Transcript
In the Lounge with Renae Zimmer
Dominic (00:11)
Hi everyone, and welcome back to "In the Lounge." On this podcast, we meet with experts from higher education fields to share ideas, learn from their experiences, talk about new trends we're seeing, and get an unseen perspective of what's going on in the space. If you have any questions for my guests today, please just send an email and we'll get them over to her. My email is dominic@lounge.live.
Today we're in the lounge with Renae Zimmer. Renae is Director of Student Engagement and Leadership at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She's been at the university for over six years, serving in a variety of roles within student affairs. Before that, she was a speaker, supporter, and advocate for mental health awareness as the co-founder of the nonprofit Central Nebraska LOSS Team, which focused on suicide prevention and outreach.
She has almost a decade of experience in software and IT, serving as account executive for Five9 and Spectrum. She is a certified student affairs educator. She was a board member of the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of the board of directors of the Nebraska Statewide Suicide Prevention Coalition. Renae, welcome. Thanks for joining me.
Renae (01:09)
Thank you so much for having me.
Dominic (01:12)
So you fall into the category of someone with a very interesting and diverse background with a wide breadth of experiences. How did you find your way into student affairs? What was that journey like?
Renae (01:21 — Journey from Sales to Higher Education)
Yeah, very good question. So my journey took a very different trajectory than most. I started out as a graduate of Kearney State College from a small town in Nebraska. I got my undergrad degree in journalism and public relations. And then from there, I went into advertising sales and tech sales—really in outside sales and the private sector for several years before higher education.
I loved the sales world. I loved getting out of the office and going into different businesses and meeting them and hearing their stories. But after a while of doing outside sales, I never thought higher education would be my path, but I was just kind of gravitated to it when I saw a job application for a leadership position in a student engagement office. I thought, "Gosh, to be able to take those skill sets of what I learned in outside in the private sector into student to help students."
So that's when I dug into it. And I got a job here at the University of Nebraska at Kearney—my alma mater—in 2018. I earned my master's degree at the age of 50, which is maybe a little unusual too. So it just really changed a lot for me. I never thought that would be possible, but that really opened a door for me to take on the director role in this department, in the student engagement department at UNK.
And I've been able to, again, take my career experiences and use them to make a difference with students. That marketing background has served me well in this capacity with the tons of event planning that we do. But also more than anything—it's not necessarily about me—but I've been able to create that meaningful experience, learning to understand the cognitive and developmental and the behavioral aspects of a college student, that 18 to 21-year-old, and really the "why" behind how they think and grow and how they engage. So that's it, kind of in a nutshell.
Dominic (03:26)
That's amazing. Did you, when you discovered this kind of world, was it something that you had been aware of prior to kind of stumbling upon it, or was it something that was totally new and it just intrigued you?
Renae (03:40)
Yeah, I was aware of it because back when I was going to college here—my undergrad—I was the president of the Student Activities Council. And I lived that world and I thought, "Hmm, programming, event planning, marketing, public relations, it all kind of fits." So it made sense to go back and really didn't think it was possible to really get into higher education. I had applied for a couple of jobs at the university, but it just seemed to be in my wheelhouse of what I was comfortable with, what I knew.
A little scared, to be honest with you, to work with college students. Like, "My gosh, are they going to want to listen to somebody like me? Are they going to want to take advice?" But it's really just more about connecting with them and listening to them, supporting them. So all those nerves, you know, after the first year or so, I realized that I had a place.
You know, I had a little bit of imposter syndrome because I didn't come from that higher ed background. So I dove right into that master's program right away and learned all the things, but I still feel like, gosh, it was such a great career move for me and such a great career path.
Dominic (04:51)
Would you say that the resources are there for you if you are someone who maybe hasn't had the experience or the foundation for it? Are they there once you get in to kind of teach you what you need to know, help support you, and make sure that you are kind of on a path for success?
Renae (05:07)
I feel like the foundation was there for me. My master's program was really very counseling-based. And I have students in and out of my office all the time. And that counseling background has served me well. I'm not a licensed mental health counselor, but the higher education student affairs track here at the university—that's where my master's program was—very counseling-based, and it has served me well in combination with planning events, planning concerts, small events to large-scale events, paying attention to small details in the programming has served me well, yeah.
Dominic (05:41)
Amazing. And you've now been in this space—correct me if I'm wrong—but over six years, is that right? Seven years?
Renae (05:47)
Yes, I started late in 2018 in that leadership position in this office. And then in 2021, an opportunity came up for me—late 2021, early 2022—to fill the director role in this office. So at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Student Engagement and Leadership, we oversee fraternity/sorority life, student government, LPAC—which is the main programming board—and then Student Family Transitions, which is our orientation arm.
So we're in the hub, the campus living room, the Nebraska Student Union—very active. The main dining hall is in this building. We're the main student ID office. So there's a lot of activity that's going on. Most recently, in the last couple of weeks, the Intercultural Engagement and Leadership Office has merged with our office. So we are supporting additional student organizations as well as the ones that we are legacy organizations.
Dominic (06:46)
You mentioned something there really interesting, which I've seen at every campus I've visited so far. The location of the sort of student engagement office or space is so critical to how you connect with students and how accessible it is when you're either going about your day-to-day, having lunch, or just passing by, you know, being able to see what's going on. And I always find that to be something that we probably don't talk enough about, but it is so important in understanding sort of—can you maybe shift where the location is to make that even better potentially?
Renae (07:18)
Yeah, I honestly—right, it works for us. It's where students feel connected. We have a space where it looks like a living room structure. We kind of moved our conference table across the hallway, so it's structured for a very relaxed setting. My office, strategically, is right out in the middle of everything, so I can see students coming and going, and my door is open, so they have a direct dotted line to my office. And that's by design, right? That's by design. If I need to have a private meeting, I close the door, but they know that they come in, ask questions. It's a real opportunity to help leaders, students in those capacities, whether it's LPAC or student government, grow and lead, make them feel like they belong, have a place here.
Dominic (08:07)
Yeah. And you said you got started just before or just around 2018. A lot has happened since 2018. How do you think the world of student engagement has changed in those years? What has changed since you started? What do you think are trends or things that have just completely flipped potentially?
Renae (08:28 — Post-COVID Changes in Student Engagement)
Right. Well, I think, you know, post-COVID—now, five years out—I think students are responding to one-on-one support, maybe more smaller, low-key events or DIY-style events they can engage in that makes it feel manageable and authentic, smaller groups. And look, I think this really, at the end of the day, in a four-year institution—think college students, not all, I'll say some, are looking for that college experience that balances maybe their rigorous academic life challenges with meaningful social interactions for personal growth.
I see a trend of students that are working really, really hard outside of school. They're working part-time jobs, sometimes full-time jobs, on campus, off campus. And so navigating those changes are really, really crucial to help them grow. I also feel like where they're at now is they're asking for stability. They want stability financially, socially, and academically. And with more first-generation students and with more diverse backgrounds, the resources that help them succeed are right here—right here. They just have to go find it, right? We communicate it to them, we let them know.
And so post-COVID too, we're seeing students kind of struggle with some anxieties and mental health, looking for ways to cope. And I think we're making some strides. And so yeah, there's a lot that has changed post-COVID with this college student of today, right? They're very savvy and they want those skill sets and they want to launch those careers with the confidence that they have everything that they need, the tools in their toolbox.
Dominic (10:17)
So if we look ahead and try to inform kind of what's been going on now to the practice in the future, I want to dissect that a little bit more in terms of what seems to be working. Can you parse out a little bit what is working for you right now? What seems to be working across the space? What are students really responding to well? You mentioned sort of one-on-one support and maybe getting more detailed and technical with them and customizing support for them. What about in terms of sort of organization and helping activities and events—what seems to be working there?
Renae (10:52 — What's Working: DIY Events & Holistic Support)
Yeah, no, I think we are seeing students engaged. They're coming to events. They're—again, maybe the smaller, more intimate DIY make-and-take events are more popular than a large group. But we're able to kind of flip—you know, LPAC kind of flipped the script last year and kind of organized and created more of those DIY button-making and, you know, artistic-type events. And that's where we're seeing the draw.
And I think at the end of the day, the students are looking for in a four-year institution more than a degree. They're looking for holistic, supportive college experience. Their basic needs are met—affordable housing, reliable access to food, strong mental health support systems. But beyond that, they're seeking a robust career development that goes beyond the classroom. And I think that's where we shine here by offering the programs and the support systems that are beyond the classroom, that co-curricular experience and that community engagement.
Dominic (11:51)
Not different than life outside of college. I think a lot of that resonates with people right now all over the world just looking for strong career growth and support. Everything's become more challenging. And so I think we can look at the students and say, "We're basically preparing them for the real world," and that's the best way to do it. So yeah, really interesting.
And then talking about what they need the most—I think that I see a lot of trends right now of trying to put more events on, get as many people engaged as possible. But we talked on another episode of our podcast about trying to find the students that aren't being necessarily involved in a way that we can actually track or see analytics about. But maybe there are communities that are very private. Maybe there are a chess club that isn't necessarily connected to the university? How can we sort of encourage that, get students working together, joining organizations that we don't maybe know about yet, but just our ways to socialize and be creative, maybe start a fun startup on campus?
Renae (12:54 — Finding Hidden Communities & Supporting New Organizations)
For sure, and we see that a lot. We've been seeing very creative recognized student organizations forming that are very authentic to where the students are at. A crochet club, an astronomy club—I mean, smaller groups that are very interest-focused, but there's other opportunities than clubs and organizations. There's the internships, or there's maybe an opportunity to do undergrad research that could be a very, you know, a one-on-one with a faculty member that could be very impactful.
And it doesn't have to be a leadership program where a student that may not be very connected to campus has to join a club and all of a sudden, boom, you're club president—not at all. We encourage students to kind of come in and just kind of see. I talk to students a lot about just go to a student government meeting. If you are wanting to make a difference in the world, talk about efficacy—that's where it starts. And just show up to a student government meeting and just see how it's run. Show up to a LPAC meeting and just kind of see how it's run. Try it a couple times and see if it's for you.
And I think that is really impactful once you kind of get them out of their comfort zone a little bit and connect a little bit. They kind of see that there's a whole different world around, but we want to offer the personalized flexible learning experiences for students as well and have that as an option.
Dominic (14:23)
And do you think making it feel easy to join or maybe feel even easy to create an organization is an important part of how student engagement runs and functions to that end?
Renae (14:35)
Yeah, yeah, we're very much hands-on with recognized student organizations here. We have over 150 at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. So we're very much about help train them—not only that, making sure we're training those advisors, talking about sustainability of their club. You know, we want that crochet club and that astronomy club to live on for several years. Yeah, what does that look like? Recruiting new members, maybe there's a fundraising component in there that we can help them with in getting some funding opportunities to apply for funding through student government is there too. So those are conversations that are ongoing as well and offering that support.
Dominic (15:12)
Yeah, that's good. Fantastic. If we zoom out a little bit, I like to identify trends because I think there can be a lot of nervousness around the space right now, but I think I like to look towards the positive. And I was curious, what do you see, broadly speaking, are some of the positives in the space right now, maybe some things that excite you about student engagement and just student life in general?
Renae (15:36 — The Data Behind Student Engagement Success)
Yeah, well, I'm excited. I kind of—I research as well and I like data. I kind of go back to some of my resources. The National Survey of Student Engagement, NSSE, had a recent survey—I think it was 2024—where students are highly engaged in co-curricular activities or 17% more likely to persist into their second year. So we really out of the gate—since our office oversees the orientation—we talk to those first-year students coming in about the importance of getting involved and getting engaged because we know that will—the percentage of that group of students, that cohort, they'll persist not only into their second year but to graduation and really that's our end game, right? We get them here, we educate them, we want to see them persist on to—
The Association of American Colleges and Universities, AAC&U, reports that students involved in leadership and experiential learning are 25% more likely to report feeling prepared for their careers. So, and whether that's a club or organization, and I talk to students a lot about when you're building your resume, I think future employers—they might want to see your GPA. That might be a possibility, but I think they want to also see the skill sets that you learned, your experiential learning, the co-curricular experiences you had, and what kind of skill development that you learned from that.
We talk about Gallup. I'm a certified Gallup Strengths Coach as well, and Gallup had another survey that had—
Dominic (17:05)
For those that don't know, can you explain what Gallup is?
Renae (17:09)
So yeah, Gallup actually—the CliftonStrengths actually originated at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. So it started there. The CliftonStrengths Institute is there at our mothership campus, if you will, at UNL. And it's a strengths-based profiling. You could profile your top 30 strengths down to your top five.
And it's very impactful. It's about talent. It's about using your talent and using your strengths to better your organization, your club, and kind of how that fits within a team environment. And then, so Gallup actually shows graduates who are engaged in campus activities are 1.6 times more likely to report higher well-being—maybe twice as likely, or it does say twice as likely to feel connected to their institution.
So we're doing more the Clifton strengths here. UNL has had the platform for many years. At UNK, we're really developing that, and not only for our students, but our staff and faculty of what that looks like.
Dominic (18:16)
Yeah. I think that highlights two really interesting things. One is that knowing the data is really important. Just understanding what is the effect of getting involved and how can that benefit everyone throughout their student journey. So I think that's one category. The other category is actually delivering that messaging to the students. You know, when they get on campus, say, "Look, this isn't just made up. We actually have numbers that say, if you can get involved, you have a great chance of succeeding. And so we really encourage you to take advantage of all of our opportunities."
So I think two important things you've highlighted and may go into my next question, is in the space right now, where do you see the opportunity? Where do you see room for growth? Where do you see things that we maybe haven't been looking at, but might be something that we should start exploring in the next couple of years?
Renae (19:05 — Future Opportunities & AI in Higher Education)
For sure, for sure. I know there's lots of conversation around, you know, post-pandemic and rebounding with in-person instruction. I feel like that is returning. I feel students have engaged—they see a value. I think the change is, it's how students engage. They are drawn more, get to the hands-on, more career-focused learning opportunities.
They rely heavily on digital tools. We're seeing more, maybe a little bit more parental involvement. But our work is to create that authentic, meaningful experience. And look, we have to kind of in the back of our mind think about how AI is going to affect all of us in higher education as well, keeping up with the trends there. The demand for technical and digital literacy is there, especially in the AI space, data analytics, industry-specific tools towards data analytics, and now how that will prepare them for the evolving career landscape. I think we have to be thinking about that evolving career landscape in higher education. And we think about that here at student engagement as well, and a focus on that. AI is always kind of like lurking back here, but I think we just have to, you know, sit up straight and pay attention.
Dominic (20:27)
Where do you think the sentiment is right now on AI? Do you think we're leaning as a collective towards adopting? Are we still sort of trying to maybe discover or learn about it before we jump in? Where is your sentiment meter for everyone?
Renae (20:42)
I think it's adopting. I really do. I think, you know, I see on our campus very active, engaged conversations around AI from different departments across campus. And I think it's very healthy conversations, knowing it's here to stay, how we leverage it, how we work with it, how we use it for our benefit in higher education, how our students are too. I don't think it behooves us in higher ed to ignore it because it's here.
So how work with it to be seen, I think. But I'm actually more optimistic about it.
Dominic (21:14)
Fantastic. Yeah, that's great to hear. I want to kind of bring things back a little bit to you. If you were starting your career and student engagement all over again, what would you tell yourself knowing everything you know now, maybe just having the experience that you do? What's some advice you'd give your younger self?
Renae (21:32 — Advice to Younger Self: Connection & Impact)
Oh my gosh, yes, a lot. I think I was really involved in college, but this is pre-cell phones, right? And I talked to my students in my class about this. I teach a university foundations course to first-year students and they look at me when I said, "No cell phones, and the phones were connected to a cord." So we were forced, right? The Gen Xers of the world—that's me. We're forced to go out and make friends and meet people. So that sense of belonging and that organic leadership development was there, right?
I think it's a conversation right now of maybe finding a way to connect face-to-face and getting off social media. Obviously social media is here to stay and there's a lot of benefits to it, but kind of finding that space where that personal connection comes back, that face-to-face. I think we're gonna get there. I think we are there. I think students kind of maybe crave that.
I think for me, my younger self would also just know that just having the confidence to try new things—and that's okay. And just knowing that I can make an impact in my corner of the world, however small it is. Just trying to make an impact every day with the people around me, whether it's my staff or students. It's kind of how I show up every day for staff and students and within the student affairs space. So I think that's kind of it. It's just kind of connecting and just knowing that no matter what we're doing, if it's outside sales and meeting somebody or if it's higher education, we can make an impact.
And in today's world and today's culture, I think we're going to need more of that, right? Understanding, finding some common ground and reaching out across difference.
Dominic (23:26)
I couldn't agree more. And I think in this space, you're in a position to impact so many people just naturally. And sometimes whether you think it or not, they're looking for that, you know, they're looking for the impact. And so yeah, I think that's a great call out. Great call out.
I want to know a little bit more just about you so people can get to know you. I call this part "Beyond the Job." What are some surprising things that people don't know about you?
Renae (23:37 — Beyond the Job: Personal Life & Passions)
Oh my goodness gracious. Well, we—my husband and I are empty nesters and I do have a grandson. I have a 16-month-old today, 16-year-old grandson, Miles, who lives in Omaha. I tell you what, we're kind of in that space where my husband and I talk about this. This is the busiest we've been in our careers. And we're kind of in that grandparent mode and then aging parent mode, you know, 80, 85-year-old parents.
God, we're so thrilled that they're all, you know, they're with us, but kind of we're in that space, but for us, we just have to kind of take a little bit of pause and our pause is going to live music, live concerts. Anytime there's something Omaha or in the area, like Stone Temple Pilots is coming to Kearney. I know, right? I cannot be more excited. And people are telling me, "It's not the original Stone." I'm like, "I don't care. I'm still going."
Yeah, those kinds of things where we love live music, we love to kind of explore. We love to travel every summer. We literally look at the map and just go, "Okay, we're gonna check out this corner of America we haven't been and explored." And we go and talk to people in those, like, "What's going on?" So we spent a week in Nashville and Memphis and went to some different places and just met, you know, the local flavor, the local breweries. That's just, that's kind of our thing. Yeah.
Dominic (25:19)
That's incredible. And it's a great time to do it. I think it's just like, you know, you're an empty nester. It's perfect. Like you don't have to worry about anyone. I don't know if you have a dog, but I know that dogs can be one logistic you sometimes have to figure out, but that is incredible.
And what about somebody in the space or maybe in life that just inspires you and has inspired you throughout your journey, somebody that you look up to?
Renae (25:32)
Oh my gosh, I've had some wonderful mentors along the way. I'll never forget my first—one of my first bosses was at a TV station in Sioux City, Iowa. And he was just so inspiring in the fact that he was just very optimistic and always kind of started the day with a really fun quote, always started things off in meetings with, "What's going on in our lives?" finding ways to connect as humans and we were in sales. So it wasn't just so numbers or, you know, focused on making quota. It was just that human interest level that I always thought was really cool.
And I have kind of taken that with me as I've become a director and managing people. Like it is like, "Let's check in with each other on a regular basis." This and see how we're doing. You know, and I think that's important.
Dominic (26:41)
That's amazing. Yeah, I resonate a lot with that. I think just, you know, even in the, whether you kick a meeting off in the week with just a check-in on how the weekend went, you know, just, I think people really resonate—especially now people are looking for interaction, you know, understanding what's going on in people's lives. That's amazing. I think that can have a profound impact on people. So yeah, that's great.
My last question is, who would you like to tap to join me in the lounge next?
Renae (26:58)
Oh gosh, I love that. I think my counterparts at our flagship UNL, Veronica Reapy, counterpart at UNL, I think would be wonderful. She's been in higher education a lot longer than me. I think too, our assistant director of student family transitions right across the hallway from me, DJ Hardwick. He is a new professional, but he's making such an impact at UNK, had a very successful orientation. He's very data-driven in his mind, but in his approach, I think he would be wonderful as well.
Colleagues and partners across the university too, there are several that I can think of that are just making impact every day with students and what they do. They're very passionate about what they do.
Dominic (27:53)
Amazing. I'll get in touch. I would love to have them. I want to give you an opportunity just to shout out any work you're doing, research you're working on, maybe a project, a book. How can people follow what you're doing?
Renae (28:04)
Sure, sure. Our unk.edu website—Look Up Student Engagement and Leadership—it kind of tells the story a little bit about our office and who we are. Our leadership track of the title of our office, we brought in Lead the Herd. So we're doing a financial wellness literacy course. It's not a course, it's free to all college students. And we partnered with a local bank to do that. So it's been well received. We'd heard from college students, "We just wanna know budget management, debt management, how to balance a checkbook." I mean, things like that.
So we brought that in, we kicked it off last week and it's been going really well. It's one of our offerings in our leadership track that we were really excited to bring on this semester.
Dominic (28:48)
It's incredible. Well, thank you so much, Renae. This has been insightful. And I think a lot of people will find a lot of value in hearing your journey and some of the advice you've had for your younger self among sort of finding the trends that we were talking about. So thank you so much for being here. And for those of you who want to get in touch with Renae, again, just drop us an email, dominic@lounge.live. We'll forward them along and we can also just connect you. So thanks so much, Renae. Have a great one.
Renae (29:13)
Thank you.
Join us In the Lounge as we sit down with Renee Zimmer – Director of Student Engagement and Leadership at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. We explore her unique journey from outside sales and tech to higher education, and how her diverse background shapes her approach to student affairs. Renee shares insights on post-COVID changes in student engagement, the power of data-driven programming, and why smaller, authentic experiences are resonating with today's students. From DIY events to financial literacy programs, discover how she's creating meaningful connections and preparing students for an evolving career landscape. Learn about her advice for career changers entering higher education and her perspective on building impactful student experiences in today's rapidly changing world.
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Timestamps
00:00 — Intro
01:21 — Journey into Higher Education
08:28 — Post-COVID Changes in Student Engagement
10:52 — What's Working: DIY Events & Holistic Support
12:54 — Finding Hidden Communities & Supporting New Organizations
15:36 — The Data Behind Student Engagement Success
19:05 — Future Opportunities & AI in Higher Education
21:32 — Advice to Younger Self: Connection & Impact
23:37 — Beyond the Job: Personal Life & Passions
Transcript
In the Lounge with Renae Zimmer
Dominic (00:11)
Hi everyone, and welcome back to "In the Lounge." On this podcast, we meet with experts from higher education fields to share ideas, learn from their experiences, talk about new trends we're seeing, and get an unseen perspective of what's going on in the space. If you have any questions for my guests today, please just send an email and we'll get them over to her. My email is dominic@lounge.live.
Today we're in the lounge with Renae Zimmer. Renae is Director of Student Engagement and Leadership at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She's been at the university for over six years, serving in a variety of roles within student affairs. Before that, she was a speaker, supporter, and advocate for mental health awareness as the co-founder of the nonprofit Central Nebraska LOSS Team, which focused on suicide prevention and outreach.
She has almost a decade of experience in software and IT, serving as account executive for Five9 and Spectrum. She is a certified student affairs educator. She was a board member of the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of the board of directors of the Nebraska Statewide Suicide Prevention Coalition. Renae, welcome. Thanks for joining me.
Renae (01:09)
Thank you so much for having me.
Dominic (01:12)
So you fall into the category of someone with a very interesting and diverse background with a wide breadth of experiences. How did you find your way into student affairs? What was that journey like?
Renae (01:21 — Journey from Sales to Higher Education)
Yeah, very good question. So my journey took a very different trajectory than most. I started out as a graduate of Kearney State College from a small town in Nebraska. I got my undergrad degree in journalism and public relations. And then from there, I went into advertising sales and tech sales—really in outside sales and the private sector for several years before higher education.
I loved the sales world. I loved getting out of the office and going into different businesses and meeting them and hearing their stories. But after a while of doing outside sales, I never thought higher education would be my path, but I was just kind of gravitated to it when I saw a job application for a leadership position in a student engagement office. I thought, "Gosh, to be able to take those skill sets of what I learned in outside in the private sector into student to help students."
So that's when I dug into it. And I got a job here at the University of Nebraska at Kearney—my alma mater—in 2018. I earned my master's degree at the age of 50, which is maybe a little unusual too. So it just really changed a lot for me. I never thought that would be possible, but that really opened a door for me to take on the director role in this department, in the student engagement department at UNK.
And I've been able to, again, take my career experiences and use them to make a difference with students. That marketing background has served me well in this capacity with the tons of event planning that we do. But also more than anything—it's not necessarily about me—but I've been able to create that meaningful experience, learning to understand the cognitive and developmental and the behavioral aspects of a college student, that 18 to 21-year-old, and really the "why" behind how they think and grow and how they engage. So that's it, kind of in a nutshell.
Dominic (03:26)
That's amazing. Did you, when you discovered this kind of world, was it something that you had been aware of prior to kind of stumbling upon it, or was it something that was totally new and it just intrigued you?
Renae (03:40)
Yeah, I was aware of it because back when I was going to college here—my undergrad—I was the president of the Student Activities Council. And I lived that world and I thought, "Hmm, programming, event planning, marketing, public relations, it all kind of fits." So it made sense to go back and really didn't think it was possible to really get into higher education. I had applied for a couple of jobs at the university, but it just seemed to be in my wheelhouse of what I was comfortable with, what I knew.
A little scared, to be honest with you, to work with college students. Like, "My gosh, are they going to want to listen to somebody like me? Are they going to want to take advice?" But it's really just more about connecting with them and listening to them, supporting them. So all those nerves, you know, after the first year or so, I realized that I had a place.
You know, I had a little bit of imposter syndrome because I didn't come from that higher ed background. So I dove right into that master's program right away and learned all the things, but I still feel like, gosh, it was such a great career move for me and such a great career path.
Dominic (04:51)
Would you say that the resources are there for you if you are someone who maybe hasn't had the experience or the foundation for it? Are they there once you get in to kind of teach you what you need to know, help support you, and make sure that you are kind of on a path for success?
Renae (05:07)
I feel like the foundation was there for me. My master's program was really very counseling-based. And I have students in and out of my office all the time. And that counseling background has served me well. I'm not a licensed mental health counselor, but the higher education student affairs track here at the university—that's where my master's program was—very counseling-based, and it has served me well in combination with planning events, planning concerts, small events to large-scale events, paying attention to small details in the programming has served me well, yeah.
Dominic (05:41)
Amazing. And you've now been in this space—correct me if I'm wrong—but over six years, is that right? Seven years?
Renae (05:47)
Yes, I started late in 2018 in that leadership position in this office. And then in 2021, an opportunity came up for me—late 2021, early 2022—to fill the director role in this office. So at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Student Engagement and Leadership, we oversee fraternity/sorority life, student government, LPAC—which is the main programming board—and then Student Family Transitions, which is our orientation arm.
So we're in the hub, the campus living room, the Nebraska Student Union—very active. The main dining hall is in this building. We're the main student ID office. So there's a lot of activity that's going on. Most recently, in the last couple of weeks, the Intercultural Engagement and Leadership Office has merged with our office. So we are supporting additional student organizations as well as the ones that we are legacy organizations.
Dominic (06:46)
You mentioned something there really interesting, which I've seen at every campus I've visited so far. The location of the sort of student engagement office or space is so critical to how you connect with students and how accessible it is when you're either going about your day-to-day, having lunch, or just passing by, you know, being able to see what's going on. And I always find that to be something that we probably don't talk enough about, but it is so important in understanding sort of—can you maybe shift where the location is to make that even better potentially?
Renae (07:18)
Yeah, I honestly—right, it works for us. It's where students feel connected. We have a space where it looks like a living room structure. We kind of moved our conference table across the hallway, so it's structured for a very relaxed setting. My office, strategically, is right out in the middle of everything, so I can see students coming and going, and my door is open, so they have a direct dotted line to my office. And that's by design, right? That's by design. If I need to have a private meeting, I close the door, but they know that they come in, ask questions. It's a real opportunity to help leaders, students in those capacities, whether it's LPAC or student government, grow and lead, make them feel like they belong, have a place here.
Dominic (08:07)
Yeah. And you said you got started just before or just around 2018. A lot has happened since 2018. How do you think the world of student engagement has changed in those years? What has changed since you started? What do you think are trends or things that have just completely flipped potentially?
Renae (08:28 — Post-COVID Changes in Student Engagement)
Right. Well, I think, you know, post-COVID—now, five years out—I think students are responding to one-on-one support, maybe more smaller, low-key events or DIY-style events they can engage in that makes it feel manageable and authentic, smaller groups. And look, I think this really, at the end of the day, in a four-year institution—think college students, not all, I'll say some, are looking for that college experience that balances maybe their rigorous academic life challenges with meaningful social interactions for personal growth.
I see a trend of students that are working really, really hard outside of school. They're working part-time jobs, sometimes full-time jobs, on campus, off campus. And so navigating those changes are really, really crucial to help them grow. I also feel like where they're at now is they're asking for stability. They want stability financially, socially, and academically. And with more first-generation students and with more diverse backgrounds, the resources that help them succeed are right here—right here. They just have to go find it, right? We communicate it to them, we let them know.
And so post-COVID too, we're seeing students kind of struggle with some anxieties and mental health, looking for ways to cope. And I think we're making some strides. And so yeah, there's a lot that has changed post-COVID with this college student of today, right? They're very savvy and they want those skill sets and they want to launch those careers with the confidence that they have everything that they need, the tools in their toolbox.
Dominic (10:17)
So if we look ahead and try to inform kind of what's been going on now to the practice in the future, I want to dissect that a little bit more in terms of what seems to be working. Can you parse out a little bit what is working for you right now? What seems to be working across the space? What are students really responding to well? You mentioned sort of one-on-one support and maybe getting more detailed and technical with them and customizing support for them. What about in terms of sort of organization and helping activities and events—what seems to be working there?
Renae (10:52 — What's Working: DIY Events & Holistic Support)
Yeah, no, I think we are seeing students engaged. They're coming to events. They're—again, maybe the smaller, more intimate DIY make-and-take events are more popular than a large group. But we're able to kind of flip—you know, LPAC kind of flipped the script last year and kind of organized and created more of those DIY button-making and, you know, artistic-type events. And that's where we're seeing the draw.
And I think at the end of the day, the students are looking for in a four-year institution more than a degree. They're looking for holistic, supportive college experience. Their basic needs are met—affordable housing, reliable access to food, strong mental health support systems. But beyond that, they're seeking a robust career development that goes beyond the classroom. And I think that's where we shine here by offering the programs and the support systems that are beyond the classroom, that co-curricular experience and that community engagement.
Dominic (11:51)
Not different than life outside of college. I think a lot of that resonates with people right now all over the world just looking for strong career growth and support. Everything's become more challenging. And so I think we can look at the students and say, "We're basically preparing them for the real world," and that's the best way to do it. So yeah, really interesting.
And then talking about what they need the most—I think that I see a lot of trends right now of trying to put more events on, get as many people engaged as possible. But we talked on another episode of our podcast about trying to find the students that aren't being necessarily involved in a way that we can actually track or see analytics about. But maybe there are communities that are very private. Maybe there are a chess club that isn't necessarily connected to the university? How can we sort of encourage that, get students working together, joining organizations that we don't maybe know about yet, but just our ways to socialize and be creative, maybe start a fun startup on campus?
Renae (12:54 — Finding Hidden Communities & Supporting New Organizations)
For sure, and we see that a lot. We've been seeing very creative recognized student organizations forming that are very authentic to where the students are at. A crochet club, an astronomy club—I mean, smaller groups that are very interest-focused, but there's other opportunities than clubs and organizations. There's the internships, or there's maybe an opportunity to do undergrad research that could be a very, you know, a one-on-one with a faculty member that could be very impactful.
And it doesn't have to be a leadership program where a student that may not be very connected to campus has to join a club and all of a sudden, boom, you're club president—not at all. We encourage students to kind of come in and just kind of see. I talk to students a lot about just go to a student government meeting. If you are wanting to make a difference in the world, talk about efficacy—that's where it starts. And just show up to a student government meeting and just see how it's run. Show up to a LPAC meeting and just kind of see how it's run. Try it a couple times and see if it's for you.
And I think that is really impactful once you kind of get them out of their comfort zone a little bit and connect a little bit. They kind of see that there's a whole different world around, but we want to offer the personalized flexible learning experiences for students as well and have that as an option.
Dominic (14:23)
And do you think making it feel easy to join or maybe feel even easy to create an organization is an important part of how student engagement runs and functions to that end?
Renae (14:35)
Yeah, yeah, we're very much hands-on with recognized student organizations here. We have over 150 at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. So we're very much about help train them—not only that, making sure we're training those advisors, talking about sustainability of their club. You know, we want that crochet club and that astronomy club to live on for several years. Yeah, what does that look like? Recruiting new members, maybe there's a fundraising component in there that we can help them with in getting some funding opportunities to apply for funding through student government is there too. So those are conversations that are ongoing as well and offering that support.
Dominic (15:12)
Yeah, that's good. Fantastic. If we zoom out a little bit, I like to identify trends because I think there can be a lot of nervousness around the space right now, but I think I like to look towards the positive. And I was curious, what do you see, broadly speaking, are some of the positives in the space right now, maybe some things that excite you about student engagement and just student life in general?
Renae (15:36 — The Data Behind Student Engagement Success)
Yeah, well, I'm excited. I kind of—I research as well and I like data. I kind of go back to some of my resources. The National Survey of Student Engagement, NSSE, had a recent survey—I think it was 2024—where students are highly engaged in co-curricular activities or 17% more likely to persist into their second year. So we really out of the gate—since our office oversees the orientation—we talk to those first-year students coming in about the importance of getting involved and getting engaged because we know that will—the percentage of that group of students, that cohort, they'll persist not only into their second year but to graduation and really that's our end game, right? We get them here, we educate them, we want to see them persist on to—
The Association of American Colleges and Universities, AAC&U, reports that students involved in leadership and experiential learning are 25% more likely to report feeling prepared for their careers. So, and whether that's a club or organization, and I talk to students a lot about when you're building your resume, I think future employers—they might want to see your GPA. That might be a possibility, but I think they want to also see the skill sets that you learned, your experiential learning, the co-curricular experiences you had, and what kind of skill development that you learned from that.
We talk about Gallup. I'm a certified Gallup Strengths Coach as well, and Gallup had another survey that had—
Dominic (17:05)
For those that don't know, can you explain what Gallup is?
Renae (17:09)
So yeah, Gallup actually—the CliftonStrengths actually originated at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. So it started there. The CliftonStrengths Institute is there at our mothership campus, if you will, at UNL. And it's a strengths-based profiling. You could profile your top 30 strengths down to your top five.
And it's very impactful. It's about talent. It's about using your talent and using your strengths to better your organization, your club, and kind of how that fits within a team environment. And then, so Gallup actually shows graduates who are engaged in campus activities are 1.6 times more likely to report higher well-being—maybe twice as likely, or it does say twice as likely to feel connected to their institution.
So we're doing more the Clifton strengths here. UNL has had the platform for many years. At UNK, we're really developing that, and not only for our students, but our staff and faculty of what that looks like.
Dominic (18:16)
Yeah. I think that highlights two really interesting things. One is that knowing the data is really important. Just understanding what is the effect of getting involved and how can that benefit everyone throughout their student journey. So I think that's one category. The other category is actually delivering that messaging to the students. You know, when they get on campus, say, "Look, this isn't just made up. We actually have numbers that say, if you can get involved, you have a great chance of succeeding. And so we really encourage you to take advantage of all of our opportunities."
So I think two important things you've highlighted and may go into my next question, is in the space right now, where do you see the opportunity? Where do you see room for growth? Where do you see things that we maybe haven't been looking at, but might be something that we should start exploring in the next couple of years?
Renae (19:05 — Future Opportunities & AI in Higher Education)
For sure, for sure. I know there's lots of conversation around, you know, post-pandemic and rebounding with in-person instruction. I feel like that is returning. I feel students have engaged—they see a value. I think the change is, it's how students engage. They are drawn more, get to the hands-on, more career-focused learning opportunities.
They rely heavily on digital tools. We're seeing more, maybe a little bit more parental involvement. But our work is to create that authentic, meaningful experience. And look, we have to kind of in the back of our mind think about how AI is going to affect all of us in higher education as well, keeping up with the trends there. The demand for technical and digital literacy is there, especially in the AI space, data analytics, industry-specific tools towards data analytics, and now how that will prepare them for the evolving career landscape. I think we have to be thinking about that evolving career landscape in higher education. And we think about that here at student engagement as well, and a focus on that. AI is always kind of like lurking back here, but I think we just have to, you know, sit up straight and pay attention.
Dominic (20:27)
Where do you think the sentiment is right now on AI? Do you think we're leaning as a collective towards adopting? Are we still sort of trying to maybe discover or learn about it before we jump in? Where is your sentiment meter for everyone?
Renae (20:42)
I think it's adopting. I really do. I think, you know, I see on our campus very active, engaged conversations around AI from different departments across campus. And I think it's very healthy conversations, knowing it's here to stay, how we leverage it, how we work with it, how we use it for our benefit in higher education, how our students are too. I don't think it behooves us in higher ed to ignore it because it's here.
So how work with it to be seen, I think. But I'm actually more optimistic about it.
Dominic (21:14)
Fantastic. Yeah, that's great to hear. I want to kind of bring things back a little bit to you. If you were starting your career and student engagement all over again, what would you tell yourself knowing everything you know now, maybe just having the experience that you do? What's some advice you'd give your younger self?
Renae (21:32 — Advice to Younger Self: Connection & Impact)
Oh my gosh, yes, a lot. I think I was really involved in college, but this is pre-cell phones, right? And I talked to my students in my class about this. I teach a university foundations course to first-year students and they look at me when I said, "No cell phones, and the phones were connected to a cord." So we were forced, right? The Gen Xers of the world—that's me. We're forced to go out and make friends and meet people. So that sense of belonging and that organic leadership development was there, right?
I think it's a conversation right now of maybe finding a way to connect face-to-face and getting off social media. Obviously social media is here to stay and there's a lot of benefits to it, but kind of finding that space where that personal connection comes back, that face-to-face. I think we're gonna get there. I think we are there. I think students kind of maybe crave that.
I think for me, my younger self would also just know that just having the confidence to try new things—and that's okay. And just knowing that I can make an impact in my corner of the world, however small it is. Just trying to make an impact every day with the people around me, whether it's my staff or students. It's kind of how I show up every day for staff and students and within the student affairs space. So I think that's kind of it. It's just kind of connecting and just knowing that no matter what we're doing, if it's outside sales and meeting somebody or if it's higher education, we can make an impact.
And in today's world and today's culture, I think we're going to need more of that, right? Understanding, finding some common ground and reaching out across difference.
Dominic (23:26)
I couldn't agree more. And I think in this space, you're in a position to impact so many people just naturally. And sometimes whether you think it or not, they're looking for that, you know, they're looking for the impact. And so yeah, I think that's a great call out. Great call out.
I want to know a little bit more just about you so people can get to know you. I call this part "Beyond the Job." What are some surprising things that people don't know about you?
Renae (23:37 — Beyond the Job: Personal Life & Passions)
Oh my goodness gracious. Well, we—my husband and I are empty nesters and I do have a grandson. I have a 16-month-old today, 16-year-old grandson, Miles, who lives in Omaha. I tell you what, we're kind of in that space where my husband and I talk about this. This is the busiest we've been in our careers. And we're kind of in that grandparent mode and then aging parent mode, you know, 80, 85-year-old parents.
God, we're so thrilled that they're all, you know, they're with us, but kind of we're in that space, but for us, we just have to kind of take a little bit of pause and our pause is going to live music, live concerts. Anytime there's something Omaha or in the area, like Stone Temple Pilots is coming to Kearney. I know, right? I cannot be more excited. And people are telling me, "It's not the original Stone." I'm like, "I don't care. I'm still going."
Yeah, those kinds of things where we love live music, we love to kind of explore. We love to travel every summer. We literally look at the map and just go, "Okay, we're gonna check out this corner of America we haven't been and explored." And we go and talk to people in those, like, "What's going on?" So we spent a week in Nashville and Memphis and went to some different places and just met, you know, the local flavor, the local breweries. That's just, that's kind of our thing. Yeah.
Dominic (25:19)
That's incredible. And it's a great time to do it. I think it's just like, you know, you're an empty nester. It's perfect. Like you don't have to worry about anyone. I don't know if you have a dog, but I know that dogs can be one logistic you sometimes have to figure out, but that is incredible.
And what about somebody in the space or maybe in life that just inspires you and has inspired you throughout your journey, somebody that you look up to?
Renae (25:32)
Oh my gosh, I've had some wonderful mentors along the way. I'll never forget my first—one of my first bosses was at a TV station in Sioux City, Iowa. And he was just so inspiring in the fact that he was just very optimistic and always kind of started the day with a really fun quote, always started things off in meetings with, "What's going on in our lives?" finding ways to connect as humans and we were in sales. So it wasn't just so numbers or, you know, focused on making quota. It was just that human interest level that I always thought was really cool.
And I have kind of taken that with me as I've become a director and managing people. Like it is like, "Let's check in with each other on a regular basis." This and see how we're doing. You know, and I think that's important.
Dominic (26:41)
That's amazing. Yeah, I resonate a lot with that. I think just, you know, even in the, whether you kick a meeting off in the week with just a check-in on how the weekend went, you know, just, I think people really resonate—especially now people are looking for interaction, you know, understanding what's going on in people's lives. That's amazing. I think that can have a profound impact on people. So yeah, that's great.
My last question is, who would you like to tap to join me in the lounge next?
Renae (26:58)
Oh gosh, I love that. I think my counterparts at our flagship UNL, Veronica Reapy, counterpart at UNL, I think would be wonderful. She's been in higher education a lot longer than me. I think too, our assistant director of student family transitions right across the hallway from me, DJ Hardwick. He is a new professional, but he's making such an impact at UNK, had a very successful orientation. He's very data-driven in his mind, but in his approach, I think he would be wonderful as well.
Colleagues and partners across the university too, there are several that I can think of that are just making impact every day with students and what they do. They're very passionate about what they do.
Dominic (27:53)
Amazing. I'll get in touch. I would love to have them. I want to give you an opportunity just to shout out any work you're doing, research you're working on, maybe a project, a book. How can people follow what you're doing?
Renae (28:04)
Sure, sure. Our unk.edu website—Look Up Student Engagement and Leadership—it kind of tells the story a little bit about our office and who we are. Our leadership track of the title of our office, we brought in Lead the Herd. So we're doing a financial wellness literacy course. It's not a course, it's free to all college students. And we partnered with a local bank to do that. So it's been well received. We'd heard from college students, "We just wanna know budget management, debt management, how to balance a checkbook." I mean, things like that.
So we brought that in, we kicked it off last week and it's been going really well. It's one of our offerings in our leadership track that we were really excited to bring on this semester.
Dominic (28:48)
It's incredible. Well, thank you so much, Renae. This has been insightful. And I think a lot of people will find a lot of value in hearing your journey and some of the advice you've had for your younger self among sort of finding the trends that we were talking about. So thank you so much for being here. And for those of you who want to get in touch with Renae, again, just drop us an email, dominic@lounge.live. We'll forward them along and we can also just connect you. So thanks so much, Renae. Have a great one.
Renae (29:13)
Thank you.
Transcript
In the Lounge with Renae Zimmer
Dominic (00:11)
Hi everyone, and welcome back to "In the Lounge." On this podcast, we meet with experts from higher education fields to share ideas, learn from their experiences, talk about new trends we're seeing, and get an unseen perspective of what's going on in the space. If you have any questions for my guests today, please just send an email and we'll get them over to her. My email is dominic@lounge.live.
Today we're in the lounge with Renae Zimmer. Renae is Director of Student Engagement and Leadership at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She's been at the university for over six years, serving in a variety of roles within student affairs. Before that, she was a speaker, supporter, and advocate for mental health awareness as the co-founder of the nonprofit Central Nebraska LOSS Team, which focused on suicide prevention and outreach.
She has almost a decade of experience in software and IT, serving as account executive for Five9 and Spectrum. She is a certified student affairs educator. She was a board member of the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of the board of directors of the Nebraska Statewide Suicide Prevention Coalition. Renae, welcome. Thanks for joining me.
Renae (01:09)
Thank you so much for having me.
Dominic (01:12)
So you fall into the category of someone with a very interesting and diverse background with a wide breadth of experiences. How did you find your way into student affairs? What was that journey like?
Renae (01:21 — Journey from Sales to Higher Education)
Yeah, very good question. So my journey took a very different trajectory than most. I started out as a graduate of Kearney State College from a small town in Nebraska. I got my undergrad degree in journalism and public relations. And then from there, I went into advertising sales and tech sales—really in outside sales and the private sector for several years before higher education.
I loved the sales world. I loved getting out of the office and going into different businesses and meeting them and hearing their stories. But after a while of doing outside sales, I never thought higher education would be my path, but I was just kind of gravitated to it when I saw a job application for a leadership position in a student engagement office. I thought, "Gosh, to be able to take those skill sets of what I learned in outside in the private sector into student to help students."
So that's when I dug into it. And I got a job here at the University of Nebraska at Kearney—my alma mater—in 2018. I earned my master's degree at the age of 50, which is maybe a little unusual too. So it just really changed a lot for me. I never thought that would be possible, but that really opened a door for me to take on the director role in this department, in the student engagement department at UNK.
And I've been able to, again, take my career experiences and use them to make a difference with students. That marketing background has served me well in this capacity with the tons of event planning that we do. But also more than anything—it's not necessarily about me—but I've been able to create that meaningful experience, learning to understand the cognitive and developmental and the behavioral aspects of a college student, that 18 to 21-year-old, and really the "why" behind how they think and grow and how they engage. So that's it, kind of in a nutshell.
Dominic (03:26)
That's amazing. Did you, when you discovered this kind of world, was it something that you had been aware of prior to kind of stumbling upon it, or was it something that was totally new and it just intrigued you?
Renae (03:40)
Yeah, I was aware of it because back when I was going to college here—my undergrad—I was the president of the Student Activities Council. And I lived that world and I thought, "Hmm, programming, event planning, marketing, public relations, it all kind of fits." So it made sense to go back and really didn't think it was possible to really get into higher education. I had applied for a couple of jobs at the university, but it just seemed to be in my wheelhouse of what I was comfortable with, what I knew.
A little scared, to be honest with you, to work with college students. Like, "My gosh, are they going to want to listen to somebody like me? Are they going to want to take advice?" But it's really just more about connecting with them and listening to them, supporting them. So all those nerves, you know, after the first year or so, I realized that I had a place.
You know, I had a little bit of imposter syndrome because I didn't come from that higher ed background. So I dove right into that master's program right away and learned all the things, but I still feel like, gosh, it was such a great career move for me and such a great career path.
Dominic (04:51)
Would you say that the resources are there for you if you are someone who maybe hasn't had the experience or the foundation for it? Are they there once you get in to kind of teach you what you need to know, help support you, and make sure that you are kind of on a path for success?
Renae (05:07)
I feel like the foundation was there for me. My master's program was really very counseling-based. And I have students in and out of my office all the time. And that counseling background has served me well. I'm not a licensed mental health counselor, but the higher education student affairs track here at the university—that's where my master's program was—very counseling-based, and it has served me well in combination with planning events, planning concerts, small events to large-scale events, paying attention to small details in the programming has served me well, yeah.
Dominic (05:41)
Amazing. And you've now been in this space—correct me if I'm wrong—but over six years, is that right? Seven years?
Renae (05:47)
Yes, I started late in 2018 in that leadership position in this office. And then in 2021, an opportunity came up for me—late 2021, early 2022—to fill the director role in this office. So at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Student Engagement and Leadership, we oversee fraternity/sorority life, student government, LPAC—which is the main programming board—and then Student Family Transitions, which is our orientation arm.
So we're in the hub, the campus living room, the Nebraska Student Union—very active. The main dining hall is in this building. We're the main student ID office. So there's a lot of activity that's going on. Most recently, in the last couple of weeks, the Intercultural Engagement and Leadership Office has merged with our office. So we are supporting additional student organizations as well as the ones that we are legacy organizations.
Dominic (06:46)
You mentioned something there really interesting, which I've seen at every campus I've visited so far. The location of the sort of student engagement office or space is so critical to how you connect with students and how accessible it is when you're either going about your day-to-day, having lunch, or just passing by, you know, being able to see what's going on. And I always find that to be something that we probably don't talk enough about, but it is so important in understanding sort of—can you maybe shift where the location is to make that even better potentially?
Renae (07:18)
Yeah, I honestly—right, it works for us. It's where students feel connected. We have a space where it looks like a living room structure. We kind of moved our conference table across the hallway, so it's structured for a very relaxed setting. My office, strategically, is right out in the middle of everything, so I can see students coming and going, and my door is open, so they have a direct dotted line to my office. And that's by design, right? That's by design. If I need to have a private meeting, I close the door, but they know that they come in, ask questions. It's a real opportunity to help leaders, students in those capacities, whether it's LPAC or student government, grow and lead, make them feel like they belong, have a place here.
Dominic (08:07)
Yeah. And you said you got started just before or just around 2018. A lot has happened since 2018. How do you think the world of student engagement has changed in those years? What has changed since you started? What do you think are trends or things that have just completely flipped potentially?
Renae (08:28 — Post-COVID Changes in Student Engagement)
Right. Well, I think, you know, post-COVID—now, five years out—I think students are responding to one-on-one support, maybe more smaller, low-key events or DIY-style events they can engage in that makes it feel manageable and authentic, smaller groups. And look, I think this really, at the end of the day, in a four-year institution—think college students, not all, I'll say some, are looking for that college experience that balances maybe their rigorous academic life challenges with meaningful social interactions for personal growth.
I see a trend of students that are working really, really hard outside of school. They're working part-time jobs, sometimes full-time jobs, on campus, off campus. And so navigating those changes are really, really crucial to help them grow. I also feel like where they're at now is they're asking for stability. They want stability financially, socially, and academically. And with more first-generation students and with more diverse backgrounds, the resources that help them succeed are right here—right here. They just have to go find it, right? We communicate it to them, we let them know.
And so post-COVID too, we're seeing students kind of struggle with some anxieties and mental health, looking for ways to cope. And I think we're making some strides. And so yeah, there's a lot that has changed post-COVID with this college student of today, right? They're very savvy and they want those skill sets and they want to launch those careers with the confidence that they have everything that they need, the tools in their toolbox.
Dominic (10:17)
So if we look ahead and try to inform kind of what's been going on now to the practice in the future, I want to dissect that a little bit more in terms of what seems to be working. Can you parse out a little bit what is working for you right now? What seems to be working across the space? What are students really responding to well? You mentioned sort of one-on-one support and maybe getting more detailed and technical with them and customizing support for them. What about in terms of sort of organization and helping activities and events—what seems to be working there?
Renae (10:52 — What's Working: DIY Events & Holistic Support)
Yeah, no, I think we are seeing students engaged. They're coming to events. They're—again, maybe the smaller, more intimate DIY make-and-take events are more popular than a large group. But we're able to kind of flip—you know, LPAC kind of flipped the script last year and kind of organized and created more of those DIY button-making and, you know, artistic-type events. And that's where we're seeing the draw.
And I think at the end of the day, the students are looking for in a four-year institution more than a degree. They're looking for holistic, supportive college experience. Their basic needs are met—affordable housing, reliable access to food, strong mental health support systems. But beyond that, they're seeking a robust career development that goes beyond the classroom. And I think that's where we shine here by offering the programs and the support systems that are beyond the classroom, that co-curricular experience and that community engagement.
Dominic (11:51)
Not different than life outside of college. I think a lot of that resonates with people right now all over the world just looking for strong career growth and support. Everything's become more challenging. And so I think we can look at the students and say, "We're basically preparing them for the real world," and that's the best way to do it. So yeah, really interesting.
And then talking about what they need the most—I think that I see a lot of trends right now of trying to put more events on, get as many people engaged as possible. But we talked on another episode of our podcast about trying to find the students that aren't being necessarily involved in a way that we can actually track or see analytics about. But maybe there are communities that are very private. Maybe there are a chess club that isn't necessarily connected to the university? How can we sort of encourage that, get students working together, joining organizations that we don't maybe know about yet, but just our ways to socialize and be creative, maybe start a fun startup on campus?
Renae (12:54 — Finding Hidden Communities & Supporting New Organizations)
For sure, and we see that a lot. We've been seeing very creative recognized student organizations forming that are very authentic to where the students are at. A crochet club, an astronomy club—I mean, smaller groups that are very interest-focused, but there's other opportunities than clubs and organizations. There's the internships, or there's maybe an opportunity to do undergrad research that could be a very, you know, a one-on-one with a faculty member that could be very impactful.
And it doesn't have to be a leadership program where a student that may not be very connected to campus has to join a club and all of a sudden, boom, you're club president—not at all. We encourage students to kind of come in and just kind of see. I talk to students a lot about just go to a student government meeting. If you are wanting to make a difference in the world, talk about efficacy—that's where it starts. And just show up to a student government meeting and just see how it's run. Show up to a LPAC meeting and just kind of see how it's run. Try it a couple times and see if it's for you.
And I think that is really impactful once you kind of get them out of their comfort zone a little bit and connect a little bit. They kind of see that there's a whole different world around, but we want to offer the personalized flexible learning experiences for students as well and have that as an option.
Dominic (14:23)
And do you think making it feel easy to join or maybe feel even easy to create an organization is an important part of how student engagement runs and functions to that end?
Renae (14:35)
Yeah, yeah, we're very much hands-on with recognized student organizations here. We have over 150 at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. So we're very much about help train them—not only that, making sure we're training those advisors, talking about sustainability of their club. You know, we want that crochet club and that astronomy club to live on for several years. Yeah, what does that look like? Recruiting new members, maybe there's a fundraising component in there that we can help them with in getting some funding opportunities to apply for funding through student government is there too. So those are conversations that are ongoing as well and offering that support.
Dominic (15:12)
Yeah, that's good. Fantastic. If we zoom out a little bit, I like to identify trends because I think there can be a lot of nervousness around the space right now, but I think I like to look towards the positive. And I was curious, what do you see, broadly speaking, are some of the positives in the space right now, maybe some things that excite you about student engagement and just student life in general?
Renae (15:36 — The Data Behind Student Engagement Success)
Yeah, well, I'm excited. I kind of—I research as well and I like data. I kind of go back to some of my resources. The National Survey of Student Engagement, NSSE, had a recent survey—I think it was 2024—where students are highly engaged in co-curricular activities or 17% more likely to persist into their second year. So we really out of the gate—since our office oversees the orientation—we talk to those first-year students coming in about the importance of getting involved and getting engaged because we know that will—the percentage of that group of students, that cohort, they'll persist not only into their second year but to graduation and really that's our end game, right? We get them here, we educate them, we want to see them persist on to—
The Association of American Colleges and Universities, AAC&U, reports that students involved in leadership and experiential learning are 25% more likely to report feeling prepared for their careers. So, and whether that's a club or organization, and I talk to students a lot about when you're building your resume, I think future employers—they might want to see your GPA. That might be a possibility, but I think they want to also see the skill sets that you learned, your experiential learning, the co-curricular experiences you had, and what kind of skill development that you learned from that.
We talk about Gallup. I'm a certified Gallup Strengths Coach as well, and Gallup had another survey that had—
Dominic (17:05)
For those that don't know, can you explain what Gallup is?
Renae (17:09)
So yeah, Gallup actually—the CliftonStrengths actually originated at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. So it started there. The CliftonStrengths Institute is there at our mothership campus, if you will, at UNL. And it's a strengths-based profiling. You could profile your top 30 strengths down to your top five.
And it's very impactful. It's about talent. It's about using your talent and using your strengths to better your organization, your club, and kind of how that fits within a team environment. And then, so Gallup actually shows graduates who are engaged in campus activities are 1.6 times more likely to report higher well-being—maybe twice as likely, or it does say twice as likely to feel connected to their institution.
So we're doing more the Clifton strengths here. UNL has had the platform for many years. At UNK, we're really developing that, and not only for our students, but our staff and faculty of what that looks like.
Dominic (18:16)
Yeah. I think that highlights two really interesting things. One is that knowing the data is really important. Just understanding what is the effect of getting involved and how can that benefit everyone throughout their student journey. So I think that's one category. The other category is actually delivering that messaging to the students. You know, when they get on campus, say, "Look, this isn't just made up. We actually have numbers that say, if you can get involved, you have a great chance of succeeding. And so we really encourage you to take advantage of all of our opportunities."
So I think two important things you've highlighted and may go into my next question, is in the space right now, where do you see the opportunity? Where do you see room for growth? Where do you see things that we maybe haven't been looking at, but might be something that we should start exploring in the next couple of years?
Renae (19:05 — Future Opportunities & AI in Higher Education)
For sure, for sure. I know there's lots of conversation around, you know, post-pandemic and rebounding with in-person instruction. I feel like that is returning. I feel students have engaged—they see a value. I think the change is, it's how students engage. They are drawn more, get to the hands-on, more career-focused learning opportunities.
They rely heavily on digital tools. We're seeing more, maybe a little bit more parental involvement. But our work is to create that authentic, meaningful experience. And look, we have to kind of in the back of our mind think about how AI is going to affect all of us in higher education as well, keeping up with the trends there. The demand for technical and digital literacy is there, especially in the AI space, data analytics, industry-specific tools towards data analytics, and now how that will prepare them for the evolving career landscape. I think we have to be thinking about that evolving career landscape in higher education. And we think about that here at student engagement as well, and a focus on that. AI is always kind of like lurking back here, but I think we just have to, you know, sit up straight and pay attention.
Dominic (20:27)
Where do you think the sentiment is right now on AI? Do you think we're leaning as a collective towards adopting? Are we still sort of trying to maybe discover or learn about it before we jump in? Where is your sentiment meter for everyone?
Renae (20:42)
I think it's adopting. I really do. I think, you know, I see on our campus very active, engaged conversations around AI from different departments across campus. And I think it's very healthy conversations, knowing it's here to stay, how we leverage it, how we work with it, how we use it for our benefit in higher education, how our students are too. I don't think it behooves us in higher ed to ignore it because it's here.
So how work with it to be seen, I think. But I'm actually more optimistic about it.
Dominic (21:14)
Fantastic. Yeah, that's great to hear. I want to kind of bring things back a little bit to you. If you were starting your career and student engagement all over again, what would you tell yourself knowing everything you know now, maybe just having the experience that you do? What's some advice you'd give your younger self?
Renae (21:32 — Advice to Younger Self: Connection & Impact)
Oh my gosh, yes, a lot. I think I was really involved in college, but this is pre-cell phones, right? And I talked to my students in my class about this. I teach a university foundations course to first-year students and they look at me when I said, "No cell phones, and the phones were connected to a cord." So we were forced, right? The Gen Xers of the world—that's me. We're forced to go out and make friends and meet people. So that sense of belonging and that organic leadership development was there, right?
I think it's a conversation right now of maybe finding a way to connect face-to-face and getting off social media. Obviously social media is here to stay and there's a lot of benefits to it, but kind of finding that space where that personal connection comes back, that face-to-face. I think we're gonna get there. I think we are there. I think students kind of maybe crave that.
I think for me, my younger self would also just know that just having the confidence to try new things—and that's okay. And just knowing that I can make an impact in my corner of the world, however small it is. Just trying to make an impact every day with the people around me, whether it's my staff or students. It's kind of how I show up every day for staff and students and within the student affairs space. So I think that's kind of it. It's just kind of connecting and just knowing that no matter what we're doing, if it's outside sales and meeting somebody or if it's higher education, we can make an impact.
And in today's world and today's culture, I think we're going to need more of that, right? Understanding, finding some common ground and reaching out across difference.
Dominic (23:26)
I couldn't agree more. And I think in this space, you're in a position to impact so many people just naturally. And sometimes whether you think it or not, they're looking for that, you know, they're looking for the impact. And so yeah, I think that's a great call out. Great call out.
I want to know a little bit more just about you so people can get to know you. I call this part "Beyond the Job." What are some surprising things that people don't know about you?
Renae (23:37 — Beyond the Job: Personal Life & Passions)
Oh my goodness gracious. Well, we—my husband and I are empty nesters and I do have a grandson. I have a 16-month-old today, 16-year-old grandson, Miles, who lives in Omaha. I tell you what, we're kind of in that space where my husband and I talk about this. This is the busiest we've been in our careers. And we're kind of in that grandparent mode and then aging parent mode, you know, 80, 85-year-old parents.
God, we're so thrilled that they're all, you know, they're with us, but kind of we're in that space, but for us, we just have to kind of take a little bit of pause and our pause is going to live music, live concerts. Anytime there's something Omaha or in the area, like Stone Temple Pilots is coming to Kearney. I know, right? I cannot be more excited. And people are telling me, "It's not the original Stone." I'm like, "I don't care. I'm still going."
Yeah, those kinds of things where we love live music, we love to kind of explore. We love to travel every summer. We literally look at the map and just go, "Okay, we're gonna check out this corner of America we haven't been and explored." And we go and talk to people in those, like, "What's going on?" So we spent a week in Nashville and Memphis and went to some different places and just met, you know, the local flavor, the local breweries. That's just, that's kind of our thing. Yeah.
Dominic (25:19)
That's incredible. And it's a great time to do it. I think it's just like, you know, you're an empty nester. It's perfect. Like you don't have to worry about anyone. I don't know if you have a dog, but I know that dogs can be one logistic you sometimes have to figure out, but that is incredible.
And what about somebody in the space or maybe in life that just inspires you and has inspired you throughout your journey, somebody that you look up to?
Renae (25:32)
Oh my gosh, I've had some wonderful mentors along the way. I'll never forget my first—one of my first bosses was at a TV station in Sioux City, Iowa. And he was just so inspiring in the fact that he was just very optimistic and always kind of started the day with a really fun quote, always started things off in meetings with, "What's going on in our lives?" finding ways to connect as humans and we were in sales. So it wasn't just so numbers or, you know, focused on making quota. It was just that human interest level that I always thought was really cool.
And I have kind of taken that with me as I've become a director and managing people. Like it is like, "Let's check in with each other on a regular basis." This and see how we're doing. You know, and I think that's important.
Dominic (26:41)
That's amazing. Yeah, I resonate a lot with that. I think just, you know, even in the, whether you kick a meeting off in the week with just a check-in on how the weekend went, you know, just, I think people really resonate—especially now people are looking for interaction, you know, understanding what's going on in people's lives. That's amazing. I think that can have a profound impact on people. So yeah, that's great.
My last question is, who would you like to tap to join me in the lounge next?
Renae (26:58)
Oh gosh, I love that. I think my counterparts at our flagship UNL, Veronica Reapy, counterpart at UNL, I think would be wonderful. She's been in higher education a lot longer than me. I think too, our assistant director of student family transitions right across the hallway from me, DJ Hardwick. He is a new professional, but he's making such an impact at UNK, had a very successful orientation. He's very data-driven in his mind, but in his approach, I think he would be wonderful as well.
Colleagues and partners across the university too, there are several that I can think of that are just making impact every day with students and what they do. They're very passionate about what they do.
Dominic (27:53)
Amazing. I'll get in touch. I would love to have them. I want to give you an opportunity just to shout out any work you're doing, research you're working on, maybe a project, a book. How can people follow what you're doing?
Renae (28:04)
Sure, sure. Our unk.edu website—Look Up Student Engagement and Leadership—it kind of tells the story a little bit about our office and who we are. Our leadership track of the title of our office, we brought in Lead the Herd. So we're doing a financial wellness literacy course. It's not a course, it's free to all college students. And we partnered with a local bank to do that. So it's been well received. We'd heard from college students, "We just wanna know budget management, debt management, how to balance a checkbook." I mean, things like that.
So we brought that in, we kicked it off last week and it's been going really well. It's one of our offerings in our leadership track that we were really excited to bring on this semester.
Dominic (28:48)
It's incredible. Well, thank you so much, Renae. This has been insightful. And I think a lot of people will find a lot of value in hearing your journey and some of the advice you've had for your younger self among sort of finding the trends that we were talking about. So thank you so much for being here. And for those of you who want to get in touch with Renae, again, just drop us an email, dominic@lounge.live. We'll forward them along and we can also just connect you. So thanks so much, Renae. Have a great one.
Renae (29:13)
Thank you.
Transcript
In the Lounge with Renae Zimmer
Dominic (00:11)
Hi everyone, and welcome back to "In the Lounge." On this podcast, we meet with experts from higher education fields to share ideas, learn from their experiences, talk about new trends we're seeing, and get an unseen perspective of what's going on in the space. If you have any questions for my guests today, please just send an email and we'll get them over to her. My email is dominic@lounge.live.
Today we're in the lounge with Renae Zimmer. Renae is Director of Student Engagement and Leadership at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She's been at the university for over six years, serving in a variety of roles within student affairs. Before that, she was a speaker, supporter, and advocate for mental health awareness as the co-founder of the nonprofit Central Nebraska LOSS Team, which focused on suicide prevention and outreach.
She has almost a decade of experience in software and IT, serving as account executive for Five9 and Spectrum. She is a certified student affairs educator. She was a board member of the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of the board of directors of the Nebraska Statewide Suicide Prevention Coalition. Renae, welcome. Thanks for joining me.
Renae (01:09)
Thank you so much for having me.
Dominic (01:12)
So you fall into the category of someone with a very interesting and diverse background with a wide breadth of experiences. How did you find your way into student affairs? What was that journey like?
Renae (01:21 — Journey from Sales to Higher Education)
Yeah, very good question. So my journey took a very different trajectory than most. I started out as a graduate of Kearney State College from a small town in Nebraska. I got my undergrad degree in journalism and public relations. And then from there, I went into advertising sales and tech sales—really in outside sales and the private sector for several years before higher education.
I loved the sales world. I loved getting out of the office and going into different businesses and meeting them and hearing their stories. But after a while of doing outside sales, I never thought higher education would be my path, but I was just kind of gravitated to it when I saw a job application for a leadership position in a student engagement office. I thought, "Gosh, to be able to take those skill sets of what I learned in outside in the private sector into student to help students."
So that's when I dug into it. And I got a job here at the University of Nebraska at Kearney—my alma mater—in 2018. I earned my master's degree at the age of 50, which is maybe a little unusual too. So it just really changed a lot for me. I never thought that would be possible, but that really opened a door for me to take on the director role in this department, in the student engagement department at UNK.
And I've been able to, again, take my career experiences and use them to make a difference with students. That marketing background has served me well in this capacity with the tons of event planning that we do. But also more than anything—it's not necessarily about me—but I've been able to create that meaningful experience, learning to understand the cognitive and developmental and the behavioral aspects of a college student, that 18 to 21-year-old, and really the "why" behind how they think and grow and how they engage. So that's it, kind of in a nutshell.
Dominic (03:26)
That's amazing. Did you, when you discovered this kind of world, was it something that you had been aware of prior to kind of stumbling upon it, or was it something that was totally new and it just intrigued you?
Renae (03:40)
Yeah, I was aware of it because back when I was going to college here—my undergrad—I was the president of the Student Activities Council. And I lived that world and I thought, "Hmm, programming, event planning, marketing, public relations, it all kind of fits." So it made sense to go back and really didn't think it was possible to really get into higher education. I had applied for a couple of jobs at the university, but it just seemed to be in my wheelhouse of what I was comfortable with, what I knew.
A little scared, to be honest with you, to work with college students. Like, "My gosh, are they going to want to listen to somebody like me? Are they going to want to take advice?" But it's really just more about connecting with them and listening to them, supporting them. So all those nerves, you know, after the first year or so, I realized that I had a place.
You know, I had a little bit of imposter syndrome because I didn't come from that higher ed background. So I dove right into that master's program right away and learned all the things, but I still feel like, gosh, it was such a great career move for me and such a great career path.
Dominic (04:51)
Would you say that the resources are there for you if you are someone who maybe hasn't had the experience or the foundation for it? Are they there once you get in to kind of teach you what you need to know, help support you, and make sure that you are kind of on a path for success?
Renae (05:07)
I feel like the foundation was there for me. My master's program was really very counseling-based. And I have students in and out of my office all the time. And that counseling background has served me well. I'm not a licensed mental health counselor, but the higher education student affairs track here at the university—that's where my master's program was—very counseling-based, and it has served me well in combination with planning events, planning concerts, small events to large-scale events, paying attention to small details in the programming has served me well, yeah.
Dominic (05:41)
Amazing. And you've now been in this space—correct me if I'm wrong—but over six years, is that right? Seven years?
Renae (05:47)
Yes, I started late in 2018 in that leadership position in this office. And then in 2021, an opportunity came up for me—late 2021, early 2022—to fill the director role in this office. So at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Student Engagement and Leadership, we oversee fraternity/sorority life, student government, LPAC—which is the main programming board—and then Student Family Transitions, which is our orientation arm.
So we're in the hub, the campus living room, the Nebraska Student Union—very active. The main dining hall is in this building. We're the main student ID office. So there's a lot of activity that's going on. Most recently, in the last couple of weeks, the Intercultural Engagement and Leadership Office has merged with our office. So we are supporting additional student organizations as well as the ones that we are legacy organizations.
Dominic (06:46)
You mentioned something there really interesting, which I've seen at every campus I've visited so far. The location of the sort of student engagement office or space is so critical to how you connect with students and how accessible it is when you're either going about your day-to-day, having lunch, or just passing by, you know, being able to see what's going on. And I always find that to be something that we probably don't talk enough about, but it is so important in understanding sort of—can you maybe shift where the location is to make that even better potentially?
Renae (07:18)
Yeah, I honestly—right, it works for us. It's where students feel connected. We have a space where it looks like a living room structure. We kind of moved our conference table across the hallway, so it's structured for a very relaxed setting. My office, strategically, is right out in the middle of everything, so I can see students coming and going, and my door is open, so they have a direct dotted line to my office. And that's by design, right? That's by design. If I need to have a private meeting, I close the door, but they know that they come in, ask questions. It's a real opportunity to help leaders, students in those capacities, whether it's LPAC or student government, grow and lead, make them feel like they belong, have a place here.
Dominic (08:07)
Yeah. And you said you got started just before or just around 2018. A lot has happened since 2018. How do you think the world of student engagement has changed in those years? What has changed since you started? What do you think are trends or things that have just completely flipped potentially?
Renae (08:28 — Post-COVID Changes in Student Engagement)
Right. Well, I think, you know, post-COVID—now, five years out—I think students are responding to one-on-one support, maybe more smaller, low-key events or DIY-style events they can engage in that makes it feel manageable and authentic, smaller groups. And look, I think this really, at the end of the day, in a four-year institution—think college students, not all, I'll say some, are looking for that college experience that balances maybe their rigorous academic life challenges with meaningful social interactions for personal growth.
I see a trend of students that are working really, really hard outside of school. They're working part-time jobs, sometimes full-time jobs, on campus, off campus. And so navigating those changes are really, really crucial to help them grow. I also feel like where they're at now is they're asking for stability. They want stability financially, socially, and academically. And with more first-generation students and with more diverse backgrounds, the resources that help them succeed are right here—right here. They just have to go find it, right? We communicate it to them, we let them know.
And so post-COVID too, we're seeing students kind of struggle with some anxieties and mental health, looking for ways to cope. And I think we're making some strides. And so yeah, there's a lot that has changed post-COVID with this college student of today, right? They're very savvy and they want those skill sets and they want to launch those careers with the confidence that they have everything that they need, the tools in their toolbox.
Dominic (10:17)
So if we look ahead and try to inform kind of what's been going on now to the practice in the future, I want to dissect that a little bit more in terms of what seems to be working. Can you parse out a little bit what is working for you right now? What seems to be working across the space? What are students really responding to well? You mentioned sort of one-on-one support and maybe getting more detailed and technical with them and customizing support for them. What about in terms of sort of organization and helping activities and events—what seems to be working there?
Renae (10:52 — What's Working: DIY Events & Holistic Support)
Yeah, no, I think we are seeing students engaged. They're coming to events. They're—again, maybe the smaller, more intimate DIY make-and-take events are more popular than a large group. But we're able to kind of flip—you know, LPAC kind of flipped the script last year and kind of organized and created more of those DIY button-making and, you know, artistic-type events. And that's where we're seeing the draw.
And I think at the end of the day, the students are looking for in a four-year institution more than a degree. They're looking for holistic, supportive college experience. Their basic needs are met—affordable housing, reliable access to food, strong mental health support systems. But beyond that, they're seeking a robust career development that goes beyond the classroom. And I think that's where we shine here by offering the programs and the support systems that are beyond the classroom, that co-curricular experience and that community engagement.
Dominic (11:51)
Not different than life outside of college. I think a lot of that resonates with people right now all over the world just looking for strong career growth and support. Everything's become more challenging. And so I think we can look at the students and say, "We're basically preparing them for the real world," and that's the best way to do it. So yeah, really interesting.
And then talking about what they need the most—I think that I see a lot of trends right now of trying to put more events on, get as many people engaged as possible. But we talked on another episode of our podcast about trying to find the students that aren't being necessarily involved in a way that we can actually track or see analytics about. But maybe there are communities that are very private. Maybe there are a chess club that isn't necessarily connected to the university? How can we sort of encourage that, get students working together, joining organizations that we don't maybe know about yet, but just our ways to socialize and be creative, maybe start a fun startup on campus?
Renae (12:54 — Finding Hidden Communities & Supporting New Organizations)
For sure, and we see that a lot. We've been seeing very creative recognized student organizations forming that are very authentic to where the students are at. A crochet club, an astronomy club—I mean, smaller groups that are very interest-focused, but there's other opportunities than clubs and organizations. There's the internships, or there's maybe an opportunity to do undergrad research that could be a very, you know, a one-on-one with a faculty member that could be very impactful.
And it doesn't have to be a leadership program where a student that may not be very connected to campus has to join a club and all of a sudden, boom, you're club president—not at all. We encourage students to kind of come in and just kind of see. I talk to students a lot about just go to a student government meeting. If you are wanting to make a difference in the world, talk about efficacy—that's where it starts. And just show up to a student government meeting and just see how it's run. Show up to a LPAC meeting and just kind of see how it's run. Try it a couple times and see if it's for you.
And I think that is really impactful once you kind of get them out of their comfort zone a little bit and connect a little bit. They kind of see that there's a whole different world around, but we want to offer the personalized flexible learning experiences for students as well and have that as an option.
Dominic (14:23)
And do you think making it feel easy to join or maybe feel even easy to create an organization is an important part of how student engagement runs and functions to that end?
Renae (14:35)
Yeah, yeah, we're very much hands-on with recognized student organizations here. We have over 150 at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. So we're very much about help train them—not only that, making sure we're training those advisors, talking about sustainability of their club. You know, we want that crochet club and that astronomy club to live on for several years. Yeah, what does that look like? Recruiting new members, maybe there's a fundraising component in there that we can help them with in getting some funding opportunities to apply for funding through student government is there too. So those are conversations that are ongoing as well and offering that support.
Dominic (15:12)
Yeah, that's good. Fantastic. If we zoom out a little bit, I like to identify trends because I think there can be a lot of nervousness around the space right now, but I think I like to look towards the positive. And I was curious, what do you see, broadly speaking, are some of the positives in the space right now, maybe some things that excite you about student engagement and just student life in general?
Renae (15:36 — The Data Behind Student Engagement Success)
Yeah, well, I'm excited. I kind of—I research as well and I like data. I kind of go back to some of my resources. The National Survey of Student Engagement, NSSE, had a recent survey—I think it was 2024—where students are highly engaged in co-curricular activities or 17% more likely to persist into their second year. So we really out of the gate—since our office oversees the orientation—we talk to those first-year students coming in about the importance of getting involved and getting engaged because we know that will—the percentage of that group of students, that cohort, they'll persist not only into their second year but to graduation and really that's our end game, right? We get them here, we educate them, we want to see them persist on to—
The Association of American Colleges and Universities, AAC&U, reports that students involved in leadership and experiential learning are 25% more likely to report feeling prepared for their careers. So, and whether that's a club or organization, and I talk to students a lot about when you're building your resume, I think future employers—they might want to see your GPA. That might be a possibility, but I think they want to also see the skill sets that you learned, your experiential learning, the co-curricular experiences you had, and what kind of skill development that you learned from that.
We talk about Gallup. I'm a certified Gallup Strengths Coach as well, and Gallup had another survey that had—
Dominic (17:05)
For those that don't know, can you explain what Gallup is?
Renae (17:09)
So yeah, Gallup actually—the CliftonStrengths actually originated at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. So it started there. The CliftonStrengths Institute is there at our mothership campus, if you will, at UNL. And it's a strengths-based profiling. You could profile your top 30 strengths down to your top five.
And it's very impactful. It's about talent. It's about using your talent and using your strengths to better your organization, your club, and kind of how that fits within a team environment. And then, so Gallup actually shows graduates who are engaged in campus activities are 1.6 times more likely to report higher well-being—maybe twice as likely, or it does say twice as likely to feel connected to their institution.
So we're doing more the Clifton strengths here. UNL has had the platform for many years. At UNK, we're really developing that, and not only for our students, but our staff and faculty of what that looks like.
Dominic (18:16)
Yeah. I think that highlights two really interesting things. One is that knowing the data is really important. Just understanding what is the effect of getting involved and how can that benefit everyone throughout their student journey. So I think that's one category. The other category is actually delivering that messaging to the students. You know, when they get on campus, say, "Look, this isn't just made up. We actually have numbers that say, if you can get involved, you have a great chance of succeeding. And so we really encourage you to take advantage of all of our opportunities."
So I think two important things you've highlighted and may go into my next question, is in the space right now, where do you see the opportunity? Where do you see room for growth? Where do you see things that we maybe haven't been looking at, but might be something that we should start exploring in the next couple of years?
Renae (19:05 — Future Opportunities & AI in Higher Education)
For sure, for sure. I know there's lots of conversation around, you know, post-pandemic and rebounding with in-person instruction. I feel like that is returning. I feel students have engaged—they see a value. I think the change is, it's how students engage. They are drawn more, get to the hands-on, more career-focused learning opportunities.
They rely heavily on digital tools. We're seeing more, maybe a little bit more parental involvement. But our work is to create that authentic, meaningful experience. And look, we have to kind of in the back of our mind think about how AI is going to affect all of us in higher education as well, keeping up with the trends there. The demand for technical and digital literacy is there, especially in the AI space, data analytics, industry-specific tools towards data analytics, and now how that will prepare them for the evolving career landscape. I think we have to be thinking about that evolving career landscape in higher education. And we think about that here at student engagement as well, and a focus on that. AI is always kind of like lurking back here, but I think we just have to, you know, sit up straight and pay attention.
Dominic (20:27)
Where do you think the sentiment is right now on AI? Do you think we're leaning as a collective towards adopting? Are we still sort of trying to maybe discover or learn about it before we jump in? Where is your sentiment meter for everyone?
Renae (20:42)
I think it's adopting. I really do. I think, you know, I see on our campus very active, engaged conversations around AI from different departments across campus. And I think it's very healthy conversations, knowing it's here to stay, how we leverage it, how we work with it, how we use it for our benefit in higher education, how our students are too. I don't think it behooves us in higher ed to ignore it because it's here.
So how work with it to be seen, I think. But I'm actually more optimistic about it.
Dominic (21:14)
Fantastic. Yeah, that's great to hear. I want to kind of bring things back a little bit to you. If you were starting your career and student engagement all over again, what would you tell yourself knowing everything you know now, maybe just having the experience that you do? What's some advice you'd give your younger self?
Renae (21:32 — Advice to Younger Self: Connection & Impact)
Oh my gosh, yes, a lot. I think I was really involved in college, but this is pre-cell phones, right? And I talked to my students in my class about this. I teach a university foundations course to first-year students and they look at me when I said, "No cell phones, and the phones were connected to a cord." So we were forced, right? The Gen Xers of the world—that's me. We're forced to go out and make friends and meet people. So that sense of belonging and that organic leadership development was there, right?
I think it's a conversation right now of maybe finding a way to connect face-to-face and getting off social media. Obviously social media is here to stay and there's a lot of benefits to it, but kind of finding that space where that personal connection comes back, that face-to-face. I think we're gonna get there. I think we are there. I think students kind of maybe crave that.
I think for me, my younger self would also just know that just having the confidence to try new things—and that's okay. And just knowing that I can make an impact in my corner of the world, however small it is. Just trying to make an impact every day with the people around me, whether it's my staff or students. It's kind of how I show up every day for staff and students and within the student affairs space. So I think that's kind of it. It's just kind of connecting and just knowing that no matter what we're doing, if it's outside sales and meeting somebody or if it's higher education, we can make an impact.
And in today's world and today's culture, I think we're going to need more of that, right? Understanding, finding some common ground and reaching out across difference.
Dominic (23:26)
I couldn't agree more. And I think in this space, you're in a position to impact so many people just naturally. And sometimes whether you think it or not, they're looking for that, you know, they're looking for the impact. And so yeah, I think that's a great call out. Great call out.
I want to know a little bit more just about you so people can get to know you. I call this part "Beyond the Job." What are some surprising things that people don't know about you?
Renae (23:37 — Beyond the Job: Personal Life & Passions)
Oh my goodness gracious. Well, we—my husband and I are empty nesters and I do have a grandson. I have a 16-month-old today, 16-year-old grandson, Miles, who lives in Omaha. I tell you what, we're kind of in that space where my husband and I talk about this. This is the busiest we've been in our careers. And we're kind of in that grandparent mode and then aging parent mode, you know, 80, 85-year-old parents.
God, we're so thrilled that they're all, you know, they're with us, but kind of we're in that space, but for us, we just have to kind of take a little bit of pause and our pause is going to live music, live concerts. Anytime there's something Omaha or in the area, like Stone Temple Pilots is coming to Kearney. I know, right? I cannot be more excited. And people are telling me, "It's not the original Stone." I'm like, "I don't care. I'm still going."
Yeah, those kinds of things where we love live music, we love to kind of explore. We love to travel every summer. We literally look at the map and just go, "Okay, we're gonna check out this corner of America we haven't been and explored." And we go and talk to people in those, like, "What's going on?" So we spent a week in Nashville and Memphis and went to some different places and just met, you know, the local flavor, the local breweries. That's just, that's kind of our thing. Yeah.
Dominic (25:19)
That's incredible. And it's a great time to do it. I think it's just like, you know, you're an empty nester. It's perfect. Like you don't have to worry about anyone. I don't know if you have a dog, but I know that dogs can be one logistic you sometimes have to figure out, but that is incredible.
And what about somebody in the space or maybe in life that just inspires you and has inspired you throughout your journey, somebody that you look up to?
Renae (25:32)
Oh my gosh, I've had some wonderful mentors along the way. I'll never forget my first—one of my first bosses was at a TV station in Sioux City, Iowa. And he was just so inspiring in the fact that he was just very optimistic and always kind of started the day with a really fun quote, always started things off in meetings with, "What's going on in our lives?" finding ways to connect as humans and we were in sales. So it wasn't just so numbers or, you know, focused on making quota. It was just that human interest level that I always thought was really cool.
And I have kind of taken that with me as I've become a director and managing people. Like it is like, "Let's check in with each other on a regular basis." This and see how we're doing. You know, and I think that's important.
Dominic (26:41)
That's amazing. Yeah, I resonate a lot with that. I think just, you know, even in the, whether you kick a meeting off in the week with just a check-in on how the weekend went, you know, just, I think people really resonate—especially now people are looking for interaction, you know, understanding what's going on in people's lives. That's amazing. I think that can have a profound impact on people. So yeah, that's great.
My last question is, who would you like to tap to join me in the lounge next?
Renae (26:58)
Oh gosh, I love that. I think my counterparts at our flagship UNL, Veronica Reapy, counterpart at UNL, I think would be wonderful. She's been in higher education a lot longer than me. I think too, our assistant director of student family transitions right across the hallway from me, DJ Hardwick. He is a new professional, but he's making such an impact at UNK, had a very successful orientation. He's very data-driven in his mind, but in his approach, I think he would be wonderful as well.
Colleagues and partners across the university too, there are several that I can think of that are just making impact every day with students and what they do. They're very passionate about what they do.
Dominic (27:53)
Amazing. I'll get in touch. I would love to have them. I want to give you an opportunity just to shout out any work you're doing, research you're working on, maybe a project, a book. How can people follow what you're doing?
Renae (28:04)
Sure, sure. Our unk.edu website—Look Up Student Engagement and Leadership—it kind of tells the story a little bit about our office and who we are. Our leadership track of the title of our office, we brought in Lead the Herd. So we're doing a financial wellness literacy course. It's not a course, it's free to all college students. And we partnered with a local bank to do that. So it's been well received. We'd heard from college students, "We just wanna know budget management, debt management, how to balance a checkbook." I mean, things like that.
So we brought that in, we kicked it off last week and it's been going really well. It's one of our offerings in our leadership track that we were really excited to bring on this semester.
Dominic (28:48)
It's incredible. Well, thank you so much, Renae. This has been insightful. And I think a lot of people will find a lot of value in hearing your journey and some of the advice you've had for your younger self among sort of finding the trends that we were talking about. So thank you so much for being here. And for those of you who want to get in touch with Renae, again, just drop us an email, dominic@lounge.live. We'll forward them along and we can also just connect you. So thanks so much, Renae. Have a great one.
Renae (29:13)
Thank you.
Transcript
In the Lounge with Renae Zimmer
Dominic (00:11)
Hi everyone, and welcome back to "In the Lounge." On this podcast, we meet with experts from higher education fields to share ideas, learn from their experiences, talk about new trends we're seeing, and get an unseen perspective of what's going on in the space. If you have any questions for my guests today, please just send an email and we'll get them over to her. My email is dominic@lounge.live.
Today we're in the lounge with Renae Zimmer. Renae is Director of Student Engagement and Leadership at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She's been at the university for over six years, serving in a variety of roles within student affairs. Before that, she was a speaker, supporter, and advocate for mental health awareness as the co-founder of the nonprofit Central Nebraska LOSS Team, which focused on suicide prevention and outreach.
She has almost a decade of experience in software and IT, serving as account executive for Five9 and Spectrum. She is a certified student affairs educator. She was a board member of the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of the board of directors of the Nebraska Statewide Suicide Prevention Coalition. Renae, welcome. Thanks for joining me.
Renae (01:09)
Thank you so much for having me.
Dominic (01:12)
So you fall into the category of someone with a very interesting and diverse background with a wide breadth of experiences. How did you find your way into student affairs? What was that journey like?
Renae (01:21 — Journey from Sales to Higher Education)
Yeah, very good question. So my journey took a very different trajectory than most. I started out as a graduate of Kearney State College from a small town in Nebraska. I got my undergrad degree in journalism and public relations. And then from there, I went into advertising sales and tech sales—really in outside sales and the private sector for several years before higher education.
I loved the sales world. I loved getting out of the office and going into different businesses and meeting them and hearing their stories. But after a while of doing outside sales, I never thought higher education would be my path, but I was just kind of gravitated to it when I saw a job application for a leadership position in a student engagement office. I thought, "Gosh, to be able to take those skill sets of what I learned in outside in the private sector into student to help students."
So that's when I dug into it. And I got a job here at the University of Nebraska at Kearney—my alma mater—in 2018. I earned my master's degree at the age of 50, which is maybe a little unusual too. So it just really changed a lot for me. I never thought that would be possible, but that really opened a door for me to take on the director role in this department, in the student engagement department at UNK.
And I've been able to, again, take my career experiences and use them to make a difference with students. That marketing background has served me well in this capacity with the tons of event planning that we do. But also more than anything—it's not necessarily about me—but I've been able to create that meaningful experience, learning to understand the cognitive and developmental and the behavioral aspects of a college student, that 18 to 21-year-old, and really the "why" behind how they think and grow and how they engage. So that's it, kind of in a nutshell.
Dominic (03:26)
That's amazing. Did you, when you discovered this kind of world, was it something that you had been aware of prior to kind of stumbling upon it, or was it something that was totally new and it just intrigued you?
Renae (03:40)
Yeah, I was aware of it because back when I was going to college here—my undergrad—I was the president of the Student Activities Council. And I lived that world and I thought, "Hmm, programming, event planning, marketing, public relations, it all kind of fits." So it made sense to go back and really didn't think it was possible to really get into higher education. I had applied for a couple of jobs at the university, but it just seemed to be in my wheelhouse of what I was comfortable with, what I knew.
A little scared, to be honest with you, to work with college students. Like, "My gosh, are they going to want to listen to somebody like me? Are they going to want to take advice?" But it's really just more about connecting with them and listening to them, supporting them. So all those nerves, you know, after the first year or so, I realized that I had a place.
You know, I had a little bit of imposter syndrome because I didn't come from that higher ed background. So I dove right into that master's program right away and learned all the things, but I still feel like, gosh, it was such a great career move for me and such a great career path.
Dominic (04:51)
Would you say that the resources are there for you if you are someone who maybe hasn't had the experience or the foundation for it? Are they there once you get in to kind of teach you what you need to know, help support you, and make sure that you are kind of on a path for success?
Renae (05:07)
I feel like the foundation was there for me. My master's program was really very counseling-based. And I have students in and out of my office all the time. And that counseling background has served me well. I'm not a licensed mental health counselor, but the higher education student affairs track here at the university—that's where my master's program was—very counseling-based, and it has served me well in combination with planning events, planning concerts, small events to large-scale events, paying attention to small details in the programming has served me well, yeah.
Dominic (05:41)
Amazing. And you've now been in this space—correct me if I'm wrong—but over six years, is that right? Seven years?
Renae (05:47)
Yes, I started late in 2018 in that leadership position in this office. And then in 2021, an opportunity came up for me—late 2021, early 2022—to fill the director role in this office. So at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Student Engagement and Leadership, we oversee fraternity/sorority life, student government, LPAC—which is the main programming board—and then Student Family Transitions, which is our orientation arm.
So we're in the hub, the campus living room, the Nebraska Student Union—very active. The main dining hall is in this building. We're the main student ID office. So there's a lot of activity that's going on. Most recently, in the last couple of weeks, the Intercultural Engagement and Leadership Office has merged with our office. So we are supporting additional student organizations as well as the ones that we are legacy organizations.
Dominic (06:46)
You mentioned something there really interesting, which I've seen at every campus I've visited so far. The location of the sort of student engagement office or space is so critical to how you connect with students and how accessible it is when you're either going about your day-to-day, having lunch, or just passing by, you know, being able to see what's going on. And I always find that to be something that we probably don't talk enough about, but it is so important in understanding sort of—can you maybe shift where the location is to make that even better potentially?
Renae (07:18)
Yeah, I honestly—right, it works for us. It's where students feel connected. We have a space where it looks like a living room structure. We kind of moved our conference table across the hallway, so it's structured for a very relaxed setting. My office, strategically, is right out in the middle of everything, so I can see students coming and going, and my door is open, so they have a direct dotted line to my office. And that's by design, right? That's by design. If I need to have a private meeting, I close the door, but they know that they come in, ask questions. It's a real opportunity to help leaders, students in those capacities, whether it's LPAC or student government, grow and lead, make them feel like they belong, have a place here.
Dominic (08:07)
Yeah. And you said you got started just before or just around 2018. A lot has happened since 2018. How do you think the world of student engagement has changed in those years? What has changed since you started? What do you think are trends or things that have just completely flipped potentially?
Renae (08:28 — Post-COVID Changes in Student Engagement)
Right. Well, I think, you know, post-COVID—now, five years out—I think students are responding to one-on-one support, maybe more smaller, low-key events or DIY-style events they can engage in that makes it feel manageable and authentic, smaller groups. And look, I think this really, at the end of the day, in a four-year institution—think college students, not all, I'll say some, are looking for that college experience that balances maybe their rigorous academic life challenges with meaningful social interactions for personal growth.
I see a trend of students that are working really, really hard outside of school. They're working part-time jobs, sometimes full-time jobs, on campus, off campus. And so navigating those changes are really, really crucial to help them grow. I also feel like where they're at now is they're asking for stability. They want stability financially, socially, and academically. And with more first-generation students and with more diverse backgrounds, the resources that help them succeed are right here—right here. They just have to go find it, right? We communicate it to them, we let them know.
And so post-COVID too, we're seeing students kind of struggle with some anxieties and mental health, looking for ways to cope. And I think we're making some strides. And so yeah, there's a lot that has changed post-COVID with this college student of today, right? They're very savvy and they want those skill sets and they want to launch those careers with the confidence that they have everything that they need, the tools in their toolbox.
Dominic (10:17)
So if we look ahead and try to inform kind of what's been going on now to the practice in the future, I want to dissect that a little bit more in terms of what seems to be working. Can you parse out a little bit what is working for you right now? What seems to be working across the space? What are students really responding to well? You mentioned sort of one-on-one support and maybe getting more detailed and technical with them and customizing support for them. What about in terms of sort of organization and helping activities and events—what seems to be working there?
Renae (10:52 — What's Working: DIY Events & Holistic Support)
Yeah, no, I think we are seeing students engaged. They're coming to events. They're—again, maybe the smaller, more intimate DIY make-and-take events are more popular than a large group. But we're able to kind of flip—you know, LPAC kind of flipped the script last year and kind of organized and created more of those DIY button-making and, you know, artistic-type events. And that's where we're seeing the draw.
And I think at the end of the day, the students are looking for in a four-year institution more than a degree. They're looking for holistic, supportive college experience. Their basic needs are met—affordable housing, reliable access to food, strong mental health support systems. But beyond that, they're seeking a robust career development that goes beyond the classroom. And I think that's where we shine here by offering the programs and the support systems that are beyond the classroom, that co-curricular experience and that community engagement.
Dominic (11:51)
Not different than life outside of college. I think a lot of that resonates with people right now all over the world just looking for strong career growth and support. Everything's become more challenging. And so I think we can look at the students and say, "We're basically preparing them for the real world," and that's the best way to do it. So yeah, really interesting.
And then talking about what they need the most—I think that I see a lot of trends right now of trying to put more events on, get as many people engaged as possible. But we talked on another episode of our podcast about trying to find the students that aren't being necessarily involved in a way that we can actually track or see analytics about. But maybe there are communities that are very private. Maybe there are a chess club that isn't necessarily connected to the university? How can we sort of encourage that, get students working together, joining organizations that we don't maybe know about yet, but just our ways to socialize and be creative, maybe start a fun startup on campus?
Renae (12:54 — Finding Hidden Communities & Supporting New Organizations)
For sure, and we see that a lot. We've been seeing very creative recognized student organizations forming that are very authentic to where the students are at. A crochet club, an astronomy club—I mean, smaller groups that are very interest-focused, but there's other opportunities than clubs and organizations. There's the internships, or there's maybe an opportunity to do undergrad research that could be a very, you know, a one-on-one with a faculty member that could be very impactful.
And it doesn't have to be a leadership program where a student that may not be very connected to campus has to join a club and all of a sudden, boom, you're club president—not at all. We encourage students to kind of come in and just kind of see. I talk to students a lot about just go to a student government meeting. If you are wanting to make a difference in the world, talk about efficacy—that's where it starts. And just show up to a student government meeting and just see how it's run. Show up to a LPAC meeting and just kind of see how it's run. Try it a couple times and see if it's for you.
And I think that is really impactful once you kind of get them out of their comfort zone a little bit and connect a little bit. They kind of see that there's a whole different world around, but we want to offer the personalized flexible learning experiences for students as well and have that as an option.
Dominic (14:23)
And do you think making it feel easy to join or maybe feel even easy to create an organization is an important part of how student engagement runs and functions to that end?
Renae (14:35)
Yeah, yeah, we're very much hands-on with recognized student organizations here. We have over 150 at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. So we're very much about help train them—not only that, making sure we're training those advisors, talking about sustainability of their club. You know, we want that crochet club and that astronomy club to live on for several years. Yeah, what does that look like? Recruiting new members, maybe there's a fundraising component in there that we can help them with in getting some funding opportunities to apply for funding through student government is there too. So those are conversations that are ongoing as well and offering that support.
Dominic (15:12)
Yeah, that's good. Fantastic. If we zoom out a little bit, I like to identify trends because I think there can be a lot of nervousness around the space right now, but I think I like to look towards the positive. And I was curious, what do you see, broadly speaking, are some of the positives in the space right now, maybe some things that excite you about student engagement and just student life in general?
Renae (15:36 — The Data Behind Student Engagement Success)
Yeah, well, I'm excited. I kind of—I research as well and I like data. I kind of go back to some of my resources. The National Survey of Student Engagement, NSSE, had a recent survey—I think it was 2024—where students are highly engaged in co-curricular activities or 17% more likely to persist into their second year. So we really out of the gate—since our office oversees the orientation—we talk to those first-year students coming in about the importance of getting involved and getting engaged because we know that will—the percentage of that group of students, that cohort, they'll persist not only into their second year but to graduation and really that's our end game, right? We get them here, we educate them, we want to see them persist on to—
The Association of American Colleges and Universities, AAC&U, reports that students involved in leadership and experiential learning are 25% more likely to report feeling prepared for their careers. So, and whether that's a club or organization, and I talk to students a lot about when you're building your resume, I think future employers—they might want to see your GPA. That might be a possibility, but I think they want to also see the skill sets that you learned, your experiential learning, the co-curricular experiences you had, and what kind of skill development that you learned from that.
We talk about Gallup. I'm a certified Gallup Strengths Coach as well, and Gallup had another survey that had—
Dominic (17:05)
For those that don't know, can you explain what Gallup is?
Renae (17:09)
So yeah, Gallup actually—the CliftonStrengths actually originated at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. So it started there. The CliftonStrengths Institute is there at our mothership campus, if you will, at UNL. And it's a strengths-based profiling. You could profile your top 30 strengths down to your top five.
And it's very impactful. It's about talent. It's about using your talent and using your strengths to better your organization, your club, and kind of how that fits within a team environment. And then, so Gallup actually shows graduates who are engaged in campus activities are 1.6 times more likely to report higher well-being—maybe twice as likely, or it does say twice as likely to feel connected to their institution.
So we're doing more the Clifton strengths here. UNL has had the platform for many years. At UNK, we're really developing that, and not only for our students, but our staff and faculty of what that looks like.
Dominic (18:16)
Yeah. I think that highlights two really interesting things. One is that knowing the data is really important. Just understanding what is the effect of getting involved and how can that benefit everyone throughout their student journey. So I think that's one category. The other category is actually delivering that messaging to the students. You know, when they get on campus, say, "Look, this isn't just made up. We actually have numbers that say, if you can get involved, you have a great chance of succeeding. And so we really encourage you to take advantage of all of our opportunities."
So I think two important things you've highlighted and may go into my next question, is in the space right now, where do you see the opportunity? Where do you see room for growth? Where do you see things that we maybe haven't been looking at, but might be something that we should start exploring in the next couple of years?
Renae (19:05 — Future Opportunities & AI in Higher Education)
For sure, for sure. I know there's lots of conversation around, you know, post-pandemic and rebounding with in-person instruction. I feel like that is returning. I feel students have engaged—they see a value. I think the change is, it's how students engage. They are drawn more, get to the hands-on, more career-focused learning opportunities.
They rely heavily on digital tools. We're seeing more, maybe a little bit more parental involvement. But our work is to create that authentic, meaningful experience. And look, we have to kind of in the back of our mind think about how AI is going to affect all of us in higher education as well, keeping up with the trends there. The demand for technical and digital literacy is there, especially in the AI space, data analytics, industry-specific tools towards data analytics, and now how that will prepare them for the evolving career landscape. I think we have to be thinking about that evolving career landscape in higher education. And we think about that here at student engagement as well, and a focus on that. AI is always kind of like lurking back here, but I think we just have to, you know, sit up straight and pay attention.
Dominic (20:27)
Where do you think the sentiment is right now on AI? Do you think we're leaning as a collective towards adopting? Are we still sort of trying to maybe discover or learn about it before we jump in? Where is your sentiment meter for everyone?
Renae (20:42)
I think it's adopting. I really do. I think, you know, I see on our campus very active, engaged conversations around AI from different departments across campus. And I think it's very healthy conversations, knowing it's here to stay, how we leverage it, how we work with it, how we use it for our benefit in higher education, how our students are too. I don't think it behooves us in higher ed to ignore it because it's here.
So how work with it to be seen, I think. But I'm actually more optimistic about it.
Dominic (21:14)
Fantastic. Yeah, that's great to hear. I want to kind of bring things back a little bit to you. If you were starting your career and student engagement all over again, what would you tell yourself knowing everything you know now, maybe just having the experience that you do? What's some advice you'd give your younger self?
Renae (21:32 — Advice to Younger Self: Connection & Impact)
Oh my gosh, yes, a lot. I think I was really involved in college, but this is pre-cell phones, right? And I talked to my students in my class about this. I teach a university foundations course to first-year students and they look at me when I said, "No cell phones, and the phones were connected to a cord." So we were forced, right? The Gen Xers of the world—that's me. We're forced to go out and make friends and meet people. So that sense of belonging and that organic leadership development was there, right?
I think it's a conversation right now of maybe finding a way to connect face-to-face and getting off social media. Obviously social media is here to stay and there's a lot of benefits to it, but kind of finding that space where that personal connection comes back, that face-to-face. I think we're gonna get there. I think we are there. I think students kind of maybe crave that.
I think for me, my younger self would also just know that just having the confidence to try new things—and that's okay. And just knowing that I can make an impact in my corner of the world, however small it is. Just trying to make an impact every day with the people around me, whether it's my staff or students. It's kind of how I show up every day for staff and students and within the student affairs space. So I think that's kind of it. It's just kind of connecting and just knowing that no matter what we're doing, if it's outside sales and meeting somebody or if it's higher education, we can make an impact.
And in today's world and today's culture, I think we're going to need more of that, right? Understanding, finding some common ground and reaching out across difference.
Dominic (23:26)
I couldn't agree more. And I think in this space, you're in a position to impact so many people just naturally. And sometimes whether you think it or not, they're looking for that, you know, they're looking for the impact. And so yeah, I think that's a great call out. Great call out.
I want to know a little bit more just about you so people can get to know you. I call this part "Beyond the Job." What are some surprising things that people don't know about you?
Renae (23:37 — Beyond the Job: Personal Life & Passions)
Oh my goodness gracious. Well, we—my husband and I are empty nesters and I do have a grandson. I have a 16-month-old today, 16-year-old grandson, Miles, who lives in Omaha. I tell you what, we're kind of in that space where my husband and I talk about this. This is the busiest we've been in our careers. And we're kind of in that grandparent mode and then aging parent mode, you know, 80, 85-year-old parents.
God, we're so thrilled that they're all, you know, they're with us, but kind of we're in that space, but for us, we just have to kind of take a little bit of pause and our pause is going to live music, live concerts. Anytime there's something Omaha or in the area, like Stone Temple Pilots is coming to Kearney. I know, right? I cannot be more excited. And people are telling me, "It's not the original Stone." I'm like, "I don't care. I'm still going."
Yeah, those kinds of things where we love live music, we love to kind of explore. We love to travel every summer. We literally look at the map and just go, "Okay, we're gonna check out this corner of America we haven't been and explored." And we go and talk to people in those, like, "What's going on?" So we spent a week in Nashville and Memphis and went to some different places and just met, you know, the local flavor, the local breweries. That's just, that's kind of our thing. Yeah.
Dominic (25:19)
That's incredible. And it's a great time to do it. I think it's just like, you know, you're an empty nester. It's perfect. Like you don't have to worry about anyone. I don't know if you have a dog, but I know that dogs can be one logistic you sometimes have to figure out, but that is incredible.
And what about somebody in the space or maybe in life that just inspires you and has inspired you throughout your journey, somebody that you look up to?
Renae (25:32)
Oh my gosh, I've had some wonderful mentors along the way. I'll never forget my first—one of my first bosses was at a TV station in Sioux City, Iowa. And he was just so inspiring in the fact that he was just very optimistic and always kind of started the day with a really fun quote, always started things off in meetings with, "What's going on in our lives?" finding ways to connect as humans and we were in sales. So it wasn't just so numbers or, you know, focused on making quota. It was just that human interest level that I always thought was really cool.
And I have kind of taken that with me as I've become a director and managing people. Like it is like, "Let's check in with each other on a regular basis." This and see how we're doing. You know, and I think that's important.
Dominic (26:41)
That's amazing. Yeah, I resonate a lot with that. I think just, you know, even in the, whether you kick a meeting off in the week with just a check-in on how the weekend went, you know, just, I think people really resonate—especially now people are looking for interaction, you know, understanding what's going on in people's lives. That's amazing. I think that can have a profound impact on people. So yeah, that's great.
My last question is, who would you like to tap to join me in the lounge next?
Renae (26:58)
Oh gosh, I love that. I think my counterparts at our flagship UNL, Veronica Reapy, counterpart at UNL, I think would be wonderful. She's been in higher education a lot longer than me. I think too, our assistant director of student family transitions right across the hallway from me, DJ Hardwick. He is a new professional, but he's making such an impact at UNK, had a very successful orientation. He's very data-driven in his mind, but in his approach, I think he would be wonderful as well.
Colleagues and partners across the university too, there are several that I can think of that are just making impact every day with students and what they do. They're very passionate about what they do.
Dominic (27:53)
Amazing. I'll get in touch. I would love to have them. I want to give you an opportunity just to shout out any work you're doing, research you're working on, maybe a project, a book. How can people follow what you're doing?
Renae (28:04)
Sure, sure. Our unk.edu website—Look Up Student Engagement and Leadership—it kind of tells the story a little bit about our office and who we are. Our leadership track of the title of our office, we brought in Lead the Herd. So we're doing a financial wellness literacy course. It's not a course, it's free to all college students. And we partnered with a local bank to do that. So it's been well received. We'd heard from college students, "We just wanna know budget management, debt management, how to balance a checkbook." I mean, things like that.
So we brought that in, we kicked it off last week and it's been going really well. It's one of our offerings in our leadership track that we were really excited to bring on this semester.
Dominic (28:48)
It's incredible. Well, thank you so much, Renae. This has been insightful. And I think a lot of people will find a lot of value in hearing your journey and some of the advice you've had for your younger self among sort of finding the trends that we were talking about. So thank you so much for being here. And for those of you who want to get in touch with Renae, again, just drop us an email, dominic@lounge.live. We'll forward them along and we can also just connect you. So thanks so much, Renae. Have a great one.
Renae (29:13)
Thank you.
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