Intro
Hi Everyone! My name is Nichole Miller and I am in my first year of the Student Affairs online cohort. I live in Eau Claire, WI with my husband, Ted and our two pets, Sierra (collie/lab mix) and Soxy (domestic short hair) - see pics below! :) We've lived in Eau Claire for the past 9 years and bought our first home a little over 5 years ago. As a starter home, we got it for a very good price and just about remodeled the entire place. What an exhausting process though! We just finished putting the rest of the flooring down ... I'm ready for a break! I'll post some pics below of this as well.
I graduated from Chippewa Valley Technical College with my Administrative Assistant degree and began my career in higher education at UW-River Falls (UWRF) in 2006. My position as a University Associate allowed me to serve faculty and students as well as work closely with the Academic Advisor, Associate Dean, and Dean for the College of Business and Economics. After about a year, I decided to pursue my bachelors degree in Business Management. I worked at UWRF for another year or so and transferred to UW-Eau Claire (UWEC) as Ted was working in Eau Claire and we were both commuting. I worked in the Music and Theatre Arts Department as an Academic Department Associate for over 8 years. It was through that experience that I knew I wanted to work with students in higher education.
Shortly after taking my second required math class for Business Management, I realized that this was not the degree I wanted to pursue. As a very part-time student, I knew that I had some time to decide what I wanted to do. I met with some faculty in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department and decided to declare a major (CSD) that could assist me with graduate school in American Sign Language (ASL) teaching. Fun fact: sign language was my first language as my older brother is Deaf. Making the decision was great! I traveled to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. and met with the graduate faculty; this was a set-in-stone decision. A few years had gone by when I realized, yet again, that I wasn't sure of my career path. I knew that I wanted to work with students, but I still wasn't convinced that I wanted to teach. It was then that a few colleagues talked to me about their experience in the Student Affairs program at UW-La Crosse. From the moment I started looking at the program, I knew this was the next step! Finally finishing my BS degree (it took me EIGHT years), I was on the path to my future career in SA.
On December 1, 2016, I was hired in a new position at UW-Eau Claire as an Academic Advisor for the new Advising, Retention, and Career Center! I am so excited to begin this new role and step in my career in higher education!
What I know to be true...
In my duration in higher education (almost 10 years), I’ve not been required to participate in a violence prevention-type training nor have been briefed on what to do should a situation be brought to my attention. This has led me to believe that enough isn’t being done about violence prevention on campuses, specifically at UW-Eau Claire. The campus has a “STAND UP! To Sexual Assault. Be An Active Bystander.” training program; however, it’s not required and staff have to seek it out. The federal government has done more since the “Dear Colleague” letter was released on April 4, 2011, but the future of the government’s assistance is questionable as the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education “is lobbying the Trump administration rollback” (Wilson, 2017). Still, though, the “letter had shortcomings” as it should have also “focused on strategies for preventing assault” (Wilson, 2007). This starts at the campus level. There needs to be a required training for all staff and students – no exceptions.
References
United States Department of Education. (2011). Dear colleague letter. Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201104.html
Wilson, R. (2017). How a 20-page letter changed the way higher education handles sexual assault. Retrieved from http://www.chronicle.com/article/How-a-20-Page-Letter-Changed/239141/?cid=rcsidebar