Residential & Student life institute

RESIDENTIAL & STUDENT LIFE INSTITUTE

Today, Residential and Student Life professionals must have ready knowledge of communication strategies, management techniques, and a variety of legal, sociological, medical, and psychological issues. This interactive institute will offer learning and discussion across a wide variety of topics that are vital to running a top-notch residential program.

When

Wednesday–Friday, July 26-28

where

Boston University

who

Residential and student life leaders, aspiring leaders, and staff

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Connect with experts to examine the latest research and best practices on critical topics facing residential and student life leaders, including cultivating communities of belonging, promoting healthy technology consumption habits, and developing post-Covid residential policies.

Develop strategies for supporting the health and safety of students in crucial areas, including mental health and wellbeing, current legal issues, substance use and prevention, and misconduct and abuse prevention.

Discuss and share best practices for developing rich and robust student programming, including advisory programs, student leadership development, auxiliary programs and student social and emotional development.

Connect with residential and student life thought leaders to explore topics to enhance the quality of your program and team, including program audits, innovative staffing structures, professional growth, and more.

Brainstorm, strategize and problem-solve with a personal network of new colleagues and mentors from across the boarding school industry.

PROGRAM FACULTY COMING SOON

JEREMY LACASSE

Assistant Head of School, History Teacher, Skiing and Crew Coach, Taft School CT

Jeremy has an extensive background in the boarding school environment, having been a student, teacher, and administrator. After graduating from Berkshire School, Jeremy went to Bowdoin College to receive a Bachelor of Arts in history with a minor in economics. He received his master’s degree in educational administration from the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College. Jeremy is also the executive director at the Gardner Carney Leadership Institute at Fountain Valley School. Prior to Taft, Jeremy was acting assistant head of school for strategic initiatives at Cheshire Academy, the head of school at Kents Hill School, and the head of senior school at Shady Side Academy. He was also the dean of students at Fountain Valley School. Throughout his time as an administrator, Jeremy also taught various classes in history, including World Cultures, Social Theory and Global Impact, European, U.S., and Ancient and Medieval History. He has been an advisor, dormitory head, alpine skiing coach, crew coach, and outdoor instructor. Jeremy has been a speaker at numerous conferences of the National Association of Independent Schools and the Association of Boarding Schools. At Taft, Jeremy now serves as the assistant head of school, teaches history, coaches skiing, and lives on Academy Hill with his wife, Diana, and their three children.

JESSICA MATZKIN

Dean of Student Life & Wellness, Loomis Chaffee CT

Need bio

JAMIE FORBES

Learning Courage

Jamie is the founder and CEO of Learning Courage. His experience includes nearly two decades in the private sector in both finance and marketing roles, where he honed his business acumen, strategic thinking and creative approach. Jamie has also consulted with, helped start, and been involved in board leadership of a variety of nonprofit organizations.

His work with schools began when, in 2016, he shared the story of being sexually abused in 9th grade at Milton Academy. During the school’s 9-month investigation, he observed first-hand how important and yet challenging it can be for both survivors and school leaders to rebuild trust and support healing.

Learning Courage came out of his observation that schools needed guidance keeping survivors at the center of incidents of sexual abuse and misconduct. Central to his findings in this work is that being survivor-centered is in the best interests of not just survivors but also the institutions where the abuse occurred. The best way to improve the sector’s response to sexual abuse, he reasoned, was to create an organization that collected and shared what they learned.

Jamie graduated from Connecticut College and lives in Portsmouth, NH with his wife, two daughters and a dog that thinks he’s actually human.

AMY WHEELER

Learning Courage

Amy joined Learning Courage in the fall of 2019. A survivor herself, Amy has been an independent school educator and administrator for over 30 years. She began her career as an English teacher, dorm parent and coach at Lawrence Academy and understands the full life boarding school faculty and staff lead. Since then, she has worked as an administrator in K-8 day schools, 6-12 day schools, and a 6-12 all girls boarding school and knows well the impact of sexual misconduct on students, faculty, staff and institutions and the importance of training and prevention. Her experience on a number of independent school boards also gives her insight into the larger institutional issues that arise from both historic and current sexual misconduct on independent school campuses. 

What do our 2022 attendees say?

An extremely valuable, comprehensive experience. Peer relationships are valued and promoted, and the added ongoing support from TABS and my cohort will be worth the price of admission alone.
Eric Bolton
Idyllwild arts academy
I felt like I was in a safe place the whole time. I have built so many relationships in the past week — not only working relationships but relationships that will continue moving forward. Some of us have already agreed to create a zoom group to "just chat".
Mark Cheong
cheshire academy
TABS ResLife Institute should be incorporated within the new hire onboarding process!
Kevin Wong
Kamehameha Schools
I love how the conference attendees embraced one another and had such rich and dynamic conversations. I now have this amazing network.
Jazmin A. Clark
North carolina school of the arts
Everything about this conference made it a worthwhile investment for the school and for my personal time over the summer. I left feeling energized and full of new ideas, some to implement with my team and students immediately, and others in the long term. I now have a fabulous network of professionals to lean on throughout the year.
Mike Mottola
St. stephen's school

Institute Schedule Overview

WEDNESDAY

JULY 26

8:00am

Registration

8:30am

Morning Sessions

12:00pm

Lunch

1:15pm

Afternoon Sessions

5:00pm

Welcome Reception

THURSDAY

JULY 27

8:30am

Morning Sessions

12:00pm

Lunch

1:30pm

Afternoon Sessions

5:30pm

Wrap Up

FRIDAY

JULY 28

8:30am

Morning Sessions

12:00pm

Lunch

1:15pm

Afternoon Sessions

4:30pm

Wrap Up

Schedule Subject to Change