Dr. Joshua Robinson: Student Safety Consultant

Dr. Joshua Robinson is a Student Affairs Educator who specializes in student safety and related policies, fostering a sense of belonging on campuses, and student leadership development. Throughout his career as a higher education professional, he has worked to challenge norms, establish environments that encourage prosocial behaviors, and collaborate with students to cultivate cultures of student safety and accountability. As a first-generation college graduate, he is passionate about designing systems and developing policies and procedures that allow all students to thrive.

Joshua earned a Bachelor of Science in Management and a Master of Business Administration from Jacksonville State University and a Doctorate of Education in Higher Education Administration from the University of West Georgia.

Learn more about Josh’s offers at: https://forcollegeforlife.com/consulting/josh/

Transcript

[00:00:00]  Casey J. Cornelius: Hey everyone and welcome to the latest episode of the For College for Life podcast. My name is Casey Cordelia. I'm the founder and president of For College For Life. I get the distinct pleasure of leading the organization, but also hosting this podcast, which gets to introduce you to the folks who make us who we are, the consultants and speakers who are known.

As America's leading voices today, I have the distinct pleasure of interviewing one of our newest team members and somebody who's doing some really exciting work on topics that that really matter on, on campuses and in organizations across the country. Before I bring 'em to the mic, let tell you a little bit about today's guest.

Dr. Joshua Robinson is a student affairs educator who specializes in student safety and related policies fostering a sense of belonging on campuses and student leadership development. Throughout his career as a higher education professional, he has worked to challenge norms, established environments that encourage pro social behaviors and collaborate with students to cultivate cultures of student safety.

Accountability. As a first generation college graduate, he is passionate about designing systems and developing policies and procedures that allow all students to thrive. Josh earned a Bachelor's of Science in Management and a Master's of Business Administration from Jacksonville State University and a doctorate of Education in Higher Education administration from the University of West Georgia.

Some fun facts. He is a proud dog dad to Ace and Sadie. Is known as an adventurous foodie with very few culinary limits. Maybe we'll get into all those things today. But without further ado, let me go ahead and bring to the mic none other than Dr. Joshua Robinson. Josh, I'm gonna get started from the beginning with the question that is going to plague me as we begin.

Is it cool for me to call you Josh? 'cause like I call you Josh, but I don't know on the podcast whether or not you wanna be formal Joshua or Dr. Robinson or anything like that. 

[00:01:59] Josh Robinson: No, Josh is fine. I think, you know, as I get to know people. Uh, and generally I tell everybody, just call me Josh. Uh, that is completely fine.

[00:02:06]  Casey J. Cornelius: And listen, let's also tackle the other elephant in the room. So, so Josh, we both go to the same barber for our hairstyles and beard styles. Um, we, we didn't plan it that way. It just so happens that you and I both have really high standards of fashion. Would, would that be a way of explaining it?

[00:02:25] Josh Robinson: Absolutely. The highest standards. 

[00:02:27]  Casey J. Cornelius: The highest standards. I love it, Josh. So I wanna get into so much of your, of your bio and your journey. Um, but I wanna start with the notion that sort of jumps out to me because obviously it resonates with, with my story as well about being a first generation student.

Can you talk a little bit about what the beginning of your journey was like? 

[00:02:47] Josh Robinson: Yeah, so my journey was a lot of figuring things out on my own. Um, I did, I was lucky I had an older brother that went to, um, a, a university a year before I did. Um, but honestly, we were both kind of figuring things out on our own through that process, right.

And so, um, you know, I have extremely supportive parents and they did everything they could to support, uh, me through the process. But there were some things that they just. Couldn't help with because they hadn't experienced that themselves. And so, um, a lot of times when I'm talking to first generation students, I'm really kind of relating to my own experience of, um, we do have to figure things out for ourselves and we do have to learn on our own, which makes us extremely good at navigating the unknown and navigating and figuring things out for ourselves.

Um, and kind of developing that resilience and developing grit, uh, through that process. Um, I'm thankful for that, uh, experience. I think that that is something that really taught me how to kind of move forward and not be afraid to, to go out on a limb and take a chance, but also not be afraid to ask questions.

[00:03:56]  Casey J. Cornelius: I think there's something, um. Like inherent in the stories of those of us who identify as first gen and, and there's, I guess you would call it resilience, but also the ability to sort of, um, navigate through complexity. Right. Did you, did you realize that was happening as an undergrad? Like you were, you were figuring it out, flying the plane as you were or building the plane as you fly it, as they say?

Or, or did that kind of occur to you later on? 

[00:04:26] Josh Robinson: I don't know if I've really understood that at the time. Um, I think what I did is, um, I, I kind of dove headfirst into trying to figure things out for myself, which really I learned more than what my peers knew. And so I kind of turned into, uh, like in my fraternity chapter, I was kind of the person that people came to if they needed, uh.

Advice on what you know, where to go to find their advisor or where to go to register for classes or things like that. Because I had figured all this stuff out on my own, but I also became very involved on campus as a way to learn these things. And so through my involvement, I learned all these different processes at the university and things like that through being an orientation leader, a campus tour guide, an ambassador.

And so I was kind of the go-to person in my peer group of, Hey, I don't know how to navigate this. I'm gonna ask Josh what to do. Um, so it was really interesting of, of me coming in with no experience and being a first generation student, but then kind of becoming that go-to person at the end of that experience.

[00:05:26]  Casey J. Cornelius: I think there's something special about the tour guide experience, right? I, I, I noticed that you automatically caught yourself and, and used the word ambassador, which is, is the term that we're supposed to use for, for tour guides and those who are welcoming outsiders to campus. But there's something in the process of learning to walk backwards across campus and point to buildings and, and tell the history of the stories and, and point out services and so forth.

Like it, it gives you a different appreciation, doesn't it? 

[00:05:52] Josh Robinson: It does. And, and it allows you to meet some really amazing people and connect with students that, um, you really would not connect with in the first place. And then you have that really cool experience of people coming up to you later and saying, you were my campus tour guide.

And, um, yeah, that was a really, a really cool experience for me. 

[00:06:09]  Casey J. Cornelius: Do you find yourself still like to this day when, when you're on campus and so forth, like directing people in certain ways and and helping them find, find what they're looking for? 

[00:06:19] Josh Robinson: Oh, absolutely. I still kind of rely on, uh, tho those skills a good bit and, and you know, pointing with two fingers instead of one finger and those types of things that we learned, uh, definitely still do that.

Yeah. 

[00:06:30]  Casey J. Cornelius: Yeah, the underhanded point, you know, where you turn, you turn your palm upward and, and point to something else. Yeah, I I, I'm just chuckling because there's so much that goes into the, i, I guess hospitality, trading so forth and in welcoming people to a campus that just sort of, sort of never leaves you.

[00:06:49] Josh Robinson: I agree. Yeah, totally. 

[00:06:50]  Casey J. Cornelius: So, Josh, you were, uh, involved as an undergrad, a fraternity man, campus ambassador, anything else that sort of filled your plate? 

[00:07:00] Josh Robinson: I was also in the marching band and so I actually went to my university on a music scholarship. Was never a music major. It was just something that I liked to do for fun.

And so it was a really fun experience. I did that for two years. Uh, and then I moved on to become involved in other areas of, of campus leadership and things like that. So, you know, ambassador fraternity, um, campus tour guide. 

[00:07:23]  Casey J. Cornelius: I had no idea though about, uh, about your, your musical pro. What, what did you play?

Like, what was your, what was your instrument? 

[00:07:30] Josh Robinson: So I played the French horn and then the mellophone and the marching band. 

[00:07:33]  Casey J. Cornelius: Dang. Okay. Alright. See, I always, one of the things that I always say, lemme pull back the curtain here just a little bit for, for the listeners. I always say that in the course of these interviews, I always learn something new about our folks.

Like, even folks that I, I've known personally for, for years and years, I'm always like, wow, I didn't know that. So, for example, I didn't know. Josh was a, a music guy band guy. Like, that's, that's awesome. That's awesome. Um, Josh, I wanna jump in a little bit to your professional expertise as well. There's, there's a, a phrase in your bio that really jumps out at me, and it's one that I don't know that everyone necessarily would understand from the very beginning, but, but you referenced the, the notion that, uh, your goal is to establish environments that encourage pro social.

Behaviors. And I just kind of want to, um, uh, clear the path here a little bit. Can you describe to someone who might be new to hearing that phrase, what's, uh, pro-social behaviors are and what they might look like? 

[00:08:34] Josh Robinson: Yeah, so a pro-social behavior is kind of something that benefits other people, benefits, other groups.

Um, and so it's something that you're really putting, um. Good actions in, out into the world. Right? And so, um, when we're looking at student safety, really looking at all the prevention work that we're doing and kind of changing the, maybe historical norms, um, within the, the campus environment, but also addressing some of the more, um.

Problematic behaviors. Right? And trying to encourage students to, one, make the change for themselves, but two, be that, that change agent within their community too. So be the change agent within their fraternity or sorority or their student organization. Mm-hmm. Their campus community, all those sorts of things.

[00:09:20]  Casey J. Cornelius: So would it be safe to say that that is, um, slightly different than the, oh, I don't re restrictions mindset that like, you know, we, we, we know that these behaviors are happening, so we're going to restrict them. It may be more so like understanding that they're taking place and then how do we create, um, you know, better safety and accountability measures.

[00:09:43] Josh Robinson: Yeah. One of my favorite sayings is, is policy alone doesn't change behavior. So you can't like write a policy to get rid of a behavior. So you have to really influence, uh, and get students to, to buy into what we are asking 'em to do. And one of the things that I think is, is a powerful thing is we often tell students, you can't do this and you can't do that.

But a lot of times we don't have conversations about what you can do or teaching them leadership skills of how to address when someone. Pushes back against this. How do you respond to that? What are some, um, skills that you can have for conflict resolution and for change management? And so those are the same things that I really like to do is teach students one, yes, here are our parameters that you can operate within.

Uh, I, we want to have conversations with you about how to do that and how to do that safely. But also here's some skills and we're gonna do some leadership developments on. A change management, how to have conversations to set a vision, how to lead and initiate change within your organization, all those types of things.

That way we are setting up student leaders for success. And we're not just saying, you can't do this and figure it out on your own of what you can do. We are actually giving them a toolbox to, to implement themselves. 

[00:10:54]  Casey J. Cornelius: It, it seems like it's, um. It's a slightly different take than often happens on, on campuses and within organizations.

Right? Like where we're, um, uh, we, we, we become like just, just the know people and, and, you know, and, and we leave students to, like you say, figure it out. Or I guess I'm envisioning in my, do you remember the movie Jurassic Park? 

[00:11:16] Josh Robinson: Mm-hmm. 

[00:11:17]  Casey J. Cornelius: Like the Velociraptor who's like walking along the fence to, to try to find the weak spot.

Like we leave students in some ways to, to find the weak spot. It sounds like what you're encouraging though, is, is it. Different way of doing this that instead recognizes that behaviors are taking place in instead equipping folks to, to make better choices. 

[00:11:37] Josh Robinson: Absolutely. So teaching students why people make the decisions and, and do the things that they do in the first place, right?

And so looking at our environments, looking at the, uh, cultures that we are creating, how do we change those things and how do we correct maybe miss some misperceived norms, going through all that stuff and kind of talking about some theory in a way that is. Uh, easily digestible. That way students can process and understand it, but also put it into practice.

And so how, how do we create environments? How do we create, um, how do students learn how from other people, right? Mm-hmm. So how do they, they learn those cultural norms within the organization, but also what are some perceived norms that may not be true, right? So what are some things that people within our organization or within our campus community, what do they think?

But we know that's not a fact and we know that that doesn't align with reality. So how do we move them along to understanding, this might be your experience. This might be what you, what you understand to be true, but here's the actual reality of what's going on, and how do we bridge that gap? 

[00:12:36]  Casey J. Cornelius: Oh, I love this.

Li listen folks, if, if you haven't yet, please make sure that you visit for college for life.com/josh to learn more about Josh's work. I, it, it occurs to me, Josh, um, that especially in the last several years, uh, so much of. The, the, the influence of the pandemic sort of created this vacuum of, of student leadership, right?

Where, where now it seems like, um, there's this lure around the, the way it's always been, or, you know, the, um, the, the university wants us to do X, Y, or Z, or we're not allowed to do, you know, a, B, or C. Are you finding that not only in, in your work, uh, on campus, but on also when, when you work with other campuses and organizations as well, that there's sort of this interesting dynamic going on right now around, um, let's call it lore building post pandemic.

[00:13:30] Josh Robinson: It's always funny to me when, when, when the students say, well, this is how we've always done it. It's like, really? Because you've been here for two years. I don't. 

[00:13:37]  Casey J. Cornelius: Right, 

[00:13:38] Josh Robinson: right. I, I don't even know how we've always done things. I can tell you how we've done things since I've been here. Um, but I, I do think there is this lore of the student experience, especially when you're looking at, at student organizations.

I think that sometimes you have people, um, alumni members that come in and tell stories and they're big, extravagant stories, but they're kind of fish stories. Right. So, um, I I, I caught a. I don't know. Eight pound bass. Right. And in reality it was like the tiniest little bass that, that you could imagine.

Right? Right. Um, and so I think a lot of times we, we hear students hear these stories of, of these alumni coming in and, and talking about their experience, and they take that to be truth. When in reality there's, there's a lot of embellishments going on as well. And so teasing that out, but then also understanding and having the conversation with students of, just because we've always done something this way doesn't mean that we have to continue to do it this way.

Um. One of the, a quote that I was recently introduced to that I really like is, um, and I might butcher this, but it's something along the lines of, we don't always know better, but when we do, we need to do better. Hmm. And so, um, and that's kind of how I lead the, my work with students and with campuses is it's okay, we might not know better in the moment, but once we do know a better way to do things, we need to pursue that.

Uh, because there's always room for growth. There's always room for improvement. And I think that's the sign of a strong organization is one that is, that engages in a continuous improvement process. 

[00:15:04]  Casey J. Cornelius: Yeah. And, and, and, um, I'm going to give you the opportunity, uh, Dr. Robinson to, to get very nerdy on this for just a second.

My understanding is that's some of what you explored in your doctoral dissertation as well, right? So for those of us who, uh, like, like give us the, uh, I, oh, I don't know the, the, the six outta 10 level on this, Josh, like, talk to us a little bit about what your, what your research was and, and what some of those findings might have been.

[00:15:32] Josh Robinson: Yeah. So, um, and I'm gonna try to keep this brief, uh, because I can talk about this for hours, but essentially my dissertation looked at student event registration policies and its impact on student high risk drinking behavior. So essentially campuses that require student organizations to register events with alcohol, get it approved before they actually host the event.

So what I did is, uh, I first wanted to do a document analysis. So I wanted to just gather the policies on, on the campus that I was looking at. I wanted to look at the procedures, the forms that the students have to fill out, all of those types of things to get a good understanding, one of exactly what the policies and procedures were, but then also to help me.

Develop questions and things like that. For, for the participants, the first thing that I learned was it was not easy to find these policies. Mm, or procedures. It was extremely difficult. Um, think of like a tangled. Ball of yarn. That's kind of what I imagined whenever I was looking at all of these things.

It took, I mean, I was looking for, for weeks trying to find 

[00:16:38]  Casey J. Cornelius: wow, 

[00:16:38] Josh Robinson: these different policies and, and it wasn't, you know, it was an hour at a time, two hours at a time. But it was definitely an eye-opening experience of if we expect students to do what we want them to do or ask them to do, why are we not making these things more transparent?

Why are we not putting them front and center on our website? Instead, it seems like, and not all campuses, but some campuses are, um, requiring students to navigate this maze of, of their website. And I don't think that's intentional. I think that a lot of times we, we add things and we might modify things and we don't always go back and find the broken link that still exist.

Right. Or the, uh, we've, we've buried it behind. 20 clicks. And so again, I don't think that's always intentional. I think that just happens over time. But I think it's important for, for those of us who work on campuses to understand that ev every year or so, we need to be going in and looking at our websites to making sure that these things are easily accessible.

We can get to something within three clicks. We can get to, um, to our procedures extremely easily. And we're not putting the behind password protected portals. We're not doing these types of things because. If we really want students to follow our, follow our expectations, we really need to make it as easy as possible for 'em to do that.

Um, one of the things I think that we learned during the PO pandemic was convenient. Compliance is a really powerful tool. And so if we want people to kind of, uh. Act in a certain way. We make it easy for them to do that. That's why during the pandemic you saw hand sanitizer stations everywhere, right? You saw, you know, masks as you were entered in a building or, or a facility.

And so we made it extremely easy for people to com to comply with what we were asking to do. And I think that's the same that translates here into the student experience. So that was the first lesson that I learned is, is we at, for those of us who work on campuses, we have to do a better job of, of looking at our websites and, and making it.

Um, easy for students to navigate those. Once I kind of figured out what that looked like, then I talked to students about their experience and talked to students about what does it look like at a registered student event and an unregistered student event, and what are the differences there, uh, in the event itself, but also what's the difference in the student drinking behaviors?

And what I learned was there's really not a whole lot of difference. And in some cases. The event registration process and policy was actually driving high risk behaviors off campus to quote unquote unofficial events, which actually made those events more high risk than the registered events themselves.

So our process that was meant, that is meant to keep students safe. And to reduce risk and high risk drinking on, on campus and tho at those events really has the unintended consequence of encouraging more high risk drinking and encouraging that high risk ranking in a place that is unregulated. And so Gotcha.

That was something that really stood out to me as well, is we have to look, look as well as at these unintended consequences and what does that look like and. How do we assess that, right? And so are we looking at our policies and assessing their impact? And if not, how can we do that? 

[00:20:00]  Casey J. Cornelius: Y you know, as you're describing this, Josh, I'm, I'm reminded of if someone de said to me one time that, um, sometimes what a consultant does is, is very similar to, um, like when, when a town is updating its road signs.

Um, you don't have someone from that town or from that city, uh, plan and plot those out. You have to bring somebody in from the outside because they don't understand the, the history or the, the legacy of these. They don't know that like, oh, that building. There used to be, uh, uh, McDonald's and then before that it was this.

And like, they don't know the, I'll go over the, the river and, and turn left at the old church. Like they don't know those things. So they're able to. Ask the questions that are essential to help others navigate complexity. Is that kind of how you see your work too, as, as an outsider coming in and being like, Hey, for example, if I can't figure out what your policies are, how is this student going to be able to do it?

[00:21:02] Josh Robinson: Absolutely. And I think that that is, it's so important to have that outside perspective come in and give some feedback. I think what, what you said is, is exactly right. If I can't find your policy, and I work at a campus and I, and I've navigated a lot of these websites, how do we expect students to do that?

And so just having that conversation is, is, is extremely important. And I think that you're totally right of. Someone that, that knows the campus community inside and out, that's a really great tool and a really great asset. But sometimes that blinds us to what are the realities of the, the red tape or the barriers for students, right?

And so, uh, we kind of get into that mindset of, we've always done it this way, or this is how it's always been done, when there might be a better way to do it. And sometimes we need that outside per perspective to, to tell us that. 

[00:21:50]  Casey J. Cornelius: Yeah. And, and I think anything that we could, um, tell me if I'm off base on this, but anything that we could do to reduce complexity, um, for students to, to make better, healthier, safer choices, it, it has to be a good thing, right?

[00:22:03] Josh Robinson: Absolutely. I mean, especially when you're looking at policies and procedures, sometimes these things are written, you, I mean, they're written by lawyers and, and it's understandably so. 

[00:22:11]  Casey J. Cornelius: Sure, 

[00:22:12] Josh Robinson: sure, sure, 

[00:22:12]  Casey J. Cornelius: sure. 

[00:22:12] Josh Robinson: But it's hard to understand. Right? And so how do we, if we're gonna have a policy that's written by, in, in legalese, can we also provide procedures to help students navigate that process?

Right. And so, um, looking at. What that looks like and how do we make it easy to understand and process and easy to implement for our students? Are we giving students tools, procedures to go along with that policy? And if not, can we create those and, and really working with students, that's an important piece too that I think a lot of times we miss is.

Asking students, what is confusing about this process? Hmm. Can you locate this policy? What would be helpful for you? If we developed a procedure, what would you wanna see in that? What are some pain points for you? I think those are extremely important things for us to have that conversation with students about.

That way we can actually have a valuable product at the end of, of helping students navigate the these processes. 

[00:23:04]  Casey J. Cornelius: And, and I would imagine buy-in then too, right? Because there's a sense of shared ownership because, you know, as from a student perspective, we helped create and, and craft this to, to be the most useful.

[00:23:16] Josh Robinson: Yeah. And there's actually some really cool research that that actually shows exactly what you just said is if students were involved in the process and, and they feel like their voice is heard through the process, they are far more likely to support policies and and procedures, even if they don't totally agree with them.

Right. If they feel like they had a meaningful say in the, in the development of those things, they can look past some things that they may not, may not a hundred percent agree with, um, but they're still gonna support that policy because they were involved in the development of it. 

[00:23:44]  Casey J. Cornelius: Uh, I love it. Uh, folks, again, please make sure that you check out for college for life.com/josh.

Learn more about his consulting work. Uh, if you think that he might be able to be of service to your, your campus or organization, please let us know. Um, Josh, I, I want to talk a little bit about your, um, LinkedIn newsletter. I think it has one of the, the most straightforward. Simple, easy to understand, but also, um, IM impactful titles that I can think of.

It, it is safer period together, period. Can you talk a little bit about what that mindset is Safer together? 

[00:24:21] Josh Robinson: Yeah. So it's kind of exactly what we just talked about of, of involving students in the conversation involving. Uh, a a broad base of stakeholders and, and conversations about campus safety. And so when you're looking at campus safety, we really need to talk with faculty, staff, students, community members, maybe alumni, advisors of student groups.

We are all part of the same team, and I think sometimes that's lost, right? So we are all working towards a common goal, which is to provide a safe and meaningful. Student experience for, for our students. And so working together is the best way to do that. And that's really the only way that we're going to know every single pain point that people may have and, and what needs to be discussed, what, where there needs to be more inter interventions or prevention efforts, all those sorts of things.

And so it really is a team effort to provide that safe and meaningful campus experience and with what the LinkedIn newsletter does. Is I, I post once a month and sometimes I'm bring in, I'm planning to bring in other people as well to kind of give their perspective. Mm-hmm. Yep. And so it's not just me all the time, uh, writing my thoughts, but bringing in diverse perspectives about different topics generally involving student safety, but also some peripheral things as well of things that connect to student safety, but might not be directly related to student safety, for example, like sense of belonging.

We know that if you look at like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, again, getting a little nerdy here, but, uh, looking at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we know that students need to, and people in general need to feel safe before they can feel like they belong somewhere. And so how do we create belonging? Well, first we have to create a safe environment.

And so all of these things are interconnected and we really need to kind of broaden our view of student safety when we're, when we're having that conversation. 

[00:26:07]  Casey J. Cornelius: I, I, I love that notion. You know, one of the things, um. I'm fond of saying is that we're, we're better together. And I typically reference that in sort of team environments and, and, and so forth.

But, but the notion that whatever we're able to do or whatever our skill sets is individually pales in comparison to what we can do if we truly bring a collaborative mindset to things, not just as it relates to, to safety and accountability, but, um, the, the end product is. Is always better. I, I assume you would agree it is your title.

The end product is always better when there's more folks involved than less. 

[00:26:49] Josh Robinson: Totally agree. And you actually accomplish your goals more often because more people are involved in the process, more people are bought into that process. You're able to kind of inspire that shared vision within the organization.

And so totally agree that we are always better together and getting people to give their own perspectives on something will only make us better. 

[00:27:09]  Casey J. Cornelius: Folks, if, if you're not yet connected with Josh, uh, please make sure on LinkedIn it is, uh, Joshua Robinson. Like, let's get it formal. Joshua Robinson. And then also make sure that you, you sign up for the newsletter because it, it does have a lot of good pearls and maybe just maybe you might be featured in it as well.

Uh, Josh, I wanna get to some, some more, uh, fun stuff. Some more get to know you stuff. So you identify as, uh, adventurous. Foodie can, can you talk a little bit about, um, your, your culinary, uh, habits or the lack of culinary limits you might have? 

[00:27:45] Josh Robinson: Yeah. So I mean, I will try just buy any food and there's very, and there's very few foods that I just don't like, right?

And so. I'm the person, uh, when I go on vacation, I'm gonna try, uh, the escargo or the, I mean, whatever might be wherever we are. The, the thing that most people would say, no, I'm not going near that. Um, and so I'll try it. And most of the time I, I learned that I, that I actually do enjoy that. And so. Um, it's, it's something that I like to do.

It's something that I like to kind of try different foods and, and experience different things and also experience different cultures, um, and, and experiencing those cultures through their food. And so that is, uh, something that I really like to do, and I do that when I travel a lot, but also I try to seek out local places as much as I can too.

[00:28:30]  Casey J. Cornelius: Well, let me ask you this. If, if someone were to come to, to Jacksonville State, right, uh, and, and you get the opportunity to, oh, I don't know, to, to take them to, to one, one meal, something that can, uh, en encapsulate the, the, the campus culture, the, the regional culture, what would, what would it be? 

[00:28:50] Josh Robinson: I think at Jacksonville State, um, we have some really amazing barbecue places and so that's probably, I would take them to one of the.

Five that we have in the area, uh, two that we have in town. And so that, that would be my choice. And then outside that we have, we have some really great, uh, restaurants just in the, in the wider, broader community as well. So, but barbecue, I think in, in Alabama especially where we are, uh, is extremely, uh, it's a big part of the culture.

And so I think that's, that would be a good first stop. And then from there, kind of adventuring out. 

[00:29:22]  Casey J. Cornelius: Say less. Uh, if anybody finds themselves in Jacksonville, Alabama, make sure that you, uh, you reach out to Josh and say, what's the go-to? He's not gonna name drop here. Like, he's not gonna tell you of those restaurants, what's, what's the go-to?

But I bet offline he will, he will share them with you. Josh, this has been a lot of fun. Uh, we have five, uh, questions that we ask all of our folks, uh, to, to wrap up these interviews are, are you ready for them? 

[00:29:47] Josh Robinson: I'm ready. 

[00:29:48]  Casey J. Cornelius: Okay. I want you to pretend for a second. I know this is likely impossible given your schedule, but I want you to imagine for a second that you have an entire day to binge watch anything.

What? What do you choose 

[00:30:00] Josh Robinson: to binge watch anything? Um. I think I probably choose an old comfort at the office. That is one of one of my favorite shows. And it really, um, I started watching, I think in grad school, so I was a little late on the game to get into, to watching the Office, but I started in grad school.

I was, it was going through a really stressful time with all of my classes and in my graduate assistant position, and I was really. Kind of struggling to manage all that, but the office was my break when I needed one. And so it really kind of got me through, um, a lot of, some stressful periods. And so now it's just kind of a comfort show that I, that I really enjoy.

And so that is, if I had all day, definitely the office is my pick. 

[00:30:40]  Casey J. Cornelius: But, okay. So we're gonna get a little, little meta on this, but what are your feelings about, I don't remember the number, like the, the, the last season where things started getting a little different. Do you, do you kind of, some people don't even watch that final season 'cause they're like, you know, once Michael left it wasn't really the same.

Where, where do you, where do you land on that? 

[00:30:57] Josh Robinson: So I still watch them, but I totally agree. Once Michael left, it's not the same, the, the pa the last season or two, not my favorite seasons, but I still do watch them. There are some good episodes there, uh, that I really do enjoy, but overall, totally agree. Uh, they could have ended the series when Michael left.

Yeah. They could have ended this. There's, there's multiple points where they could have ended the series, but I think they went a little too long. The show got really popular, so they wanted to keep it. But, um, you know, it's something that I think would've been. Better suited if they would've ended a little 

[00:31:29]  Casey J. Cornelius: early.

Yeah. Land. Land the plane, right? Land the plane. Yeah. Uh, by the way, for, for those who have not seen the office, first of all, I, I, I don't know what you're waiting for, uh, but I, uh, saw an article, um, not long ago that said that the, um, the content has not aged well in terms of its appropriateness and all I wanna say is.

It wasn't appropriate when it aired originally, and it certainly, it's not, it's not, uh, aged well in that regard as well. So know that going in. Alright, Josh, uh, what is the most used app on your phone? I. 

[00:32:04] Josh Robinson: The most used app is probably my email app Outlook. Uh, but outside of that, um, I've really been finding myself using Canva and LinkedIn.

Mm-hmm. A lot more recently. Um, Canva just for graphic design and different elements for, for use on social media. Um, especially to go along with like the LinkedIn newsletter and different things that I'm, that I'm doing. And so those, those two apps I really do enjoy using. I think that. I've learned a lot from colleagues across the country through LinkedIn and Canva really allows me to kind of tell my story in a way that that is unique to me, uh, and that I enjoy doing.

So I think those are the two that I enjoy the most. Outlook, though, is probably the one I use the most. 

[00:32:43]  Casey J. Cornelius: There's the have to and the want to. Right, right, right. The have to is the outlook. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but shout out to Canva, by the way, because I, I gotta tell you, um, use it all the time myself. Uh, you, you also get a little.

I don't wanna say snobby, like when you notice people putting out graphics or, or slide decks or, or stuff like that, that, uh, that don't use that, uh, that app, that interface, and you're like, oh, you could really elevate this by, by going to Canvas. So shout out to Canva. Okay. As a, as a foodie as you are. Um, this one's gonna take a slightly different direction.

Uh, who would you most like to have dinner with? 

[00:33:22] Josh Robinson: That's a tough one. Uh, there's so many people I think.

Okay, I'm gonna go, there is a podcast that I really enjoy. It's called No Stupid Questions. And, uh, Angela Duckworth is the, the host of that podcast and she's a psychologist and she really has. Real life conversations about, um, issues that people just submit questions about, right? And so they, it could be psychology related and most of the time it is, but a lot of times just human behavior.

Why, why do people do this thing? Or why do people behave in the way that they do? And she kind of breaks down the psychology of it, but also has a conversation, just an everyday conversation of relating it to real life experiences. So I think that it would be a really cool, um, dinner conversation that would also help me in my professional life too.

Mm-hmm. Of navigating the psychology behind what we do every day. 

[00:34:14]  Casey J. Cornelius: And if you were to have dinner with Angela Duckworth, uh, I, I assume barbecue, I assume. Would that be a fair? 

[00:34:21] Josh Robinson: Yeah, if it's in Jacksonville, definitely barbecue. Um, I think we would go to, to one of the barbecue places here. 

[00:34:26]  Casey J. Cornelius: Okay, well listen, if anybody is connected to, to Angela Duckworth, please make sure that you shout this out.

Uh, let her know that, that Josh is more than welcome to to host her in Jacksonville, uh, for some, some really great food. Alright, two, two more, Josh. Uh, before we go, so, uh, it is the end of the day, uh, it is, it is time to, um, to, to sort of, uh, start dimming the lights and so forth. What do you do to wind down?

Do you have any sort of rituals or anything that, that tells your body and mind and so forth that like the day is over? It's now time to, to rest and recharge. What do you do to wind down? 

[00:34:59] Josh Robinson: I have a great idea of what this should look like.

Go on. I'm good on always. I'm not always the best at, at actually implementing this, but, um, what I would like to do, and what I'm trying to get better at doing is, um, winding down and, and staying off my phone for at least an hour before I go to bed. And either reading a book or doing some meditation, uh, and kind of having that wind down moment that where my, my mind's not just going a hundred miles an hour.

Right? And so a lot of times I have all these things that I'm thinking about, but if I meditate or read a book, it kind of gets my mind off of those things and allows me to just kind of. Relax and decompress before I go to bed. That way when I lay down, I'm not thinking about all those a hundred things that I have to do or these ideas that I have and things like that.

And so, um, also, you know, winding down, I really like, um, I think it's called like sleepy time tea. Uh, that's a really. Great thing that I like that helps me kind of decompress and wind down. And so doing all those things before I go to bed, uh, really helps me. Not the best at doing it all the time, but I'm trying my best to get better.

Uh, and that's something that, that, um, I am really working on just to kind of improve my overall wellbeing. 

[00:36:12]  Casey J. Cornelius: I'm just gonna go out on the limb and with, with my laughing response to the, um, uh, the, the notion of having a vision for what winding down looks like. My hunch is that, uh, several of our listeners probably chuckled at that, uh, as well, knowing the pain of, uh, wanting and doing, uh, being, being sometimes two separate things.

Uh, speaking of our listeners, Josh, um, how can folks best connect with you? Like is there, is there a good way to, to, um, to get on your radar to, to get connected? 

[00:36:42] Josh Robinson: Yeah, so I think the best way is probably LinkedIn and so if you can connect with me on LinkedIn, we can have some conversations there. Also for College, for Life, uh, dot com slash Josh is a great way to connect with me as well.

Um, I also have Instagram and Facebook. I don't really use those too much. I kind of use those to keep up with other people, but don't post very often. Mm-hmm. So, um, LinkedIn is probably the one where I actually put content out the most and, and connect with people the most. 

[00:37:09]  Casey J. Cornelius: Gotcha. Alright, well folks, make sure that you do reach out to Josh on that LinkedIn profile.

Again, it's Joshua Robinson. And Angie, as you mentioned, for college for life.com/josh to learn more about his consulting work. If you feel like he might be a good partner for your campus or organization, uh, please make sure that you reach out. There, um, and, and let's, let's work together to promote that safety and accountability and collaboration, uh, that is at the, the core of what he does.

Josh, this was such a pleasure to get to chat with you. Uh, I, I've learned more than, than I, uh, than I do coming in, which seems to always be the case. And my hunch is that folks have as well. Uh, if you have, if you've enjoyed this podcast, uh, we, we invite you to. To do the things that you're supposed to do with podcasts, please make sure that you like and share and subscribe, but most importantly, two things.

One, get this podcast into the ears of, of those who, who need to hear it, who, who might benefit from, from Josh's story and his work. Uh, but then also please let us know if there are topics that you want to hear more about. So, for example, if Josh hit on something that you're like, oh, I, I would really like to know more about that, please let us know.

'cause that's what we do. We want to give you the content that you find most. Um, desirable and most appropriate and beneficial to you, your campus, your organization, your journey. Until next time, please everyone be safe and we look forward to our next conversation. Thanks everybody.