Burden and Craven Attend Housing Conference

Zac Burden, assistant director of residence life, and Maysun Craven, Campbell Apartments and Blanton-Nason-Brewer Hall director, attended the annual conference of UMR-ACUHO in Springfield, Missouri, Oct. 30-Nov. 1.

The Upper Midwest Region of the Association of College and University Housing Officers is a regional professional organization for staff working in residence life and campus housing. The conference brought together professionals from Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Manitoba. Burden and Craven participated in a wide array of educational sessions to strengthen their efforts to enhance the experiences of students living on campus.

Craven was a participant in the case study competition with a hall director from another university. Their proposal to solve a challenging scenario was highlighted by judges for being innovative, thoughtful and thorough.

Burden was recognized for the second year in a row as a top five presenter at the conference. His presentation this year focused on how Truman Residence Life works to better connect students to their communities and the institution through expanded use of creative branding in the residence halls. This includes nearly 25 years of utilizing hall mascots and colors during Truman Week and beyond. The presentation highlighted a creative partnership between Residence Life, Publications and Student Engagement staff at Truman. Burden presented a second session with assessment firm Elentra on strategies for successful assessment of residence life operations.