Christopher Schmoldt
West Virginia University

What do you see as opportunities in collegiate recreation and our Association? How would you collaborate with the Member Network team to address these issues?

The first opportunity is how to reengage our members post COVID. As we slowly bring back more in-person experiences, it will be critical to highlight the value of these experiences. This is critical because travel and professional development are areas that have been the most impacted by budget cuts on college campuses. Highlighting the value of the educational content, professional development, and networking that these events provide will help our members justify the need to attend.

The second opportunity is how we embrace virtual events as part of our professional development. Prior to COVID, NIRSA provided some seminars and online modules, but with the availability of virtual programming there will be a desire to provide more. Our ability as an association to be flexible and accommodate our members and the limitations placed on them by their institutions will help us navigate the transition over the next few years until professional development and travel are more fully supported again.

In both cases, I believe the Member Network team can play an important role. When we look at how we highlight the value of in-person experiences, the team can assist with creating content, using assessment, and providing insight to NIRSA HQ to help create a marketing campaign centered around the value of these experiences. In addition, I feel that the Member Network team can also help influence the quality of the content that is available at these events.

Playing off the success of the NIRSA Virtual Conference and the All Regions Conference, the Member Network team can help in establishing more virtual programming opportunities going forward for our members. Whether these are at the regional level or the association level, our members will be seeking additional opportunities for professional development in a virtual setting, and I believe it is important to establish these opportunities.

In describing your contributions to NIRSA, identify how your involvement and experiences meet the position criteria and qualify you to serve NISRA in this role.

As an active member of NIRSA for over 12 years, I have had the opportunity to serve in a number of leadership positions within our association. My involvement started while working with the Intramural Sports Institute, serving on the program committee for four years—two of those as the program chair. Serving on this committee with such a talented group of professionals, mentors, and friends provided me with the guidance and support I needed to be successful as chair. This role opened the door to other opportunities as a result of novel networking opportunities and building new relationships with others in the field. I went on to serve as a member of the Region II Program Committee, including serving as the chair in 2017. The various connections and experiences in Region II have allowed me to continue to serve the region through the pandemic; I served as the program chair for the 2020 Virtual Conference and represented Region II on the All Regions Program Committee for 2021.

In addition to the regional experiences, I was also selected to serve on the Annual Conference Program Committee from 2018-2020. Being involved with the regional conference over the years has allowed me to work closely with the last four regional representatives and gain a better understanding of their roles and the work they did. Serving as the program committee chair required me to lead my peers in building the best conference program for our region. This team-centered approach is what worked for those regional representatives and what I believe will be required to be successful in this role. Whether that is working with student leaders, the program committee, or NIRSA HQ, my ability to lead the team will be critical to our success. In addition to a team-centered approach, I feel that building relationships will be a key part of this position, and something I have leaned on in my previous NIRSA roles. As the Member Network representative, I will always be looking for ways to engage our region and our members in any opportunities that are presented.

Please share your ideas for engaging volunteers and identifying leaders in your region.

The pandemic has impacted everyone in a variety of ways, but it has also dramatically impacted the engagement opportunities within NIRSA and the region. With no volunteers needed for in-person events and a limited amount for virtual offerings, our members have missed out on these professional development opportunities. Two full years of engagement were lost for undergraduate students and graduate students who are the foundation of the Association. These students and young professionals are some of our most enthusiastic volunteers, but they have been limited in their exposure to NIRSA with no in-person events. We need to build off of the NIRSA 101 concept to further engage our future leaders in the Association and expose them to the volunteer opportunities that are available. The reality is that it may take a few years for some institutions to financially support professional development and travel, so we need to provide alternative opportunities to engage these individuals.

Identifying leaders has traditionally been connected to exposure at in-person events like regional and annual conferences. Since these opportunities have been so limited the past two years, how can we engage our state leaders more to recognize and nominate individuals to serve our association? By leaning more on our state leaders we could ensure that all schools and individuals are represented regardless of financial support from their institutions.