Roompact’s “Quick Tips” series highlights ideas and suggestions you can put into your practice as either a professional staff or student staff member working in residence life and education. Click to read more from the series.
ACUHO-I is an incredible organization for housing and residence life professionals. Accessible and known for high-quality content, getting involved in ACUHO-I is critical for anyone wanting to get involved in the field. When first getting started on your professional engagement journey, pay attention to these three tips:
1. Find your niche.
There are many sub-fields and specialties within housing and residence life: operations, assignments, marketing, education, and facilities, and ACUHO-I has a little bit for everyone. Finding a community within your professional home can be a great way to get involved and build a tight knit social network. Many of these specialties have their own conferences and networking groups.
2. Engage on a regional level.
ACUHO-I has many different regions, each with their own conferences, that you can get involved in. These regional opportunities allow you to connect with other colleagues in your area and are of a more manageable and “human” size, which allows you to make connections more easily. They also offer year-round opportunities for engagement:
3. Think beyond conferences.
Conferences are great for meeting people face-to-face, but ACUHO-I has a number of engagement opportunities outside of the annual conferences. Specialty Institutes allow you to learn important skills. Newsletters, webinars, Talking Stick Magazine, and the Journal of College and University Student Housing offer opportunities to write and read. The on-line community bulletin boards on ACUHO-I’s website are particularly active.
Roompact has been attending ACUHO-I conferences since it’s inception and many of our staff members present and hold leadership roles within the organization. If you’re looking to connect, we’d be happy to help guide you on your involvement journey.
