Greetings from your WISA Co-Chairs

We write this blog post as your Womxn in Student Affairs (WISA) Co-Chairs for 2023-2025. Please allow us a moment to introduce ourselves and set the stage for this NASPA Knowledge Community during our terms in the co-chair role.

Krystal N. Allen, Ph.D.

Hello Hello 😀 I am Dr. Krystal N. Allen and I have the pleasure of serving as one of your WISA Co-Chairs. I serve as the Director of Residence Education at Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, VA. My professional background includes experience within housing and residential Life, leadership development,  graduate student recruitment and retention initiatives, and student conduct. Since 2019, I have been serving on the WISA leadership team as Membership Engagement Co-Chair. It is a joy to represent WISA and to boldly take up space where womxn are centered and celebrated for being their bodacious selves!

Two favorite parts of my identity include being Black and being a womxn! There’s nothing like it. With this great honor comes great responsibility! As a Black womxn, I have a responsibility to lift as I climb. I am adamant about supporting womxn in student affairs and higher education. My dissertation and research centers on the faculty mentoring experiences of Black Womxn in a doctoral program. Having been in rooms as either the only person of color and or womxn, I recognize the challenges that womxn leaders far too often experience. Although the landscape has shifted dramatically, we still have a long way to go in the uplift and centering of womxn. I always want to remain in a position where I can use my voice and talent to amplify the voices of other womxn and make positive change.

Abby Langham, Ph.D.

I am one of your WISA Co-Chairs, Dr. Abby Langham. I serve as the inaugural Director of Assessment & Strategic Planning at Auburn University (AU) in Auburn, AL—a position I have held since 2013. Additionally, I serve as an adjunct professor with graduate faculty status in AU’s Administration of Higher Education program. I come to you in this WISA leadership role from having previously served as NASPA-AL President and a Board member. I was honored when NASPA-AL recognized me with the Outstanding Service to Region III Award in 2020. I am a proud member of the WISA and the AER Knowledge Communities. I enjoy regularly contributing to the field through presentations and publications. Having said that, I hope to meet you at upcoming conferences and events.

I am passionate about supporting womxn in student affairs and higher education. My story involves assuming a director position early, at 28, earning my doctorate and assuming that new position in the same academic year. From this, and many other experiences, I recognize the challenges that womxn leaders often experience. Like many of you, my understanding comes from wearing multiple hats professionally, in my community, and at home daily. I am a full-time working wife and mother to two daughters. I dream about my girls eventually entering a much different workforce than I knew. I desire to help provide a voice, support, guidance, and professional development to womxn in higher education.

 

Our Philosophy: As WISA Co-Chairs, we strongly support womxn in student affairs and higher education. As womxn leading our respective departments, we believe that ALL womxn deserve to be heard, to have a seat at the table, to be considered for advancement, to have equal pay, to have fair expectations set for them, and to have their needs valued and considered. We actively work to create a workforce for future womxn leaders that is vastly differently from our own professional experience. As the great Audre Lorde once stated, “when I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision – then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”  

 

Our Purpose: To support professional womxn working in student affairs and higher education through WISA KC initiatives and in collaboration with larger NASPA priorities and events. To provide an affinity space where womxn can gather in community to grow personally and professionally and enrich the profession with their knowledge and expertise. 

 

Our Vision and Goals: To further cultivate settings where womxn are welcomed, valued, and respected, we plan to continue building on the rich foundation and legacy of WISA; elevating and celebrating the varying identities of WISA (SJI centered); maintaining and establishing partnerships; and lifting up and supporting the WISA Leadership Team. We look to achieve this by combining our expertise to lead WISA in achieving this P.A.I.N.T acronym.  

• Partner: Cultivate partnerships with NASPA constituent groups to create a flagship initiative that promotes leadership development and highlights the multifaceted lived experiences of our membership.
• Assess: Listen to our constituents by launching a WISA membership survey to understand the needs and expectations of our members.
• Include: Continue building upon the foundation of WISA being a knowledge community that serves as an inclusive haven for all womxn. 
• Network: Provide opportunities for connection womxn to engage and connect.
• Thrive: Maintain and bolster the organizational health of WISA. 

 

We are delighted to serve WISA. We look forward to engaging with you. If you haven’t already, sign-up for NASPA WISA KC newsletter on NASPA homepage, and follow/subscribe to our WISA media outlets:

• Twitter: @wisa_kc
• Instagram: naspawomxn
• Facebook: WISA.KC
• LinkedIn: NASPA l Womxn in Student Affairs (WISA)

 

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Dr. Krystal N. Allen (she/her) is the Director of Residence Education at Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, VA. Her professional background includes experience within housing and residential Life, leadership development,  graduate student recruitment and retention initiatives, and student conduct. Since 2019, she has served on the WISA leadership team as Membership Engagement Co-Chair, and was recently elected to serve as a WISA Knowledge Community Co-Chair. 

Dr. Abby Langham (she/her) serves as the inaugural Director of Assessment & Strategic Planning at Auburn University (AU) in Auburn, AL—a position she has held since 2013. She also serves as an adjunct professor with graduate faculty status in AU’s Administration of Higher Education program. She previously served as NASPA-AL President and a Board member, and was honored when NASPA-AL recognized her with the Outstanding Service to Region III Award in 2020. She is a proud member of the WISA and the AER Knowledge Communities, and was recently elected to serve as a WISA Knowledge Community Co-Chair.