The Student Housing Matters blog explores ideas with leaders in higher education and the student housing profession. This is the place to find stories from those who have worked in the field for many years, podcast interviews, and videos about relevant topics in the student housing world.

It’s about matters relating to on-campus student housing, as well as why quality on-campus student housing really matters. We want this blog to serve as a forum for sharing ideas and insights about how your on-campus student housing can do things beyond simply housing students. How it can be used as a more powerful tool to recruit and retain students on your campus. We look forward to you joining us in the conversation.

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Posts by: Alton Irwin

Higher Education’s Preparation for Ebola

October 30, 2014

The current Ebola outbreak is something everyone is keeping an eye on.  After it’s initial entry into the United States (where the CDC was criticized heavily), the measures put in place have seemingly been effective. I’ve recently been sent a couple articles about what higher education institutions are doing in preparation that I thought would be interesting to share: Universities, Colleges Make Ebola…

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Podcast

Podcast | Student Housing on a Community College Campus

October 16, 2014

Today we’re doing something a little different… Instead of an individual interview, we have a panel of senior leaders from Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The individuals participating are: Bob Harrison, President Kelly Hahn, CFO Dr. Clinton Gabbert, VP of Student Services Anne Erdman, VP for Administration This team has been working together on…

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Let’s Talk About Yik Yak

October 14, 2014

You’ve likely heard about the social media app, Yik Yak.  But just in case you haven’t, here’s a quick rundown per Wikipedia: Yik Yak is an app that allows people to anonymously create and view posts within a 1.5 mile radius depending on how many other users are nearby. Basically, Yik Yak is like Twitter,…

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Podcast

Podcast | Revisiting with Frans Johansson at the 2014 NACAS Annual Conference

October 6, 2014

This week we’re on the road again, so you’ll be getting a handful of podcasts from the 2014 NACAS Annual Conference in Montreal, Canada. Ranging from housing and dining, to bookstores and campus card systems, NACAS is the largest auxiliary services support organization serving higher education. People representing institutions and auxiliary service companies will be with…

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The Nitpicker

September 30, 2014

I think it’s safe to say that everyone works in an office with at least one person like the one described in this Seth Godin blog. What a great perspective for dealing with these types of people. Focus on making something and keep in perspective that the nitpicker is actually controlled by his or her…

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Podcast

Dealing with Students’ Parents

September 25, 2014

In the student affairs world, dealing with parents is something we do almost as much as dealing with the students.  In this episode, we spoke with the interim Vice President for Student Affairs at Auburn University, Lady Cox about dealing with parents. She told us some funny stories about some experiences she’s had and gave some great…

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Podcast

Marketing in the Higher Ed World

September 5, 2014

Camille Barkley is the Executive Director of the Office of Communications and Marketing at Auburn University. She sat down with us to talk about what marketing an institution in the higher education and housing worlds looks like and what strategies they are using at Auburn. Ms. Barkley has more than 25 years of marketing experience, having worked in…

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Vote for an Overall Winner to the 2014 Move In Photo Contest

September 3, 2014

We had some great submissions for the 2014 Move-In Photo Contest!  Every one of these winners received a $20 Amazon gift card, but now we need you and all of your friends to vote on which photo best displays the spirit of the hard work put on during the move-in process!  The overall winner will win an additional…

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Bill Gates on Higher Education

August 25, 2014

If you were fortunate enough to attend the NACUBO Annual Conference in Seattle this summer, hopefully you were able to hear the keynote speaker’s address to the assembly.  Bill Gates was the keynote this year and had some very good, yet sobering perspectives on the challenges faced within higher education today and the changing landscape…

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