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Rebels, tune in to 'Let's Talk UNLV' with Dr. Tanya Crabb and Dr. Sammie Scales. Your express pass to everything UNLV — campus highlights, programs, and the latest buzz. Join us weekly as we chat with student leaders, administrators, and faculty, diving into the core of what makes us Rebels.
The program brings guests from different areas of UNLV every week to discuss campus highlights, programs and services, research interests that are essential to being a Rebel. Let’s Talk UNLV places its emphasis on connecting with student leaders who represent the voice of students on our campus. Guests also include administrators, faculty and staff responsible for upholding the mission of the university, which is teaching, research and scholarship.
Short, sweet, and Rebel strong – subscribe now for the inside scoop!
Unknown Speaker 0:05
All right, well, welcome to another segment or podcast of less talk UNLV on K, u and v with co host Keith and Renee, Renee, this this episode is gonna be bittersweet. It is bittersweet.
Unknown Speaker 0:17
It is You okay, you're gonna be okay.
Unknown Speaker 0:21
It's still in. It depends, right? Yeah. And where I'm at whether I'm invited to different places or you know?
Unknown Speaker 0:30
Well, for our listeners, this is my last recording, because I've taken a job at Central Michigan University as the Vice President, Student Affairs. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I'll be leaving the area very soon.
Unknown Speaker 0:49
And starting the new job August 1. So this brings us to our last recording. And what better way then to end this, I guess, semester, talking about how we got started. And all the partners that we have that you know, that put together this podcast, and what does it mean, going forward? Because I'm sure there are many stories to tell so much good work is taking place. And the biggest question for you is the new co host. How will you select a new co host? If that's if that's an order? Well, I'm gonna do like to face right. It's gonna flip the fixed coin.
Unknown Speaker 1:36
There you have it. So it'd be the luck of the draw whoever gets a call with the heads or whatever. Get it out of magic. Yeah. But before we get to the last recording, I don't think either one of our teams made it to the Western or Eastern Conference Finals. To my recollection, you were voting for Miami, Miami, and I was going for Phoenix. So I think we got word. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 1:59
Right.
Unknown Speaker 2:00
That's the TNT. Host. Yeah. Gone Fishing. I thought about you so. But I'm still gonna go for the Warriors. Are you gonna go for the Celtics? Since you were, since you put the Eastern Conference team, you know, I hadn't committed so I think most of my house. They're going for the Warriors. Okay. All right. So I have to see if I'm gonna be a nonconformist, or not. Okay. All right. go against the grain.
Unknown Speaker 2:24
A good series though. I like Tatum, you know, Tatum's from Missouri. I'm from the show me state so.
Unknown Speaker 2:30
So I'm torn. I like Tatum quite a bit. Well, I like you know, staff from the small school Davidson. You know, underdog wasn't a top pick. So, but it's gonna be a good series. Yeah. So speaking of today's episode, we have some we have our team Yeah, behind the scenes team, in the studio with us today. And that will be Danielle Kathy. She's our Swiss Army knife, our MVP. You know, she come through to clutch all the time to keep us organized. She books to guests. So Danielle, thank you for you know, all the pressure we put on you to go ahead and get the mic turned on you always in the studio with it, but your mic is never turned on. So your mic is on you ready, ready to talk among us today. And then we also have
Unknown Speaker 3:16
a guest you had before being Morris, who's a visiting lecturer and director of the rebel media group that's helping us be better. And then last, we have Jenny Stiles, who's with us. She's the team lead of the social media project with us. So thank you all for joining us. Thank you for having
Unknown Speaker 3:35
us.
Unknown Speaker 3:37
And then being I guess we'll start with you. Yeah, please, we you know, says you you have that Marvel experience.
Unknown Speaker 3:45
Boy, we will ask you maybe to recap our origin story a little bit how, how you all came to be partners with Rene and I in this endeavor. I think we were connected initially through Ashton Ridley, who's the general manager over at K, u and v. Where this this we're recording and where the show airs. And Ashton just basically made us aware that Dr. Watson was looking for potentially some help spreading the word about what you guys were doing. And what rebel Media Group is, as I discussed last time, I was on with you guys's student staff, digital media agency, we we run social media for different clients. And honestly, this this was like, This sounded like a slam dunk for us to continue the basketball metaphor that you guys
Unknown Speaker 4:32
know, this seems like a really good, fun project. It's, it's nice when we can split our attention between folks off campus as well as on campus. And we had a lot of clients outside of UNLV. We were working with the opportunity to work with you guys with Student Life specifically and with the podcast you guys are producing, which is a great chance to let Jenny in particular and some of our other students
Unknown Speaker 5:00
You know, get involved on campus and get involved with all the stuff you guys are doing. And it's just, it's been neat, because it's been a chance for us to become. I feel like here at UNLV it's such a big university, that the schools tend to get a little siloed sometimes, yes. So we've got journalism students, communication students, few fine art students who are working for us, mostly, I love when they can get out into the UNLV community, which is what you guys do. And John can certainly speak to it more, but I just feel like they've been able to experience more of the university by working with you guys. And it's been a really good relationship so far.
Unknown Speaker 5:40
And I look forward to what we do in the future. Obviously, we're gonna miss Dr. Watson, but you know, I'm excited for what you guys got coming up. We're gonna you have been with so smooth, but he was like, you know, you are basically we're suffering? No. Right? You need some help? I don't think so. You know, Ashton brought me ash and brought the team in. Right, right. So Janae, talk to us about, you know, your experience, because you're also students. So, you know, Ben tells you about this amazing opportunity, what goes through your head? And then tell us maybe the first, you know, podcast that you heard and like, what were your impressions, when you first heard it? And then how did you go into Okay, here's really to move the needle?
Unknown Speaker 6:19
Well, I was I kind of stepped in first RMG as a team lead, at least I started last summer as just a volunteer, then an internship. And then I stepped in on a nonprofit client. And that was only like, a four month project, I think. And then Ben actually calls me on the phone, which is when you know, something is serious, because it's just
Unknown Speaker 6:46
asking for my phone number.
Unknown Speaker 6:49
And then he's like, I have something to tell you. I want to run something by you. Which by the way, he just said five minutes earlier, like I always get like Ben's always like, I have something to run by you. And I'm like, okay, Brace for impact how bad is and he's like, so always a good thing, though. It
Unknown Speaker 7:08
gets nervous every time I do. And Ben's like, well, you know, there's a podcast on rebel HD too. And we're thinking they need some help with their social media really want to bring it out, give them their own social media, which I think was honestly the biggest thing we needed to do. Because you guys were working off of HD two's social media, and everyone's getting crammed together. And you kind of get lost, which I actually have experience with that, because I'm a social media manager for UNLV volunteers, which is under service learning and leadership. And they're all just one account as well. And under one lead, so I'm like, I actually have some experience with getting kind of lost kind of in that mesh. And so I'm like, okay, he's like, you know, just go over, tell me what you think, like, go over their social media, what do they need, and we did an audit, I think a group of about, I want to say like six students went through an audit, and kind of went through what needs to be done, what's good, what could happen.
Unknown Speaker 8:09
Listen to the podcast realized it was super relevant. And honestly, it was a great resource being like, hidden. And as someone who does work in student life already, and someone who is very much a resource person.
Unknown Speaker 8:25
I'm, I'm 34. So before I came back to you, whenever the
Unknown Speaker 8:30
I was working in nonprofit, so I'm like, this is a resource that this community needs, it's getting hidden, like, students could actually use this and like, know what's going on. And I've been going to UNLV on and off for 15 years.
Unknown Speaker 8:45
And so, I've seen the school go from like, everyone going on to campus and coming right off campus, and no one like really being a part of the university experience to like people really loving UNLV and having it in their heart and being a community. And I'm like this can even like make people more a part of this community and actually kind of like live within the university instead of just like a Vegas. And so I really wanted to kind of double down and
Unknown Speaker 9:15
my
Unknown Speaker 9:17
Jessica, who also helps me along with Ben, we talked about, you know, really going into the community going into resources, kind of making this a Resource Based kind of a project. And because every podcast is a resource, every podcast you guys do is Hey, did you know about this, Hey, this is available to you too. And if students don't know how that the resources they have, honestly, like those resources, I'm someone who has used like all of those resources. I'm the student that went many years without using like the Academic Success Center and then used it and then went, Oh my gosh, I don't have to have an anxiety attack every week.
Unknown Speaker 9:57
And so like, you know, you want to give that to you
Unknown Speaker 10:00
You know, the students and also the faculty and staff, as one of my team members was saying, like, why don't we like start doing stuff for the faculty and staff, there's UNLV offers a lot to them as well. So that's what we really wanted to do with social media. And I'm very proud of what our team has done. We just had 100 followers on the Instagram account. So we were very proud of that. And what did we start? I don't know. Oh, we started we made I want to know.
Unknown Speaker 10:27
40s.
Unknown Speaker 10:28
Yeah, we started you at zero because you had brand new accounts.
Unknown Speaker 10:33
Brand new. So we've just like been soaring. And you guys have been doing so great. And we're having a lot of great people, like, really be interested, we actually had some we had
Unknown Speaker 10:45
rebel forge come in and be like, Can they're asking like, can we get on the podcast? Can we get in on that? So we're very, we're very happy with our associates, the students audited our
Unknown Speaker 10:57
podcast, I brace myself, Oh, boy. I'm gonna blame it on Rene. I'm gonna blame it on Rene. Okay, the audit is the best part. Honestly, that's my favorite part. So I like you might get worried. But it's really it's just pure opportunity, and an audit.
Unknown Speaker 11:14
So Daniel is talking about your experience. I mean, you help, you know, come together with the ideas of the topics and the guests that we should bring in. You keep us together with a list of questions that might pique our interest, and get our brains thinking about what we might ask our guests. What was your experience, like coming on? And being a part of this podcast? And having prior experience running your own pod? Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 11:40
How about that?
Unknown Speaker 11:42
Yeah, so it's obviously different, because it's more behind the scenes, which on this kind of platform is more easy for me because my podcast is very just friends having conversation. This is very informative. This is like big resources for students. So I'm happy to be a part of it. I'm happy like Jenny was saying to basically add to that resource as soon as don't typically have like, myself, as a student, I may not have known about
Unknown Speaker 12:12
a number of things that we've learned in that I've learned from sitting in on episodes, and just taking notes. And we've had all kinds of staff and faculty, from Vice Presidents Vice Provost to students who offer resources and let us know what's available, which I would not have known hadn't I've been a part of this. So it's been very beneficial not only for me, but for students. And it's beneficial for myself to be able to spread the knowledge and be a part of it, because it really is an awesome podcast with a lot of information. And how has Rene been to work with?
Unknown Speaker 12:52
Your Podcast?
Unknown Speaker 12:54
Dr. Watson is awesome. Her energy. As soon as an episode starts, you could just tell she's passionate about spreading resources. She's passionate about the students, and she wants to make an impact. And she's a joy to watch I I'm usually on the sideline, she's taking notes. But are you on payroll instantly?
Unknown Speaker 13:13
I know. I mean, I should very know. Right.
Unknown Speaker 13:17
So which podcast this may be for all of you, Ben Ginni, and Danielle, that, that you really remember the most the one that you like, wow, that, for whatever reasons it resonated with you or landed with you? Yeah, I could be biased because I stepped in on this one.
Unknown Speaker 13:34
The Graduate College one definitely stands out to me just because I've felt so benefited by the Graduate College. So being able to be a part of that, and then being able to hear what Kate quarter again has to say about all the resources available and all the financial support that's available to students. It was nice because I feel like I'm benefiting from this and I'm, I get to share the wealth. And then also, Dr. Arbil stands out to me, because she had a lot of fun facts about Vegas and gambling casinos. And the culture. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 14:07
And then of course, Dr. Labor's as well because he was on. I don't know how many Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 14:14
Yeah, yeah. What about you, too? I'm gonna cheat and piggyback off what Danielle said. But I really liked hearing about the Greg college because I came here in 2018 to UNLV. And one of the first things my boss said to me, he's like, I want you to get your Masters. I was like, Cool. All right, great. And I get to use the Greg college as a resource early on. And like Danielle said, there's so many I feel like that's it's a turning point for a lot of students once they complete their undergraduate degree. Like that's such a big decision. Do I want to go on to get a graduate degree do I want to keep my education going? And I thought the episode you guys did really did a nice job kind of like laying bare. Well, this is what it takes to get a graduate degree. This is kind of because it because it's not the same as going to
Unknown Speaker 15:00
undergrad. And it's just like, that's the kind of cool thing that you guys are doing is, like Jenny was saying, shining the spotlight on resources that perhaps they didn't know, were available to them. But also, it's just like, it's a guidance thing. It's helping students, you know, to understand this is something that's available to me. So I thought that Greg college was really great with that.
Unknown Speaker 15:22
And just a number of the different anything that's been kind of spotlighting a specific department or center or resource, you said resource, like so many times. I was like, that makes sense. That's what I think of when I think of this podcast. It's a resource for students. So yeah, I apologize for not having a more original answer, but she already said it. I thought that was spot on. Um, I'm not a grad student. Yeah, yeah. Yet, I actually, because I am a non traditional student, I really loved the episode of the alliance of non traditional students. And I thought, I think it's so important to, especially in Vegas, especially at UNLV, I think that some of our strength is its were, were tied for most diverse university in the US. And I think it's super important to point out that we are not the average university, and that we do have people that come from all backgrounds that have some life behind them. And I think it's super important to kind of point that out. And to point out that we do have a giant group of students who are there to, you know, be there for the parents, I mean, be there for like someone who, like me is 34 years old, I'm a disabled student, that makes me non traditional already. And that, you know, there is a backing, not only is there a resource, but there's, you know, a community behind you. And I think that's one of the shining parts about UNLV. You're never really alone. There's always someone else that has your back, that can relate to you. And I think that was a really wonderful episode to really kind of spotlight UNLV and its students. And they, Renee, since you were the originator, this was your thought your baby that you came up with? Can you talk about your vision for bringing this fruition and sort of where we are at this point in time and how it's lived up or met or exceeded or not met your original vision for the podcast, when you conceptualize it or conceptualized it was really a two part. There was unfortunately a campus threat. And back in 2018, and from those conversations, students felt like, where do we go to find information? Where do we go to find out what the university is doing, or how universities being responsive at the same time, when that conversation took place? Astra really came to me and said, you know,
Unknown Speaker 17:50
the K, u and v radio station really doesn't have a presence. And the Student Life Pieces are not interwoven into
Unknown Speaker 18:01
this aspect of campus. And we would like to see a partnership. And so he kind of gave me the different options and
Unknown Speaker 18:11
price points of what that will look like. And I said, Well, if I'm able to make an investment into this, how can we bring the concerns you have and the concerns I have about how to speak to students to go out to the students community, as well as the university UNLV community at large to really tell our story better. And he says, How about, we give you your own podcast? And I said, What
Unknown Speaker 18:37
about a podcast? I'm an administrator, I said, No, no, no, no, no, no.
Unknown Speaker 18:43
You just need to pick a co host. And pick a podcast name or title and kind of get some thoughts about who the audience would be and how, you know, you want to share the information. And we'll go there. And so the next thing was, okay, who would be a great co host. And so I said, Okay, let me think, who do me who's creative and, and innovative and, and willing to just like, take a chance, and we'll be committed to this. And so I thought of you. And so then I reached out. I said, Keith, I got this idea. And we got started, right, right. In in most of our houses, right, because at that time we were it was COVID. Yeah, so we start off a WebEx
Unknown Speaker 19:32
right there.
Unknown Speaker 19:34
With Ray Fletcher, our first editor, yes. And our first topic was actually with your wife, right, Rebecca Rogers and talking about her adjustment to teaching online teaching in you know, in a remote away and all the services that came through Cabo as a result of the pandemic. And that's kind of how let's talk UNLV was birthed.
Unknown Speaker 20:00
Yeah, yep, I've been Robin to your Batman.
Unknown Speaker 20:04
After you've exhausted all your other options, just like, well guess No, he's the last one left. Keith was the first choice and really the only choice. And it's, it's been a great ride.
Unknown Speaker 20:17
Yeah, I mean, I've enjoyed the experience side. You know, it's like yesterday when you reached out to me like, hey, Keith, I got this great idea. What do you think and I was sort of like you were when he was talking to ash. And it's like, podcast, I was thinking about doing a podcast and what we're going to do and how we're going to do it, but, but I've really enjoyed it. And I've sort of stretched myself in a different way, from what I've done with my normal work. And I've really, like you said, Jen is, you know, while we're administrators on campus, we don't recognize all the resources that are available on campus. That's one of the things Rene and I talked about, is really wanting the podcast to be informative, and to really showcase all the wonderful talent that we have on campus, the passionate people we have on campus who are doing this great work, and just all the resources that are available to students and faculty on campus. And, and I definitely think we've grown a lot. And we've done a great job, just highlighting those and bringing those two, to magnify those for for students and faculty more.
Unknown Speaker 21:18
So we only got five minutes left. And since it's my farewell, I'm gonna close out the way I want to close it out. Yeah. And I just want to tell Ashton, really, thank you so much.
Unknown Speaker 21:29
When I started this, I said, you know, I can't do this work. I mean, I need to go get coached by someone, like, who can I, you know, speak to?
Unknown Speaker 21:40
I don't know how to do this, and asked him was like, Well, what do you think you need to know? What more training Could someone give you? I said, Well, you know, you don't even have a doctorate. So it's just in me to think that you need to be coached. And so what I want to leave with, to anyone that's listening, is that in these kinds of instances, you have to just take the bull by the horns and realize that you're enough. And it's not about the coaching. And it's not about how many more classes you can take, or who you're gonna have to kind of Matt, you know, pattern, the way that you want to lead these kinds of efforts, you have to just say, you know, what is experienced, and I'm going to learn along the way. And it's the aspect of the job that I bring, or whatever endeavor that you're going to be pursuing that makes you really cut out for that. And so I just want every listener, note that you are enough. Thank you to Dr Fane for also supporting this endeavor. And I also want to congratulate Keith Rogers, I'm going to share with you He's the new interim vice president for student affairs effective July first. And, you know, Ben has been wanting to elevate.
Unknown Speaker 22:47
He's been wanting to elevate this whole rebel Media Group portfolio for Student Affairs to be the clientele. So I would be remiss if I didn't make this network connection here. To say this can be something even broader, which I think is a very good conversation to have about what this podcast will be or even to elevate the work that's been done at the Division of Student Affairs. So that's my last bit. I know I took over and didn't give your last shout out. But again, you are enough. And it's been great. Thank you. Thank you dropped the mic.
Unknown Speaker 23:26
For more or less talk UNLV. Be sure to follow us on social media where you can get the latest updates on the show plus great behind the scenes content. We're on Facebook and let's talk to the podcast, Twitter, let's talk UNLV and Instagram and let's talk UNLV pod
Transcribed by https://otter.ai