SLPKC Fall 2016 Newsletter

Student Leadership Competencies | Reflections From a Mentor | AND MORE!

NEWSLETTER Fall 2016

Volume 2, No. 1

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/st-johns-university-new-york-2823/photos

A Word From the Co-Chairs Jimmy Brown, Assoc. Director, Student Leadership Development, University of Chicago Kim Kushner, Coord. for Events & New Student Programs, University of Missouri-Kansas City

On behalf of the SLPKC Leadership Team, we would like to welcome you and share in the excitement of starting a new academic year! It is hard to believe that only seven months ago we were all gathered in Indianapolis for the Annual Conference – my goodness, how the time flies. We hope this summer was relaxing and gave you time to reflect, rejuvenate, and prepare to welcome our students to campus. This fall semester has proven to be busy for the SLPKC, and we hope that you have been following our social media to stay informed of all the new resources and opportunities that we have been able to share.

The mission of the SLPKC is to serve as a resource for higher education professionals who have a professional interest in leadership training, education, and development for college students. We expect that our community will share best practices, provide critical evaluation of the field, examine standards for leadership programs, support national and regional efforts to develop student leadership programs, make contributions to the literature, recognize exemplary programs, and cultivate a forum for the presentation of new ideas. To help meet this mission, we have identified the following strategic goals for our term as co-chairs.

Tell us what’s on your mind! E-mail us at slpchairs@gmail.com or find the SLPKC on social media at

Student Leadership Programs Knowledge Community

@naspaSLPKC

SLPKC Strategic Goals 2016-2018 • Increase our online presence through the use of social media and interactive features on the NASPA website.

• Find opportunities for face-to-face interactions of SLPKC members, both regionally and during our National Convention.

• Strengthen the relationships between SLPKC and the other KCs, which will allow us to reach a broader audience of professionals.

• Strengthen our Regional connections, finding new opportunities for our Regional Representatives to serve as resources for best practices and current research related to student training and development.

(Continued on Page 2)

Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

1

Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

Meet the SLPKC Executive Board Jimmy Brown, Chair University of Chicago Kim Kushner, Co-Chair University of Missouri - Kansas City Matt Clifford, Past Chair Wake Forest University Danielle Kleist, Past Chair Washington State University Tri-Cities Aaron Jones, Team Lead - Communications University of California, Santa Cruz Avani Rana, Team Lead - Conference The College of New Jersey Kat Dougherty, Spotlight Series & Awards Franklin Pierce University Lizzie Dement, Spotlight Series & Awards Stetson University Susan Hua, Social Media/Communications University of San Francisco Eric Scott, Social Media/Communications University of Alaska Southeast Myles Surrett, Webinar/Website George Washington University Jeffrey Domagala, Webinar/Website Pace University Tran Pham, Newsletter Columbia University Sundi Musnicki, Newsletter Eastern Washington University Joshua Fredenburg, Conference Events Nova Southeastern University Rachel Winters, Conference Events University of Virginia Heather Stevens, Graduate Support University of Miami Chris Campbell, Graduate Support University of Vermont

2

(Continued from Previous Page)

• Provide opportunities for scholarly research for leadership educators in all aspects of leadership development and assessment.

We have a few exciting resources to highlight that directly align with our strategic goals. First, if you missed it, our Literature Review team has put together a wonderful summer reading list. Even though we are in the middle of fall semester, we encourage you to take a look and perhaps find something that can help as you prepare and build your leadership programs for the year ahead. You can find the entire summer reading list on our website here: https://www.naspa.org/images/uploads/events/ Summer_2106_Reading_Suggestions.pdf.

Also, our Webinar team has been working at full force this semester, and we are very excited to share that we have started a Leadership Podcast!

We currently have twelve (12) episodes which include conversations with NASPA President Kevin Kruger, Dr. John Dugan, and highlights from a few amazing leadership programs around the country. If you would like to listen/subscribe to our podcast, you can find all of the episodes here: https://soundcloud.com/user-606900324-709612745.

As a new year gets into full swing, we encourage you to follow our social media and check-out our website to stay up-to-date on all the resources and activities sponsored by the KC. We have many webinars, podcasts, and program highlights on the way! As a reminder, if there is anything that we can do to further support your work, please do not hesitate to contact us. We wish you the best of luck for the new year and look forward to connecting with all of you in the upcoming months.

Leadership Educators Institute - Dec. 11-13 Looking to learn more about leadership theories or program best practices? Would it be helpful to connect with other leadership educators to share ideas?

If so, consider attending The Leadership Educators Institute (LEI) this year – December 11-13, 2016. LEI is an innovative forum geared specifically towards new to mid-level student affairs professionals and leadership educators. The Institute is coordinated by NASPA, ACPA, and the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs (NCLP) and is designed as an opportunity for student affairs administrators, educators, and practitioners to explore and talk about current leadership topics like leadership theories, courses, assessment, programs, technology and leadership in different contexts. Keynote speakers for this year include Dr. Julie Owen, Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington, Dr. Alexander Astin, and Dr. Suzan Komives - an incredible line up.

Don’t miss this exciting professional development opportunity. Register by November 11, 2016. More information and the link to register are available on the NASPA website: www.naspa. org/events/2016LEI. We hope to see you in Long Beach in December!

Using Student Leadership Competencies on a Larger Scale Nancy Hunter Denney, Executive Director, Lead365 National Conference

Using Student Leadership Competencies on a Larger Scale Nancy Hunter Denney, Executive Director, Lead365 National Conference

When you commit yourself to the development of leaders, you assume the challenge of translating theories, new perspectives and the latest research into practice. Not a small task. After 35 years of trying to find creative and useful ways of educating leaders, as well as those professionals who educate leaders, I’ve come up with one sure-bet strategy: Start with the end in mind. Specifically, consider the usefulness of the Student Leadership Competencies.

My journey in higher education began in student activities before transitioning to the Dean of Students office.

Having the good fortune of being able to attend NASPA annually plus other conferences related to my areas of responsibility, I continually pulled from the latest and most credible resources related to developing leaders.

These included books on leadership written outside of higher education and those by beloved researchers within higher education, presentations by practitioners at conferences, “best practices” conversations with colleagues, and whatever articles came across my desk (hey, it was the 80s!). By 1993, my passion took over, and I decided to “take it on the road” as a professional speaker.

By 2015, I had visited over 900 campuses and given hundreds of professional and student conference keynotes yet began questioning my approach. Was I really preparing students to be productive contributors to society and the workforce, or was I too “rah-rah” without sustainable substance? Was I trying to make everyone feel good instead of offering honest feedback? Were the professional conferences and conference sessions about developing leaders helpful or hurtful to my efforts, and what makes the information relevant and credible? My experience tells me you’ve probably asked yourself similar questions and arrived at a similar conclusion; there’s always room for improvement. The faster we acknowledge what’s different today than yesterday, the more responsive our efforts and the more relevant our results.

For good or bad, the purpose of higher education for most students is not to “find themselves” or “discover their identities” rather it is to find employment and a prosperous life so they can payback the cost of their education.

Ready for the second reality? Those hiring today’s graduates aren’t as impressed with their “soft skills” as they are surprised about their “unfounded level of confidence” and “inflated sense of worth.” Even within our own walls of higher education, honest conversations with supervisors and higher ups reveal a significant disconnect between true competence and perceived performance. As the chatter in both worlds got louder, I paused to ask, “Is it possible we need to be teaching students how to be leaders not only within the context of higher education, but more importantly, better preparing them to meet the demands they will face in the workplace?” Clearly I wasn’t the only one asking this question.

(Continued on Page 4) Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

3

Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

(Continued from Previous Page) How to proceed became obvious after reading The Student Leadership Competencies Handbook by Dr. Corey Seemiller (Jossey-Bass). Her conclusions are based upon a host of reliable and relevant resources, including her own research. In short, you are left with 60 specific “competencies” placed into 8 categories. A common language emerges that educators and students can use when interfacing with one another and potential employers, along with the identification of specific aptitude areas including the top 12 competencies desired by employers, such as working on a team, communication, problem solving, strategic planning, taking initiative and risk taking, to name a few.

These 60 competencies are often used in evaluating employee performance in the workplace so it makes sense to use them when preparing students for their careers and service to mankind. Consider what you can do on your own campus. I considered how I could use the SLC given my interests and took another “leap of passion” in 2015 by launching the Lead365 National Conference. Targeted not only for undergraduates invested in their own leadership aptitude development, but for professionals and graduate students committed to their success, the conference curriculum is based heavily on Dr. Corey Seemiller’s work. Every program offering is linked to a specific competency, a reflection journal is provided with quotes on every competency page with a complete definition of all competencies in the back, the conference theme groups the competencies according to the learning outcome of the workshop (i.e. Explore relates to self-knowledge, Engage relates to working with others, and Evolve relates to change on a large scale), and all speakers intentionally design their presentations to develop knowledge, understanding and aptitude of their corresponding competency.

This October 27 - 29 we will be incorporating the SLC badging program and adding a “program planning guide” for participants to literally plan out their conference based upon which competencies they need to develop. The professional track offers workshops to assist you in using the SLC on your own campus, develop your skills of giving and receiving feedback, enhance your understanding of relevant models and theories, and understand how to evaluate and assess not only your leaders, but your programs - plus more. Lead365 is honored to have Dr. Corey Seemiller as a conference presenter, and to be a partner with NASPA in this endeavor.

For more information about the SLC visit: www.studentleadershipcompetencies.com For more information about how the SLC is used as a curriculum visit: www.lead365.org

Meet the SLKPC Executive Board Jared Eakins, Sponsorships Univ. of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Sheraz Iqbal, Program Review University of Florida

Eboni Turnbow, Region IV-E Representative Wayne State University

Rich Whitney, Literature Review DePaul University

Heather Brake, Program Review Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

Matt Skoy, Region IV-W Representative North Dakota State University

Benjamin Williams, Literature Review Tracey Pakstis, Region I Representative University of Colorado Boulder Becker College

4

Janna Bernstein, Region V Representative University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Sally Parish, Pre-Conference University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Anthony Crenshaw, Region III Representative Trisienge Ortiz, Region VI Representative Marshall B. Ketchum University University of Richmond

Sean Ryan, Pre-Conference Longwood University

Sean Ryan, Region III Representative Longwood University

Reflections of a Mentor Shauna H. Harris, Adjunct Professor, North Carolina Central University

As I think over my professional career, the letters, emails, cards and text messages I have received from former students have always touched me. I have had the opportunity to engage and interact with diverse populations of students over the years at various institutions. Through all the administrative paperwork, the meetings, programs and class lectures, I can definitely say that my drive and motivation in Student Affairs comes from my daily interactions with students as I help them understand what their skills and talents are as students, as leaders and as citizens.

I have been fortunate to serve as a mentor to several students. Each of the students I have worked with came to me in search of knowing who they are as individuals, in search of their purpose and wanting to discover or enhance their skills and talents. My role as a mentor has taught me so much about my students’ ambition and grit; however, I have also learned more about myself as a leader, an educator, a supervisor, an advisor and colleague in the profession. As I listened to every story, I saw pieces of my own story emerge. My students reminded me of myself in college and as a young adult. While I saw myself in so many of my students, two of my mentees resonated the most with me. One student that I will call Victor reminded me of how introverted I was in college, yet I wanted to be involved in campus organizations. The other student that I will call Alexandra, reminded me of the time I felt a sense of freedom when I finally made the decision to change my major and pursue my own educational endeavors instead of listening to what others wanted me to do.

When I first met Victor and Alexander, they were a part of a student organization I advised. After having several one-one meetings with them, I soon discovered each of them was on a journey not for themselves but for others.

I saw growth in their decision making from their sophomore to junior year. Each of them had been in majors that did not necessarily agree with their true passions and commitment to helping others. What I found out is they wanted to do what I did --- work in student affairs. They wanted to work with students and help others like I helped them. Little did I know the impact I had on Victor and Alexandra. After working with them to change their majors, I saw them light up and walk with a new sense of determination. They began to find their voice in the classroom and student organization meetings. They attained leadership positions on campus. They also became NASPA NUFP participants and continued to explore their educational and career pursuits in student affairs.

During their latter part of their junior year, I challenged Victor and Alexandra to start looking into student affairs graduate preparation programs and preparing their application packets. After several site visits and meetings about the academic curriculum and fit, each of them applied and was accepted into their institution of choice. When I saw them the week before graduation, I told them how proud I was of their accomplishments and how they took challenges head on. I reminded them that no one could measure their tenacity -- a life motto instilled in me by my mother. I informed them that they were about to embark upon a new challenge, one that will at times test their tenacity, but to always push through like they did in college and they will succeed.

Recently, I received a card from Alexandra thanking me for always believing in her and pushing her to face her challenges with will and determination. Victor sends me frequent text messages telling me of his new experiences in graduate school, and I can sense the excitement, filled of hope and possibilities, in his correspondence. As a professional, we never know what student is watching, and who we will inspire or mentor. While these are two students that have brought joy to my professional career, there are many others like them. My drive is fueled by waking up each day knowing that I can help someone accomplish their goals. I am just lucky enough to be in a great profession that allows me to do it each day on a college campus full of talented individuals‌ some not yet knowing that those talents are about to be unleashed.

Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

5

Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

Annotated Table of Contents 1. Setting the Stage: The Intersection of Leadership and Assessment (Darby M. Roberts, Krista J. Bailey) This chapter provides an overview of leadership and assessment and their relationship to each other.

2. Developing a Comprehensive Assessment Plan (Kimberly Piatt, Tearney Woodruff) Leadership educators need a framework for developing a comprehensive assessment plan to assess student learning and program effectiveness.

3. Exploring the Language of Leadership Learning and Education (Scott J. Allen, Melissa R. Shehane) Defining language in the leadership field when establishing and maintaining partnerships is a necessary step in a leadership program.

4. Assessing Student Leadership Competency Development (Corey Seemiller) Institutions are committed to developing leaders and are challenged to ensure students have meaningful developmental experiences.

6

5. Assessing Leadership Using National Assessment Tools (Sharra Hynes) This chapter identifies the benefits and challenges of using a national quantitative instrument to measure leadership.

6. Carts before Horses? Remembering the Primacy of the Student’s Experience in Student Learning (Michael Preston, Adam Peck) Employing qualitative methodologies in the assessment of student leadership programs provide opportunities for reflection.

7. Leadership Assessment from an Institutional Approach (June Nobbe, Krista Soria) This chapter provides information about assessing undergraduates’ leadership development and linking assessment efforts to institutional student learning outcomes.

The essential guide to the theory and application of the Social Change Model.

Leadership for a Better World provides an approachable introduction to the Social Change Model of Leadership Development (SCM), giving students a real-world context through which to explore the seven C’s of leadership for social change as well as approaches to socially responsible leadership. From individual, group, and community values through the mechanisms of societal change itself, this book provides fundamental coverage of this increasingly vital topic. Action items, reflection, and discussion questions throughout encourage students to think about how these concepts apply in their own lives.

The new second edition includes student self-assessment rubrics for each element of the model and new discussion on the critical roles of leadership self-efficacy, social perspective, and social justice perspectives. Content is enriched with research on how this approach to leadership is developed, and two new chapters situate the model in a broader understanding of leadership and in applications of the model.

The Social Change Model is the most widely-used leadership model for college students, and has shaped college leadership curricula at schools throughout the U.S. and other countries including a translation in Chinese. This book provides a comprehensive exploration of the model, with a practical, relevant approach to real-world issues.

“The higher education environment is the ideal training ground where students can learn to lead and understand themselves in the context of improving a community and changing the world. Leadership for a Better World gives the structure, guidance and facilitation for thoughtful and meaningful pursuit of building a life centered on leadership for change.”



Explore the many facets of social change and leadership



Navigate group dynamics surrounding controversy, collaboration, and purpose



Discover the meaning of citizenship and your commitment to the greater good

—Javaune Adams-Gaston, senior vice president of



Become an agent of change through one of the many routes to a common goal

Student Life, Ohio State University

Receive 25% off* when you use the code 25HAE at www.josseybass.com/highereducation

COMING NOVEMBER 2016! *Discounts do not apply to e-books, which are already discounted.

Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

7

Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

To our Colleagues: Encouragement and a Challenge Academic and Student Affairs in Collaboration: Creating a Culture of Success (2016) Edited by Dr. Mitchell A. Levy & Bernard A. Polnariev Published by Routledge Press, Inc. We recently completed a project we worked on with over a dozen gifted colleagues for the past 18 months, the publication of a book we co-edited and co-authored titled Academic and Student Affairs in Collaboration: Creating a Culture of Success (2016). We provide a broad and evidence-based understanding of the indispensable partnerships needed to advance an institutional culture focused on student success. The authors provide examples of how they developed, implemented, and assessed collaborative efforts between academic and student affairs to promote increased student success. This book provides promising practices for promoting and improving campus discourse, career development pathways, academic support services, advising and strategic planning necessary to increase persistence and learning outcomes, and advance motivation and goal-achievement.

For example, we have trained more than a hundred faculty members in developmental advisement and goalclarification activities that can be used with students which led to increased retention, learning and motivation.

Furthermore, we have presented our work at national NASPA and NACADA conferences. Notably, we received the 2011 NASPA Student Affairs Partnering with Academic Affairs (SAPAA) Promising Practices Award for the Art of Advising faculty professional development seminar series we developed. Additionally, Dr. Levy and colleagues received the 2016 NASPA (SAPAA) Promising Practices Award for their research promoting curricular infusion of career pathways. We could not have conceptualized co-editing and co-authoring this book if we did not have 50 years of collective experience within both Student Affairs and Academic Affairs to help guide and drive us. In the last paragraph of the last chapter, we address all colleagues who strive to support student success in the following passage:

“We challenge and encourage you to truly partner with others across the divisional walls, develop genuine relationships with faculty and Student Affairs professionals, join vital cross-divisional committees such as the NASPA SAPAA Knowledge Community, collaborate, apply several of the approaches and recommendations presented in this book, assess and publish the outcomes and continuously revise the approach as neededrelentlessly focused on student success and learning. In essence, help build the bridge!”

Given that you are reading this article in the NASPA SLP Knowledge Community professional development newsletter, you likely share many of our values, interests, and concerns with respect to promoting student success (we are probably preaching to the choir!). Nevertheless, we want to share with you some general principles that have informed our research throughout our careers and have helped us to successfully collaborate across departments, divisions and institutions.

As discussed throughout the book, researchers have found the following five chief tenets help undergird our values for an improved higher education system ➢ Student success matters!

➢ Student learning matters!

➢ Collaboration across Academic Affairs and Student Affairs boundaries matters!

➢ Faculty-student interactions matter!

➢ Curricular infusion and systemic approaches matter!

Below are examples of three collaborative student success activities and outcomes that we discuss in our book: (Continued on Page 9) 8

(Continued from Previous Page) A) Faculty responses to LaGuardia’s Art of Advising seminar assessment across fall 2009, spring 2010, and fall 2010 iterations yielded the following promising results with respect to promoting faculty engagement in developmental advising:

• Did you learn something today that you believe will help

you work with students more effectively? n = 32 responses

yielded mean of 4.67 (scale: 1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly

agree)

• The stated goal for today’s meeting was to introduce how

informational or relational or conceptual elements impact

developmental advising. Is this a worthwhile topic for this

seminar series? n = 32 responses yielded mean of 4.78 (scale:

1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree) B) Data collected during the first four LaGuardia Community CollegeWide Advising Days held between fall 2009 and fall 2010 yielded the following key result via the Developmental Advising Assessment form we designed:

• A total of 1567 students chose to participate (that is, they

weren’t required to attend).

• 91.5% of the students stated they “were motivated to take

action due to the session.” We asked them to indicate what

their next actions steps were. One of the most frequent

responses (32% of respondents) was to go to the Office of

Transfer Services. Consequently, employing assessment loop

methodology we revised the Advising Day program to

include the presence of Transfer Services staff and resources

– we found this an excellent way to connect student needs

and resources.

• 70.2% of respondents stated they “learned something new.”

Again, we asked students what they learned and used this

information to inform future program revisions. We shared

with the college community the importance of this finding,

specifically students who had completed approximately 50%

of their graduation requirements were still learning

something about academic planning due to their engagement

with faculty and advising staff.

• One of the success strategies we wanted students to learn was

the importance of registering early to create a schedule which

accommodates their multiple responsibilities. Consequently,

we were pleased to find that there was a 48.2% increase in

“earlier enrollment” for the same date in January in 2010 vs.

2009.

• Faculty volunteer participation in Advising Day increased

from an initial base-line of 48 in fall 2008 to 84 in fall 2009,

then 96 in fall 2010 and eventually 100+ faculty by fall 2011

and beyond.

(Continued on Page 10)

What Do Discussion & Engagement Look Like Online?

Brandie VanOrder, Senior Coordinator for Leadership & Career Education, University of Arizona

Discussion is a common element of many of our leadership programs. It takes many forms: large group, small group, and the classic “pair and share”. In our programs, discussions span any number of topics from learning about each other, reflecting on leadership styles, and engaging with complex and emotionally charged topics. Facilitators are prepared to recognize potential red flags and to guide the discussion as needed.

So how do we lead these types of discussions online? Should we?

What must we consider in order to lead our discussions in the direction of thoughtful and engaging?

At the University of Arizona, I developed and now coordinate our online leadership programs for distance students and adult learners. Engagement, discussion, reflection, and application are essential to our leadership philosophy for all of our programs, and I have worked to incorporate and adapt engaging experiences and discussion-based learning into the online context. In the process of doing this, I have unearthed a few guiding principles for student leadership programs: online.

Yes, we should be doing this online.

It doesn’t always feel intuitive.

But launching our online leadership programs allowed us to reach (Continued on Page 12) Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

9

Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

(Continued from Previous Page) C) In 2014-15 LaGuardia Community College set out to: Launch and assess the implementation of over 60 sections of a First-Year Seminar (FYS) for the Business & Technology, Health Sciences, and Natural Sciences departments, and also for the Liberal Arts programs (strategic plan target C1g). Academic Affairs (with direct support from both Student Affairs and Institutional Technology divisions), netted the following outcomes.

• 78 FYS faculty served 4,270 students in 198 sections.

• Preliminary data showed that students who participated in FYS achieved an average higher

cumulative GPA than students who were eligible but did not take the course, 2.69 vs. 1.60 respectively.

As Dr. George Kuh and his colleagues highlight in their recent book, “most campuses are replete with the proverbial academic silos, which inhibit sharing information about student performance as well as promising practices” (Kuh, Ikenberry, Jankowski, Reese Cain, Ewell, Hutchings, & Kinzie, 2015, p. 21). It is our hope that the readers of this book will use the provided research and information to continue to have dialogues beyond their silos and across divisions. We will be honored and grateful if this book contributes to a new ‘cultural norm’ of increased collaboration with student success as the central tenet driving institutional decisions.

The chief objective of our book is to offer the reader a number of “take-a-ways” regarding the following: 1. Increase readers’ familiarity of current research regarding use of cross-divisional partnership to generate and enhance a culture of success across the institution.

2. Demonstrate how readers can reproduce collaborative best practices with respect to curricular infusion of key success and retention information, guided pathways for career development and learning, service-learning, faculty engagement in developmental advising and assessment-based orientation programming, holistic approaches to developing and assessing successful “bridge” programs, strategic planning informed by a collaborative paradigm, and the utilization of assessment feedback loops to inform all success initiatives.

3. Provide organization for the development and application of assessment templates utilizing feed back-loop methodology which will guide student success program evaluation, revision, and enhancement.

4. Support readers in starting a paradigm shift within their institution toward improved partnership, improved communication, and enhanced data-driven decision making.

When asked to comment on the Academic and Student Affairs in Collaboration: Creating a Culture of Success book, an internationally renowned leader in higher education and student success, whom is (Continued on Next Page)

10

(Continued from Previous Page) referenced throughout the book, Dr. Alan Seidman, the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of College Student Retention and Editor of Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, offered the following comment:

“Anytime you have college and university academic and student affairs working together, it will benefit student growth and development. This book provides avenues that have proven successful in that endeavor and is a valuable resource for higher education persons and institutions.�

If you would like more information regarding how you can implement our work, or the work of our colleagues, at your institution feel free to contact us: Dr. Mitchell A. Levy Vice President of Student Affairs & Branch Campus Management, Atlantic Cape Community College mlevy@atlantic.edu Dr. Bernard A. Polnariev Administrative Executive Officer for Academic Affairs, LaGuardia Community College / CUNY BPolnariev@hotmail.com References Kuh, G. D., Ikenberry, S. O., Jankowski, N., Reese Cain, T., Ewell, P., Hutchings, P., & Kinzie, J. (2015) Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Levy, M. A. & Polnariev, B. A. (2016). Academic and Student Affairs in Collaboration: Creating a Culture of Student Success (ed.). Routledge, NY. Retrieved on July 18 from: www.amazon.com/Academic-Student-Affairs-Collaboration-Creating/dp/1138913308

Thank you to our wonderful sponsors!

Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

11

Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

(Continued from Page 9) fully-online students who have never had access to our face-to-face programs. Online discussions also serve as a platform for students who are having a similar experience in different places, e.g. study abroad or summer internship students. Online discussion adds to our toolkit; it doesn’t take anything away from students.

The theories and models still apply.

Whatever theory or model you would use to guide a discussion if it were taking place face-to-face can be applied to online discussion. If you use Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle as the foundation for reflecting, processing, and applying “lessons learned” from an activity or experience, you can ask the same types of guiding questions online.

Be aware of how the timing has changed.

Most of the online discussions I lead are asynchronous, meaning, students are engaging at whatever time they choose; adjusting to this was a significant learning curve for me. Because of this, there is no immediate “back and forth” discussion: one student may contribute an idea, then three hours later another student replies to that idea with a new question, and the process continues. This can be incredibly advantageous for those who prefer to take a bit longer to internalize information before commenting and for quieter students who are not likely to speak up in a large group. An asynchronous discussion does, however, limit the role of the facilitator: since you are not following the discussion 24/7, your will not be directing the conversation as much. I would argue that this is a good thing. As long as you have established expectations and norms surrounding respectful communication, it can be rewarding for both students and facilitators to see where the conversation goes when students hold most of the control.

Technology becomes a mediating factor of the discussion.

The technology (software, platform, tool) that you select is important. Think about what is important for the online discussion, and use that to guide your selection. Do students need to leave voice comments?

Are they just discussion, or responding multimedia information? How much discussion will take place, and how often? Some technology options that might be available to you could be your university’s learning management system (Blackboard, D2L, Canvas, etc.) or other academic tools. Oftentimes you will have a university-wide license for academic tools, and administrative units are free to use them. At the U of A, we have access to a platform called VoiceThread that I use; it allows students to leave text, audio, or video comments, and allows me to present slides or videos followed by questions.

After two semesters of teaching leadership courses online, I find it incredibly rewarding to facilitate online discussions.

Students participate from their home and their work, giving me more insight into their lives. They share deeply personal thoughts and experiences after being given the time to think about them.

They are willing to open up to their peers and talk about their social identities.

In my experience online discussions have opened up opportunities for more students and more in-depth conversation—I hope you will find the same!

12

Finding Your Fit: The Struggle is Real Mary Sweeney, Career Counselor, Boise State University

So, what do you do? What do you DO? A powerful question about identity, and the answer is typically extremely layered.

I remember when I got asked this question once at a birthday party and my answer was: “Me? OH. I’m currently unemployed and directionless. What about you?!”

My cup was filled with a double-shot of cynicism. And for reasons I’ll get into later. What I didn’t realize at that moment, at that instant, in all that bitterness, was that my experiences that led to my cynicism, would be the beginning of the rest of my life-a life with a satisfying job.

Since I was seven, I wanted to be a counselor. I used to play “talking doctor” on my way to school with my dad.

It was our pretend radio show where people (my dad or myself) would “call-in” problems and the host of the show would try to solve them. Jeneanne from Elephant’s Breath, Montana called to talk about the cockroaches that invaded their bed at night, and Austin tuned in to talk about their problems with the bullies at school.

My dad had a formal education in counseling and what I didn’t know at the time, was that this was a way I learned effective coping skills for my own fears and issues that were coming up at school. It also taught me how to actively listen, analyze information, and problem solve. This was one of the first jobs I was exposed to outside of what my parents did and what I was exposed to at school like: police officer, doctor, nurse, plumber, electrician, doctor, lawyer, etc. This experience was a part of shaping my identity including my vocational identity that evolved and continues to evolve.

In middle school and high school, I found a natural talent for acting on stage. Kind of a surprise because of my EXTREME shyness. Extreme. Shyness. My mom was involved in theatre in high school and college and introduced me to the stage but never pushed me. See a pattern here? Both my parents had a background in something, I was exposed to their stories, and their stories influenced my story.

So I explored acting. And I was good at it. I was excited because I hadn’t really found something I was good at that I liked doing. At a state competition, I was awarded multiple scholarships for acting and that opened the door for me to go to college. In college I realized that what I was good at and liked, wasn’t what I loved or wanted to do for a career. I decided to go back to my first love: the study of people and I switched my major to psychology.

After graduation, I got the first and only job I applied to: I worked with children with severe disabilities. This was a tough job. Probably the toughest job I will ever have. It took a toll on me emotionally, physically, psychologically, and I was drained at the end of the day. This job also taught me more about myself in a short amount of time than anything else had up to that date. I learned I liked kids more than I thought I did, that kids liked ME more than I thought they did, that I had patience, that I could actually avoid saying a swear word for an entire day! On a serious note, I found that I wanted to help people more than I ever thought I wanted to before. That I wanted to support those going through stressful times in their life. That there is always more depth to the picture than what you see on the surface. I learned I wanted to go to grad school to become a counselor and support families of children with Autism.

In my professional counseling program, we had to do an internship and a practicum. HAD to.

Required. This was a new concept for me. During my undergraduate, I didn’t have to do an internship and when I graduated, I got a job pretty quickly. A job in my field. A job where I got all my (Continued on Page 14) Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

13

Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

(Continued from Previous Page) training after I got hired based on my education and limited experience in the theatre and waiting tables.

My internship was working with mostly teenage boys on the Autism spectrum. It was a great organization that provided a very different type of therapy than I was doing previously. It was unlike anything we were taught in school about therapeutic approaches but it was founded in many of the same principles. It challenged me and I loved that.

What also challenged me that year was life. Four months before I started my internship, I spent my grandfather’s final days with him by his bedside. Experiencing what it’s like to be present when someone leaves this earth. A month after my grandfather’s service, my cousin died unexpectedly from a blood clot that went through their heart. It was a rough summer.

In October of that year, my partner was diagnosed with cancer and began treatment. I spent so much time at my internship, I met my hour requirements early. Then I began to cut back my hours so I could spend more time with my partner and focus on the ever-important self-care.

Then I essentially got fired. I got asked to leave my internship to focus on things that were going on in my life. No negotiation.

No feedback. I never even saw my supervisor at my site again.

I was devastated. For so many reasons. Failure. How would I tell my parents? How would I survive for the next year because that’s how long I had to wait to apply to another internship?

How will I move on? How will I recover? Hopelessness.

My heart: broke. My pride: decimated. My life: in shambles.

Or so I thought.

Now back to that birthday party: “Me? OH. I’m currently unemployed and directionless. What about you?!” Bitter. Jaded.

Cynical. Hello resiliency, my old friend, it was time to step up to the plate.

For the next seven months I stood by my partner’s side during their cancer treatment, recovered, and prepared for application to internships. I had never been fired before so I had to learn how to talk about it in a positive way. How to talk about it and decide how much I wanted to disclose. How to talk about it and not break down during an interview. I reached out to friends, family, mentors, and I practiced. A lot.

I visited introspection: my values, interests, personality, and skills. Who am I? Who do I want to be? How do I want to impact others? What is my purpose?

(Continued on Page 15) 14

(Continued from Previous Page) When the time came to search for internships, I had a few on my mind I was interested in but I overheard my classmate discussing how they loved working in a career center. What’s this? Career counseling? Hmmm. My professor always said “career counseling is counseling” but I don’t think I was too sold on that idea. I heard I could get my hours, get tuition reimbursement, and the place was a good place to be. I could then graduate and go on to be the mental health counselor I always wanted to be.

I chatted with classmates and they offered to put in a good word for me. We worked on a lot of projects together and had a very small class size. They didn’t know much about the personal issues going on in my life six months prior but they did know that I was a good student, passionate, and very driven.

I went through the interview process and got hired! It then settled in how many in-person presentations I would have to give during the semester and I started to sweat. When volunteers were needed for presentations, I stayed quiet. I wanted to do the minimum to keep my anxiety levels in check and I wanted to focus more on counseling. After all, that’s what I really wanted to do.

About three months into the internships (out of a ten-month internship), something weird and unexpected happened: this internship, a specialty area I never considered before and wasn’t on my radar, began to ping and ping LOUD. Something happened my grandmother once mentioned to me while she was doing the New York Times crossword puzzle at her kitchen counter when I was about ten years old:

“Mary-Fairlie, my father told me, the first thing you must learn to do is fall in love with your work.”

It. Was. Happening. I loved going to my internship. I spent free time learning more about career counseling, resumes, cover letters, job search, etc. I even asked to do ALL the presentations. Why on earth you may ask. BecauseIknew.IknewIwantedtogointoStudentAffairsandIknewIhadtogetbetteratthethingsIfearedthemost.

For the duration of my internship, I pushed myself to do presentations, to network, to learn as much as I could, to build my brand, and to get ready because after all this, I was going to need a job!

I applied all over the country. I was ready for an adventure but I had my checklist of items that were requirements; East coast and international airport were top priorities. When I got the call from Boise State telling me that they wanted to interview me, I didn’t think there was much of a chance I would ever move to Iowa, I mean Idaho. Where was that again? I had already received a job offer so I figured Boise State would have to knock my socks off- and they did.

That’s when I realized how important culture was to me in my job search. What are (Continued on Page 16) Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

15

Fall 2016 SLPKC Newsletter

October is Careers in Student Affairs Month!

To find out more about how you can celebrate and promote our great field, go NASPA’s CSAM website.

Opportunities include: Free webinars Photo-a-Day Challenge Essay Writing Contest Printable Resources

(Continued from Previous Page) my coworkers like? How often do they laugh? What’s their approach to career counseling?

Those weren’t questions I asked them: that’s what they showed me.

One of my favorite quotes is “You cannot always wait for the perfect time, sometimes you must dare to jump.” So I jumped. I moved three thousand miles away from family and friends to take a job in a city where I knew zero people. Things I did know: I would be doing what I loved doing with people that seemed pretty amazing. And they are. Over the last four years, they have proven to me that I made the right choice. An amazing team with supportive and inspiring leadership.

Here are key things I have taken away trying to find my fit: 1. Be open to new experiences.

2. Eliminate failure from my lexicon. Things happened the way they were meant to happen.

3. Know thyself and evaluate what you’re looking for and how to get there.

Final thought: Without essentially getting fired from my internship, I never would have found my love for Student Affairs, career counseling and helping others with their job search. I eat, live, and breathe this stuff. Things happened for a reason for me. Was it easy to get through? Absolutely not.

Did I get through it bigger and badder than I was before? Damn straight.

16