A Career in Boxes

I’m sitting here looking at bare walls and empty bookcases.

Fifteen years worth of student affairs “stuff” is now packed and ready to go as I transition to a new position.    It only took the moving company an hour to pack up what it took me a decade and a half to amass.

I always knew this day would come, but at the same time never thought it would be here.  I am one of those folks who have been fortunate enough to have a great run at a greater university.  I have met amazing people, worked with great colleagues and built relationships with students who have become alumni and friends. 

It’s exciting to go, but I can’t help but have a very heavy heart today. 

I will miss the people that invested in me.  The colleagues who challenged me to be better, the supervisors who guided me, and those who laughed with me in difficult times.  I will even miss the people who I had disagreements with…and there are a few.

Leaving is not so much about stepping away, but taking all that I have learned and carrying it forward.    It is about carrying the spirit of these people that have meant, and still will mean so much to me, with me as I move on.

I have tried to make sure they know how wonderful I think they are and how proud I have been to be their colleague over the years. 

No matter where you are in your career on your campus, I encourage you to make sure your colleagues and students know how valuable they are to you.  We are in the people business, and these are our people.  And they deserve to know.

Still looking at those walls and bookcases, but now I see much, much more.

 Dr. Keith Humphrey

ACPA President, 2012-2013

The Kitchen Table

It’s a time a year when many gather with their family to celebrate the season.  I look forward to spending time with my partner and children and our extended family.  It’s also a time of year when I spend time with the family I choose.  My ACPA family.

One of the best parts of ACPA are the relationships that we develop with colleagues around the country.  Over the years I have been fortunate to grow friendships with a key group of trusted friends.  We get together at some point each fall, around someone’s kitchen table for the weekend, to talk about the profession and our goals for each other in the coming year.  We talk about how we can support each other in achieving our goals. 

We also eat well, enjoy some wine, stay up late and talk, and get very little sleep. 

It’s rejuvenating, inspiring, empowering and surprisingly relaxing. 

This year we talked about how we want to grow personally, professionally and how to effectively balance the two.  The theme this year was clearly transitions….and I am making one.  I am moving from the family at The University of Arizona that has raised me for the last 15 years since my professional beginnings as a hall director, to my new family at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where I will begin as their Vice President for Student Affairs in February. 

I am going to be quiet for the next six weeks or so.  I’m packing boxes, finding schools for my boys, getting acquainted with new colleagues in California and setting up a new household.  ACPA will continue to move forward towards advancing our leadership in the profession and preparing for our groundbreaking convention in Las Vegas this March.

I couldn’t get to the Vice President’s role without the support of many of my family members, especially my ACPA family and those around the kitchen table.

I cherish them, and hope that you use this season to cherish your family – those given and those you choose.

 Dr. Keith Humphrey

ACPA President, 2012-2013

University First Responders

I’ve spent a lot of time on the phone this week.

I talked a bunch to my mom and brother, who live in Southwestern Connecticut, just outside New York City.  My mom told me about the house across the street from our family house, now crushed under the weight of a massive hundred year oak tree that fell in the storm.  Luckily, everyone made it out. 

Mom asked me what I would do if something like this happened to my university.

“This isn’t something that gets taught in graduate programs, mom,” I told her.  “Student affairs folks just do in times like these.”

Then I told her that I have also talked to many student affairs colleagues at colleges and universities in the region affected by Hurricane Sandy.  They talked about campus evacuations; closed universities with thousands of students still in the residence halls, and trying to physically and emotionally support students without electricity.

“So, you are like university first responders,” she said. 

Exactly.

As your ACPA President, I am grateful for the countless hours that all of our university first responders have done this past week on the east coast.  I know your work is not complete, but want you to know it is valued and we are proud of you.  I am not sure that ACPA can do anything to help with this disaster, except to let you know you are doing good work.

For those of us who don’t live in the affected region, many of us have students who likely call that area home.  And when they go back to visit over Thanksgiving or the winter holidays, they will see a region that is drastically different from the one they left when they came to campus this fall.  And many of them will need support to process what they experienced when they return to campus.

On my campus, the university first responders will be ready.  I know they will on your campus.

Thank you for all you do.

Dr. Keith Humphrey

ACPA President, 2012-2013