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Curious what Student Affairs were reading the most last year? Below are the top 5 posts for the month

1. The Student Organizations Formula?
2. Grounding My RA Staff
3. Three Words
4. How List-Making Changed My World
5. Considering Credentialing

]]> http://thesabloggers.org/2012/02/top-5-posts-january-2012/feed/ 1 http://thesabloggers.org/2012/01/tuesday-tally-job-searches/ http://thesabloggers.org/2012/01/tuesday-tally-job-searches/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:25:52 +0000 The SA Team http://thesabloggers.org/?p=11297

I have big dreams about the role that credentialing can play in our field and rather than spend these 550 words criticizing a process that hasn’t even started yet, please indulge me for a minute in exploration of three questions that are on my mind when considering the credentials idea.

Is the master’s degree in student affairs/development/administration the only route into our field?

My answer is no, but my answer is also based on my belief that if our profession seeks to advance its identity as a discipline and set of core competencies we need to reconcile conversation.  A credentialing program will never replace the level of inquiry expected of graduate study, but it could add to the knowledge of someone with an M.B.A. who arrives to our field with a strong content understanding of leadership development from a business program.  With credentialing, that person can pursue a credential in student leadership education through a curriculum endorsed by our profession and arrive with both the content and the context needed to work in a leadership office.  In absence of the credential, I’m not as confident that this candidate understands working with college students.

Is the pre-service educational preparation supposed to last a lifetime?

A couple of projects so far in my doctoral program have explored professional education and the attempts at the scholar/practitioner balance as well as the attempts at creating professional development experiences on campuses in light of travel funding cuts.  Long story and long papers short – we haven’t figured this out yet.  I think a credentialing program will be an opportunity for us to pick up where our graduate programs leave off.

Given multiple points of entry into the field, some of our educational backgrounds have nothing in common. With a new set of core competencies for our field we now have a viable “road map” to our standards on the job.  There now needs to be a common framework for how to get from the standards for entry into the field to the standards for mastery of the competencies that can be consistent across campuses.

Could credentialing support those who want to change functional areas?

As our field becomes more and more specialized, it seems harder and harder to switch functional areas after you have accumulated some level of experience.  I envision a technology credential for someone working in a residence life position or a diversity education credential for someone working in a campus center management position.  In both of these scenarios, there is relevance for skills in both the current and future areas of work. On the resume, the addition of the credential tells me as a hiring manager that the content of that person’s background is more than just a passing interest or a short-term committee role.

As ACPA’s team begins its exploration of the idea, what questions do you have regarding the process?

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This is one of the reasons that I respect this blog so much. It provides great food for thought for professionals and reminds me to reflect and make meaning of my experiences. I, like many others in this community, have brainstormed a one word resolution for 2012. I love that it’s an easy, yet thought-provoking exercise that challenges us to focus on what we want to do. As I pondered what my word would be, I also wondered if there was a way to take this reflective exercise further.

And then—because inspiration strikes at the most random of moments—it came to me through Oprah. Or rather, her magazine, O. In the February 2012 issue, readers submitted six word stories or memoirs to describe their lives. The six-word memoir creativity exercise is wonderful because even if someone doesn’t consider herself to be a writer, she can string together six words and come up with a powerful statement. The most famous of the six-word stories is Ernest Hemmingway’s haunting passage: “For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.”

The article got me thinking—if we could write six word memoirs that describe our lives, couldn’t we do the same thing with our work and/or life philosophies? Why should the six words be confined to something as expansive as one’s life? Why not pen a six word philosophy? Why not write six succinct words that can guide your work? If you could write six works, no more, no less, about your work philosophy what would they be? You could challenge yourself to write a six word story about your life as well—what would that look like?

Personally, I discovered that my life story and work philosophy could be one and the same with this simple sentence: “Finds the good and laughs loudly.” This, I think, sums me and my work up nicely, though I will admit that it took some reflection and a few drafts for me to feel satisfied with this succinct sentence. Coming up with your philosophy or memoir may not be the easiest reflective exercise, but it could lead to some good things. So, what will your six words be?

Krissy Peterson is a residence director at the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota.

Over the past eleven days I had asked her that question a dozen times. Through text messages, phone calls, and emails we have been working together as she has been gracefully managing a sorority that has experienced tragedy. At about noon on New Year’s Day, the President of her sorority was left in critical condition after a terrible car accident. The “young” sorority has struggled with managing their emotions as their friend, sister, and center of their sorority lies in a hospital bed fighting for her life yet, Jessica took the time to as if I was ok. Perhaps it was the brevity of my email that prompted her to ask me how I was doing. Maybe, the tone of my email which was about the condition of the injured student, carried a strong sense of worry. Or, it could be that she had grown so accustomed to asking how others were doing over the past eleven days that it was just a conditioned response to ask. Or maybe, the short message to me meant something because it had been a tough day. I responded by saying that it has been a rough day but that I appreciated her asking. I continued by telling her how much positive feedback I received from her advisors and students about her work as the interim sorority president.

As a Student Affairs professional of almost 15 years, I’ve come to realize the impact simple gestures and our words can have on a student. However, I sometimes wonder if a student knows the type of impact their words or actions can have on our lives and perception of what we do. But, it wasn’t Jessica’s three-word email that made such an impact on me, it goes further. I’ve been working closely with Jessica for three years. She’s sought guidance and support as she pursues different student leadership experiences and none more so than advancing in her sorority. I’ve seen her lose several elections, become flustered when assigned responsibility and grow disenfranchised when criticized. It was only this past December that she was elected to serve as Vice President and, if I had asked her two weeks ago if she was prepared to serve as her organization’s President in the midst of a crisis, I’m sure she would say “no.” However, when tragedy struck, she eased into the role with such grace.

With each conversation I have held with Jessica since New Year’s Day, it is as if she finds her voice and her confidence little more. She represents so many students we have the opportunity and privilege to work with on a daily basis as a reaffirmation as to why we do what we do. In the midst of bureaucracy, budgets, policies, conflicts and tragedy, we have these amazing individuals that are working, struggling, and seeking their place not only in these places we call “college” but beyond. We get to be a part of their world for a little while and during that time we hope that we can help them find their way. While some students hit our campuses as self-proclaimed gifts to college, others quietly seek our guidance. They allow us to do what we believe we do best which is to simply help them learn about themselves and discover their own path. With Jessica, this juncture on her path presented itself in a manner which she may not have expected but that she, surprisingly, was prepared to handle.

Jessica and I have discussed the difficult semester ahead. The sorority’s struggles will be insignificant in comparison to their sister who is, fortunately, recovering. However, they will move forward as an organization and sisterhood. They will be there to support their friend and sister. My hope is that as they move forward, they will find it important to stop and ask Jessica, “are you ok?” Sometimes, three words can mean so much.

Sal Rizza is Associate Director of Student Life at Southern Connecticut University.

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I realized when I started my second year of graduate school that I needed to begin developing a tangible system for staying more organized – especially now that I was supervising a staff of college students in residence life. In addition to maintaining my own schedule and work priorities, I now had to keep track of my staff members’ schedules, meetings, conduct paperwork, administrative records, and all of the extracurriculars like publishing and work with professional organizations.

I’m generally not one to believe in the quick and easy fix, but my world changed when I started using the simplest technique I can think of: making lists.

I began my list-making journey during a staff meeting during my last year of graduate school. In an effort to remember everything I had to do, I made my first genuine “to do” list, complete with little hand-drawn boxes I could check off as I went along. The feeling of checking off those boxes was gratifying in a big way. As I continued making lists, I found out that doing so became routine and I was remembering details and events that would have otherwise been forgotten.

Within the past two years of professional work, list-making has kept me incredibly organized and has worked its way into my style of supervision. Off the top of my head, I can think of the following lists I utilize on a regular basis:

1. A personal “to do” list, which I keep updated at all times on my phone
2. A professional “to do” list, which I also update constantly
3. A year-long professional goals list, full of projects and big-picture ideas
4. A list of weekly tasks for each of my staff members to complete during office hours, which I store in a binder and make them initial during every shift
5. A list of semester goals for my staff members
6. A list of important dates and deadlines for my staff members

In addition to helping me stay organized, and helping my staff stay organized, I have found that using lists in everyday practice also helps hold people accountable – and my staff members like this. They have told me that they appreciate knowing exactly what tasks they need to complete as well as the feeling of being assured they are not forgetting anything. They also appreciate knowing that they can hold one another responsible by looking at our weekly binder.

I will not say that list-making alone has made me an organized person. I continue to put a lot of effort into updating my calendar and fighting the urge to procrastinate, but list-making has been a big source of help for me. As a residence life professional staff member, I often have so much in my head that there is no way I could possibly keep track of it all without maintaining lists. I still haven’t found a way to remember where I parked my car, but some day I will get there!

Adam J. Ortiz is a House Director at Hampshire College, Massachusetts