The Student Housing Matters blog explores ideas with leaders in higher education and the student housing profession. This is the place to find stories from those who have worked in the field for many years, podcast interviews, and videos about relevant topics in the student housing world.

It’s about matters relating to on-campus student housing, as well as why quality on-campus student housing really matters. We want this blog to serve as a forum for sharing ideas and insights about how your on-campus student housing can do things beyond simply housing students. How it can be used as a more powerful tool to recruit and retain students on your campus. We look forward to you joining us in the conversation.

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Student Affairs

Join the Conversation – Dr. Artie Travis Transcript

March 27, 2025

Host: Kyle Jones, Director of MarketingGuest: Dr. Artie L. Travis, Vice President for Student Affairs, Frostburg State University Kyle Jones:Hello, I’m Kyle Jones. Welcome to Join the Conversation, a podcast from COCM. Today’s guest is Dr. Artie L. Travis. He brings over four decades of experience in higher education leadership. As Vice President for Student…

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Podcast

Meeting People Where They Are – with Corey Reedy

May 6, 2021

2019 Excel Award winner Corey Reedy doesn’t do what he does for the recognition. He truly cares about the people he works with, and that inspires him to meet them where they are. Today on Student Housing Matters, Corey explains how he provides individualized support to the staff and students he manages at COCM.

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Podcast

Solving Complex Problems in Student Housing – with Kern Williams

February 2, 2021

LISTEN HERE: As you rise through the ranks of a career in student housing, you face more and more complex problems. Imagine, for example, taking on a site that has occupancy concerns, building issues AND staffing challenges. So, what do successful leaders do to avoid overwhelm and focus their energy on finding solutions? Kern Williams…

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Blog

Top Channels for Communicating with Students – with Mellissa Taylor

April 10, 2020

During her tenure at COCM, Mellissa Taylor quickly became known among students as The Housing Lady. So, what did she learn as the face and voice of student housing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham? How have those lessons around communicating with students carried over to her current role in higher ed?Mellissa serves as…

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Podcast

21st Century Challenges Facing Higher Education – with Brian Mitchell

September 6, 2018

Join the Conversation Podcast 21st Century Challenges Facing Higher Education – with Brian Mitchell There is no doubt that institutions of higher learning face a number of challenges, not the least of which is an unsustainable financial model. Tuition, fees, room and board no longer pay the bills—despite sticker prices as high as $72K a…

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Podcast

From RA to Operations Director – with Jeremy Steed

June 15, 2018

Join the Conversation From RA to Operations Director – with Jeremy Steed   Time management. Customer service. Conflict mediation. Critical thinking. Teamwork.   Whatever your motivation for becoming a resident assistant, the position allows you to hone a number of incredibly valuable skills that carry over to any career you might choose to pursue. And…

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Student Affairs and Exercise

March 29, 2016

Amy Lorenz is a COCM’s Director at Bowling Green State University. You may have caught her on a recent podcast (How I Got Into Student Housing-Amy Lorenz) on the blog.  Amy wrote a really great blog post about student affairs and fitness on her personal blog, and she was kind enough to let us re-post…

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Making the Recruitment Process a Positive and Effective Experience

March 11, 2014

Recruitment is such an exciting time. We are given the opportunity to look at our team, see how we’ve grown, and find new members to bring into the fold. While recruitment has never been my primary job, I have always enjoyed the process. It can also be a stressful experience…student affairs professional recruitment tends to…

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