From Helicopter to Stealth Bomber: Creating Healthy Partnerships with Parents
May 2007
This seminar is designed to educate and provide advice to participants regarding relationships between today's college students and their parents, provide examples of positive parent programming on campus, and provide guidance on creating healthy partnerships with the parents of the students with whom we work. We will identify who the parents of our students are, what their expectations are, how to best communicate with them, and what challenges and opportunities exist for campuses and national offices in terms of partnering with parents. We will also hear from a campus that has successfully created positive parent partnerships by implementing on-target parent programming.
Topics covered will include:
- Working with Fraternity/Sorority Parents
We will identify the millennial parents and their parenting practices, identify millennial students and the impact of their parent’s involvement on their development, and identify why we need to partner with the parents of this generation of college students.
- A Success Story
Identify successful practices in partnering with parents and learn what the University of Southern California did to successfully implement intentional parent programming.
- Meeting the Needs of All Parents
We will address the needs of parents of diverse student populations such as first generation students or multicultural students in navigating the college experience with their student.
Presenters
Salvador Mena, Program Associate Dean for Community Living and MultiCultural Affairs, from Goucher College was born in Harlem, New York to a Puerto Rican Mother and Dominican Father. He was primarily raised in the South Bronx in a Dominican household and traveled regularly to Puerto Rico to visit his mother as a youngster.
A graduate of the New York City Public School system, Salvador is currently a third year doctoral student in the College Student Personnel program at the University of Maryland, College Park. He also serves as the Associate Dean for Community Living and Multicultural Affairs at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. Salvador received his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Master’s degree in Student Development and Higher Education both from the University of Maine.
Prior to going to Maryland, Salvador served as an Assistant Dean of Student Life at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island for five years where he worked with several different student life areas including Latino Student Programs.
Before his time at Brown, Salvador worked in student affairs at Illinois State University and the University of Maine. He's also worked as a counselor with the Job Corps Program, a Federal Department of Labor program providing underserved young people an alternative educational path by providing academic, vocational and life skills training.
He has also served as national co-chair of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators’ Latino/a Knowledge Community. Salvador has received numerous awards for his service to Latinos in higher education. He regularly presents at national conferences on topics such as No Parent Left Behind: Connecting Institutional Priorities with Disconnected Latino Parents and Families. At the University of Maryland he’s also on a research team focusing on the access, retention, and success of Latino college students.
Lastly, as a once labeled future high school dropout, Salvador believes strongly in the potential that young people hold for making the world a better place for all.
Cindy Menges, Executive Director, from Delta Zeta Sorority & Parent has been in this position since 1982. She serves the three entities that comprise Delta Zeta - Delta Zeta Sorority, the Delta Zeta Foundation, and the Delta Zeta National Housing Corporation. She is past president of the Fraternity Executives Association, a member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), and a Certified Association Executive (CAE). She is also a member of the Association of Fraternity Advisors (AFA) and the Public Relations Society of American (PRSA), and served as the Chairman of the National Panhellenic Conference Executive Directors. In addition, she is on the Board of Directors of the North American Interfraternal Foundation (NIF) and on the Board of Directors of the Fraternal Information and Programming Group (FPIG). A graduate of Miami University with B.S. in Finance and Economics, Ms. Menges is a member of Pi Sigma Epsilon, the national professional marketing fraternity. She is a member of Rotary International and volunteers for non-profit and charitable organizations in her city.
Beth Saul is Director of Parent Programs in the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Leadership at the University of Southern California. In this position, she oversees a Greek community of over 3,200 students comprised of almost 60 chapters who are members of 6 governing councils as well as the programming and resources for 17,000 undergraduate parents/families.
She is a past Chairman of the National Panhellenic Conference and the current NPC Academic Excellence Chair. She is a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi, currently serving on the NPC Delegation and the AEPHI Foundation Board of Trustees. She is also the Executive Director of Gamma Sigma Alpha National Greek Academic Honor Society. In her “free time,” she takes 3-4 ballet classes a week and travels and enjoys movies with her husband.
The USC fraternity/sorority community has a long-standing parent support infrastructure which has benefited its chapters, the fraternity/sorority community, and the greater university. Beth is pleased to share ideas and structures that have worked well at her institution.
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