Whew! I’m home now from the 2014 ACPA Convention in Indianapolis and I’m exhausted. The past 4 days were packed with learning, making new connections, and catching up with old friends. What a great time we all had collaborating and sharing our progress and research on topics. I was fortunate enough to share my dissertation research with the ACPA community. I was overwhelmed by the attendance in my session and very appreciative of those choosing to spend time in my session. Overall we had a positive conversation about making students with disabilities feel more welcome on our campuses.
Inside Higher Ed ran an article on the session, and while I don’t agree with the hook they used:
it is good to get the information out and more people in on the conversation.
In the session I asked fellow student affairs folks to consider some action items to tackle when they got to their home campus. I am invigorated by what the people plan to do!
Also, at the closing session today, I received some very poignant words from Brené Brown:
If you are not in the arena and also getting your ass kicked, I am not open to your feedback.
If someone else is in the game with you, listen and appreciate what they have to say, good and bad. If they’re not contributing to the knowledge at large, challenge them to step up to contribute, but ultimately appreciate the risk you took in sharing knowledge and dismiss their feedback.
I encourage you all to get out there, research, tackle those complex situations and always keep Brené’s wise words in minds.
View my presentation from the ACPA Convention below or download ACPA 2014 Presentation Jackie Koerner in pdf.
Hi Jackie–While I wasn’t at ACPA, I have taken a look through your slides and am really interested in your research. I am currently working on an online conversation (via Twitter) as part of the Inclusion and Equity Committee’s project from the Great Lakes Association of College and Housing Officers (GLACUHO). Feel free to join in next Friday 4/25 at noon (central time). I would love to connect with you more on this research. Please don’t hesitate to email me (mheckel@depaul.edu).