Jill Creighton:     Welcome to Season 2 of the ASCA Viewpoints podcast. The podcast where we talk about the student conduct profession in higher education. I am Jill Creighton, your Viewpoints host.

Jill Creighton:     Hello podcast listeners. Today's episode will be our very last in the calendar year, 2018 and we look forward to bringing you brand new episodes and content, come 2019. That'll drop sometime in January, a little bit more to be determined. But, in the interim, I hope you all have fantastic winter breaks and that you have survived the end of your semesters and the end of your quarters, and that you are able to head into the break with inbox zeroes. I know that's something that I always strive for and is always a little bit of a pipe dream. But, in any case, I'm looking forward to bringing you today's conversation.

Jill Creighton:     We're going to be speaking with a newer professional all about what it's like to be a newer professional, not only in the field of student conduct, but also in the ASCA leadership structure.

Jill Creighton:     Today's episode features Christina Parle. Christina currently serves as the Assistant Director for Student Conduct and Community Standards at the University of Kansas, primarily working with student organizations. Christina also serves as the current Director of Membership on the ASCA Board of Directors. She is a newer professional in the field, who believes firmly that student affairs professionals serve at the pleasure of our students and that conduct is one of the many ways higher education prepares students for post-college life. Christina identifies as a Black Bi-Racial straight and cisgender woman. Her identities are incredibly important to her and influence the way she navigates both our work and the world. Christina is an advocate for young professionals to have a place within ASCA, and believes we only survive if we groom for the next wave of leadership.

Jill Creighton:     Welcome to the podcast, Christina Parle. Christina serves as the Assistant Director for Student Conduct and Community Standards at the University of Kansas, also known as KU, so Rock Chock for all of you folks that are KU fans. Welcome Christina.

Christina Parle:    Hi, how are you doing?

Jill Creighton:     I'm great, how are you?

Christina Parle:    Doing pretty well, thank you for asking.

Jill Creighton:     Christina and I are recording this conversation today, two days before US American Thanksgiving, so forgive us if we have a little bit of holiday break going on in our brains. I think we're all working to button up our offices so we can spend time with the people that we love.

Jill Creighton:     But Christina and I are gonna be talking today about her role on the ASCA Board of Directors. She serves as the Director of Membership on the Board, which is an elected position. And also what it's like to be a new professional in 2018.

Jill Creighton:     But before we get into all of that, per our usual show format, we really love to start with asking our guests how you got here. So, Christina, can you just share with us your journey from wherever you like to start to how you landed in your current space.

Christina Parle:    Yeah, absolutely. So, my journey is probably pretty similar to most student affairs professionals. Essentially I had a really great undergraduate experience and ended up in higher ed, but I would say specifically for student conduct, I wanted to, essentially when I first started in college, I was a criminal justice major, and then I picked up a political science major right around my sophomore junior year.

Christina Parle:    Initially I had wanted to be a police officer, I wanted to go into law enforcement, that was always my goal. And then I did a ride along and ended up catching shoplifters for three years. So did a ride along with a police officer and landed a job in loss prevention. And very quickly realized that being a police officer was just not a fit for me, and I feel like a lot of the officers that I interacted with were like, listen, I think you should go on and do other big things. And so I'm like, okay.

Christina Parle:    So, then I ended up picking up the political science major with the hope to go to law school and then I was in a talk that had been brought to our institution about really needing to follow your path, and have a vision and have a passion for what you're doing. And then I was introduced to the world of student affairs. I'm a first generation college student and so it was, of course a surprise to me, to know that that was a job although I interacted with those people every day.

Christina Parle:    And so then when I started doing my grad school search, as a conduct job just fit perfectly. I was not very aware of the conduct field as an undergrad and so, definitely opened up my eyes as I journeyed to Penn State to work as a graduate to an assistant there.

Christina Parle:    And so, have always found my love in student conduct but also have a love for sorority and fraternity life and so my current role allows me to kind of join those two as I'm the student organization liaison for conduct. So yeah.

Jill Creighton:     That's amazing. I didn't know that you had started your journey as a police officer kind of aspirational goal. So, can you tell me a little bit about that transition in terms of thinking police work is for me, and how you found the core of police work in conduct in terms of how you wanted to kind of converge those passion areas.

Christina Parle:    Yeah, so it's interesting that I was wanting to be a police officer because I was somewhat of a rebellious type as a young teen, and so, I don't know, I think accountability has always been super important to me, even when there were times that I wasn't holding myself accountable I think that was a big thing that my mother instilled into me was accountability and so I think that's always where the draw for police or conduct type work has been. And then I think there's this level of supporting people who are in potentially crisis or aren't developed enough to be able to make good healthy responsible decisions, all of those kinds of things. So when I first got into criminal justice, essentially the thing that the professor asked us to do, she said either do a police ride along or do a shadowing of a prosecutor in the courts or something of that nature.

Christina Parle:    And so I did the ride along and I was like this is awesome. And then ended up in loss prevention and I really think what I started to learn about police work is that it was A, it was Z and it was everything in between, right? Like it wasn't what I thought it was, there's a lot of tedious type work or working with the community in a way that I wasn't super interested in, and I was much more interested in doing intentional, getting to know people, being a part of a community type work.

Christina Parle:    And so I think that's really what I found in working in student conduct was the opportunity to have really intentional conversations with students about their behaviors and how do we move forward and I think we all know, like, our work, it doesn't look like that every day and there's a lot of people that walk away with no impact from our conversations just because of where they're at developmentally. But I think the few and the many that we do get to reach, that's really heartening for sure.

Jill Creighton:     And how would you define your current philosophy about how you approach the work?

Christina Parle:    There's a couple things. I have two philosophies. My first philosophy is I serve at the pleasure of the students, because without students, we wouldn't have work. And I think a lot of times in student affairs folks can talk about the bad in students and can talk about the frustrating parts of students and I think we forget sometimes that if it weren't for them, we wouldn't have jobs. And so that's my first philosophy.

Christina Parle:    And my second philosophy pretty specifically to student conduct is to prepare them for post college life. I think in my own experience and then in the experience I see in students that I work with is that, in a lot of ways, we do not prepare them for post college life and particularly sometimes the folks who raise them or influence them in a family way are not preparing them for post college life and I think conduct is a really good opportunity to do that, because as I talk to most students, accountability is a life skill and so it's something that you'll have to do literally for the rest of your life whether it's with yourself, with family members. If you choose to have children, with supervisees, it's always something that you're gonna carry with you.

Christina Parle:    And so I think conduct is a really good way that we, for some people, for the first time are really teaching them how to hold themselves accountable or hold others accountable. So I think that's kind of where my philosophy's at and how I've gotten to this place.

Jill Creighton:     I really appreciate you framing it from a life skill perspective, because I often say that in student conduct what we do is we teach soft skills. We're teaching students how to communicate, we're teaching students how to own their decisions, but it really comes down to that accountability component.

Jill Creighton:     And I'd love to recommend a book to our listeners, there's a book called Personal Accountability Matters to All of Us, or something to that effect, and the author is Samuel Ciche, C-I-C-H-E. And there's really interesting infographic in there on the mentality of accountability thinking and being the victim, meaning kind of owning that identity as it wasn't me, I wasn't in the right place at the right time kind of thing, versus what role did I play in decision making. So that'd be a great read that I would highly recommend.

Jill Creighton:     But Christina you also mentioned earlier that you identify as a first gen college student, so I'm wondering if you can talk about how that identity plays a role in your work, in your philosophy?

Christina Parle:    Yeah. So I was definitely the just emerging from high school student, I did not want to go to college at all. Like, vehemently was against it. My mother essentially told me I was going, didn't have a choice. And so, I was then kind of toying with the idea of community college, and then eventually got accepted into the program at the University of Central Missouri which is very well known for criminal justice so I started to really come around to the idea.

Christina Parle:    And being a first generation college student I think has influenced me heavily as a college student but influences me just as much now. I think the way that it really impacts me in my life today is remembering what it was like to not know what was going on. Or to not know where to find resources or where to find support and trying to always remind myself of that. I think a big thing for me, the way that being a first generation college student impacts just who I am as a professional and just philosophically is just that I don't ever really wanna forget where I came from and I think in a lot of ways as we tend to leave college and or move up in the student affairs field we tend to forget that. What it was like to once be a college student, what it was like to once not really know where we were headed in life. And to me that's the biggest way, I also think the way in which I interact with students.

Christina Parle:    I was a McNair scholar as well, in a TRIO program. And so that's of course geared for first generation, low income and racially or ethnically underrepresented students within the field that you are wanting to study. And so I believe very highly in that program and what TRIO offers and a lot of the skills that I was taught in order to be successful came through that program and so I think I really attempt to provide those opportunities and skills to other students, even if they're not first generation, right? Because even if both your parents went to school, there's still a lot to learn about the college landscape and so I think I come with that at all times when working with students.

Jill Creighton:     I really appreciate learning that about your philosophy. And do you translate that as well to the FSL side of your job?

Christina Parle:    Yeah. So of course, interesting dynamic, the sorority and fraternity community, particularly for majority groups, which is who I inevitably end up working with more often since they're the larger group, being like I've seen panhellenic groups, is that they come with a lot more privilege than I would say the general student population and or even some of our cultural based organizations, simply because of the money, the alumni, the support from their national or international organizations. And so, I think I apply all of those same concepts to when I work with them, but I think fortunate for them, they're not always in need of the same support.

Christina Parle:    However, short story I did have a student the other day who I was talking to a new incoming president of the sorority who was describing another member of their chapter as really having some unhealthy relationships with alcohol. And clearly this student was very concerned about the other member and sharing her concerns and I kind of stopped her and said, listen do you know about the resources here on campus that you could connect that student to, and because we just started a, like a student support case management position. And she was very unaware of that resource. And so I was like, look if we send you this link, I really think you should try to put in, even if you do it anonymously, a report that will go to our student of concern review team.

Christina Parle:    And I was amazed and so thankful and happy that when I got back this week, she actually had submitted a report for that other student, and so myself and the student support and case management person were actually able to have a conversation about maybe it would be worth you and your role reaching out to fraternity and sorority presidents, just to say hey, here's this resource. I think there's still some level of the unknowns for all students, I just think in my experience of the sorority and fraternity community, particularly for the majority groups is that, they're already in tune in a lot of ways.

Jill Creighton:     So can you describe just for the listeners real quickly what your role is kind of in that crossover space between conduct and FSL?

Christina Parle:    Absolutely. So my role is really it's broad to all student organizations, but by nature and the culture at KU, I do work more specifically with sorority and fraternity life because that is typically the organizations that we see violating policy in a group situation. And so my role is, still just a general hearing officer as the rest of the folks in my office.

Christina Parle:    But I bi-weekly with the rest of our team meet with the sorority and fraternity life staff and we essentially go over where the community's at, where different chapters are at I work with rec services a little bit if we have an incidents with groups over there. We haven't, in my time, had any incidents with athletics that were a team wide but I would also work with athletics if it was an incident concerning the entire team. I also have recruited and trained our investigation team so our investigation team is made up of campus partners across campus and I recruit and train them as well.

Christina Parle:    And then I of course do all communication and correspondence with all of the stakeholders from the organization whether that's the undergraduate students, advisors, headquarters and those type of folks.

Jill Creighton:     So you're quite ingrained in both the fraternity sorority life world and the student conduct world. So I think an important question to ask is, I think those two communities and I had this similar conversation with Laura Matthews, don't necessarily see eye to eye or see each other as partners all the time when we really should. So what do you think that each of those niches of student affairs need to know or need to hear about each other?

Christina Parle:    Oh gosh. It's funny that you ask because I've actually, I've had a couple of institutions call in the past couple of weeks just to kind of, they have similar roles that I do and so just to kind of talk about our process. I think I have been of course, super fortunate, because I've worked in both worlds, and so, I'm not the type of person who has any preconceived notions about either, but I think a lot of us, right, either get siloed into conduct or work in sorority and fraternity life and have never done the other's job.

Christina Parle:    And so we're not good at understanding where the other is coming from. I think when I think about, for sorority and fraternity life folks, I think learning the conduct process and kind of understanding why we sometimes do the things we do, why we sometimes keep information close to us before we choose to share it. And then I think also just attempting really to engage in the conduct process and understanding the process in its entirety but then also how can you as a sorority and fraternity life professional get involved. Whether that's reviewing documents, being on phone calls, being in meetings, you know whatever that may look like.

Christina Parle:    But I think on the flip side, conduct professionals in a big way, have to start being a little more trusting. When I think about this concept a lot when we talk about headquarters. I often hear conduct professionals talk about, well the headquarters will, they won't support us or they won't do this or they won't do that. And I just, I think that's a misconception. I think transparency is key on both sides. And I think that we as conduct professionals lack trust when it comes to some sorority and fraternity incidents but also tend to keep our cards close to our chest rather than just being transparent.

Christina Parle:    Everybody's always gonna have some negative situation or scenario that they've encountered but I think you have the ability to have much more positive experiences when you're transparent and trusting and I also think conduct people and sorority and fraternity life folks alike both need to learn each other's lingo and that kinda thing so you can kind of understand where people are coming from. And so yeah, I think it's, I mean I really could talk about that forever. It's a concept that I am very ingrained in but that's kind of my general thoughts.

Jill Creighton:     Hear a future conference presentation in your brain there.

Christina Parle:    Yeah, right?

Jill Creighton:     Well, Christina I think-

Christina Parle:    I actually will be presenting, talking about collaborating between student conduct and sorority and fraternity life and headquarters, professionals at ASCA this year. So for folks who are are in that field are interested, please feel free to stop by.

Jill Creighton:     I love the plug. I appreciate that. So, Christina, one of the reasons that I wanted to have this conversation with you today is part of our mission here on Viewpoints is to feature voices in the profession that may not otherwise get highlighted in certain spaces. And I think your identity as somewhat of a new professional and the things you've been able to do in your career really speak to a lot of people, 'cause I know you were a recommended guest for us. And so I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about how you have approached navigating your journey into the profession?

Christina Parle:    Yeah, so we have this conversation a lot as a board and it's all about how do we lift people up, how do we elevate voices, how do we encourage people to lead and I think honestly I have been just so fortunate to be connected to people who I have, the network that I've built essentially. Danny Shaha and Kathleen Shupenko from Penn State were both extremely influential in my journey as I entered one, the feel of the course but then also just in creating ASCA as my professional home.

Christina Parle:    I was also of course fortunate enough to have the diversity scholarship the first year that I attended ASCA and I was a presidential graduate assistant in my second year. And I think how I've navigated it is to literally introduce my self to anybody and everybody that I can, and just trying to be in spaces where I can meet new people and introduce myself and taking on when somebody says hey do you wanna do X, Y, Z. As long as I can absolutely commit to it, taking on new opportunities and experiences. I've been really, I've been able to be successful in that way.

Christina Parle:    However I'm also ... in the boardroom I'm also not the type of person who sits around and says yes, and I'm not the type of person who sits around and agrees to agree. I absolutely am very opinionated and say what I think needs to be said, which I think is, I think a lot of times young professionals, we don't always feel comfortable to do that in certain spaces, I feel like the boardroom, at least in this year, has been absolutely welcoming of that. But I do think that in a lot of ways, as a young professional, you're worried about how it's gonna impact your career in the long term. What you say and don't say at this stage.

Jill Creighton:     I think that's a really important point, that long term impact is a big question mark and you mentioned that you're trying to enter spaces and just say yes to things. It's one of my personal philosophies which is, you know, life tends to be better when you say yes to new experiences. And the reality of that too is when you entered those spaces, that can even feel a little scary, right? The first time you enter a room full of well tenured professionals of any kind. So what was your strategy for the first time you set foot in those rooms?

Christina Parle:    So I think for me, it's finding somebody who I do know, or who looks like me, to be able to connect with first, and then essentially tag along. I also absolutely plug anybody is welcome to tag along with me at all times. I just, I feel like that, that's the beauty of ASCA that I haven't seen out of their conferences that I've been in. There is some level of let me help you, let me help get you connected or hey I know this person who could, you know, be a good resource for you and whatever.

Christina Parle:    And so, I think that is how I navigated those spaces, but then too, when there wasn't people there that I knew or who looked like me, it's speaking up, right? So if I'm in some kind of presentation and I don't know anybody there and nobody there is really somebody I feel like I would immediately connect with, you know as the presenter's talking or asking questions, I raise my hand and I speak up and then eventually there're typically opportunities where somebody will say hey, I really liked what you said, and then you get to connect with that person.

Christina Parle:    And so I think that there are a couple of different strategies, I think for me, I am more of a talkative, extrovert kind of person. And so I think spaces are made for people who kind of come from that identity. There're not as much created for spaces for people who are internal processors or are introverts or things of that nature, people who aren't as outgoing potentially and so I had been super fortunate and privileged in those spaces to be able to that and so I think that, it's the answer for me. But I think that's a hard thing for everybody to do.

Jill Creighton:     So you mentioned a couple of times that one of your main strategies is to find people that look like you. Given that we are in a podcast, people cannot infer observations kind of in the same way, and so would you be wiling to share that identity?

Christina Parle:    Yeah, absolutely. So I think for me, folks of color, I identify as black bi-racial and I say black and bi-racial because ... I personally and internally feel bi-racial but I externally present black. And I think the world sees me as black and so, I don't ever forget that. I'm pretty femme I'd say, my hair, I think tends to lead people to believe that I'm masculine. But I am a woman, and I think those are most of the external. I'm able bodied, those are the most external identities that folks can see that I would quickly connect with somebody over.

Jill Creighton:     So when you think about those identities and how they are extremely intersectional and the way that you present in the world, how people read you, what has been most salient for you in making connections in the field?

Christina Parle:    I think ... I don't know, I think to some extent, I would say both being a woman and being black, bi-racial. Both have afforded me really great opportunities to connect with other folks who look like me, or present as I do. I have found a lot of really just amazing women that I've been able to connect with in the association. Especially in overall student affairs is typically femme dominated, but student conduct can tend to be masculine dominated. And so to be able to find a lot of really strong women has been an awesome opportunity and then to be able to connect with their networks, have been great.

Christina Parle:    But to be just quite honest, I think I have made friends with a lot of white men who have also been able to support me which I think is by nature the privilege that a lot of them hold and being able to connect me with other people has been a success for me. And I think that not everybody is able to connect with folks in that way or even feels comfortable. And so I have been fortunate to make relationships with some pretty privileged people to be able to connect me with others as well.

Jill Creighton:     I think that's a component of our journeys that we share, so I've shared with the listeners before, I identify as a trans racial Asian American, so what that means is, I have an adopted identity and so while to the world I present phenotypically as straight up Asian American, I have a white cultural identity. And so it can create some interesting barriers to being welcomed in certain spaces. And I think that is a very similar experience for many of my friends who identify as bi-racial.

Jill Creighton:     But I bring that up to say, I think it means something different for us when we're talking about navigating not only association politics but institutional politics and even those one on one relationships with our students. Because the way that we are read can impact the way that we are heard. So have you navigated for better and for worse how your identity either creates success for you or barriers?

Christina Parle:    And you mean at the institutional level right?

Jill Creighton:     Kind of all levels and all parts of your journey in the spaces that you occupy.

Christina Parle:    Yeah, so, gosh, I think, to some extent, and just to be real, like I think my identity, I've been tokenized a lot in my identities, and for better or for worse, sometimes that has brought me forward, you know, has catapulted me forward to some extent and I think that's just real, because I think that sometimes the way people receive me is different than they receive other people who present like I do.

Christina Parle:    And so I think I have been tokenized in some spaces for sure. Which I think has been my entire life, but I don't think I started to realize it as much until really grad school and post grad school. So although that is positive, it's tough to take on sometimes. I think, recently, especially in my professional career, I have experienced a lot of people wanting to police how I speak or the things that I say. And I think that has been a hard reality to accept and to some extent is tough because you're not sure if it's because you're a woman or if it's because the color of your skin. And it's a hard place to be at times.

Christina Parle:    But I think, gosh, I wish I could have my mom on this podcast too because you'd realize why I say like, I'm just gonna push forward, like I just. I was raised by really strong confident women who aren't gonna like let life set them back as much as possible. And so I just keep pushing, I'm just gonna keep being me.

Christina Parle:    I maybe learn, I've probably had to learn a little bit how to craft emails every once in a while. And really I've had to be mindful about the person who's on the receiving end of what I'm saying or emailing or whatever that may be and so I think I see it show up a lot in that way. I mean realistically, external from like professional colleagues, again I work primarily with sororities and fraternities and primarily, historically white sororities and fraternities. And so, I work with people who don't look like me all the time.

Christina Parle:    And so I constantly am having to show up in spaces and think about what I'm wearing, how I'm sitting, the words that are coming out of my mouth, the way my face looked. And so, not that I do anything differently, but it's all definitely something that I have to be conscious of at all times.

Jill Creighton:     And do you think that is rooted in identity or personality?

Christina Parle:    Gosh, the two are so intertwined to me.

Jill Creighton:     Right, so intersectional. It's so hard to pull them apart. And it's a question I wrestle with too. And I think you posed that interestingly, and I think there is an additional pressure if we're to kind of extrapolate our individual identities just to women, to women identified individuals who are tone policed or even just told to smile more. That kind of thing.

Christina Parle:    Right. Right, absolutely. And I think it's both, and I think it's wrapped up in both, but I also think if I had white skin and had the same personality I did, people would still be offended, right? Even if that was a woman. So to some extent I think it's kinda like, oh wow she's pretty intense or straight forward or whatever they don't like to see feminine people act like.

Christina Parle:    But I definitely think, it adds layers, right. Like if I was just a white woman and I acted like that, I think people would still have something to say because I'm a woman. But then you add this component of also being a bi-racial black woman and it adds new layers. And it also depends on who I'm interacting with, right? Like if it's somebody who looks like me it's like, oh ... that looks like me. That's how I present, that's how I act or that's how I feel. And so there's, there's like this level of being in a world where you are constantly having to think about stuff that other people just don't ever in their life have to consider. So yeah. I think it's interesting.

Jill Creighton:     I think that that sentiment I share with you for sure on the, and I think about it often from a framework of representation matters. And representation shows other individuals who look similar that there is a space for you, that your voice has a place, a systemic place and that you matter. And one of the things that I found for my own career anyway is that I get, not a small number of younger Appiah identified women letting me know that it means a lot to them to see me in that space. And so I'm back and forth a lot with wanting to create pathways for others to be a good role model for others and then also not wanting to be tokenized in my own skin from an in group perspective.

Christina Parle:    And I think to your point something that's really interesting about what you just said is this idea, you know, the Appiah identity and trying to find people to kind of essentially elevate, pull up, that kind of stuff. And I think for me what is so, and you'll understand this in your trans racial identity, what is so, I think so stressful for me or you know, is challenging is that, although I present black to the world, I don't think even folks of color always see that way, right? Like they always, essentially you're seeing my bi-racial identity more than my black identity and so, when we talk about representation, there are, I mean I'm not even sure, I think there are very few bi-racial people that I have met, particularly in student conduct or at least folks that are accepting of that identity or share that identity externally.

Christina Parle:    And so I think that that adds a really strange component because we in the field of course just talk about representation pretty broadly. And I, my entire life even today lack true representation because being bi-racial I think is a whole 'nother ballgame. It's a whole 'nother experience within itself. So yeah.

Jill Creighton:     And we're seeing that broadcast to the world right now with the very public wedding of Meagan Markle to Prince Harry. That was one of the very first bi-racial women to be hoist into the spotlight in that way and the very first person of color in the royal family. And so I think that identity is starting to become more welcomed which is awesome 'cause I think that was a real challenge that we've had in diversity and inclusion circles for a while.

Jill Creighton:     So Christina, I want to spend some time talking about your work with the ASCA Board of Directors. As I mentioned, and we've been so thrilled to have you in the room the last two years, you've done some great work. When your role of director of membership, what does that mean?

Christina Parle:    Yeah, so director of membership is really, I'll tell you the things I work closest with. So I work closest with the membership committee, and working on the things that they're doing and of course there's three subcommittees which are the recruitment, retention and international subcommittee. So I work with them pretty frequently on projects that they're working on and kind of help them liase with the board you know if there's things that they need or projects that we maybe are wanting them to look into.

Christina Parle:    And then I would say my biggest group that I really work with are the state and regions. And I think, that's been a really fun gig as I work with all of our regions including the Canadian region. And then in addition that you know as they work with their state coordinators. And so that has been a really fun experience and able to just work with the membership in that way.

Christina Parle:    And then just in general, I always get a lot of general emails from members who need things, whether it's related to registration or membership or how do I do this or how do I join this, and so that's a pretty common piece of my work as well. I work a little bit just in general in collaboration with different board members on different projects and things that they, that have come out of our strategic planning or prioritizing.

Christina Parle:    And then of course, just in the generalist form is being on the board, you know, having input. Having opinions, thoughts, concerns about whatever it is we're talking about, and so in my opinion that's what the role looks like. It stays pretty busy, with the state and regions. And as I support the region chairs as they of course then support their state coordinators. And then the general membership.

Christina Parle:    So it's been, it has been a very fun time. It's funny to think about being in this role now, because when I was a graduate assistant, I remember having a one on one conversation with Laura Matthews, when we were still at Saint Pete. And just having a conversation with her about her role and what she did, and I don't even really remember how I got linked up with her, but then to be in this role now after her has been a really cool experience, so yeah.

Jill Creighton:     And I'll just give a quick plug, if you would like to hear from Laura, she was just featured earlier this season in episode two point five, so I'd really encourage you to go back and check it out. She talks a lot about the FEA, fraternal executive association, ASCA collaboration guide on investigating organizational misconduct. It's a good listen, so please check that out.

Jill Creighton:     But Christina, if I'm a brand new ASCA member and maybe I've found this podcast because it's a good way to get information and maybe doesn't have to be so interactive, but still helps me stay connected. How would you suggest that I get more involved in the association or where would I start as a new member to go beyond attending things and start engaging?

Christina Parle:    Yeah, so many ways. So my first thought is, get on our website, check out our committees and our communities of practice, find the contact information for the folks who lead those groups and get involved with them. You could always reach out to me if you're not hearing from people, and I'm happy to connect folks.

Christina Parle:    In addition to that, getting involved in your state, figuring out who your state coordinator is and connecting with that person to see how you can be supportive of the state and the region that you potentially reside in. And then I think in addition to that, if you are able to go to the annual conference, finding ways to volunteer at the conference whether that's doing the check in desk or working with the silent auction or whatever that may be. I think there's a lot of ways to go ahead and get involved in those ways as well.

Christina Parle:    I think those are most of our formal ways of getting involved but I think also just jumping on the website and finding an email and reaching out to somebody to see how you can jump in and get involved or help out is also great as well.

Jill Creighton:     So if I'm new to the association, I think I understand what a committee is, that's pretty common structure, but what is a community of practice?

Christina Parle:    Yeah, absolutely. So the difference between, in my opinion a committee and a community of practice. So a committee is really about a group of people who have come together to do work on an issue. So like with the membership committee, they have a pretty tailored reason why they have come together. It's to focus on the membership, it's to focus on retention, recruitment and our international members.

Christina Parle:    And when I think about a community of practice, specifically let's use the fraternity sorority life community of practice, that's really a bunch of folks who have a common interest of fraternity and sorority life. Whether they work in fraternity and sorority life or whether they do a job like mine or just in general they might be interested in what that looks like to have fraternity and sorority life community of practice within a conduct association.

Christina Parle:    And there are some communities of practice who have things that come out as a result of work that they've done, the FEA and the ASCA collaboration being a good example, but then I think there are also some communities of practice who are really there just to support each other, bounce ideas off of each other, ask questions and more so just serve as really a group of folks who have a common interest.

Jill Creighton:     And kind of flipping that over a little bit to your board work again, what advice would you give prospective board members, folks who are thinking about running for the first time, individuals who might be just slightly terrified to put themselves out there like that. How would you help them navigate that process?

Christina Parle:    Yeah. Do it, one, is the first step I think. Because I mean, we've always heard this but the worst that anything that can happen is that people say no. And I think putting yourself out there in that way is, allows the association to gain access to who you are as a person and then also allows you to kinda set yourself up for, if you don't get it this time maybe you get it next time? And I think to some extent, I think it is important to get involved in some ways prior to joining the boardroom. I think understanding our structure and the benefits of being a member, the state and region structure what are committees, what are communities of practice, and really understanding the association as a whole is really a good place to start.

Christina Parle:    And then I think in general just familiarizing yourself with where's the association at now and where do we wanna be. So as the board continues to work on our strategic priorities, as those roll out for this upcoming year, I think that's a great place to start and really understanding. And at any point, grab an old board member or new board member or somebody who's currently sitting and talking with them about their experience and what it means to be a board member 'cause I truly believe that everybody on the board has their own distinct and significant role. So what it looks like for me is different than what it looks like for somebody else but at the end of the day we're all coming together for this common purpose to move the association forward and be the leading voices in the student conduct functional area.

Jill Creighton:     You've mentioned a couple of names throughout our conversation today, folks that have helped mentor you or have pushed you to drive forward or have helped you hone your philosophy. So wanted to give you some space to give any shout outs.

Christina Parle:    Yeah, absolutely. I already talked about Danny Shaha and Kathleen Shupenko, Penn State is where I started my grad work in student conduct, so I love those people and they taught me a lot a lot a lot. And Tamara King, Bonnie Taylor, Akilah Jones, Kateeka Harris, Karen Joshua-Wathel, those have all been prominent black women I think who have paved the way for a lot of us, Valronica Sales, I think all of those have been great people who have shown me that it's possible and continue to show all of us that it's possible. Omar Estrada Torres, has been a great friend to me, family to me and has continued to support me in my endeavors within the association. Cathy Cox, has been a phenomenal mentor and friend along with Martha Compton have been great to me, especially in my work in the board room and I think supporting me when sometimes I probably talk too much. And telling me that it's okay and that my opinion is needed and so, I inevitably probably have left several people out. But those are the immediate people that come to my mind who have been pivotal in the way that I do my work.

Christina Parle:    And then of course my supervisor Lance Watson would probably be the last person that I would shout out as he's the person who nominated me for the director of membership role and believed in me when I was like, there is no way in heck that I'm getting that role. And so he really believed in me and encouraged me to move forward and so, very excited and ... I am so privileged to be to have the people that I do in my corner and supporting me.

Jill Creighton:     I really appreciate you having this dialogue with me today. It's not very frequent that I get to have these kind of deeper dive discussions with folks who share complex identities and really be honest about that, so I hope that the listeners enjoy kind of hearing two women of color just processing their experiences a little bit. But we always like to close the show with asking our guests what you are reading.

Christina Parle:    Yeah, absolutely. So I am currently reading The New Jim Crow. I've been reading it for a while, reading is not my best form of just really doing things. But I've been reading The New Jim Crow and honestly and doing conduct work and as somebody who was a criminal justice major, to learn more about that has just been so cool and so eye opening. And so, I've really been loving that book and absolutely encourage folks who have not had the opportunity to read it, to do so.

Jill Creighton:     Do you know the author off the top of your head?

Christina Parle:    Oh gosh, no. I knew you were gonna put me on the spot. I should've looked it up.

Jill Creighton:     No worries. Well The New Jim Crow-

Christina Parle:    I was gonna say, I'm sure we'll figure it out.

Jill Creighton:     It's, off the top of my head, not coming to me-

Christina Parle:    Michelle. Yeah, Michelle Alexander is her name. I was like I knew it started with an M. Michelle Alexander.

Jill Creighton:     Awesome. Well Michelle Alexander's book has been out for a while. It is a bit of a heavy read, if you haven't checked it out yet, so just make sure you're in a good kind of psychological mental health space before you dive on that journey. And then finally, Christina, if folks want to reach you after the show today how can they get a hold of you?

Christina Parle:    Yeah, absolutely. So, any social media platform that you wanna find me on, it's Christina Parle. P as in Paul, A-R-L-E. Everybody thinks it's parlay, but it's Parle like Carl but with an P. So for anybody who knows me and doesn't realize that's my last name, there you go. And then if you wanna reach me via email, it's C Parle, the number three at G mail dot com.

Jill Creighton:     Great. And if you'd like to reach the podcast, you can tweet us at ASCA podcast that's at ASCA P-O-D-C-A-S-T or you can email us at ASCApodcast@gmail.com. Thank you so much Christina for sharing your viewpoint.

Christina Parle:    Thank you.

Jill Creighton:     Next time, in 2019, on the ASCA Viewpoints podcast, we will have a couple of guests lined up and I'm just not quite sure what order we're gonna drop them in yet, but we'll be featuring Beth Devonshire who works for Dee Stafford and Associates, and also writes the ASCA Law and Policy report. We'll be speaking with Sean Kalagher who was our incoming ASCA president and we'll be speaking with Kateeka Harris, our director of diversity inclusion and Christine Simone, our conference chair. So a lot of exciting things lined up for 2019, again I'm not sure what order we're gonna drop them in just yet, but we look forward to bringing you that content come the new year. Happy New Year, everyone.

Jill Creighton:     This episode was produced and hosted by Jill Creighton, that's me. Produced, edited and mixed by Colleen Mader. Special thanks to New York University's office of student conduct and community standards. And to the University of Oregon's dean of students team for allowing us the time and space to create this project. If you're enjoying the podcast, we ask that you please like, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps others discover us and helps us become more visible in the general podcasting community. If you have suggestions for future guests, or would like to be featured on the podcast yourself, please feel free to reach out to us on Twitter at ASCA podcast or by email at ASCApodcast@gmail.com.