For more than 30 years, the Atlantic Association of College and University Student Services (AACUSS) has provided its members with a means of sharing information about campus life and probing important trends in student wellness, leadership and personal development. Members of AACUSS are the student service professionals on university and college campuses across Atlantic Canada and this year’s annual meeting is being held on the campus of Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

The theme of this year’s conference is Mission Possible: Equipping Change Agents. It’s aimed at equipping conference delegates with the tools they need to effect change on their campuses across a range of issues: from reducing high-risk behavior to encouraging and recognizing student leadership to recruiting and retaining students from under-represented communities.

The two-day annual meeting and conference, May 22-23, was kicked-off today by a pre-conference workshop featuring Dr. Tom Workman, who engaged pre-conference participants in discussions on edge communities, risk-taking behaviours, and their influence on our campuses. Dr. Workman is the Principal Communication Researcher and Evaluator at the American Institutes for Health and is a faculty member of the NCHIP (National College Health Improvement Program) Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking with a focus on gathering evidence, measuring outcomes and sharing ideas that work. Dr. Workman’s co-presenter was James Sanford, Senior Director of Student Affairs at Acadia.

Conference highlights:

Wednesday, May 22

• Conference Opening and Keynote Address: Dr. Robert Strang, Chief Public Health Officer, Province of Nova Scotia

 

• Opportunities & Challenges in Personal Development Workshop: Dr. Nancy Buzzell and Dr. Rice Fuller -- UNB

 

• Healthy Student Services Work Environments: Jennifer Rushton – Dalhousie

 

• Mission Possible: Collaborating On Campus to Encourage, Celebrate, and Recognize Student Leadership and Engagement: Chris Glover & Eric Donovan – Dalhousie

 

• MissionPossIBle:  UPEI’s Webster Academic Services Reaches out to Support PEI’s International Baccalaureate (IB) Students:Anne Bartlett, Karen Morse, Robin Sutherland – University of Prince Edward Island

 

• Support Services & Graduate Student Persistence in the Social Sciences and Humanities: Melanie Greene – Memorial University

 

• Mission Possible: Partnerships for Success: Lisa Jacobs, Prevention Coordinator (Alcohol), NS Department of Health and Wellness and James Sanford, Acadia

 

• Mission Possible: Pan University Collaboration: Panel discussion

 

 

• Mission Possible: Who are we missing? Facilitator: Dr Wanda Thomas Bernard

 

Thursday May 23^rd

 

• Mission Possible: Students Leading Programming Success: Panel Discussion

 

• Atlantic Aboriginal Advisors Networking Group: John Sylliboy et al – Mount Saint Vincent University, NS

 

• Standardized Software Database Initiative for Disability Services: John Frost, Joerg Tews – Frostbyte Interactive

 

• Mission Possible: A framework for moving forward and tracking progress: Dr. Darren Kruisselbrink – Acadia

 

• Acadia’s Red & Blue Crew: Cecilia Jacobs – Acadia

 

• Digitization of Student Services: Mission possible or even necessary? Dr. Tamara Leary – Memorial University

 

• It Takes a Campus to Run a Campaign: Lessons learned from UPEI’s Mental Health Week: James Reddin, Cathy Rose – University of Prince Edward Island

 

Detailed information about the Conference can be found at www.aacuss.ca or by contacting the Conference communications officer, Cecilia Jacobs at cecilia.jacobs@acadiau.ca.