Introductions

Mon, 4 Jun 2018 20:55:30 GMT

Hello!

Please introduce yourself so we are aware of who is a part of our 2018 GLACUHO Book Club and will be engaging in discussions around our book, Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and Other Difficult People by Alan Willett.

Include...

Name

Pronouns

Institution

Position

(2) Fun Facts

How many years have you served in a supervisor/manager role?

What are you hoping to gain from being a part of this book club?

Mon, 4 Jun 2018 21:06:01 GMT

Hi everyone!

My name is Kyle Johnson and my pronouns are He/Him/His. I currently serve as a Residence Director at the University of Indianapolis where I have worked for the past two years. My first fun fact is that as a Summer job during High School I was an actor on a Pirate Cruise Ship (Argh!) My second fun fact is that I am obsessed with the show Scandal and have watched the first 6 seasons 5 times. I am currently watching the 7th season for a second time.

My supervisory/managerial experience totals to 3 years. As a member of this book club I am hoping to understand other experiences that supervisors have with managing people, specifically student staff. I am eager to learn ways to navigate dealing with student staff members who are not motivated, engaged, and essentially have checked out of their work.

Mon, 4 Jun 2018 21:40:32 GMT

Hi! I am Ethan Johnson (he/him/his). I am an Residential Learning Coordinator at Valparaiso University in Indiana. For my fun facts: I did improv comedy in undergrad (and I miss it a lot), and I once worked as a barista.

I have been a supervisor for three years. I am hoping to learn how to be a better supervisor as well as advisor and supporter of students in general. Even in situations that are less formalized than supervision, knowing how to work with and motivate people is essential to the kind of work I want to do.

Mon, 4 Jun 2018 21:59:47 GMT

Name: Daniel Schraeder
Pronouns: he/him/his
Institution: University of Illinois Springfield
Position: Assistant Director of Residence Life & Education
(2) Fun Facts:
How many years have you served in a supervisor/manager role? 15+ years
What are you hoping to gain from being a part of this book club? Insights on how to supervise those difficult to reach or that appear to want to go against the grain

Tue, 5 Jun 2018 02:19:17 GMT

Hello everyone! I am Greg Whitmore and my pronouns are he/him/his. I am the Senior Associate Director of Occupancy & Administration at The University of Chicago. My first fun fact is that in my former (pre-higher education) life, I was a firefighter for 6 years. My second fun fact is my not-so-secret obsession with The Golden Girls. I own all 7 seasons on DVD and watch them regularly. I am also a member of 3 different Facebook groups dedicated to the show. If you're too young know what I am talking about, please don't make me feel old by asking who they were - Wikipedia and YouTube are your friend :-)

I've served in a managerial or supervisory role for my entire 12 year career. I'm excited to be a part of our book club and looking forward to exchanging thoughts, ideas and new approaches with each of you. I hope to leverage what we learn together to find ways to better approach and coach some of the more challenging individuals I've encountered as well as help to improve our overall working environment.

Tue, 5 Jun 2018 17:24:41 GMT

Hello everyone! My name is Lauren Svendsen (she/her/hers) and I just completed my first year as an Area Coordinator at the University of Southern Indiana. My fun fact is I have been playing dodgeball for nine years and will be playing in my first regional tournament at the end of June. My other fun fact is my dream vacation is to go to Machu Picchu, Peru and walk the Inca Trail.

I have been a supervisor of undergraduate students for 3 years and have gotten the opportunity to supervise a graduate student intern this summer. I am hoping to gain knowledge of how to supervise difficult students, specifically those who have checked out or believe that they are doing too much work as a student worker and bring down team morale with their negativity towards the position.

Tue, 5 Jun 2018 22:48:07 GMT

Hello! My name is Tamera Dunn (she/her/hers) and I am the Assistant Director for Residence Education at Purdue University Fort Wayne. My first fun fact is that I have ridiculously small feet that stopped growing in second grade, so my kicks come from the kiddo section OR have been resized by a cobbler. My second fun fact is that I've never been able to snap my fingers in my life (pretty sure sports injuries didn't help).

I have been a supervisor in one capacity or another since 2010, but have specifically supervised graduate staff & full time employees since 2014, with a transition out of student and graduate staff supervision to only full time staff supervision in January 2018. My hope is to gain knowledge on how to gain skills to better present regarding supervision to my current staff team.

Wed, 6 Jun 2018 02:39:28 GMT

My name is Kay Shelton. I am happy if people can get my name right and not call me Kate, or Katy, or any other variation that is not Kay. I just switched from Senior Housing Officer at Northern Illinois University to Education Center Operations Supervisor, which includes conference services.

For one fun fact, one of the students in the Housing Office made a whole game out of fun facts. She collected one fun fact from each of us, then we had to guess whose fun fact belonged to whom. We played that game during Finals week. My second fun fact is that I really like guacamole on baked potatoes. I used that for our December game and none of the students guessed correctly that was mine.

Going back to the days of working in a fast food restaurant, I have over twenty-five years of experience supervising people.

The book title looked interesting and I participated in previous book clubs. I did have some rather infamous people I had to supervise over the years, from the lady I fired for stealing food from the restaurant to the insubordinate employee who flew off the handle at the word "insubordinate." Also, while I currently knew nothing about the book when I decided to participate, I might have some characteristics described in it--my favorite TV characters from the past, which were already re-runs when I was a kid, were Hawkeye Pierce from "M.A.S.H." who was off-the-charts cynical, Detective Dietrich from "Barney Miller," and James Gardner as Bret Maverick So, I grew up watching people as TV characters who were probably not good role models for me!! Additionally, I tested at I.Q. 165 and I was in MENSA for a while.

Wed, 6 Jun 2018 16:02:19 GMT

Hello Everyone,

My name is Lovey Marshall. I am an Assistant Director of Residence Life at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I use she, her, hers pronouns. I have served in the role of a supervisor for 12 years and this past year was my first year supervising master level professionals. It was a great learning experience. I am hoping to gain knowledge about myself as a supervisor in my new capacity and also to learn how to work with folks who are different than me, think different than me and work different from me as I continue to supervise them.

Some fun facts about me, I love theatre and have won a couple of awards for some shows that I was in and I am a Starbucks fan but I dont like coffee. If you ever want to buy me a drink from Starbucks, you will need to get me a Grande chai tea latte with 6 pumps of vanilla, regular pumps of chai, no water, no foam, whip cream stirred in and whip cream on top, extra hot. It taste like a warm hug in cup (if its made right). Why go to the home of fancy drinks if you can't get what you want, right?

Wed, 6 Jun 2018 16:22:12 GMT

Hi all! I'm Tracy Benner (she/her/hers) and I'm the Director of Residence Life at Otterbein University. Fun facts are I'm a little obsessed with geneaology and have been working on my family tree for over 20 years and I love to bake. I've been a supervisor for almost 25 years (yikes, that makes me feel old!) I'm hoping to gain some insight into how I can improve my supervision skills and help others improve their skills through my coaching.