he ran on.
00:02:12
Speaker
We conclude with some miscellaneous advice and some fun Samson stories.
00:02:16
Speaker
Before retiring in November 2015, Kent Sampson spent 28 years in residence life and then capped off his career with 18 years in leadership and campus life.
00:02:26
Speaker
That's 46 years serving college students.
00:02:29
Speaker
Kent received his Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and sociology at Southwestern State and then completed his grad work at Oklahoma State University.
00:02:39
Speaker
He never left Oklahoma State until the day he retired.
00:02:43
Speaker
Kent says he was blessed to work for decades with the best and brightest students still staying in touch with many, and surely he misses the quality moments with those outstanding folks.
00:02:53
Speaker
Kent, welcome to the inaugural episode of the Swakuho podcast.
00:02:58
Speaker
Thank you, J.C.
00:02:59
Speaker
Stoner.
00:02:59
Speaker
You've been very patient with helping me get this up and going online tonight, so I'm glad to be a part of it.
00:03:05
Speaker
Thank you.
00:03:06
Speaker
Well, it's my pleasure.
00:03:07
Speaker
But first things first, and full disclosure to our listeners, we've actually known each other for a long time.
00:03:12
Speaker
We have.
00:03:13
Speaker
You were a mere pup when I remember meeting you at, wasn't it at the Cotton Bowl or something, maybe the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio maybe years ago?
00:03:23
Speaker
Maybe.
00:03:24
Speaker
I don't remember for sure, but we've definitely known each other.
00:03:29
Speaker
That's right.
00:03:30
Speaker
We have, yes.
Career Decisions and Internal Opportunities
00:03:31
Speaker
Oh, good.
00:03:32
Speaker
So why don't you just give us a real brief rundown of your career at OSU?
00:03:36
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:37
Speaker
Sure, JC.
00:03:39
Speaker
As I came to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to Oklahoma State to start a graduate degree in clinical psych, it was, I happened just by chance into some gentlemen in the student union,
00:03:51
Speaker
where the housing office was, because I was also looking for housing at that time, who said, uh, Hey, you, you've got a background that we think really might be compatible with working in res life here.
00:04:01
Speaker
So they offered me my first job is serving as an assistant head resident in Wilham complex, a complex, by the way, and no longer exists.
00:04:10
Speaker
It's been taken down years ago.
00:04:12
Speaker
So, uh, that's how I began.
00:04:14
Speaker
It was by chance when I was looking for a housing option and, and also a grad assistant opportunity.
00:04:19
Speaker
And, uh,
00:04:20
Speaker
The two came together at that time.
00:04:21
Speaker
So the rest for me is a little bit of history, I guess, in these 46 years.
00:04:26
Speaker
And that is a combination of probably being at the right place at the right time and having the opportunities to continue to move up, if you would, the organizational chart and serve in various ways.
00:04:38
Speaker
That is my first 28 years in res life.
00:04:41
Speaker
And then our former vice president, the
00:04:45
Speaker
Ron Beer approached me about a new position he was creating in campus life, merging several areas together, calling it a campus life, leadership and campus life.
00:04:55
Speaker
And so I did pursue that with his encouragement and support.
00:05:00
Speaker
Essentially, it was kind of a mini dean of students position, really, if you would.
00:05:04
Speaker
So that's what I served in the last 18 years until I retired in 2015.
00:05:08
Speaker
So you've been at OSU your entire career.
00:05:11
Speaker
That's like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird level commitment.
00:05:15
Speaker
You know, you never left.
00:05:17
Speaker
My real question is, did you ever think about leaving?
00:05:19
Speaker
You know, I did take a leave of absence one semester, Sheila and I, and served on Semester at Sea, the floating university that goes around the world, did that.
00:05:28
Speaker
But yes, beyond that, I certainly had some opportunities and some invites.
00:05:33
Speaker
I chuckled when I was thinking about this in preparation.
00:05:37
Speaker
A very good professional friend of mine in the Res Life area, who at the time had been director of housing at Marquette, had moved to New York University.
00:05:47
Speaker
And I'll always remember Vance contacting me and said, hey, I really need a Res Life person with a student life background at New York University.
00:05:56
Speaker
I said, well, I have a lot of respect for you, Vance, and also for your institution.
00:06:01
Speaker
He said, we just got lots of money and it's going to be renovating many housing units, et cetera.
00:06:08
Speaker
So he tried to tempt me into coming there.
00:06:10
Speaker
And I said, I just have a little trouble seeing myself making that transition.
00:06:13
Speaker
So I politely said, no, I've had a few other opportunities like that along the line, I'll admit, but, uh, in each case, um,
00:06:21
Speaker
The grass wasn't necessarily greener on the other side, as sometimes one might think.
00:06:26
Speaker
And I chose to stay with what I was doing where I was.
00:06:29
Speaker
And also because of opportunities here, I guess I'd have to say.
00:06:32
Speaker
Interesting.
00:06:33
Speaker
You don't see yourself as fitting in with the Yankees, huh?
00:06:38
Speaker
No, I just didn't see myself probably residing there and living there.
00:06:43
Speaker
Great differences that might have existed.
00:06:45
Speaker
I didn't think that that was necessarily a promotional opportunity that I should consider any further.
00:06:51
Speaker
And probably, JC, if it goes back to timing, might have been a time where our children were just young enough, too, that there are some elements there in terms of even relocation, considering things like that and public schools that they were involved in here and
Post-Retirement Reflections and Campus Community
00:07:05
Speaker
quality of those.
00:07:05
Speaker
So probably other elements that I don't fully recall right now, but probably some of those other ideas entered into that, too.
00:07:14
Speaker
Sure.
00:07:15
Speaker
Timing is often everything in life.
00:07:16
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:07:18
Speaker
So when you moved into campus life, how did your 28 years in housing prepare you to oversee other areas that weren't housing?
00:07:26
Speaker
You know, what was the reason that I think they were particularly interested in me, they wanted somebody who knew something about auxiliary services.
00:07:35
Speaker
And that's what, of course, res life falls in on most campuses.
00:07:38
Speaker
In other words, you have to generate your own revenue, room and board and other things like that.
00:07:43
Speaker
You don't get any tax tuition dollars, that sort of thing.
00:07:46
Speaker
So
00:07:46
Speaker
I had a lot of experience in that.
00:07:49
Speaker
So the job, I didn't give you the whole title.
00:07:52
Speaker
It was director of campus life and associate director of the student union because they wanted that auxiliary background working in the student union because of the size and scope of that operation.
00:08:02
Speaker
So whether it was dining services or facilities type of issues, that was part of the reason they were interested in me for that job because, yeah, it's truly 85% student life, if you would.
00:08:14
Speaker
But it was clearly a 15% or more facilities and operational details.
00:08:19
Speaker
So that was part of why they were interested in me, I'm sure.
00:08:23
Speaker
So obviously being auxiliary services, you must have made enough revenue to support your operations.
00:08:28
Speaker
Did you also make enough for the universities to steal some off the top for their own purposes?
00:08:35
Speaker
They were good about wanting a little help here and there for scholarships or whatever it might be.
00:08:39
Speaker
That's really true.
00:08:41
Speaker
You do learn in this business, you kind of have to
00:08:44
Speaker
Protect the bank a little bit here because there's already somebody interested who needs a little more help financially.
00:08:50
Speaker
And yet you're dedicated to trying to be sure that those student dollars that you have earned are put back into that system to keep the system.
00:08:59
Speaker
going and sharp and updated and that sort of thing.
00:09:02
Speaker
For sure.
00:09:03
Speaker
So as you progressed in your career, did you have to apply for jobs as an internal candidate?
00:09:09
Speaker
I did.
00:09:09
Speaker
Yes, I did.
00:09:11
Speaker
So I've heard often that the benefit of being an internal candidate is everyone knows you.
00:09:17
Speaker
But the problem with being an internal candidate is everyone knows you.
00:09:21
Speaker
So what was your experience being an internal candidate several times?
00:09:25
Speaker
You know, I talked about that with my spouse, Sheila, today.
00:09:28
Speaker
I said, this is an interesting question.
00:09:30
Speaker
What do you think?
00:09:31
Speaker
What do you recall about this?
00:09:32
Speaker
And we both agreed.
00:09:34
Speaker
I'd have to say, JC, in my career and time, it seemed to be more advantageous than disadvantageous.
00:09:41
Speaker
It's true.
00:09:41
Speaker
People around me knew my works then better than others might if I was a new candidate.
00:09:48
Speaker
But it seemed like that always worked out satisfactory for me in terms of pursuit of these opportunities.
00:09:56
Speaker
I'd have to say my experience as an internal candidate worked more for me and were advantageous rather than contrary to that.
00:10:05
Speaker
I was hoping you were going to say it's because you knew where all the bodies were buried or something like that.
00:10:11
Speaker
Yeah, I did know where some of those were.
00:10:12
Speaker
That's right.
00:10:15
Speaker
So when you ended up retiring, did you miss the big machine in the campus politics?
00:10:20
Speaker
Oh, yes, I certainly did.
00:10:23
Speaker
In fact, even just this last week,
00:10:26
Speaker
Since the last 18 years, I had advised our Student Government Association as an example, part of my component of my job.
00:10:34
Speaker
I got a call from a former SGA president five or six years ago in my last full year, I guess he was, who just finished within the last year.
00:10:44
Speaker
He was a mechanical engineer and then he had just finished law school at the University of Texas because he's going to be a patent lawyer.
00:10:53
Speaker
And he was in town.
00:10:54
Speaker
honoring, I think, 100 years of 4-H in the state or something like that, and called me for lunch.
00:11:00
Speaker
So we got
Career Skills and Notable Regrets
00:11:01
Speaker
together and chatted, and he and myself and his spouse was with him.
00:11:05
Speaker
So, yeah, yes, those sort of people really helped to ground me and keep me on my toes and sharp over time, I think.
00:11:16
Speaker
So, yes, I missed the presence of
00:11:20
Speaker
those talented young men and women that I got to work with.
00:11:23
Speaker
And it means a lot yet today to hear from them and stay in touch with them like that.
00:11:28
Speaker
So, yeah, I didn't miss that sometime.
00:11:33
Speaker
I've had people ask me, they said, well, why didn't you go for another four and get the full 50?
00:11:37
Speaker
I said, I don't know if they needed me for four more years, but I –
00:11:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:44
Speaker
Do I miss some of that?
00:11:45
Speaker
Sure I do.
00:11:46
Speaker
I always will.
00:11:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:47
Speaker
Did you ever consider like joining the homeowners association or running for president just to get back in the game?
00:11:55
Speaker
No, but you'll chuckle at this.
00:11:58
Speaker
I was sitting on our patio, Oh, maybe three months ago.
00:12:01
Speaker
And across my phone came an email from the guy who's the past the Dean of our veterinary sciences program, Mike Lorenz, Dr. Lorenz.
00:12:13
Speaker
And,
00:12:14
Speaker
I started laughing when I read it.
00:12:16
Speaker
I said, Sheila, you're not going to believe this.
00:12:17
Speaker
She says, what is it?
00:12:18
Speaker
She says, I said, well, Sheila, they've asked me, they've nominated me to be president elect of the Emeriti Association.
00:12:26
Speaker
And so I was just laughing about that.
00:12:28
Speaker
So is that not hilarious or not?
00:12:30
Speaker
So I did call Mike back and talk to him about a little bit.
00:12:34
Speaker
And after considering and discussing it, some of the and with my spouse, Sheila did decide to take that on.
00:12:39
Speaker
So believe it or not.
00:12:42
Speaker
As of January 2022, I'll be president of the Ameriton Association.
00:12:48
Speaker
I'm president-elect right now.
00:12:50
Speaker
Good for you.
00:12:51
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I found my niche somehow, maybe.
00:12:54
Speaker
Definitely.
00:12:55
Speaker
Well, that's great.
00:12:56
Speaker
I'm glad you're finding ways to keep yourself entertained and provide leadership.
00:13:00
Speaker
Yeah, I am.
00:13:02
Speaker
I am.
00:13:03
Speaker
So in your career, you mentioned Find Your Niche.
00:13:07
Speaker
Tell us about a small niche skill that you developed that you think had a big long-term impact on your career success.
00:13:15
Speaker
You know, I think twofold, two thoughts come to my mind.
00:13:19
Speaker
One was I think I was maybe a little bit more effective listener than the average person.
00:13:26
Speaker
In fact, one of the things that I have been criticized for at times is
00:13:31
Speaker
Most people know me as never being timely to a meeting historically.
00:13:36
Speaker
Probably why?
00:13:37
Speaker
Usually it's because of the quality of the interaction with the person that I was with previously and the fact that I didn't want to short circuit that.
00:13:45
Speaker
So I'd say listening, though there's a price to pay for that sometime, but being an effective listener.
00:13:50
Speaker
And number two was a sense of humor.
00:13:53
Speaker
I tell you what, I have concluded in my career that one thing that helps disarm people is having a sense of humor.
00:14:00
Speaker
It helps to break the ice.
00:14:02
Speaker
It helps to help with interaction.
00:14:04
Speaker
And that was a separate nature, I guess, of my personality that surely proved beneficial time and time again.
00:14:13
Speaker
So those are two that I'd mention.
00:14:15
Speaker
I think an active listener.
00:14:17
Speaker
and also one with a pretty practical, realistic sense of humor.
00:14:21
Speaker
Did you ever find yourself in a situation where there were some hysterical, really upset parents, and you tried to disarm them with a joke, and it just did not go well?
00:14:31
Speaker
Yes, sure.
00:14:33
Speaker
Yes, we've all run into a few of those parental times like that, and it was definitely not the time for humor.
00:14:39
Speaker
You're right.
00:14:40
Speaker
You're right.
00:14:43
Speaker
Looking back at your career, what is an opportunity you said yes to that afterwards
ACUHO Involvement and Leadership Experience
00:14:49
Speaker
you wish you would have said no to?
00:14:51
Speaker
Oh, I guess in my career, I was one of those who sometimes had trouble saying no.
00:14:57
Speaker
But maybe years ago, when I was asked to coordinate the United Way drive for the university campus, and I already had my plate plenty full, as did my assistant.
00:15:09
Speaker
And so looking back, maybe
00:15:11
Speaker
Though we did raise several hundred thousand dollars and reached our goal, maybe I should have passed on that one and not been pulled away as much as I was to coordinate that drive for a campus this size.
00:15:28
Speaker
Maybe that.
00:15:29
Speaker
It was a good cause for sure, but still, maybe that time could have more been devoted to the student life part that I was focused on.
00:15:37
Speaker
Okay.
00:15:38
Speaker
What about an opportunity you said no to that you wish you would have said yes?
00:15:43
Speaker
Boy, JC, I can't think of anything right offhand.
00:15:46
Speaker
Nothing comes to mind about that one right now.
00:15:49
Speaker
All right.
00:15:50
Speaker
That's fine.
00:15:51
Speaker
Do you have a favorite failure in your career?
00:15:54
Speaker
Something you learned a lot from that later set you up for success?
00:15:58
Speaker
You know what?
00:15:59
Speaker
I tell you what.
00:16:00
Speaker
I was nominated for the Akudo presidency and was on the ballot and did not win that election.
00:16:08
Speaker
probably for the good of the organization that I didn't.
00:16:12
Speaker
But from that, I even further developed more contacts with more people in the profession, which later, no doubt, in 83 resulted in me being selected to be the first Southern District representative on the executive board of Ocuho.
00:16:29
Speaker
So that then included Swakuho and Siho in the Southern District.
00:16:33
Speaker
So I think it was a coin toss that led to me being
00:16:37
Speaker
the first Southern District Rep, because it would have been at that time, Dan Hallenbach from Georgia.
00:16:44
Speaker
But Dan subsequently took that role after my two years on the executive board.
00:16:49
Speaker
And then, of course, as many know, later became president of ACUHO as well.
00:16:54
Speaker
So who won president instead of you?
00:16:56
Speaker
Do you remember?
00:16:57
Speaker
I believe it was Gary Johnson at Western Illinois.
00:16:59
Speaker
A good friend and long-term colleague.
00:17:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:03
Speaker
Gary was at Western Illinois for a long time, I think, too.
00:17:06
Speaker
He was.
00:17:06
Speaker
Truly.
00:17:07
Speaker
That's true.
00:17:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:08
Speaker
Another one of those lifers, fully committed to the institution.
00:17:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:13
Speaker
That's right.
00:17:13
Speaker
You talked a little bit about meetings or brought up meetings earlier.
00:17:17
Speaker
What is the most ridiculous meeting you ever sat in?
00:17:21
Speaker
Well, it's ridiculous, and it was both looking back, I can say it's ridiculous and humorous, though at the time, ridiculous still might have applied, but humorous wouldn't probably.
00:17:31
Speaker
It had to be when we in ResLife were called in to a vice president of administration's office for the purpose of being told that facilities, the operation of facilities, maintenance and housekeeping,
00:17:49
Speaker
were being transferred from us to the physical plant.
00:17:53
Speaker
And we thought, oh my goodness, they said, I've always been one of those that contends parents and students alike, particularly parents, believe that their son or daughter needs to be taken care of with the basics when they come to campus, as in housing and dining.
00:18:08
Speaker
And by the way, those things that support housing and dining, like facilities, like hot water, like air conditioning that works,
00:18:16
Speaker
like a housekeeping staff that keeps bathrooms clean, et cetera.
00:18:20
Speaker
So that was the most ridiculous meeting I think I've ever sat in because I really believed philosophically that that was the wrong direction.
00:18:30
Speaker
And yet we are told that we would march that direction and had to do it ultimately.
00:18:35
Speaker
And I think at some price,
00:18:38
Speaker
There is some price to pay for that.
00:18:40
Speaker
Not so much personally, as much as within the system over time, for sure.
00:18:44
Speaker
I
Swakuho Contributions and Conference Engagement
00:18:45
Speaker
know that's happened to a lot of schools in the last 20 years where housing and dining really got piecemealed apart in private various aspects.
00:18:52
Speaker
Or, you know, there was some budgetary rationale of efficient use of resources by combining all of our F&O people.
00:19:02
Speaker
Yes.
00:19:03
Speaker
But that was, looking back, that was a, I thought, what a strange thing.
00:19:07
Speaker
encounter, but we were told in no uncertain terms that we were all marched together that direction, and so we had to do that.
00:19:14
Speaker
Let's talk about your Swakua involvement.
00:19:17
Speaker
Okay.
00:19:18
Speaker
Give us just a brief rundown of what you did.
00:19:21
Speaker
Okay.
00:19:21
Speaker
Well, you know, I think my first Swakua to attend would have been the early 70s, I think, and I believe what happened was that it was at the University of Arkansas, I believe, and as I recall, JC, I think
00:19:37
Speaker
I went over there because our department head, Lynn Jackson at the time, was the name of the lieutenant.
00:19:42
Speaker
So he headed what was then called the Time and Place Committee.
00:19:46
Speaker
And we already knew we were getting ready to host that conference the next year, this was the little conference.
00:19:52
Speaker
So I think my first involvement would have been representing him and the Time and Place Committee to reaffirm our interest in hosting the group the following year.
00:20:02
Speaker
I think it was just one year out or two years out, 1976, as I recall.
00:20:06
Speaker
So that's where I began.
00:20:08
Speaker
And over time, had a chance to serve on a few different committees.
00:20:11
Speaker
And one year, the Akuho president contacted me, asked me to be parliamentarian for a business meeting and things like that.
00:20:19
Speaker
But at any rate, that's kind of where I began, I guess, since Akuho was on what was called then the Time and Place Committee.
00:20:25
Speaker
But you were then president in 1980 and 1981?
00:20:28
Speaker
That's right.
00:20:29
Speaker
1980 and 1981.
00:20:29
Speaker
It was at the conference in Austin, Texas.
00:20:35
Speaker
I'll always remember it was at the Villa Capri Hotel, which was shortly after we left demolished.
00:20:41
Speaker
We had been told that.
00:20:42
Speaker
It was going to go away.
00:20:44
Speaker
And I think it's now part of either the LBJ complex or else the stadium complex.
00:20:48
Speaker
They're right off Interstate 35, I remember.
00:20:51
Speaker
But anyway, yes, I was president that year.
00:20:53
Speaker
And, you know, JC, you know, one of the questions you kind of posed to me, and this was significant events or happenings maybe during that time.
00:21:05
Speaker
Without question, the number one accomplishment I felt like just almost has to be the fact that we created the Jim Gibson Ward that year in honor of Jim Gibson.
00:21:15
Speaker
A great colleague, a fellow director of res life at the University of Arkansas then.
00:21:20
Speaker
And once a group had decided this at a business meeting and shared that with a group, my task was to call Jim and tell him we were doing it.
00:21:28
Speaker
Jim was still alive then, struggling with leukemia, was in a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the time.
00:21:34
Speaker
And I always remember my phone call to Jim.
00:21:36
Speaker
And in that slow Southern drawl that only Jim had, he said, how kind of you all, thanks so much.
00:21:41
Speaker
And so I always thought that was a big deal because at least in my time in history with Srakuto, that was the kind of the premier award to honor an outstanding professional.
00:21:52
Speaker
And that's what Jim was to all of us.
00:21:54
Speaker
So
00:21:55
Speaker
That was the biggest accomplishment in many ways I felt like that year that I was president.
00:21:59
Speaker
No, that's great.
00:22:01
Speaker
A fun fact is the year you served as president was actually the year I was born.
00:22:08
Speaker
So I don't know if that makes me feel older or you feel older.
00:22:12
Speaker
Oh, my goodness.
00:22:13
Speaker
That's why when you started this up and had a little trouble with me getting online and all.
00:22:20
Speaker
Didn't you refer to me as being in the Toaway Zone of Life?
00:22:23
Speaker
Didn't you say that?
00:22:23
Speaker
Or was that me?
00:22:25
Speaker
But that made some sense.
00:22:26
Speaker
I've been around a few years.
00:22:28
Speaker
You're right.
00:22:29
Speaker
Something like that.
00:22:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:31
Speaker
Now, since we're talking about the Toaway Zone of Life, I'm really going to test your memory here.
00:22:36
Speaker
Do you have any programs from any SWACUHO conferences that really stuck out to you?
00:22:41
Speaker
Like, this was a winner.
00:22:42
Speaker
I want to say a program that I had a chance to team up with Dan Hallenbeck on.
00:22:48
Speaker
who was, of course, in Siho at that time at the University of Georgia, on accountability.
00:22:53
Speaker
I want to say that that one rang a bell, had a big turnout, and we were asked to do it again later because of that.
00:22:59
Speaker
So that kind of stood out as I was thinking about it.
00:23:03
Speaker
Was it staff accountability, holding students accountable?
00:23:06
Speaker
As I recall, it was all about, it seemed as though it was that notion of accountability within the profession and kind of subscribing to really a code of ethics, if you would,
00:23:19
Speaker
and then living that in your daily operational lives.
00:23:24
Speaker
So that could relate to both students as we teach and serve as examples for them, perhaps, as well as certainly staff, certainly the younger staff as they were coming through the system.
00:23:35
Speaker
So I think it seemed like we spent quite a bit of time on the code of ethics as it relates to accountability.
00:23:43
Speaker
At what point did it click for you that there was value and involvement above and beyond just attending the conference?
00:23:50
Speaker
Probably when I got my first opportunity to present a program, maybe, because I could see that people were contributing their many ideas and their time and talents to share some of these ideas with others.
00:24:03
Speaker
So probably somewhere in there when I had my first opportunity to do that,
00:24:08
Speaker
And for me, that came about, I think, when I actually attended the ACUO conference in Houston in the late 70s and was asked to present a program there.
00:24:20
Speaker
And it was having to do with your freshman, what you were doing, particularly for freshmen in residence.
00:24:26
Speaker
We called it then the Alpha program.
00:24:28
Speaker
So getting to do that both regionally and then nationally helped to drive that point home to me.
00:24:35
Speaker
I always viewed providing programs or like presenting a conferences is just like a little gesture of goodwill because so many people invest so many hours in planning this conference.
00:24:44
Speaker
Like the least I can do is give an hour of my time.
00:24:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:47
Speaker
It seemed like, yeah, something that we ought to be dedicated enough to give back to others.
00:24:53
Speaker
If people have allowed us to have these opportunities to serve and do our business and share whatever wisdom we've got, seem to be important to expect people to,
00:25:04
Speaker
who are in those roles to be able to be challenged to give back.
00:25:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:10
Speaker
Leading up to you becoming president, earlier we talked about, or you talked about being in the right place at the right time in your career.
00:25:17
Speaker
I've often viewed leadership positions and elections as sometimes being at the right place at the right time, but the conditions and timing being right.
00:25:27
Speaker
And you talked about, well, the conditions and timing for the Okuhuae president wasn't right for you at that time.
00:25:32
Speaker
What do you think made it your time to be president in 1980s?
00:25:37
Speaker
I think probably because I had been so active and served in so many ways.
00:25:41
Speaker
I'd chaired the program committee.
00:25:46
Speaker
At that time, I forget if it was called the diversity committee when it was created, but I chaired that.
00:25:53
Speaker
And I think there's just a lot of recognition about my involvement and maybe therefore my leadership in the organization.
00:26:00
Speaker
We had hosted a regional conference as well, and I'd been program chair of that.
00:26:04
Speaker
So I think
00:26:06
Speaker
Probably, JC, the fact that I had quite a bit of visibility because of the years I'd been serving fairly actively in the association.
00:26:14
Speaker
So that's what made the time maybe kind of right or obvious for me was people recognize it.
00:26:20
Speaker
I'd been a presenter, gosh, I don't know how many times.
00:26:24
Speaker
We had the annual skills workshop then going on in Denton, Texas every year, and I'd been a presenter at that with several other people for many years.
00:26:32
Speaker
I mean, three or four at least by then.
00:26:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:35
Speaker
And so the skills workshop presentation impacted that as well.
00:26:40
Speaker
Well, I think the comment about visibility is particularly important because that's so transferable even into like day-to-day jobs and working in housing that, you know, visibility
Leadership Philosophy and Book Recommendations
00:26:50
Speaker
matters.
00:26:50
Speaker
RAs who are visible are more affordable.
00:26:53
Speaker
Staff that are visible are a little bit more top of mind when opportunities come up or projects that I think there's a really legitimate point there about how do you make yourself visible?
00:27:04
Speaker
It's that old notion of a picture is worth a thousand words almost where if students and others have seen you rather than just have heard about you or heard of you, they begin to see your human characteristics as well.
00:27:17
Speaker
Both those that got you the job maybe, but also where you have shortcomings as well.
00:27:22
Speaker
So you're right.
00:27:24
Speaker
Physical presence is a big deal, I think.
00:27:26
Speaker
You're right.
00:27:28
Speaker
So did you have an official platform you ran on when you ran for president?
00:27:33
Speaker
You know, the best I can recall it, I mean, I don't think I had a formal platform per se, but I knew for me and knowing my nature, my group was going to be about the idea of serving the profession.
00:27:45
Speaker
Service to the profession was definitely the direction we tried to head.
00:27:50
Speaker
So in that sense, it started with how do you best serve the regional professionals, take a look at what their needs are, and then try to build programs and so forth to support that.
00:28:02
Speaker
So
00:28:03
Speaker
whether it was a skills workshop continuing or some waivers and scholarships being able to be provided and given to grad assistants, that sort of thing.
00:28:14
Speaker
There are different ways that we embarked upon trying to serve the profession in the region.
00:28:18
Speaker
And so that was clearly the theme, I guess you'd say, that I adopted.
00:28:23
Speaker
And do you think you were successful in achieving that platform?
00:28:27
Speaker
I think, yeah.
00:28:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:29
Speaker
I'd score on a scale of one to 10.
00:28:30
Speaker
I'd score a score.
00:28:32
Speaker
Our group, because it's a team of us, the whole SWACU leadership team, I can give us an eight or nine on that.
00:28:39
Speaker
Wow.
00:28:40
Speaker
I think we worked pretty hard at that.
00:28:43
Speaker
Well, obviously, the organization continued after your tenure, so it couldn't have been that bad.
00:28:48
Speaker
Yeah, in spite of us.
00:28:50
Speaker
Yeah, maybe.
00:28:51
Speaker
There was this one time I always said that people want to be RAs because they either had a really good RA or a really bad RA.
00:28:59
Speaker
At this one time, I was just mouthing this off at an RA training.
00:29:03
Speaker
I was like, who in here was here because they had a good RA and everyone raised their hands?
00:29:07
Speaker
And just not thinking, I was like, who in here was here because they had a bad RA?
00:29:13
Speaker
And then I was like, oh, wait, nobody answered that because your RA who was bad could be in this room.
00:29:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:19
Speaker
So, you know, maybe Swakuho persists in spite of you, but I don't believe that's what you can do.
00:29:26
Speaker
Yeah, really.
00:29:27
Speaker
So let's just wrap up with some miscellaneous things.
00:29:32
Speaker
What's a book you most frequently share with others?
00:29:35
Speaker
Oh, great question.
00:29:36
Speaker
I'm glad you posed that because you made me think a little bit on that one.
00:29:40
Speaker
I identified three, JC.
00:29:43
Speaker
The first one, I'll tell you, I still swear by this.
00:29:46
Speaker
As a matter of fact, this next Tuesday morning,
00:29:48
Speaker
On the OSU campus, I'm continuing to make a presentation that will use a component of this.
00:29:57
Speaker
Years ago, the HR department asked me to create a program called the Indispensable Employee.
00:30:03
Speaker
So I've worked on that for years.
00:30:04
Speaker
I've been presenting it now for years.
00:30:06
Speaker
And this next Tuesday morning on August 10th, I'm presenting it again.
00:30:10
Speaker
Well, within that, I always use the Ernest Boyer book on community.
00:30:16
Speaker
Why?
00:30:16
Speaker
It's called In Search of Community by Ernest Boyer.
00:30:19
Speaker
Boyer is now deceased.
00:30:21
Speaker
Of course, he had been president of the SUNY system.
00:30:25
Speaker
And he, at this time, was employed to do the research for a national organization.
00:30:31
Speaker
And so I always use the Boyer piece because, my goodness, that's 35 to 40 years old.
00:30:37
Speaker
But it's about community.
00:30:39
Speaker
And my contention is, as I share this with university employees in this session next Tuesday, is
00:30:47
Speaker
campuses that are most successful in helping their students grow and mature and be ready to matriculate, graduate, move on, are those who have helped them feel like they're part of a campus community.
00:30:58
Speaker
And there's several things that that makes.
00:30:59
Speaker
So that's one.
00:31:00
Speaker
Boyer is called in search of community and the research project that he conducted.
00:31:05
Speaker
By the way, what's key about that, the reason I still use it, his subjects were all university presidents.
00:31:12
Speaker
So he interviewed some 300 plus university presidents.
00:31:16
Speaker
in looking to the future about what constitutes community.
00:31:19
Speaker
That's why I still use it because these are your brightest men and women, and they had these ideas about community on campuses.
00:31:26
Speaker
So I use that one.
00:31:28
Speaker
Number two, I use Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point.
00:31:33
Speaker
I make reference to that often.
00:31:34
Speaker
I think that's good.
00:31:35
Speaker
And finally, a great story about human character is the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
00:31:41
Speaker
It's called Radical Integrity.
00:31:44
Speaker
And there's a great story about a guy who, during the Hitler years, had to make a decision as a German citizen.
00:31:54
Speaker
And as he more and more began to see what was going on, realized, I can't be a part of that.
00:32:00
Speaker
So the fact that he ultimately even wound up being captured, and as the story goes, he was executed, I think, just a couple of months before the end of World War II.
00:32:13
Speaker
So here's a guy who gave his life for
Advice for Young Professionals
00:32:16
Speaker
what he believed.
00:32:16
Speaker
And so that's a deep, deep book to read about Bonhoeffer.
00:32:21
Speaker
So those would be the three.
00:32:23
Speaker
It's called The Story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
00:32:26
Speaker
It's called Radical Integrity or The Tipping Point by Gladwell.
00:32:29
Speaker
And then finally In Search of Community with Boyer.
00:32:32
Speaker
I think those are the three I'd mention primarily.
00:32:36
Speaker
Oh, great.
00:32:37
Speaker
We got some additional reading for our listeners out there.
00:32:41
Speaker
What is one piece of advice commonly given that you would tell a young professional to ignore?
00:32:49
Speaker
I think where I'd land on this one, JC, is that focus on how you can serve the population that you're working with.
00:32:56
Speaker
Don't worry about making a mark or leaving your mark.
00:32:59
Speaker
I think one of the challenges of a lot of young professionals sometimes has been that of
00:33:05
Speaker
I need to leave my mark.
00:33:07
Speaker
I remember Betty Greenleaf, who long ago died.
00:33:09
Speaker
She was at Indiana University.
00:33:12
Speaker
She came here to speak at NACURA once years ago in the late 70s.
00:33:17
Speaker
Her team was changed for the changing times.
00:33:21
Speaker
And she was cautious to say, don't be afraid of change, but do it for the right reason.
00:33:28
Speaker
So I always appreciate Betty's reminder to us and the students across the country
00:33:33
Speaker
We sometimes think we want to leave our mark, our message somehow.
00:33:38
Speaker
Nothing wrong with desiring to do that, but you really do that through your work ethic and your dedication to serve and that sort of thing.
00:33:45
Speaker
So I would tell young professionals, don't worry about leaving your mark.
00:33:50
Speaker
That'll be a natural outcome or byproduct of who you serve and how you work in the business.
00:33:56
Speaker
Yeah, there was that West Wing episode.
00:33:58
Speaker
The president said like all day we've been
00:34:01
Speaker
thinking about rendering the painting and maybe we just need to step back and let the painting render itself or something like that.
00:34:08
Speaker
Yeah, good point.
00:34:10
Speaker
I couldn't agree with you more.
00:34:12
Speaker
I think people get caught up too much in like, what's my legacy going to be?
00:34:15
Speaker
Yes.
00:34:17
Speaker
Legacies are defined after the fact.
00:34:19
Speaker
And if we just show up day in and day out and do good work, that there's going to be a legacy there, whether we tried or not.
00:34:25
Speaker
Good point.
00:34:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:26
Speaker
So I understand you are the founding and only president of the National Tri-Beta Society.
00:34:36
Speaker
In my background research, I wasn't able to learn much about this seemingly semi-secret society.
00:34:42
Speaker
Can you tell our listeners about this professional organization?
00:34:46
Speaker
Oh, my goodness.
00:34:48
Speaker
I'll never forget.
00:34:49
Speaker
And I think it was at Lincoln, Nebraska.
00:34:51
Speaker
We were at a conference standing in line for a meal.
00:34:55
Speaker
And I forget who I was talking with in the line.
00:34:58
Speaker
And we were kidding each other about the tri-betas when the young man right in line ahead of us, he said, oh, are you tri-betas too?
00:35:06
Speaker
We didn't know who the guy was.
00:35:07
Speaker
And then it's at that moment we found it was an honorary biological sciences fraternity.
00:35:11
Speaker
We had no idea.
00:35:13
Speaker
Anyway, we just had this, this little ridiculous game plan of at, at various conferences, you would approach somebody and somebody that you knew well,
00:35:25
Speaker
and tell them that we wanted to induct them near the tri-betas.
00:35:28
Speaker
And by the way, we had a bright gold sweatshirt with a BBB on it.
00:35:32
Speaker
I think it was my daughter.
00:35:33
Speaker
And that would always be passed on from one person to another.
00:35:37
Speaker
But we were surprised.
00:35:39
Speaker
It truly is a national honorary for students in biological sciences.
00:35:45
Speaker
So we learned to better be careful where and when you utter those initials because you may pay for that.
Involvement with Professional Organizations and Closing Remarks
00:35:51
Speaker
There's a student organization for everyone out there.
00:35:54
Speaker
That's right.
00:35:55
Speaker
There sure is.
00:35:55
Speaker
That's true.
00:35:56
Speaker
Yep, that's so true.
00:35:58
Speaker
So we all know that attending conferences can be a financial challenge.
00:36:02
Speaker
In preparing for this interview, it came to my attention that you would occasionally make plans for you and Sheila to share a room with another couple attending to save money.
00:36:13
Speaker
And I'm quoting a last minute change of plans where Sheila was actually three of your employees from Oklahoma State with the hope the other couple wouldn't mind sharing the accommodation with four guys from Oklahoma State.
00:36:24
Speaker
Is there any truth to this?
00:36:29
Speaker
You would use a personal example on me, wouldn't you?
00:36:32
Speaker
Yes.
00:36:33
Speaker
I think that happened in Tampa, Florida, if I'm not mistaken.
00:36:36
Speaker
And that's exactly what happened.
00:36:38
Speaker
Sheila wound up not being able to go.
00:36:40
Speaker
And so I took the guys with me, and there we looked up next door, and there's Ken and Ruth Stoner.
00:36:49
Speaker
They were good souls about it.
00:36:50
Speaker
Certainly Ruth was.
00:36:51
Speaker
Your mother was.
00:36:52
Speaker
It was hilarious.
00:36:53
Speaker
But that's true.
00:36:54
Speaker
That actually happened.
00:36:55
Speaker
I think it was in Tampa.
00:36:57
Speaker
See, I do want to say one other thing, JC, I want to squeeze in here too.
00:37:00
Speaker
Sure.
00:37:00
Speaker
That is one of my very favorite things to do, and I really respect the fact I got to do this.
00:37:05
Speaker
I'll never forget this call I got one summer on myself from Chuck Waring, who was then working at Kansas State.
00:37:12
Speaker
Yep.
00:37:12
Speaker
Who, as you know, is now deceased.
00:37:14
Speaker
He was director when I was an RA at Kansas State.
00:37:17
Speaker
Yeah, that's right.
00:37:17
Speaker
That's right.
00:37:19
Speaker
Well, his request was, hey, I coordinate the Stars College for Okuho Ai, and we have normally 10 faculty a year on that.
00:37:31
Speaker
And he said, I'm interested in asking you if you'll join, but you've got to commit to doing it at least for two years.
00:37:36
Speaker
And I did it for seven, as it turned out.
00:37:39
Speaker
But he said, the reason I'd like for you to do it is you know the res life side.
00:37:45
Speaker
You've come from that.
00:37:46
Speaker
But you also, a little more broadly, have moved over to a broader area of student affairs, kind of the dean of students type of topic or role.
00:37:55
Speaker
So he said, I'd like for you to do that because I'd like to have a little more balance on that than just ResLife people since of course it is primary for ResLife folks anyway.
00:38:05
Speaker
So I said, gosh, I couldn't turn Chuck down.
00:38:07
Speaker
I did it.
00:38:07
Speaker
And like I said, I went up doing it for seven years and that was a treat because that surely helped me stay in touch with young professionals in the business.
00:38:16
Speaker
Also some other colleagues in the business that some that I knew and some that I didn't who were on the faculty.
00:38:22
Speaker
So I really loved that.
00:38:24
Speaker
I,
00:38:24
Speaker
I taught a couple of years also at the National Housing Training Institute when it was initiated at the University of Florida, by the name of Jim Grimm.
00:38:31
Speaker
So both NHTI, but particularly the Stars College out of Vakuho, I really enjoyed that, particularly with these last 18 years not being in the rest of life, but still having lots of friends in that part of the profession.
00:38:45
Speaker
I so much enjoyed that connection.
00:38:47
Speaker
That's really great.
00:38:49
Speaker
Let me ask you this.
00:38:50
Speaker
Are there any like Samsonisms?
00:38:53
Speaker
Things that you say all the time that people have said, well, that's a Samsonism.
00:38:58
Speaker
There probably are.
00:39:01
Speaker
I thought of that earlier.
00:39:03
Speaker
I asked my spouse that.
00:39:05
Speaker
The only ones that she could think of were the personal ones, whether it's time to go to bed or something else that I have a certain way of making that comment.
00:39:13
Speaker
I guess I don't offer much there, but I'm telling you, probably those people that work for, with, and around me,
00:39:21
Speaker
They would have a few probably for you.
00:39:23
Speaker
I can't think of.
00:39:24
Speaker
Probably.
00:39:25
Speaker
I think that's where people don't realize that apparently I say this a lot because every time they do that, they laugh.
00:39:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:31
Speaker
Yeah, there we go.
00:39:32
Speaker
That's right.
00:39:33
Speaker
All right.
00:39:35
Speaker
Anything else you want to share with the Swakuho listeners?
00:39:39
Speaker
I would say this to the Swakuho listeners.
00:39:41
Speaker
I say, so whether you're in a leadership capacity or not, it doesn't mean that you'll always be looked out for because –
00:39:51
Speaker
At one of the skills workshops in Denton, Texas, about four carloads of us went out to this Italian restaurant to eat.
00:39:58
Speaker
And those four carloads all went back to the residence hall we were staying in for the next day's session, except myself.
00:40:06
Speaker
They left me behind because they couldn't remember who was in what car.
00:40:11
Speaker
So all of a sudden, and it's not like I was hidden in the bathroom or anything, but all of a sudden, all four vehicles go back to the North Texas campus and, uh,
00:40:21
Speaker
without Samson.
00:40:22
Speaker
So it just shows, regardless of how big you think you are, how important you are, you can be left behind.
00:40:29
Speaker
What a humbling experience.
00:40:31
Speaker
They were nice enough to come back and get me, though.
00:40:33
Speaker
They did come back and get me.
00:40:34
Speaker
The next day?
00:40:36
Speaker
No, that night they did.
00:40:39
Speaker
I think it's a perfect illustration that nobody's bigger than the game, Kent.
00:40:42
Speaker
There we go.
00:40:43
Speaker
You're right.
00:40:44
Speaker
That's right, for sure.
00:40:46
Speaker
All right.
00:40:47
Speaker
Well, that's a wrap for our very first Swakuho podcast episode.
00:40:51
Speaker
A big thanks to past president Kent Sampson for volunteering yet again for the benefit of our region.
00:40:57
Speaker
Kent's story is an experience not only gave us a lot to think about with respect to our own careers and professional involvement, but he also delivered some very practical and actionable advice.
00:41:06
Speaker
Let me know your number one takeaway from this episode by replying on the Swakuho social media podcast posts.
00:41:13
Speaker
I welcome any feedback about the quality and content of the show via Swakuho podcast at gmail.com.
00:41:19
Speaker
I have a small lineup of topics and guests, but I'm always open to suggestions to provide the most service and value to you, the membership.
00:41:27
Speaker
Our next episode is going to be a book club with two of my favorite people, Apefa Cooper and Maddie Reed, who are going to discuss the book, The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath.
00:41:37
Speaker
Specifically, we are going to discuss how to engineer meaningful moments that create elevated experience throughout the college housing landscape.
00:41:44
Speaker
Apetha and Maddie presented on this book at the 2019 Swakuho Annual Conference, which just so happened to have been recognized as a top five program that year.
00:41:54
Speaker
So you definitely don't want to miss it.
00:41:56
Speaker
If you want to read the book before the episode, you have about a month.
00:41:59
Speaker
Link to purchase the book online will be in the show notes.
00:42:02
Speaker
Take it from me, it's a powerful book to read, yet extremely easy to consume.
00:42:07
Speaker
You definitely have time to read the book as long as you make it a priority.
00:42:11
Speaker
I hope you join us for what is sure to be a lively and fun episode.
00:42:14
Speaker
And with that, I say to you, good day.