Its hard to believe, but two years ago I wrote a post here on the SA Blog about some then outstanding Student Affairs Graduate Students. Joe Ginese encouraged me to gather information and write a follow up to showcase where exactly those folks are now as working professionals. Besides asking them what has happened over the last two years, I also asked them share their best advice for those who will be job searching this spring. I’m thrilled (and proud) to share their stories!
Constanza (Connie) Cabello
“In August I accepted a position at Bryant University (Smithfield, RI). I was hired as the Program Advisor in the Center for Student Involvement. My main responsibilities were overseeing the Community Service Office and the Late Night Program (Bryant@Night). Due to various staffing changes in my first semester I took on more responsibilities like overseeing the Program Board and working closely with the Orientation Leaders. Although the staffing changes left us down two professional staff members, it allowed me to work with more students and programs. I was even promoted to Assistant Director after 8 months, which was exciting. After about a year of working in Student Involvement I realized that while my interests were programming and advising, my passion is multicultural education and diversity training. I am passionate about providing services and programs for underrepresented students and providing opportunities for all students to become more culturally aware. This past November I accepted the Assistant Director of Multicultural Affairs position at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. So far, so good! I am working directly with heritage awareness programs and piloting a Diversity Peer Educator program. I enjoy that I get to work collaboratively with a variety of offices and departments on campus. I am even supervising a graduate student and our student worker staff.” Follow me on Twitter!
“I’m happy to report that my job search process landed me at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia and I’m still here! I serve as the Coordinator for Activities and Programs in the Office of Student Activities and Leadership. In this role, I advise the university programming board (called Student Activities Council here), the Monarch Maniac athletic spirit organization, oversee Homecoming at the university, supervise the graduate assistant for programming, coordinate the “Programs All Weekend” calendar for the division (a late night & weekend programming effort), manage some other programming and assessment initiatives for our office, and serve on a variety of other projects and committees. I’m also passionate about being involved with the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA) and am so happy to be at an institution that is so supportive of that. Currently, I’m serving in a variety of volunteer roles with conference and institute planning, as well as presenting a number of sessions at the upcoming NACA National Conference in Charlotte.” Follow me on Twitter!
Julia Duhan
Emily Clare Sharples
“I’m currently working at Duke University School of Law, in the Career & Professional Development Center. My official title is Office Coordinator, so I tend to do a little bit of a lot of things. I’ve ramped up our use of Twitter and our blog to reach our students; I also spearheaded an overhaul of our website this summer. Its more user-friendly and more user-driven now, and seems to have been successful since its launch (www.law.duke.edu/career). I haven’t tried to do more Social Media outreach in the form of facebook, as I learned in graduate school that post-grad students aren’t as likely to engage that way.”
Stephen “Gavin” Weiser
“I am now working in the same office that I was in grad school, but left for a year and a half working elsewhere. Both that job and this one I got the word about through contacts on twitter! I am now the Assistant Director for the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs at the University of South Carolina. I truly feel that my technological bend has helped my career. My colleagues know that I am an understanding ally and educator of these mediums which is very helpful to them, particularly when they have no idea what a twitter or a Facebook is. I think using social media to connect with other professionals using active hashtags is almost a necessity anymore. Posting articles that you learned something from, as well as partaking in the dialogue to the sign of someone who is driven to learn.” Follow me on Twitter!
Shannon Healy
“I’m currently a Living Center Director at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, where I completed my graduate program back in 2010. Since graduating and starting a full-time position I have stayed active on Twitter and Facebook, and it is now part of my job responsibilities to help run the social media pages for the Housing department here. Social Media played a huge part in my Student Affairs career, from the initial job search, to idea sharing in my first job, to finally meeting some long-time Twitter friends in real life at various conferences.” Follow me on Twitter!
Becca (Fick) Obergefell
“I am the Assistant Director of Student Involvement and Leadership at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. My work includes advising the campus programming board, developing and implementing leadership curriculum through a Leadership Living Learning Community, certificate programs, training, and development opportunities. I also oversee the implementation and planning of evening and weekend programming, including welcome weeks and a summer programming calendar. Social Media continues to open doors for me in Student Affairs. I am the Social Media chair for the NACA South Regional Conference Planning Committee and have helped create a strategic Social Media plan for my office and the programming board. I’ve presented with my supervisor, Mike Severy about utilizing Social Media in the job search at ACPA, NACA, NACA South, and campus-based leadership conferences. My use of Twitter as a networking tool also connected me with the Women’s Leadership Institute and gave me the opportunity to serve on the faculty for that conference in December. Connect with me on my blog, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn!”
Zack Ford
“Well, it turns out I found a job that utilizes all the strengths I highlighted two years ago — it just isn’t in student affairs! 2009-2010 was a tough time to be a new professional looking for work in the niche of LGBT affairs and social justice education, and during my unemployment, I tried to stay connected to the issues I cared about by blogging about them. It turns out that blogging suits me very well and my unemployment hobby has become my new career. I started at ThinkProgress.org in March 2011 and my days are now filled with generating content about LGBT politics. I love that I get to be a daily advocate for social justice and that my primary responsibility is educating the public, and I would encourage future graduates to keep in mind that the passion that led you to student affairs could still take you other places! Nevertheless, I still miss the campus and classroom environments. Hopefully, someday I can find a way to bring my work and expertise back to higher education to have the kind of intense student dialogues I cherish. In the mean time, I’ve got blog posts to write and legislative hearings to livetweet!” Follow me on Twitter!
Jon Tingley
“I ended up working as a Graduate Hall Director for Minnesota State University, Mankato and I’m about to finish my Master’s degree in Counseling & Student Personnel: College Student Affairs track. As part of my program I’ve done my practicum and internship work with the LGBT Center on our campus, which has allowed me to lead a student group and create an LGBT roommate matching service for on-campus residents. Two years ago, I didn’t have any experience working in Residential Life, now I feel like a full-fledged ResLifer ready to pursue my first professional hall director position. When looking back at the person I was when I submitted my information for the original post, I can’t believe how fast the time has gone and how much I’ve grown as a professional. Part of that growth is because of the professional connections I’ve made through #SAChat and with my #SAGrow mentor Laurie Berry. Liz Gross was the person who first got me interested in #SAChat and she inspired me to present on social media and my LGBT research at conferences and on my campus. Professionals I’ve met through social media have helped me narrow a research topic and have helped me find research on LGBT Campus Climate, eventually leading me to do my own primary research. The professionals who participate in this online community have helped me in so many ways that it’s hard to mention them all here and they continue to provide guidance as I search for my first professional position.” Follow me on Twitter!
Laura Rogalski
“I am currently the Program Coordinator for the Office of Student Activities & Leadership Development at Western New England University in Springfield, MA. What my position consists of is: advising clubs/organizations; coordinating the student events calendar; marketing and advertising for our office and for all student events; event planning support for clubs/organizations; contracting and purchasing for clubs/organizations; coordinating and running the “Late Night at the Rock” program; supervising four (4) student Marketing Specialists and four (4) Rock Café Coordinators; serving on the Diversity Task Force Committee on campus; assisting in the planning of Homecoming Weekend and Family & Friends Weekend; coordinating the Student Activities EXPO; assisting in summer and winter orientations; and many other duties as assigned. Social media has been a large influence and asset to my professional career thus far. I use it every day to promote student events, get information out to the campus community and to further advance my professional development. I was a little hesitant at the start of my career to use it both in my professional and personal life but have learned the positive impacts that each can have so I now find that I use social media interchangeably between both personal and work environments. It is an incredible professional development tool as you are able to get to know colleagues from across the country and access information on a variety of student affairs topics at all times. While social media is still a tool that I am developing, I don’t think my professional experiences thus far in my career would be quite as impactful without it.” Follow me on Twitter!
Congratulations to everyone above on all their fantastic professional progress! These are just some of the many Student Affairs Graduate stories out there. To all those searching, continue to connect with those in person and online to help propel your career forward!
What is your story? How did you get into the Student Affairs field? What advice would you add to prospective Student Affairs Professionals?
