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Professional Development Conference Archives

2021: Being a Caring Cougar: Caring for Yourself, Your Coworkers, and Our Students

This year, although our conference was virtual, it was a meaningful experience with opportunities for development and connecting with colleagues. Our theme was Being a Caring Cougar: Caring for yourself, your coworkers, and our students. The past year had been challenging and due to the change to a virtual format, and a desire to support as many of our colleagues as possible, the event was open to all faculty and staff on campus this year for the first time!

We were grateful for the opportunity to take a moment to remind each other of the support we share as a community.

2021 Keynote, Presentations & Networking

  • KEYNOTE: Kelley Grimes
    We were pleased to welcome Kelley Grimes, founder of Cultivating Peace and Joy. Kelley presented for us on how to start the new year off with more self-nurturing tools and strategies to move from surviving to thriving. During the keynote we explored navigating transitions through the four stages of nurturing change—honoring, discerning, empowering, and reinforcing—and had the opportunity to connect and deepen with ourselves and in community.
  • BREAKOUT: Coping with COVID
    This session helped attendees learn to check-in with themselves to gain a better sense of how they are doing, learn strategies for creating or maintaining wellness, and learn coping skills to support their mental health while coping with COVID-19. The session was psychoeducational, interactive, and experiential in nature.
     

    Presented by Dr. Lissa Lim, Student Health & Counseling Services

  • BREAKOUT: Virtual Yoga
    This session provided attendees a break in the day with a relaxing gentle yoga class. They experienced a variety of postures designed to bring incredible strength, flexibility, and endurance to the body and a sense of stillness to the mind.
     
    Presented by Danielle Tildahl, Campus Recreation
  • BREAKOUT: Using Mindfulness to Create a Productive Workspace
    Working from home can be challenging with all the possible distractions. This workshop focused on how to use Mindfulness practices to create as relaxing an at-home work experience as possible. We discussed how to set up your workspace and arrange your day to take breaks that will enhance rather than disrupt your workflow. We also engaged in some mindfulness practices and provided additional resources.
     
    Presented by Pamela Redela, Mindful CSUSM
  • BREAKOUT: At-Home Ergonomics

    This session focused on how to best set up your workspace at home in a safe way and provided tips and tricks for keeping moving thoughout the day.

    Presented by George Williams, Safety, Health & Sustainability

  • NETWORKING
    This  session was based on the CSUSM Stay Connected, Stay Social  interest groups. The conversations were casual and provided an opportunity to connect with colleagues around shared interests. Don't worry... we had conversation starters and moderators scheduled to make it fun!


2020: Looking Forward with Clarity

The theme of the event this year was 2020 Vision: Looking Forward with Clarity.  Presenters from across campus provided cross-divisional perspectives on a variety of topics that will affect our campus in the coming year. The focus of the conference was on increasing understanding of our campus culture and structure, exploring student dynamics, and nurturing personal and professional growth. 

 2020 Presentations

  • 2020 Campaign Activity on Campus | Sean Bradbury
  • A Day in the Life... Athletics | Krissty Andaur, Todd Snedden & Morod Shah
  • Attending a Four-Year University: Key legislation that helps undocumented students | Maria Chiem
  • Dear Email, Is Your End Nigh? Microsoft Teams and the Future of Communications in Higher Ed. | Tasos Lazarides
  • Develop and Reflect Your Personal Brand with Online Communication Strategies | Andrew Reed
  • Diffusing and De-escalating Conflict with NVC | Kara Kornher
  • Everything You Wanted to Know About the Tenure Process, but Were Afraid to Ask  | Matt Atherton & Yvonne Meulemans
  • Does Your LinkedIn Photo Look Professional? | Erica Cullwell
  • Free Speech and Civility | Scott Gross, Gail Mendez, and Jason Schreiber
  • Project Management for Student Affairs | Adrienne Tucker
  • The Psychology of Risk: Making better risk-based decisions | Erin Fullerton
  • Put Your Oxygen Mask on First: Real talk for Student Affairs parents/caregivers | Jennie Ruiz
  • University Advancement – Your Partners in Philanthropy | Jocelyn Wyndham & Beth Schroder
  • University Structure | Neal Hoss
  • Workstation Ergonomics | George Williams

2019: Our Campus is Buzzing!

The theme for the 2019 conference was "Our Campus is BUZZING: Engaging with our changing and diverse campus community". The keynote speaker was Dr. Allison Peterson, with her presentation Distressed and Disruptive Students: Why, why, and what to do. A Mental Health Perspective.

The remaining elements of the day consisted of three breakout sessions and a student panel. Students were asked questions about how student affairs professionals contributed to their CSUSM experience. 

2019 Presentations

  • Keynote: Distressed and Disruptive Students: Who, why, and what to do. A Mental Health Perspective – Allison Peters
  • Are You Connected, or Are You LinkedIn – Moses Maddox
  • Breaking the Barriers to Success: Addressing food and housing insecurity at CSUSM – Bonnie Campbell and Ashley Fennell
  • Communicating Change Effectively: Up, down, and sideways – Regina Eisenbach
  • Investing in You: Divisional support for your continued growth – Alan Brian
  • Meet Your Muse: Pursuing meaning and  purpose in the 21st Century – Judit Hersko
  • Mindfulness: Supporting your wellbeing as SA profesionals – Shannon Nolan-Arañez and Pamela Redela
  • Networking for Introverts – Diana Sanchez and Karin Iwasaka
  • Personal Budgeting – Cindy Sandback (Mission Federal Credit Union)
  • Personal Cyber-Security – Teresa Macklin
  • Retirement Planning – Yasuko Shirakawa
  • Title IX through the Lens of an Advocate and Investigator – Christa Wencl and Gail Mendez
  • Understanding our Division – Alan Brian
  • Work WIth Me! Cross-generational communication – Abrahán Monzón

2018: We Are All Educators

The theme for the 2018 conference was "We are all Educators" and it focused on the co-curricular model. Our morning keynote speaker was Dr. Marilee Bresciani Ludvik, Professor, ARPE, at San Diego State University. She gave an interactive presentation on Co-Curricular Learning and Assessment. 

Following our morning group session, we listened to our student panels speak on the impact of intentional co-curricular learning initiatives.

We offered two breakout sessions in 2018 that expanded on the co-curricular model and how it affects all of us at CSUSM.  

2018 Presentations

  • Morning Keynote – Dr. Marilee Bresciani Ludvik
  • Understanding the Co-Curricular Model – Jennie Ruiz and Jason Schreiber
  • Data Essentials: Evidence Based Culture & Decision-Making at CSUSM – Cameron Stevenson
  • We are all Cougar Care Network (CCN) – Jennie Ruiz, Leslie Rockwell, Bonnie Campbell, Jill Flaa
  • Help Them Connect or Watch Them Go! – Ericka Paez

2017: We Are Diversity

The conference theme in 2017 was "We are Diversity" and we had a great line up of experts who shared their knowledge with us throughout the day. Our morning presenter was Chris Nayve.

Following our morning group session, we were pleased to offer a variety of small group break-out sessions that covered topics such as Critical Race Theory, Wellness in the Workplace and Building Multi-Cultural Competency.

In response to last year’s conference feedback we also added a fourth break-out session to allow for additional and a more diverse range of topics. Of special note, we were very pleased to have the following two presenters join us.

Maricela Amezola, Esq. offered two sessions on providing support to AB 540 students and the legal implications that impact what support is possible.

Kandy Salas, Ph.D. offered two sessions for staff to share information about our new professional development program and how to use our Student Affairs competencies assessments to develop a personal professional development plan. 

2017 Presentations

  • Mindfulness with Ranjeeta Basu
  • AB540 Students – Marisela Amezola, Esq.  AB 540 Presentation Video
  • Gender Non-Conforming – Abrahán Monzón, Gender Equity Center
  • Investing in You (Staff) – Kandy Salas, Ph.D.  Investing in You Presentation Video (Staff)
  • Investing in You (Managers) – Kandy Salas, Ph.D.  Investing in You Persentation Video (Managers)
  • Personal Finance – Xiomara Arroyo
  • Building Multi-Cultural Competency – Floyd Lai, Cross Cultural Center
  • Planning for Retirement (State Employees) – Yasuko Shirakawa, CSUSM Human Resources
  • Planning for Retirement (Auxiliary Employees) – Doug Bermudez
  • Critical Race Theory – Jason Schreiber & Jessica Garcia De Paz
  • Wellness in the Workplace – Jordan Friske, Hugo Lecomte & Dani Tildahl 
  • Students Supporting Families – Lisa Bandong
  • Type Focus for Career Planning – Pam Wells
  • Students with Food/Housing Insecurities – Nick Mortaloni 

2016: Learn. Engage. Grow.  

2016 marked the 1st Professional Development Day! It was a great success and became an annual event for our division.

2016 Presentations

  • Assessment 101 – Emily Langdon
  • Exploring Student Development Theory– Emily Langdon
  • Finance 101– Dang Chonwerawong and Randy Duncan
  • Leadership Ethics– Scott Gross
  • Leading Teams in Student Affairs Scott Hagg
  • Mindfulness with Fritz Kreisler
  • Navigating Title IX Bridget Blanshan