National Association of Australian University Colleges (NAAUC)

In July 2018 I was a delegate to the national conference at Cromwell College, University of Queensland after receiving a full scholarship for my contribution to inter-college activity at UWA colleges in Perth. This conference inspired me to not only take learnings back to my own college community but to continue my involvement in college leadership on the national scale.

 

In September 2018 I was selected as the inaugural Marketing Director on the NAAUC Executive team. In my role, I developed the association’s website, marketing and partnerships in preparation for the 2019 national conference at International House, Melbourne University. During the conference I facilitated two academic presentations on the topics of ‘Advancing Your Residence Through Social Media’ and ‘Intercollegiate Relationships.’

 

In December 2019 I was elected to NAAUC Vice-President. This role consisted of the following responsibilities.

• Mentoring & managing individual State Representatives

• Coordinating the academic program for the 2020 National Conference

• Coordinating & facilitating the NAAUC on the Road program

• Working with the President on team wellbeing & communication

• Managing meetings & liaising with stakeholders

 

My experience with NAAUC taught me a myriad of leadership skills both within a team and individually. The work I am most proud of is the development of a new academic seminar on ‘Vulnerability in Leadership’ which aimed to teach student leaders to understand vulnerabilities in their individual leadership styles through communication, team building and wellbeing initiatives. During my time as a student leader I often took on too much and failed to ask for help when I needed it most. It was these learnings that I translated into my academic in the hope of preventing other students from ‘burning out’ the way I had in the past. Unfortunately due to Covid-19, our 2020 national conference was cancelled and delivered alternatively in state run forums.

​

Another highlight during my time as VP was travelling to facilitate student leadership training during 2020 Orientation Weeks at Mannix College (Monash University Melbourne), Robert Menzies College (Macquarie University Sydney), Australian National University Colleges (Canberra) and University of Sydney Residences (Sydney).