January 2015, Issue 1
Message from VPSA
Sam Gonzales
As we begin the spring semester, I have been thinking about leadership.
I was honored to attend Kerry Kennedy’s retirement celebration. In his ten years leading UTSA’s Division of Business Affairs, the institution has grown tremendously and experienced great change: it’s incredible to think about our UTSA campuses in 2005 versus 2015. You have to be very aware of your leadership style and have a vision to navigate those waters. I wish Kerry all the best in retirement and look forward to as much change in the ten years ahead.
It was great to see so many of our campus leaders take advantage of our visit with social media consultant, Eric Stoller. Our campus leaders are thinking and planning for the future. Embracing the challenge of a new technology like social media isn’t always an easy task, but it's an important one. We are working to become digital leaders. Eric’s latest blog post for Inside Higher Ed speaks to this very topic. Please take a moment to read it.
For many of us, social media is changing the way we do business, serve students, receive feedback and advertise. It impacts our leadership style and reminds us that leadership is coaching and learning. We are constantly responding to change. Just as our university has transformed through buildings and landscape, UTSA has evolved in so many other ways – service, communication and spirit. Remember that fast car ride I mentioned in previous posts, well becoming a leader in our technology-focused world means that you have to get over the fear of jumping in. The digital leader, Eric contends, is always experimenting. They move past the fear of change, show courage, and always keep learning.
So, as we head into a busy spring semester, I hope you are able to forget the fear, experiment with new ways to work/lead, and learn something along the way.
Best wishes,
Sam
We Are UTSA! We Are Student Affairs!
Source
Stoller, Eric (2015). Digital Leadership. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/student-affairs-and-technology/digital-leadership