MACUHO Conference '11

It is conference season and MACUHO (Mid-Atlantic College and University Housing Officials) had its annual conference in Reading, PA. Over the years I have slowly gotten more involved in the organization. Since 2004 I have served on the programming committee, presented on various topics, and won awards here and there for my presentations. This past year I got more involved with planning the first ever Summer Summit and had a desire to serve on the executive board. MACUHO went through some strategic planning and we discovered we had a huge E.B. and needed to re-configure our organization. At this year's event the vote was casted and a new organization structure was put in place. As a result, I have been appointed to the first ever Director of Learning and Development position. I am very excited for this position and what I can contribute to MACUHO.

But the conference wasn't only about the restructuring of MACUHO. It had the best programs, keynote, and CIR (Consultant in Residence). We had a large number of CHO (Chief Housing Officers) presenting on great topics such as moving up in the field from their lenses, behavior care campus teams, and mold/bed bugs (I know not the most exciting stuff but it's an issue on campus and how you handle it dictates students' satisfaction). Our keynote was Matt Glowacski, who spoke on being happy and how to do that everyday. Our CIRs were Dr. Janet Walbert from Arcadia University, and Khadish Franklin, who both were excellent consultants to those at the conference. We had wonderful vendors who shared with us the newest products and how they can support our work. At night we had great events like mask making, henna tattoos, and palm readers. The last night we had "office olympics" hosted in the bar. But the highlight of the conference (I think) is the basket raffle. Every year baskets are donated by universities for a cause. This year's cause was Operation Smile. What a great cause and we raised over $2000 for it. I of course won something during the vendor raffle (a kindle and $100 supplies from Imprints!). NICE!!! So a basket I didn't win but others did. It's a great way to end a great conference and I'm looking forward to a great year in taking MACUHO to the next level.