Let's Talk UNLV

0:00:00
Welcome to another segment of Let's Talk UNLV on KUNV with co-host Keith and Renee. Renee, how was your weekend?

0:00:15
My weekend was great, but I'm trying to stay cool. Like, it's been hot. I mean crispy.

0:00:21
Hey, so much to where I got family members calling like, hey, I saw the weather. It's like 118 in Las Vegas how do you do it?

0:00:29
I'm like AC? What do you mean? How do I do it? I'm inside, inside, AC, AC all day. Yeah I mean I go to the gym and I'm just ready to get into the pool. I mean and I you know me I do a 3 a.m. workout right I'm still hot at 3 a.m. 3 a.m. I'm coming out of the gym and I'm Yeah, it's probably already 98 degrees.

0:00:50
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, this is a good segment.

0:00:54
Student Life Rebranding, one that's near and dear to me. So we're going to talk to our guest.

0:01:00
So our guest today, we have Chris Brown, who's the Student Union Conference and Event Coordinator. And then we also have John McElrath, who's the Campus Recreation Program Coordinator for Fitness. Welcome. Welcome, gentlemen.

0:01:11
Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. So, student life rebranding. I believe when you all started at UNLV, under the Division of Student Affairs, it was known as Campus Life. And Campus Life has nine departments that provide programs and services like homecoming, premier, housing, our student diversity, and then our business, maintenance and technology. But you started when it was campus life. So talk to us about what did campus life look like when you became a part of UNLV Division of Student Affairs. Campus life originally when I first started and originally why I took the position is the main goal of campus life was community, connecting and getting to know one of each other and just getting involved in some way and creating that connection. And so we would meet every so often, maybe once a month, top of the line every fall, we would have our big training and kind of go over various topics. And it was fun. But then at one point, the topic of diversity inclusion became a extremely hot topic and that's when I would say everything started to kind of burn some bridges, rub people the wrong way and there's was

0:02:35
this feeling of divide amongst the campus life at the time.

0:02:39
Now I know Chris you weren't here when campus life started and you weren't here when John started. Kind of talk to us about your introductory period to campus

0:02:49
So just touching off of what John mentioned as far as it rubbing the wrong shoulders of some people, of the things that were going on in campus life, I came in in the middle of the fire.

0:03:01
Middle of the fire.

0:03:02
So I came in and it was hot. Okay. And just looking at what everything was, what was going on, it had nothing to do with me personally in my new role and my new position and it was something that I was diving into and trying to navigate and understand how to do my role but also how to navigate being in the middle of a burning fire. And that was something that I was trying to figure out and I think looking at how campus life is evolving and where we're going and going into the future, the fire is definitely not burning anymore. And it's helpful because we want that culture when you come to UNLV, you don't want to jump into something that you weren't prepared for away from your job because we all learn our jobs on the go when we first get into a new position. We learn as we do it. And when you don't do it for that first amount of time, it's something that you have to adapt to just coming into a new situation no matter what organization you go to work for.

0:04:04
So given what Renee just shared about, you know, where campus life was when each of you came into your respective positions, and then when the initial conversation started to emerge around rebranding, and, you know, when you're in a university, there's a whole bunch of initiatives going on all the time, and, you know, some of them get different. They get mixed excitement and reception. So what was, or receptionist, what was your individual perspectives when you first heard some of the conversations before an actual committee was formed that we were going to look at rebranding Campus Life?

0:04:37
Gotcha. So, my original thought when the initiative or the thought process was going on, from came in and there was a inquiry or a survey ran to kind of get the overall vibe of everything. And from my perspective, just filled it out and kind of want to see where things go. I felt like we were just laying some foundation of some bricks and kind of was excited to see like, okay, which direction are we going to go? How can we recover from the hurt that I know that some of my colleagues were feeling? Or, and then how can we move on from all of that and kind of get back to that homey connectivity type vibe? Chris? And for me, I thought it was something I was very highly supportive of because when I came into working with the university, it was, like, as I mentioned earlier, it was a little hot. So that's not something that I wanted other people to feel when they started their new roles, because as people change positions and as time transitions on, new people come into their roles and you want them to be as comfortable as possible when they join a new organization and they're not dealing with things that are preventing them from really learning and experiencing their role. So I was very supportive of it and because I just wanted everyone to feel good when they come to a new organization, not feel like they're trying to navigate things that are unrelated to their actual role.

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And so one of the pieces that I recall

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was once I brought forward this idea because we had brought in our external review to kind of look at what mission sensitive guidance would we need. And then we also had a climate assessment that looked at, you know, how do you feel about your co-worker? How do you feel about your supervisor? What's the level of trust in the organization? And we really saw that campus life had to really work on some things. And we're still working on some things. But then it was time now, after we crafted our mission statement and our vision statement, to say, OK, there's all these other little pieces that we've got to figure out. We had nine departments that had some had logos, some had no logos. Some felt very strongly tied to their logos and felt like they wanted to be distinct, and others felt like, no, I mean, I can just, you know, become, you know, student life or become the new name because I had nothing to lose. So talk about that journey from your perspective of joining this committee that's going to now do the rollout, now that you have a mission statement and a vision statement?

0:07:19
Yeah, so originally I wanted to join the committee because I felt like I wanted to give a voice from the department I was in, Campus Rec, to kind of share our thoughts of what the logo, our logo, meant at the time and what it meant to us and how much thought process that went into it. Cause originally I joined too, because I was actually part of the process of our campus rec creating our original logo.

0:07:46
This is personal for you.

0:07:47
Yeah, I was part of it. Yeah, somewhat personal. Cause it was originally had a shield and then the old red head, and then we switched off to something more generic and just the quick shield and campus rec on it. So I understood how that process went, how long it was, and how frustrating it was, and just even coming up with something. So I joined the committee with that same thought process. I'm curious to how this is going to go. I know this is going to take a long process, especially with a bigger unit, getting everybody's input and being able to merge everybody's thoughts and likings to kind of come to an agreement and have this solid brand. Because I know the biggest difficulty in my head, I'm not a very creative person, but you wanted to look at a logo and like, ah, that's the one. But sometimes simple is the best.

0:08:37
And that's probably a lot of pressure, too, John. Your team from the rec center is probably like, John, make sure you cover this. Make sure we, you know. It's a lot of pressure. Chris, what about you?

0:08:46
Same exact feel, especially for my colleagues with me joining the committee and just being involved. A lot of my colleagues were, hey, make sure you think about this. We wanna be included in it too. Make sure that you push a good agenda for us and make sure that we're looking good. But I think the biggest thing with the whole rebrand, it was a striving for consistency because that's what was lacking across the board when it came to the university, when it came to the union, the campus rec, and everything, all the different areas that Dr. Watson mentioned earlier, those nine different departments, there was no consistency across all of them. And I think if we're going to be under the same umbrella, there needs to be some sort of consistency so that everyone knows that this is the umbrella, but these are all of the avenues and the different pieces that are under that same umbrella. I think the biggest thing that I took away from being on that committee is, it's a lot of different input that you get. You know, some people like simple, some people like complicated, some people like red, some people like blue. And just being able to navigate.

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Or old gold and black.

0:09:54
Old black, pink and gray.

0:09:56
You know, we got some colors that we like over here. But it was good because we were able to establish the consistency to the point where everyone understood that it was just one mission at the end of the day, but we are all on the same team. Because it was a lot of silos. You don't want to operate so heavily in silos when you're really driven towards student engagement, community engagement. Those are different avenues that you want to be a part of, so you can't be just generic and just this person, this is the only thing that you're responsible for. This person, you're responsible for that. You want everyone to see the logo and identify everyone that encompasses that logo.

0:10:39
Now, the two of you went a step further other than just joining the committee. You actually decided that you wanted to co-chair. So talk about what that was like to sign up to be co-chair of this committee and then also co-chairing it with you know with myself. I mean I'm sure that was a unique experience you know in of itself so talk about your journey as co-chairs. Oh yeah so I remember when Dr.

0:11:02
Watson asked who want to co-chair originally I know Chris mentioned co-chairing but it was like very silent for like a good minute and I'm like I'm just gonna do it so I decided I'm just going to do it. So that's why I decided to voice my opinion of being on co-chair. And I actually thought of the opportunity of working with Dr. Watson because I've never actually worked with you closely. So I thought that would be a good opportunity to just kind of engage and see how you were as a leader and kind of see how I can either learn from you and also work with you at the same time. So I feel like my journey with co-chairing it. It definitely was difficult, but also a great time at the same sentence, because the reason why I say that is that I was able to work with other colleagues amongst our student life group, and the difficulties of just navigating that we had this one mission to complete, but everybody had their own thought process of what it should look like, but it really clicked to me when actually I reviewed that assessment, the results, and then I was like, oh, yeah. Everybody felt there was a divide amongst everybody. I'm like, this is why we need to keep pushing for this.

0:12:17
So within the context of the team dynamics, looking at some of those data inputs and some of the survey results and seeing that there was this divide in the data. Like, what were some of the strategies that you all used? You know, you had such a diverse committee, and so what were some of the strategies you used to allow for everyone to feel included, engaged, but still being able to have those difficult conversations and then move the committee work forward?

0:12:48
I think a big part of that was the fact that we had multiple people from different areas within those nine different silos, as we were calling it, because there were some people from campus rec, there were some people from SEWS, there were some people from maintenance, there were some people from all areas so that all those different prospective groups on campus were represented because the needs of the campus recreation might not be the same needs of student diversity and social justice. So we just had to incorporate everyone's ideas together so that everyone felt represented and we didn't want people to feel like they were excluded because even though we're doing a rebranding, we're changing the dynamic of student life, we wanted everyone to feel included, feel like their voice was heard, and be as strategic as possible so that those voices were heard, but we came to one conclusion. Because you can't make everyone happy, as we all know. Everyone can be happy, but you can come to a conclusion to where everyone feels like their voice was heard. And even if you don't go the direction that they were pushing for, they at least got to say you can empathize and feel what they wanted you to hear.

0:13:59
I think one of the big eye-opening experiences was actually, I won't say educating, but kind of getting the group to see that we've been operating like this. But in actuality, we really didn't have the blessing of the university to operate like this. And so we had our director for marketing say, well, actually, no, you all should really be operating under one logo that's also consistent with the Division of Student Affairs. And so I think my role was saying, we can discuss this, but there's going to be some things we can't discuss because the university has already set those parameters. So we do have some creative and wiggle room, but it's also got to be consistent with the greater goal. We don't ever want to be so disconnected from student affairs, which is our home, our tree, where everything sprouts from. We don't want to be so far. And so that, I think, was my role, was to listen to the feedback, but also keep us on track that we still stay in that student affairs vein.

0:15:04
And so what were some of the discussions that you had around creating a new unified logo that was representative of these nine distinct areas? What were some of those conversations like? Or what were some factors that you took into consideration in shaping what the logo would look like? At least maybe the first, creating a first initial draft or drafts.

0:15:23
I think the process was understanding what the mission was, was like the original thought. And how can we symbolize our mission statement into some type of logo? Because I remember originally it was like, and that's how a lot of the symbols came about originally. A lot of it came down to exactly what you were saying as far as like navigating through the community, navigating through campus. I think one of the original logos that we were gonna go with is the logo that we were gonna go with was the logo that we were gonna go with

0:15:55
was the logo that we were gonna go with

0:15:57
was the logo that we were gonna go with was the logo that we were gonna go with was the logo that we were gonna go with was the logo that we were gonna go with was the logo that we were gonna go with was the logo that we were gonna go with was the logo that we were gonna go with was the logo that we were gonna go with like navigating through the community, navigating through campus. I think one of the original logos that we were gonna go with, it was like a kind of like a map guide to show everyone like this is how you navigate the university, but that got kicked back real quick. And no one really liked that. People wanted the simple one because we felt like we needed something that was very simple. Like you think of Nike, it's just a check mark. There's no name on it, there's just a check mark, but you identify that. And that's what the thought process that we were having is we want it very simple so when people see it, they know what they're identifying. We didn't want something over the top like a map. It just gets too complicated because, you know,

0:16:48
you have to also think about the attention span of people. People want something very simple, very quick, that they can identify and move on. So that no one feels left out so that the business Operation side of the student life unit doesn't feel like I don't see myself, you know in that brand So, you know, you can't put like a calculator You know, if you just like a computer screen, right? You know, if you just like, you know, a residential complex, then, you know, then the campus rec folks are like, well, wait, where's my weight? Where's my dumbbell? So so so trying to find something. And so it really came down to just, you know, simple showing, you know, unity and showing connection and student life being the hub of, you know, student involvement, engagement, activity and success is kind of how we navigated that. Now I lost this one Keith. I lost this one. These two and the others they they like almost like this was a wrestling match. They stacked odds against you. Yes I was fighting for a tagline you know like typical Renee. Still alive you know where it matters or where you know students matter or something like that right and they were like no No, so talk about that what was that about was that you know y'all made a personal Y'all stacked eyes against my my my partner over here and they made this decision I was out of the office that convenient? Yes, I didn't see the vote, how many hands, you know, before it was just like, no. It's like, Renee's not at this meeting, let's get this done real quick. Hey, we had an agenda to push forward.

0:18:29
I originally remember the conversation, Dr. Watson was out of office that day, we entertained it, like, hey, how do you all feel about a tagline, like, where student matters, or just do it kind of thing you know just throwing out words and we like talk about it just me and you first it was like what should we tell everybody this yeah very hesitant like I wasn't really sure what she's trying to get at kind of thing but we can bring it up to the committee so we brought it up to the committee shared a couple ideas and the committee kind of just looked at us and I was like nah but the bigger reason was we didn't want to take away from our new logo and kind of have another thing to worry about whether it's we got student life and then another tagline to add to it. So I think that was the original reason for it. And it was a it was a virtual meeting too so we just had everyone staring at us. It was like no we're not. Next topic.

0:19:38
So within the context of the work of the committee, so what were the conversations around, like, how do we communicate decisions or progress in the branding, you know, from the logo discussions to the drafts of the logo, narrowing down to maybe one or two, and colors and things like that? So how were the representatives communicating back to their respective units.

0:20:03
Shout out to Savannah.

0:20:05
Yeah, true.

0:20:06
Savannah Balterra.

0:20:09
Savannah, she held that part down. She was able to articulate things in a way where everyone will feel like they were still being heard, still feel like the message that they were delivering to us wasn't being brushed under a rug. But yeah, again, shout out to Savannah.

0:20:28
And as far as the logo, we had like, I think, eight designs, and we numbered them all off. We sent to the committee to fill out this Excel sheet of what they liked about it, what they didn't like about it, and that's kind of how we navigated from that. We took snippets from other logos. Oh, we liked the symbol or the font for this one. Could we add this at the bottom of it? That's kind of how we pieced it together. We started off with Excel sheet and then just overall discussion and it just slowly kept building via emails

0:20:59
and we knocked it out.

0:21:01
And then what was the rollout plan to unveil the logo?

0:21:06
Really what the rollout plan was when we came to a conclusion on which logo we actually like, this is the one that we wanna push the agenda forward with. We had sent an email out to give everyone like a heads up, like hey, this is a decision that we made, this is what it means, and this is how we're going to incorporate it into all areas of student life. And then we had a nice little get-together today to commemorate everything and get everyone to see what the logo looks like. We had it on cupcakes, artesian cupcakes.

0:21:41
Yeah, artesian cupcakes.

0:21:42
I had one of those.

0:21:43
Yeah, and the part of that too is coming up with some guidelines, you know, because we can't, you know, have folks just slapping the logo anywhere, you know, and then we also want to make sure that it's also consistent, that it's not just student life. We also want to know that student life with UNLV. So we have got to make sure that that's also connected to any kind of branding. But this is a great time because now we're in the process of buying new everything, new polos, new work shirts. You have to have the tablecloths for when you do your tabling events and things like that. So we're going to have wallpaper of SL student life everywhere as well. So we want to kind of really usher in a student life pride, you know, a student life, you know, community and connection.

0:22:40
So. Now, let's go back to the tagline. So let me just say it. So, Dr. Watson's not at the meeting, you all have a discussion, and you all get the blank stares and you decide, no, we're moving on to the next agenda item. So what was the conversation like, the first conversation that Dr. Watson know that the tagline was off the tape?

0:23:02
It was two versus eight.

0:23:07
We lost.

0:23:08
When we pulled the straws, me and John lost, and we had to deliver that news.

0:23:15
Well, that is somewhat true. But they didn't bring it up. Because as co-chairs, we would meet in between weeks to prepare for our meetings. So we would come to the group better prepared and with a solid agenda. And so I said, oh, what happened to that tagline idea? They said, well, yeah. That didn't go over so well. But what Chris did, and I think he knows, like that, I said, boy, that's great leadership, is we had a subsequent meeting, and he said, you know, Dr. Watson didn't have a chance to share her thoughts about the tagline. Dr. Watson, do you want to share so that the committee can understand what you were thinking? And I shared, and I still lost. I do appreciate that Chris brought it back to the table just to make sure I had some chance to make the argument.

0:24:12
You know when you get an answer and the first thing they say is, well, you don't want to

0:24:16
hear what they're about to say.

0:24:17
Yeah.

0:24:18
Take me back to the drum line. One band, one sound.

0:24:21
That's right. One band, one sound.

0:24:23
One logo, no tagline.

0:24:24
That could be a tagline.

0:24:25
Now what were some lessons learned? I know like my unit, we're embarking on conversations around maybe re-looking at our logo. What are some lessons learned you can share with me so I can not have so much scar tissue as I did 15 years ago when we created our initial logo? One of the biggest lessons I learned was like trying to get, understanding what your purpose is and find that mission, but getting voices from everyone, but sticking to that same mission to kind of bring it all together. I think transparency, because you want people to feel included, but you need to be transparent with them to let them know that, yeah, your voice is being heard, but we're not always going to go with what you are saying. There's a bigger agenda for the group. We hear you, we empathize with you, but we're gonna encompass that into the bigger picture because at the end of the day, we have to work as a unit and we can't be individualized. So just being very transparent and setting clear mission statement, clear goals, so everyone knows what the end result is looking to be because if you share with the end result, this is what we're trying to be, you can always revert back to that. So if someone is deviating from what you're trying to get to the goal, you have a little room reset and you remind them, this is the goal that we're trying to get to at the end and this is how we're gonna bring it all together.

0:25:53
And I would say a lesson for me is to trust your team. You know, I had walked into Campus Life at that time and I knew that I was being set up to bring about change. I don't think I was hired to maintain the status quo. And so it was only a matter of time before we got to this because for as many wonderful things as Campus Life did, in terms of growing, it had kind of grown away from student affairs. So we need to come back to the basics of who we're serving, why we're serving, and why do we do what we do, and how do we know that we're doing what we're doing. And so I think for you, Keith, is just to start out early on just trusting your team. And I think one time folks were like, so Dr. Watson, what do you think about the love? I said, listen, so long as you get the concept, the one man, one cell, you know, you all can play, you know, your different version of when the Saints go marching in because those same chords that we talked about are going to be there. And so I think we set that foundation and be very clear about that. You can trust your team to come back with a product that really speaks to the mission and vision that you set out for.

0:27:09
And make sure you tell your chairs, let's table that. Let's table that for the next meeting.

0:27:21
I'll be back.

0:27:22
You're going to have no tagline.

0:27:25
Well, this was very informative, so I appreciate John and Chris sharing your experience. I know that was a very important encounter that you all undertook, and, you know, under Dr. Watson's leadership. I know she even though she was one of the coaches, I know Dr. Watson shared with us quite a bit at the VPC level about the process. And we were very excited on the progress and certainly seeing the logo. We all give you all a standing ovation for your hard work. And I think that logo is definitely representative of all the units that are represented within student life and certainly complements UNIV and Student Affairs logos as well. So I'm looking forward to getting me some swag with the new logo on it. Renee, any parting words?

0:28:12
I'm just so proud of this team.

0:28:13
You just never know how fast these things are gonna come together. And to know that we've done this in a year and a half in the midst of the pandemic, in the midst of record financial loss in revenue, staff morale tanking, you know, and to come out on this side and to know that we're opening campus in the fall with a new logo, new mission, new vision, ready to share that with our students and new, you know, staff that we hire. It is just so exciting. And to know that you did this with the team, you know, this is really a team effort and I just cannot be more proud of this group and all that we have accomplished. Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of KUNV Let's Talk UNLV. For my co-host Keith, I'm Renee. Tune in next week, Wednesday at 12, on KUNV 91.5 Jazz and More. Tune in next week, Wednesday at 12, on KUNV 91.5 Jazz and More. That's a wrap.

Transcribed with Cockatoo