Navigating Workforce Transformations: The Great Resignation, Non Traditional Paths, and Student-Centered Strategies

Alexa Erb (she series) currently serves as the Associate Director of Student Engagement at Tufts University. In her role, Alexa oversees student organization engagement and success, large-scale programming, co-advisement of the Student Government, and the graduate intern experience in the Office for Campus Life. Over her professional career, Alexa has hired, onboarded, supervised, and supported both graduate & professional staff with a range of work and educational backgrounds. Whether creating a graduate assistantship experience that hones transferable skills applicable to a range of other fields or co-building a toolkit of student development frameworks and student affairs best practices with professional staff from non-traditional backgrounds, Alexa aims to create a supervisory style and work environment that allows for meaning-making, growth, and cultivating a student-centered approach. Alexa earned her bachelor’s degree in communication from Wake Forest University, her master’s degree in higher education & student affairs administration from the University of Vermont, and a wealth of practical wisdom from roles at Bentley University, Boston College, and Tufts University.

Matt Galewski serves as the Senior Associate Director for Training and Development in the Center for Student Involvement. His responsibilities include supporting student organizations, including student organization training, development, and policies. Matt’s familiarity with this topic comes from 10 years of hiring, onboarding, and supervising graduate level, entry level, and mid-level staff. Most recently, Matt led the restructuring and merging of two student affairs units into one; of the 8 team members within Matt’s reporting structure, 7 were either hires or promotions he made, and 5 of those staff members came to their roles from outside of higher education. Matt has a depth of experience recruiting, onboarding, and supervising staff from nontraditional backgrounds. Additionally, he’s successfully led the strategic planning, team norming, and program implementation for this staff, bringing together professionals with unique work experiences toward common goals. Matt earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master degree in college student affairs administration.

Nick Poling is the Fraternity and Sorority Life Program Director at Boise State University in Idaho. Through this role, Nick supports the growing fraternity and sorority community at Boise State through advising, event management and oversight, risk management and risk response, and educational program delivery, among other initiatives. When he was a new member of the staff at Boise State, Nick helped shape the restructuring of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, and the Fraternity and Sorority Life staff. This included the reorganization of fraternity and sorority life under the Dean of Students office, and the addition of a new Coordinator role, as well as a new Assistant Dean role related to fraternity and sorority life. Through this restructure Nick onboarded his new supervisor, a professional with a nontraditional background, into the higher education sphere. Nick earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Allegheny College, and a master’s degree in higher education and Student Affairs from Boston College. He is currently pursuing his educational doctorate in higher education administration at Idaho State University.