A \u2018Pinch-Hitter\u2019 on Campus<\/a> by Victoriya Lim<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/header>\n
N<\/span>eil Markley takes the helm as the National Association of College Auxiliary Services (NACAS) president with a strong belief in NACAS and the auxiliary profession, determined to support NACAS\u2019 strategic plan, as he considers himself to be a caretaker for the year.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the career that no one ever dreams of\u2014but for more than two decades Neil Markley has found his time in auxiliary services a fascinating success.<\/p>\n
Markley, now an associate vice president at Sonoma State University (SSA), first heard of the school through friends and visited during a wet, chilly spring break.<\/p>\n
“I slept in a room without a heater. It rained but there was something about the campus that was really cool,” he recalled.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t know what profession he wanted to pursue, only that he did want to attend college. SSU leapt ahead of the other schools under consideration because of an extraordinary, yet simple, act.<\/p>\n
“I had an issue transferring a math class from junior college. While I called other colleges and got a phone tree, I actually had a Sonoma State faculty member call me and work through the thing,” Markley said. “I was like, \u2018Wow, someone on the faculty called me?\u2019 That kind of sealed the deal for me. They were a small but growing campus. Through friends, I also learned the administration was fairly new and had a great vision for the campus.”<\/p>\n
He transferred to the school in 1994, graduated in 1996 and stayed to pursue his master\u2019s degree. He worked a student job as a manager of the on-campus pub, where he says he got hands-on experience in management and leadership. When he graduated with his master\u2019s in 1998, he was offered a full-time role as the special assistant to the vice president of administrative services. From there, he moved into the director of conferences and events job, and then ultimately his current position as associate vice president for administration and finance.<\/p>\n
“I tell my people our job is to increase the value of the students\u2019 degree. As they graduate and move out into the world, we need to keep moving to increase the value of their degree,” he said.<\/p>\n
As a life-long Dodgers fan, he considers auxiliary professionals the ‘pinch hitters’ on campus. When Markley was asked to pinch-hit in student affairs, it turned out to be his favorite time in his career. He oversaw programming, student involvement, clubs, organizations, the recreation center and the creation of a new student center. It felt reminiscent of his time as a student on SSU\u2019s campus when he started a fraternity. A highlight was opening the 1,600-seat indoor (5,000-seat outdoor) music center that has hosted acts from Yo-Yo Ma and Liang Liang to Trace Adkins and Andy Grammer.<\/p>\n
Combining his student development experience along with his business and leadership responsibilities enabled him to move two seemingly disparate (and sometimes competing) worlds in one direction.<\/p>\n
“People view the business side as cold money people, and business people view the student affairs side as \u2018they\u2019re bleeding hearts with no concept of money.\u2019 I get it, but I don\u2019t,” he said. “I don\u2019t make any more or less money, I make the same salary, but we do it for the students. I think my team on the business side understood that. The team respected the student affairs side. Leveraging the discipline of the business side to put into the student affairs side is really what we tried to do to create efficiencies, manage budgets and plow extra resources towards student development. It worked well.”<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s pinch-hitting or merging two sides of campus operations, Markley acknowledged auxiliary services can be a mystery, except for those who know all too well\u2014like the members of NACAS. He remembers his first conference in the late \u201990s in New Orleans, an auxiliary professional\u2014getting the word and thanks his work predecessor with introducing him to the organization. He\u2019s found it to be led by passionate volunteers and supportive colleagues. He has served as the West region president and a national board member. While he never aspired to the NACAS president role, he says it has come at the right time.<\/p>\n
“I believe in the organization. I believe in the profession. It\u2019s the profession nobody dreamed of. That\u2019s one of the challenges we have as an auxiliary professional \u2013 getting the word out to what we do and what our roles are. Even on our campuses, we\u2019re still mysterious,” he said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what he says makes the NACAS membership so valuable; the unspoken understanding among members that if everything is going right, there\u2019s no chatter. But when something goes wrong, it can become very public.<\/p>\n
Markley says his main focus will be supporting NACAS\u2019 strategic plan, as he considers himself to be a caretaker for the year to ensure the organization is executing what it should. He noted three priorities: increasing auxiliary professionals\u2019 \u2018brand\u2019 so their value is more apparent and visible. That leads to advancing those in the profession to help them grow their careers through professional development, education sessions, and conferences. The last priority is enhancing the member experience by connecting commerce business partners with campuses by boosting knowledge, and sharing opportunities between vendors and schools about retail, money-making endeavors, and student services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nowhere else I can think of that can I go and have my peers in one place and be able to share with them and learn from them. For example, during the pandemic, there were NACAS meetings we almost started as therapy sessions. It\u2019s a tremendous support group!\u201d he said. \u201cAll of our people are dealing with the same issues, all in a state of chaos on campus. One, it\u2019s great to know everyone\u2019s in the same boat. Two, it\u2019s great to share, \u2018here\u2019s what we did, what we\u2019re doing,\u2019 even if there were no solutions. Just hearing that was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
The broad and critical mix of responsibilities that fall under auxiliary services reminds him of a recent National Association of College & University Food Services show that he attended. Plant-based burgers garnered a lot of attention, and the show itself didn\u2019t cover the breadth and scope of his profession. But that amplified to him how important an organization like NACAS is.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re like door locks to bagels and lox,” he laughed. “That\u2019s what we get and it\u2019s unique.”<\/p>\n
A \u2018Pinch-Hitter\u2019 on Campus by Victoriya Lim Neil Markley takes the helm as the National Association of College Auxiliary Services […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[507],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pursuit-of-greatness"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n