Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Congratulations!!!
GOOD LUCK AND CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU ON YOUR UPCOMING GRADUATION! Welcome to the USF CSA Alumni Family!
Fondly,
Dave Roberts
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Conversation with Dr. Richard Nicholas
Our next guest on the USF CSA Blog is my dear friend and prior supervisor, Dr. Richard Nicholas. Dr. Nicholas is the Vice President of Student Life at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas. Welcome Dr. Nicholas!!
Please respond to the questions below. As was the case with our previous guests, Dave Roberts and Melissa Bryant, this exercise is intended to help our students learn through the experiences of others in the field. There are 32 students enrolled in EDF 6938, however only a third of the students are expected to actively participate in a dialogue with you this coming week. Students in the class with the last name starting with P-Z will be monitoring and engaging with you in this process. The other students in the class will monitor only this week's conversation. Thanks to all, in advance, for your participation!
Discussion starters:
1) Describe your professional path in the field. If there are aspects of your decision-making (in your career choices) that may inform how our students approach the beginning of their own professional employment, please share them. If there are things you'd have done differently, please explain them.
2) Describe some challenges you've faced in your work. Are there experiences you've had as a supervisor that presented particular difficulty (or joy)? Are there challenging interactions with faculty, colleagues, students, or parents that have made lasting contributions to your learning?
3) What keeps you going? What are the best parts of the work, particularly any surprises you've experienced, ways in which the work was better or more fun than you expected?
4) From a Vice President’s perspective, what advice would you share with entering professionals?
Again, a portion of the students will be interacting with you over the course of the coming week. They will react to your observations and ask follow-up questions. Whatever time you can spare to respond to them would be greatly appreciated. A dialogue with you, in effect, is what I am seeking.
Thanks again Richard!! I appreciate you!! Dee Siscoe
Please respond to the questions below. As was the case with our previous guests, Dave Roberts and Melissa Bryant, this exercise is intended to help our students learn through the experiences of others in the field. There are 32 students enrolled in EDF 6938, however only a third of the students are expected to actively participate in a dialogue with you this coming week. Students in the class with the last name starting with P-Z will be monitoring and engaging with you in this process. The other students in the class will monitor only this week's conversation. Thanks to all, in advance, for your participation!
Discussion starters:
1) Describe your professional path in the field. If there are aspects of your decision-making (in your career choices) that may inform how our students approach the beginning of their own professional employment, please share them. If there are things you'd have done differently, please explain them.
2) Describe some challenges you've faced in your work. Are there experiences you've had as a supervisor that presented particular difficulty (or joy)? Are there challenging interactions with faculty, colleagues, students, or parents that have made lasting contributions to your learning?
3) What keeps you going? What are the best parts of the work, particularly any surprises you've experienced, ways in which the work was better or more fun than you expected?
4) From a Vice President’s perspective, what advice would you share with entering professionals?
Again, a portion of the students will be interacting with you over the course of the coming week. They will react to your observations and ask follow-up questions. Whatever time you can spare to respond to them would be greatly appreciated. A dialogue with you, in effect, is what I am seeking.
Thanks again Richard!! I appreciate you!! Dee Siscoe
Friday, March 23, 2012
Another Question...
Missy- Yesterday in our CSA Management Issues in Student Affairs class, we talked about collaborations between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs. Since I know you, I know that this is an area of great strength for you. (I think about the example of building a "Common Reading" program and how you were able to do that with faculty (and staff) at SMU.) Can you offer any "words of wisdom" to the students on developing and cultivating relationships with faculty? Thanks- sorry to add another question but it occurs to me that you probably have alot to offer on this subject. ...Dee Siscoe
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Short and Sweet
3) What keeps you going? What are the best parts of the work, particularly any surprises you've experienced, ways in which the work was better or more fun than you expected?
The students I work with and the colleagues who support and challenge me. I now have former students who are graduate students in the field and several who are now Student Affairs professionals. A former student I worked with at SMU is now an Assistant Director of Student Activities at SMU following graduate school at Virginia Tech and after working in Residence Life and the University of Arkansas for several years. I take pride in knowing that I have been able to help others find a career that is rewarding and important.
4) What advice would you share with entering professionals?
I'm happy to expand on both of these answers but hoping these answers will generate some conversation :)
2) Describe some challenges you've faced in your work. Are there experiences you've had as a supervisor (or with a supervisor – of course, only positive comments if you talk about me as a past supervisorJ!! Hee Hee) that presented particular difficulty (or joy)? Are there challenging interactions with faculty, colleagues, students, or parents that have made lasting contributions to your learning?
Some of the greatest challenges that I have experienced in my career are related to dealing with difficult colleagues…students/parents – they are a piece of cake compared to some of the “professionals” we work with. When I became the Director of New Student Programs I walked into a hostile environment. The Coordinator of New Student Programs was a friend and colleague who I had worked with for a number of years. She managed the office when the former Director left SMU and she was a finalist for the Director position. I was completely open and honest with her through the application and interview process – she told me, in not so many words, that I did not have a chance of getting the position because my only professional experience was in Residence Life. On my first day in the office as the new Director she told me “You will never be a mentor to me. You don’t know anything about orientation.” Additionally, the Coordinator had been working with the core group of student leaders in the office for a number of years and the students were convinced that she should have been named the Director. Within a month or so the Coordinator announced she was leaving (which actually THRILLED me – huge relief!). I needed to hire “my person” and did just that a few weeks later when I hired Emily Fallin Sandvall. We became an inseparable team and started winning over the student leaders in our office.
1) Describe your professional path in the field. If there are aspects of your decision-making (in your career choices) that may inform how our students approach the beginning of their own professional employment, please share them. If there are things you'd have done differently, please explain them.
Hello! My name is Missy Bryant and I’m the Director of First-Year Programs at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA – about 30 miles west of Philadelphia. My path into Student Affairs is very different than most. As an undergrad at Susquehanna University, I was SUPER involved (not unusual for a future Student Affairs professional) – a cheerleader, Vice-President of Membership for Sigma Kappa Sorority (One Heart, One Way, Dee!), a tour guide, etc. When I graduated from S.U. in 1996 with a B.A. in History I went to work at the U.S. Archives on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. doing research in the Military Reference Branch. My plan was to work for a year before beginning a Masters program in Military and Naval History at the University of Alabama with hopes of getting in the PhD program (a little more unusual for a future Student Affairs professional). While working at the Archives, I was still trying to determine how to pay for graduate school when my sorority adviser from Susquehanna suggested that I look into a assistantship in Student Affairs. She told me about her former supervisor at Penn State (Rick Funk) who was an Assistant Dean and Director of Greek Life at Alabama. Rick was looking for a grad assistant to work in Parent Orientation. When I talked with him he encouraged me to also apply for a graduate Residence Director position because (at the time) the higher ed program at UA did not have enough students to fill all of the assistantships available in the Division of Student Affairs. I applied for both positions and ended up serving as the graduate assistant for Parent Orientation and a graduate RD in Tutwiler Hall. While I loved both of the positions in Student Affairs, history was still my passion – for about a month until I realized that being stuck in the stacks of Gorgas Library for hours a day was not how I wanted to spend my life.
When I graduated from UA in 1999 I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do. I interviewed for and was offered a position as a Hall Director in an all-female Greek residence hall at Arizona State University. My husband (at the time, boyfriend) was taking a position in the Human Resources Leadership Development Program at Lockheed Martin in Orlando, FL and I didn’t want to be on the opposite side of the country so I decided to take a position teaching American History and World History at The Bolles School in Jacksonville, FL for a year. (10th and 11th graders….HATED IT!) I couldn’t get out of there fast enough! Luckily, my husband’s placement was up in May 2000 and he was moving to Syracuse, NY to continue his work at Lockheed so there was an excuse for me to leave J I decided that I NEEDED to get back into Student Affairs – I always felt confident and at-ease in my assistantships at Alabama so I was convinced a professional position would be the same for me. So I set out to find a job near Syracuse. I became the Coordinator of Housing (Reporting to the Director of Residence Life) at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, NY – just down the road from Syracuse University. LeMoyne is a small, private, Jesuit school and the Vice-President had been there for over 25 years. (he was a little set in his ways to say the least) My responsibilities included supervising a staff of RAs and being a conduct officer but also overseeing housing assignments and conferences. There were also graduate hall directors (students at Syracuse University) who worked at LeMoyne so I really think I thought my position was more than it really was. LeMoyne was a tight-knit community but was a big challenge to me. As a young professional I struggled with what I perceived as the antiquated systems and policies in Student Affairs. It was also difficult for me to deal with students who felt comfortable having a drink (or several) at the Jes Res (where the Jesuit priests lived on campus) or with the VPSA. I felt like LeMoyne was a Risk Management nightmare…that was probably partly true but partly me thinking “I know it all” as a new professional. It snowed 200 inches in Syracuse that winter and when my husband had the option of choosing another placement in May 2001 he JUMPED on it! Off to Dallas it was!
I went to ACPA in Boston (during a snowstorm) in March of 2000 and started my job search focused on the North Texas Area. I interviewed for a hall director position at Southern Methodist University in Dallas – LOVED it! Of course, I also thought I was too good for a Hall Director position – afterall, I had been the Coordinator of Housing at LeMoyne reporting to a Director of Residence Life. (I sure had a lot to learn.) I remember meeting with the Director of Residence Life and Student Housing (RLSH) Eddie Hull for my second interview and telling him that I wouldn’t be a Hall Director for long that I was seeking much more responsibility. (he must have listened even though looking back I CANNOT believe I said that to him!) I went to work at SMU (started the same day and was in orientation with Dr. Siscoe…J) in July 2001 and started the BEST 9 years of my life! I won’t go into much detail about SMU since you’ve already heard a bit from my friend and colleague Dave Roberts. As a Hall Director I was responsible for two learning communities and I began to develop strong relationships with faculty. I worked with the Common Reading program for First-Year students and I was active in many Student Affairs initiatives. After six as a Hall Director I was promoted to the Conference and Guest Services Manager position. My main responsibilities were overseeing the Desk operations of RLSH, scheduling the guest rooms on campus, key management (my LEAST favorite part of the job), and managing the summer conference operation. I loved this position because I had opportunity to work closely with the facilities operation in RLSH and also was able to build relationships across campus in working with conferences (including relationships associated with orientation…which you’ll see is important later). Because I missed my work with student conduct, I began to serve as member of the judicial board and as a hearing officer for higher level conduct cases. (This gave me the opportunity to continue working with Dee Siscoe.) Additionally, I was a direct-report to the Director of RLSH Eddie Hull so I became very involved in the overall operation of a large Student Affairs department.
(Insert here that my husband Jason and I got married in Dallas in December 2002 at Perkins Chapel on campus at SMU.)
When Eddie left SMU for Duke a couple of years later, his direct-reports was given the opportunity to direct the department as a team under the supervision of Vice-President of Student Affairs Jim Caswell. What an exceptional opportunity – to report to a VPSA (for a short-time) as a young professional. I also learned quickly that I have the ability to bring people together. There were some very strong (all-female) personalities serving on this leadership team and there was often conflict. I served as a mediator and someone who was able to help bridge the gaps in understanding each other.
When Doug Hallenbeck became the Assistant Vice-President and Director of RLSH I reported to him. After about six months of reporting to him, Doug told me that he saw greater potential in me and recognized the positive impact I had on the Desk Assistants and Conference Assistants. He wanted to have a similar impact on other student leadership roles within the residence halls. He changed my title to Conference and Leadership Development Coordinator and gave me additional responsibility for advising the Residence Hall Association and working with Hall Directors to improve hall councils. I served in that role for another three years or so.
When a position opened as the Director of New Student Programs (reporting to the Associate VPSA and Dean of Students Dee Siscoe) Doug encouraged me to apply. I was somewhat shocked and flattered. I quickly called Dee to see if we could talk. She started at SMU at the same time I did, is a Sigma Kappa and was (is) someone I completely respect – the thought of working with Dee got me even more excited about the position. I had so many things to ask her! Working in summer conferences I had close interaction with Director of New Student Programs and was continually frustrated by his lack of collaboration and what I saw as constant procrastination. I also felt that he put too much responsibility on the student leaders he worked with and he was always fast to pass off any mistakes as those of his students. I also never felt heard – the Director would seek feedback from stakeholders but immediately became defensive or deflected when feedback was given. Feedback never impacted change. I also believed (and still do) that orientation is a University responsibility and that the Director of New Student Programs needed to be driving the ship as opposed to student leaders. (I want to be clear that student leaders are necessary to a successful orientation but I did not feel like they should be the decision-makers.) I may not have been an expert on orientation but I DEFINITELY knew how I would run the department differently. The interview process for this position was really difficult for me. My current supervisor was the Chair of the search committee and I knew every member of the committee – in fact, most of the committee members I had close working relationships with through my work on campus. Interviewing with my colleagues was one of the most difficult things I had experienced. When I made the campus interview phase of the process I focused on my orientation philosophy and how I would run a true University-wide orientation program. I went in with the attitude “this job is mine” – mine to win or lose. I’ll never forget the day that Dee came to my office to offer me the position. Not sure if I screamed or cried but I know that was the most excited I ever was to get a job. I was so happy that Dee believed in me and felt like I could make an impact in orientation…and the journey began.
In the next question I will address how taking this position led to some of my greatest challenges…at least initially.
(Insert here…soon after becoming the Director of New Student Programs (literally days), my husband had the opportunity to take on a manager role and advance his career in…Ocala, FL. We decided that since we didn’t have any children we would live apart for a year and see how the new jobs went for both of us. This was a REALLY challenging year for both of us. Luckily he didn’t like the new position and agreed a year later to move back to Dallas!)
As the Director of New Student Programs I was completely empowered to make the program my own. I created a committee (more like herd) of about 40 stakeholders from across campus and set out to impact positive change in orientation. When I became Director the office consisted of me, one coordinator and a part-time administrative assistant. Over the course of the next few years I was able to grow my budget and grow the office to two assistant directors and a full-time administrative assistant. This growth came as a result of collaboration, determination, persistence, assessment and more COLLABORATION. Along the way, my supervisor was supportive, challenging and always encouraging. It was quite a journey but gave me so much confidence in my ability to influence change.
When Dee announced that she was leaving SMU my world was about to change. Not only did I get a new supervisor but also began to assume more responsibility. I started to sit on the Behavioral Intervention Team and began to meet with first-years and sophomores that came up as students of concern. I was moving away from direct responsibility for orientation and more into a supervisory role. I was becoming the equivalent of an Assistant Dean. I also started serving in the Senior Student Affairs Staff Duty rotation. The Office of New Student Programs became New Student Orientation and Student Support to reflect some of the new responsibilities we took on. Although I loved the new responsibilities, I faced challenges with my new supervisor’s style. I managed up pretty effectively and was able to build a good relationship with her. (that’s what I’m good at – building relationships) Seeing how my supervisor treated other staff members and hearing about the struggles others had with her made it less appealing to go to work every day.
My son was born in April 2009 and Jason and I thought it would be a good time to get closer to my family on the East Coast so that our son could grow up around grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. Jason was quickly able to find another position within Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia, PA. He moved to PA in January 2010 with our dog Dixie and I stayed in Dallas with Owen until the house sold or I found a new position. The job market was much tougher than I thought. Despite the large number of schools in the Philadelphia area there were no director level positions open. I started to apply for Assistant Director positions and positions in other areas of higher education. Nothing was panning out. In June, the Director of First-Year Programs position at UC posted on higheredjobs.com and I thought “This job is mine.” That is a common theme for me J I interviewed for the job on July 13 and started on August 13. Quick turnaround!
CSA Inteview #2 with Melissa Bryant
Our next guest on the USF CSA Blog is my dear friend, Melissa Becker Bryant. Melissa is the Director of First Year Programs at Ursinus College. Welcome Missy!!
Missy, when you get a few minutes, please respond to the questions below. As was the case with our previous guest, Dave Roberts, this exercise is intended to help our students learn through the experiences of others in the field. There are 32 students enrolled in EDF 6938, however only a third of the students are expected to actively participate in a dialogue with you this coming week. Students in the class with the last name starting with G-O will be monitoring and engaging with you in this process. The other students in the class will monitor only this week's conversation. Thanks to all, in advance, for your participation!
Discussion starters:
1) Describe your professional path in the field. If there are aspects of your decision-making (in your career choices) that may inform how our students approach the beginning of their own professional employment, please share them. If there are things you'd have done differently, please explain them.
2) Describe some challenges you've faced in your work. Are there experiences you've had as a supervisor (or with a supervisor – of course, only positive comments if you talk about me as a past supervisorJ!! Hee Hee) that presented particular difficulty (or joy)? Are there challenging interactions with faculty, colleagues, students, or parents that have made lasting contributions to your learning?
3) What keeps you going? What are the best parts of the work, particularly any surprises you've experienced, ways in which the work was better or more fun than you expected?
4) What advice would you share with entering professionals?
Again, a portion of the students will be interacting with you over the course of the coming week. They will react to your observations and ask follow-up questions. Whatever time you can spare to respond to them would be greatly appreciated. A dialogue with you, in effect, is what I am seeking.
Thanks again Missy!! You’re the Best! Dee Siscoe
Missy, when you get a few minutes, please respond to the questions below. As was the case with our previous guest, Dave Roberts, this exercise is intended to help our students learn through the experiences of others in the field. There are 32 students enrolled in EDF 6938, however only a third of the students are expected to actively participate in a dialogue with you this coming week. Students in the class with the last name starting with G-O will be monitoring and engaging with you in this process. The other students in the class will monitor only this week's conversation. Thanks to all, in advance, for your participation!
Discussion starters:
1) Describe your professional path in the field. If there are aspects of your decision-making (in your career choices) that may inform how our students approach the beginning of their own professional employment, please share them. If there are things you'd have done differently, please explain them.
2) Describe some challenges you've faced in your work. Are there experiences you've had as a supervisor (or with a supervisor – of course, only positive comments if you talk about me as a past supervisorJ!! Hee Hee) that presented particular difficulty (or joy)? Are there challenging interactions with faculty, colleagues, students, or parents that have made lasting contributions to your learning?
3) What keeps you going? What are the best parts of the work, particularly any surprises you've experienced, ways in which the work was better or more fun than you expected?
4) What advice would you share with entering professionals?
Again, a portion of the students will be interacting with you over the course of the coming week. They will react to your observations and ask follow-up questions. Whatever time you can spare to respond to them would be greatly appreciated. A dialogue with you, in effect, is what I am seeking.
Thanks again Missy!! You’re the Best! Dee Siscoe
Friday, February 17, 2012
My Career Path - Dave Roberts pt. 2
2) Describe some challenges you've faced in your work. Are there experiences you've had as a supervisor (or with a supervisor) that presented particular difficulty (or joy)? Are there challenging interactions with faculty, colleagues, students, or parents that have made lasting contributions to your learning?
We all have a life/career changing experience that we can point to as a defining moment in our career. Towards the end of my first year as an Asst. Director we had a student death on campus. The student who died was a freshman. He died in a friend’s room from asphyxiation from his own vomit after drinking too much alcohol. He died in a hall in my area but was actually a resident in another hall in my area. I was one of the first staff on the scene and almost instantly Dee Siscoe (our Dean of Students) and the Director for Housing were both there with us as the incident unfolded. I vividly remember sitting in the room across the hall from the hall director’s office after the ambulance had just driven the body away when my boss came over and told me that Dee was calling the parents. I have never been so happy to not be someone as I was to not be Dee that day. I then had to go to the residence hall and call an all hall meeting for a few hours later that evening to tell all of his friends and hall mates that this student had died. He was incredibly popular and everyone loved this guy, it was such a tragedy. I was also there when his parents came to collect his belongings as they stood outside the door and told us what they wanted out of his room, it was too hard for them to come into the room. The staff at SMU did a great job, and Dee’s leadership was impeccable, but I knew I wasn’t emotionally prepared enough to handle another incident like that at that point in my life.
One of the biggest challenges I have faced recently is the tension between some faculty and staff. I do not think it is this way everywhere, but at my current institution there are many faculty who really look at us in Student Affairs as party planners and do not respect us as colleagues. More than once I have had a faculty member refer to me as “young fella” or insinuate that they can’t believe I am as young as I am based on the email correspondences we have had.
I have had a few good supervisors, a few decent supervisors and some who were not so delightful. I will toot my own horn and say that I am a really good supervisor. I have had the good fortune to supervise some really amazing people. I have never fired anyone, though I have given several people the opportunity to resign. I stated before that at SMU the staff there were like family to me. There was one guy who I was on staff with, he was five years older than me and we instantly became best friends during my first year at SMU. I was honestly closer to him and his wife and son than I was to my own brothers. We would commiserate together when we were frustrated about our jobs, we would go out for a beer after work and we even spent holidays with him and his extended family since our families were so far away. However, when I was promoted to Assistant Director from Hall Director I became his direct supervisor and my office was literally located between his office and his apartment. As his supervisor I can tell you that he was late for everything, turned in sloppy work and did not take his job as serious as I would have expected. When I had to address him as a supervisor he was always full of excuses and I eventually had to write him up for his infractions. Our relationship changed completely. It was hard and I really struggled with my decisions but I had to be objective as his supervisor. His actions were causing me to get in trouble with my supervisor. You will find that in your career you find people who you really like as friends, but not co-workers. You can’t be friends with the people you supervise, you can be friendly, but there is a line.
The best advice I have ever heard about dealing with angry parents or students was to let them “climb mad mountain”. Sometimes people just want someone to yell at, there isn’t really a solution, or if there is, they need to get out their frustration first. As long as people are not threatening or making personal attacks, I have let them voice their frustrations and then I calmly ask them what I can do to help them resolve their issue. I use this all of the time in student conduct.
3) What keeps you going? What are the best parts of the work, particularly any surprises you've experienced, ways in which the work was better or more fun than you expected?
One of the greatest mentors I ever had was Valerie Averill, who worked in Residence Life at USF for a number of years said something that has always stuck with me. Right before graduation Valerie said "You have a child-like enthusiasm and devotion for the work you do in this field and I really appreciate that about you.” I would say that is a pretty good assessment. I love working in Student Affairs, I get excited about the work I do and while every day isn’t sunshine and roses, I still go home feeling fulfilled.
Something that surprises me is that I work with a lot of non-traditional students and active military members and veterans students, 90% of them I will only ever have contact with through phone or email. I have been surprised at how much I have enjoyed working with these non-traditional students and the quality/intentionality of the conversations we have over the phone or email. I have learned more about working in Higher Ed over the past few months working at Columbia College than I have since grad school. I am providing leadership for the Division of Student Affairs so I really have to look at things from a big picture perspective, weighing out our actions legally, ethically, and comparing ourselves to national standards. Columbia College recently sent me and 4 others to the island country of Malta in the Mediterranean because we are considering starting a campus there with an existing language arts school and wanted me to be on the exploratory team. This will be our first international campus. The process of creating a campus with an organization that already exists in a foreign country is fascinating. We will offer a full campus experience there so there are a lot of details to work out.
4) What advice would you share with entering professionals?
The next time you are in class look around, these people will be with you for the rest of your career. When I started at USF there were 28 in my cohort, we were the biggest cohort they had taken at that point. You are at such an advantage to have the opportunity to build these relationships with your classmates. I am still in contact with everyone from my class, several of them were in my wedding, we see each other at conferences, we talk on-line, and we call each other for advice or sometimes just to catch up. I have met alums from this program all over and worked with several who graduated at a different time than I did. I will speak for my class in saying that we have an affinity for this program, we want to see more and more professionals entering the field from USF and we are here to support you. Student Affairs is a small field, it may seem large but everyone knows each other or has some connection. This can work in your favor if you do good work, but it could work against you if you don’t pull your weight or don’t operate with ethics. I get calls occasionally from colleagues who are interviewing someone I know to get my opinion. Most times it is positive, but there are several times when I have not been able to provide a positive assessment based on my experience.
To sum all of this up into three statements:
1. Challenge yourself! Pursue opportunities that are outside of your comfort zone.
2. Build positive relationships with colleagues at your campus and at conferences.
3. Make your personal life a priority just like your professional life. It is possible to achieve some kind of balance.
We all have a life/career changing experience that we can point to as a defining moment in our career. Towards the end of my first year as an Asst. Director we had a student death on campus. The student who died was a freshman. He died in a friend’s room from asphyxiation from his own vomit after drinking too much alcohol. He died in a hall in my area but was actually a resident in another hall in my area. I was one of the first staff on the scene and almost instantly Dee Siscoe (our Dean of Students) and the Director for Housing were both there with us as the incident unfolded. I vividly remember sitting in the room across the hall from the hall director’s office after the ambulance had just driven the body away when my boss came over and told me that Dee was calling the parents. I have never been so happy to not be someone as I was to not be Dee that day. I then had to go to the residence hall and call an all hall meeting for a few hours later that evening to tell all of his friends and hall mates that this student had died. He was incredibly popular and everyone loved this guy, it was such a tragedy. I was also there when his parents came to collect his belongings as they stood outside the door and told us what they wanted out of his room, it was too hard for them to come into the room. The staff at SMU did a great job, and Dee’s leadership was impeccable, but I knew I wasn’t emotionally prepared enough to handle another incident like that at that point in my life.
One of the biggest challenges I have faced recently is the tension between some faculty and staff. I do not think it is this way everywhere, but at my current institution there are many faculty who really look at us in Student Affairs as party planners and do not respect us as colleagues. More than once I have had a faculty member refer to me as “young fella” or insinuate that they can’t believe I am as young as I am based on the email correspondences we have had.
I have had a few good supervisors, a few decent supervisors and some who were not so delightful. I will toot my own horn and say that I am a really good supervisor. I have had the good fortune to supervise some really amazing people. I have never fired anyone, though I have given several people the opportunity to resign. I stated before that at SMU the staff there were like family to me. There was one guy who I was on staff with, he was five years older than me and we instantly became best friends during my first year at SMU. I was honestly closer to him and his wife and son than I was to my own brothers. We would commiserate together when we were frustrated about our jobs, we would go out for a beer after work and we even spent holidays with him and his extended family since our families were so far away. However, when I was promoted to Assistant Director from Hall Director I became his direct supervisor and my office was literally located between his office and his apartment. As his supervisor I can tell you that he was late for everything, turned in sloppy work and did not take his job as serious as I would have expected. When I had to address him as a supervisor he was always full of excuses and I eventually had to write him up for his infractions. Our relationship changed completely. It was hard and I really struggled with my decisions but I had to be objective as his supervisor. His actions were causing me to get in trouble with my supervisor. You will find that in your career you find people who you really like as friends, but not co-workers. You can’t be friends with the people you supervise, you can be friendly, but there is a line.
The best advice I have ever heard about dealing with angry parents or students was to let them “climb mad mountain”. Sometimes people just want someone to yell at, there isn’t really a solution, or if there is, they need to get out their frustration first. As long as people are not threatening or making personal attacks, I have let them voice their frustrations and then I calmly ask them what I can do to help them resolve their issue. I use this all of the time in student conduct.
3) What keeps you going? What are the best parts of the work, particularly any surprises you've experienced, ways in which the work was better or more fun than you expected?
One of the greatest mentors I ever had was Valerie Averill, who worked in Residence Life at USF for a number of years said something that has always stuck with me. Right before graduation Valerie said "You have a child-like enthusiasm and devotion for the work you do in this field and I really appreciate that about you.” I would say that is a pretty good assessment. I love working in Student Affairs, I get excited about the work I do and while every day isn’t sunshine and roses, I still go home feeling fulfilled.
Something that surprises me is that I work with a lot of non-traditional students and active military members and veterans students, 90% of them I will only ever have contact with through phone or email. I have been surprised at how much I have enjoyed working with these non-traditional students and the quality/intentionality of the conversations we have over the phone or email. I have learned more about working in Higher Ed over the past few months working at Columbia College than I have since grad school. I am providing leadership for the Division of Student Affairs so I really have to look at things from a big picture perspective, weighing out our actions legally, ethically, and comparing ourselves to national standards. Columbia College recently sent me and 4 others to the island country of Malta in the Mediterranean because we are considering starting a campus there with an existing language arts school and wanted me to be on the exploratory team. This will be our first international campus. The process of creating a campus with an organization that already exists in a foreign country is fascinating. We will offer a full campus experience there so there are a lot of details to work out.
4) What advice would you share with entering professionals?
The next time you are in class look around, these people will be with you for the rest of your career. When I started at USF there were 28 in my cohort, we were the biggest cohort they had taken at that point. You are at such an advantage to have the opportunity to build these relationships with your classmates. I am still in contact with everyone from my class, several of them were in my wedding, we see each other at conferences, we talk on-line, and we call each other for advice or sometimes just to catch up. I have met alums from this program all over and worked with several who graduated at a different time than I did. I will speak for my class in saying that we have an affinity for this program, we want to see more and more professionals entering the field from USF and we are here to support you. Student Affairs is a small field, it may seem large but everyone knows each other or has some connection. This can work in your favor if you do good work, but it could work against you if you don’t pull your weight or don’t operate with ethics. I get calls occasionally from colleagues who are interviewing someone I know to get my opinion. Most times it is positive, but there are several times when I have not been able to provide a positive assessment based on my experience.
To sum all of this up into three statements:
1. Challenge yourself! Pursue opportunities that are outside of your comfort zone.
2. Build positive relationships with colleagues at your campus and at conferences.
3. Make your personal life a priority just like your professional life. It is possible to achieve some kind of balance.
My Career Path - Dave Roberts pt. 1
Hello CSAers!
My name is Dave Roberts, I was a member of the CSA class of 2004. I am really excited to have this opportunity to engage with you through this blog. Many of your faculty who know me will tell you I am a talker, so I apologize ahead of time for the length of the post. I have tried to share some of the details of my career path and some tips that you can use in yours. I look forward to your comments and questions.
Best Wishes,
Dave
1) Describe your professional path in the field. If there are aspects of your decision-making (in your career choices) that may inform how our students approach the beginning of their own professional employment, please share them. If there are things you'd have done differently, please explain them.
Valdosta State University, B.S.Ed. Secondary Ed Social Studies – 1997-2002My story is probably similar to many of you. As an undergrad at Valdosta State University (Valdosta, GA) I was lost, I was very involved on campus but couldn’t find a major that clicked for me. I loved being an RA and the professional staff there really encouraged me to pursue student affairs as a career option.
University of South Florida – M.Ed. College Student Affairs – 2002-2004I was contacted by Maria Zale, an Area Coordinator from USF at a regional placement exchange who invited me to interview for a GA position as a Residence Director scheduled for 2 hours after I received the invitation. I can tell you that I took the interview to fill the empty hour in my schedule and because it was in Florida. I knew ZERO about USF! The first question I was asked was, what do you know about USF? And I responded by saying that I know very little but that I am sure it had a vibrant campus life being located in Miami. She then explained where it was located and I amended my answer to let her know I knew nothing about USF. I was pretty sure the interview was over at that point but we kept going and it ended up being my favorite interview I had all weekend.
As you begin to pursue jobs in student affairs be sure to research the schools you will be interviewing with, but also, be honest. It is ok in a conference interview setting to say you don’t know much about an institution if this is not an interview that was scheduled in advance. I have never taken a position that I didn’t feel a “fit” with staff at the interview or at the on-campus interview. All of us in the field know the “fit”, it is hard to describe, but when it happens you know it, and when it doesn’t happen, you know it.
At USF I was hired as a Resident Director (RD) for my GA experience. I oversaw Beta Hall (pre-renovation). I was heart-broken when I was assigned “The Beta” at first, I had the worst apartment of all the RDs and on the first day of training the USF Police Officer at training asked who had Beta and when I raised my hand he said “I want to introduce myself to you because, I’ll be seeing you a lot.” I like a challenge and so one of the first lessons I learned was to accentuate the positive. The building was in terrible shape, the unofficial building mascot was the “Beta Dog” (a cockroach) because “the roaches were as big as dogs in Beta” and the rumors/legend of events that had taken place in the building were always looking to be topped by our students. Instead of shying away from this my staff and I celebrated it. We got permission to paint the lobby neon colors, because we could, we put the Beta Dog on t-shirts and we built a really strong community around the idea that we were the group that would be the last to live in “the real Beta”. The conduct issues were cut in half from previous years, we had amazing communities and students loved living there. I learned that we are just as much in the business of marketing as we are in Student Affairs. They say that good work gets rewarded with more work. The next year I was assigned Fontana Hall, the privately owned 13 story high-rise across the street from campus. The university rented it for a year as temporary housing while they built and renovated a number a residence halls on campus. The buildings condition and the overall situation was a nightmare for us as staff and for the housing department in general. I can say in hindsight that, while the experience at the time seemed really frustrating, I came out of it with some amazing skills that my colleagues who got to work in the new buildings probably never gained as a result of their Resident Director experience. If you are someone who is driven to move up in this field, put yourself out there and take on the professional challenges no one else wants. It impresses the higher-ups, builds on your experience and in my case has led to promotions and opportunities that I would have never gotten if I played it safe.
While at USF I met my wife Amanda, she was a year behind me in the CSA Program and also a Resident Director. We had been dating 4 months when I had to job search, though we both knew that we wanted to get married at that point, we also decided that it was best that I do a national job search and we see how it goes. We got engaged the week before I moved to Texas. I will address the role our relationship has also played in my career a little further down.
Southern Methodist University – Hall Director 2004-2006, Assistant Director for Res Life 2006-2007
Once again, I found a good fit with the folks at Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) in Residence Life and took a position as a hall director. Going from an all public school experience to a very affluent private school was a huge adjustment. I encourage you to branch out and seek at positions at different types and sizes of institutions. You will have a more well-rounded experience and a better view of the field of student affairs from a variety of perspectives.
The role as a hall director was a pretty easy adjustment, but there was a level of professionalism expected at SMU that I was not accustomed to. The main challenges I encountered at SMU as a hall director were personal. Amanda I got married after she graduated from the CSA Program the year after me and moved to Texas. We had a plan to spend 5 years working on our careers and then try to have kids. She got hired by the Women’s Center part-time at SMU two months after we got married and a month later we found out we were expecting our first child. SURPRISE! Our daughter Kendall was born at the end of my second year as a hall director; Amanda had to quit her job because part-time employees don’t receive maternity leave and stayed at home (in the dorm) with Kendall. If you have a spouse or partner who also has a career, there is definitely a balance that you will have to work out for you in terms of your career. When you job search, be honest with each other and know that there is a good chance one of you is going to have to make a sacrifice for the other person. Each couple handles it differently, so find what is right for you.
A month after Kendall was born I was promoted to Assistant Director for Residential Life and Assessment at SMU. In my role I supervised 5 full-time masters’ level hall directors and oversaw all departmental assessment initiatives. I adored the staff I worked with at SMU (including Dee Siscoe and Missy Bryant) I felt like the staff there were driven professionals and so supportive. I felt like I had a family there. Unfortunately, I did not feel the same adoration for all of the students I worked with at SMU. The students I interacted with were generally very wealthy and entitled and I had trouble relating with many of them. I had the children/relatives of big name celebrities living in my halls and most of the time when I addressed an incident with students I was told by the student that they were calling their lawyer. As an Assistant Director I was on duty 24/7/365 and my phone rang all the time and it took a toll on my family life. I always said I would not leave a job after year because it was “career suicide”, but my family life was more important. It was the first time in my life that I really started to think that I didn’t want to be in housing anymore.
I chose to get out of housing and pursued jobs in Student Life. I was told that once you are a housing person that you can’t break out. This is B.S. I developed a functional resume which highlighted my experience in order of the skills I possessed and not in your typical chronological resume. I am sure this helped because it took the focus off of me being a “housing geek” and focused on me as a Student Affairs Professional. I would highly recommend that you consider this as an option when you apply for jobs.
University of Missouri – Director for Leadership Development – 2007-2011
Fortunately I was hired as the Director for Leadership Development and Community Involvement at the University of Missouri (Mizzou). The position at Mizzou was really a dream job for me. I was able to teach class and have complete control over programs at a flagship state university. In my role at Mizzou I learned very quickly that I had to run my office more like a business than a just some programming office. I didn’t just want good programs, I wanted GREAT programs and I wanted my office to be a force on campus. I did an analysis of cost per student for each program, we looked at attendance numbers, did assessment on student satisfaction, focus groups about what students wanted and looked at national best practices in higher education. I also did something that I would encourage each of you to do upon starting a position. I asked my predecessor for the names of 8 faculty/staff on campus that it was crucial that I build a relationship with. I sent emails out and asked to meet each of them for coffee (my treat) at the Starbucks on campus. If you meet with someone in their office there are distractions and at least one party is out of their element. I chose to meet them at a neutral location, I bought them coffee and we talked about how we could work together and I would ask each person if there was anything that I could do in my office to better serve them or their students. I would also ask the people for additional names of people I should meet with. In one semester I took 44 professionals (faculty, staff, & community leaders) to coffee. I sometimes had meetings 2 or 3 times in one day (that’s a lot of coffee) but it was worth it. Within a year I was more connected than people who had been there 20 years and I had an abundance of resources for me, my students and staff to use. I also found some great mentors that way.
Columbia College, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs - 2011 - present
After four years at Mizzou in that position I was called by a colleague at a small local private school in June of last year who said that they had a position open for an Assistant Dean for Student Affairs. I LOVED Mizzou and my position as Director for Leadership but I hadn’t felt challenged for about a year. I told my boss I was thinking about applying and she supported it. On the negative side, it was a significant change in responsibility, it limited student contact, and I would be leaving Mizzou. On the plus side it was a significant pay increase (and our pay had been frozen for three years), I would have more “normal” work hours and I would be the number two student affairs officer on campus. I started as the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at Columbia College in July 2011. In my current role I supervise the Directors for Residence Life, Student Activities & Leadership and Student Development (Wellness, Diversity and Orientation). I also serve as the primary conduct officer for the 30,000 students on all 34 of our campuses nationwide and online. I am one of two people on the Division of Student Affairs Staff of 22 with a master’s degree in Student Affairs and the most seasoned of those two professionals. I am also one of the youngest if not the youngest Assistant Deans on campus (I’m about to turn 33). I am at a point in my life where I am ready to take on more responsibility and while I love working with students, I know the next steps in my career path are as an administrator.
My name is Dave Roberts, I was a member of the CSA class of 2004. I am really excited to have this opportunity to engage with you through this blog. Many of your faculty who know me will tell you I am a talker, so I apologize ahead of time for the length of the post. I have tried to share some of the details of my career path and some tips that you can use in yours. I look forward to your comments and questions.
Best Wishes,
Dave
1) Describe your professional path in the field. If there are aspects of your decision-making (in your career choices) that may inform how our students approach the beginning of their own professional employment, please share them. If there are things you'd have done differently, please explain them.
Valdosta State University, B.S.Ed. Secondary Ed Social Studies – 1997-2002My story is probably similar to many of you. As an undergrad at Valdosta State University (Valdosta, GA) I was lost, I was very involved on campus but couldn’t find a major that clicked for me. I loved being an RA and the professional staff there really encouraged me to pursue student affairs as a career option.
University of South Florida – M.Ed. College Student Affairs – 2002-2004I was contacted by Maria Zale, an Area Coordinator from USF at a regional placement exchange who invited me to interview for a GA position as a Residence Director scheduled for 2 hours after I received the invitation. I can tell you that I took the interview to fill the empty hour in my schedule and because it was in Florida. I knew ZERO about USF! The first question I was asked was, what do you know about USF? And I responded by saying that I know very little but that I am sure it had a vibrant campus life being located in Miami. She then explained where it was located and I amended my answer to let her know I knew nothing about USF. I was pretty sure the interview was over at that point but we kept going and it ended up being my favorite interview I had all weekend.
As you begin to pursue jobs in student affairs be sure to research the schools you will be interviewing with, but also, be honest. It is ok in a conference interview setting to say you don’t know much about an institution if this is not an interview that was scheduled in advance. I have never taken a position that I didn’t feel a “fit” with staff at the interview or at the on-campus interview. All of us in the field know the “fit”, it is hard to describe, but when it happens you know it, and when it doesn’t happen, you know it.
At USF I was hired as a Resident Director (RD) for my GA experience. I oversaw Beta Hall (pre-renovation). I was heart-broken when I was assigned “The Beta” at first, I had the worst apartment of all the RDs and on the first day of training the USF Police Officer at training asked who had Beta and when I raised my hand he said “I want to introduce myself to you because, I’ll be seeing you a lot.” I like a challenge and so one of the first lessons I learned was to accentuate the positive. The building was in terrible shape, the unofficial building mascot was the “Beta Dog” (a cockroach) because “the roaches were as big as dogs in Beta” and the rumors/legend of events that had taken place in the building were always looking to be topped by our students. Instead of shying away from this my staff and I celebrated it. We got permission to paint the lobby neon colors, because we could, we put the Beta Dog on t-shirts and we built a really strong community around the idea that we were the group that would be the last to live in “the real Beta”. The conduct issues were cut in half from previous years, we had amazing communities and students loved living there. I learned that we are just as much in the business of marketing as we are in Student Affairs. They say that good work gets rewarded with more work. The next year I was assigned Fontana Hall, the privately owned 13 story high-rise across the street from campus. The university rented it for a year as temporary housing while they built and renovated a number a residence halls on campus. The buildings condition and the overall situation was a nightmare for us as staff and for the housing department in general. I can say in hindsight that, while the experience at the time seemed really frustrating, I came out of it with some amazing skills that my colleagues who got to work in the new buildings probably never gained as a result of their Resident Director experience. If you are someone who is driven to move up in this field, put yourself out there and take on the professional challenges no one else wants. It impresses the higher-ups, builds on your experience and in my case has led to promotions and opportunities that I would have never gotten if I played it safe.
While at USF I met my wife Amanda, she was a year behind me in the CSA Program and also a Resident Director. We had been dating 4 months when I had to job search, though we both knew that we wanted to get married at that point, we also decided that it was best that I do a national job search and we see how it goes. We got engaged the week before I moved to Texas. I will address the role our relationship has also played in my career a little further down.
Southern Methodist University – Hall Director 2004-2006, Assistant Director for Res Life 2006-2007
Once again, I found a good fit with the folks at Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) in Residence Life and took a position as a hall director. Going from an all public school experience to a very affluent private school was a huge adjustment. I encourage you to branch out and seek at positions at different types and sizes of institutions. You will have a more well-rounded experience and a better view of the field of student affairs from a variety of perspectives.
The role as a hall director was a pretty easy adjustment, but there was a level of professionalism expected at SMU that I was not accustomed to. The main challenges I encountered at SMU as a hall director were personal. Amanda I got married after she graduated from the CSA Program the year after me and moved to Texas. We had a plan to spend 5 years working on our careers and then try to have kids. She got hired by the Women’s Center part-time at SMU two months after we got married and a month later we found out we were expecting our first child. SURPRISE! Our daughter Kendall was born at the end of my second year as a hall director; Amanda had to quit her job because part-time employees don’t receive maternity leave and stayed at home (in the dorm) with Kendall. If you have a spouse or partner who also has a career, there is definitely a balance that you will have to work out for you in terms of your career. When you job search, be honest with each other and know that there is a good chance one of you is going to have to make a sacrifice for the other person. Each couple handles it differently, so find what is right for you.
A month after Kendall was born I was promoted to Assistant Director for Residential Life and Assessment at SMU. In my role I supervised 5 full-time masters’ level hall directors and oversaw all departmental assessment initiatives. I adored the staff I worked with at SMU (including Dee Siscoe and Missy Bryant) I felt like the staff there were driven professionals and so supportive. I felt like I had a family there. Unfortunately, I did not feel the same adoration for all of the students I worked with at SMU. The students I interacted with were generally very wealthy and entitled and I had trouble relating with many of them. I had the children/relatives of big name celebrities living in my halls and most of the time when I addressed an incident with students I was told by the student that they were calling their lawyer. As an Assistant Director I was on duty 24/7/365 and my phone rang all the time and it took a toll on my family life. I always said I would not leave a job after year because it was “career suicide”, but my family life was more important. It was the first time in my life that I really started to think that I didn’t want to be in housing anymore.
I chose to get out of housing and pursued jobs in Student Life. I was told that once you are a housing person that you can’t break out. This is B.S. I developed a functional resume which highlighted my experience in order of the skills I possessed and not in your typical chronological resume. I am sure this helped because it took the focus off of me being a “housing geek” and focused on me as a Student Affairs Professional. I would highly recommend that you consider this as an option when you apply for jobs.
University of Missouri – Director for Leadership Development – 2007-2011
Fortunately I was hired as the Director for Leadership Development and Community Involvement at the University of Missouri (Mizzou). The position at Mizzou was really a dream job for me. I was able to teach class and have complete control over programs at a flagship state university. In my role at Mizzou I learned very quickly that I had to run my office more like a business than a just some programming office. I didn’t just want good programs, I wanted GREAT programs and I wanted my office to be a force on campus. I did an analysis of cost per student for each program, we looked at attendance numbers, did assessment on student satisfaction, focus groups about what students wanted and looked at national best practices in higher education. I also did something that I would encourage each of you to do upon starting a position. I asked my predecessor for the names of 8 faculty/staff on campus that it was crucial that I build a relationship with. I sent emails out and asked to meet each of them for coffee (my treat) at the Starbucks on campus. If you meet with someone in their office there are distractions and at least one party is out of their element. I chose to meet them at a neutral location, I bought them coffee and we talked about how we could work together and I would ask each person if there was anything that I could do in my office to better serve them or their students. I would also ask the people for additional names of people I should meet with. In one semester I took 44 professionals (faculty, staff, & community leaders) to coffee. I sometimes had meetings 2 or 3 times in one day (that’s a lot of coffee) but it was worth it. Within a year I was more connected than people who had been there 20 years and I had an abundance of resources for me, my students and staff to use. I also found some great mentors that way.
Columbia College, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs - 2011 - present
After four years at Mizzou in that position I was called by a colleague at a small local private school in June of last year who said that they had a position open for an Assistant Dean for Student Affairs. I LOVED Mizzou and my position as Director for Leadership but I hadn’t felt challenged for about a year. I told my boss I was thinking about applying and she supported it. On the negative side, it was a significant change in responsibility, it limited student contact, and I would be leaving Mizzou. On the plus side it was a significant pay increase (and our pay had been frozen for three years), I would have more “normal” work hours and I would be the number two student affairs officer on campus. I started as the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at Columbia College in July 2011. In my current role I supervise the Directors for Residence Life, Student Activities & Leadership and Student Development (Wellness, Diversity and Orientation). I also serve as the primary conduct officer for the 30,000 students on all 34 of our campuses nationwide and online. I am one of two people on the Division of Student Affairs Staff of 22 with a master’s degree in Student Affairs and the most seasoned of those two professionals. I am also one of the youngest if not the youngest Assistant Deans on campus (I’m about to turn 33). I am at a point in my life where I am ready to take on more responsibility and while I love working with students, I know the next steps in my career path are as an administrator.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Welcome to the CSA Management Issues Blogspot for 2012
Hello All- We are ready to kick off the blog for EDF 6938. I appreciate your participation and I think we will all learn a lot through this interactive electronic communication board.
To start us off, I'd like to welcome Dave Roberts, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Columbia College...
Dave, when you get a few minutes, please get the ball rolling by replying to the questions below. The exercise is intended to help our students learn through the experiences of others in the field. Since you are a graduate from the USF CSA program, I think they will find your comments and experiences to be especially interesting and helpful.
There are 32 students enrolled in EDF 6938, however only a third of the students are expected to actively participate in a dialogue with you this coming week. Students in the class with the last name starting with A-F will be monitoring and engaging with you in this process. The other students in the class will monitor only this week's conversation. Thanks to all, in advance, for your participation!
Discussion starters:
1) Describe your professional path in the field. If there are aspects of your decision-making (in your career choices) that may inform how our students approach the beginning of their own professional employment, please share them. If there are things you'd have done differently, please explain them.
2) Describe some challenges you've faced in your work. Are there experiences you've had as a supervisor (or with a supervisor) that presented particular difficulty (or joy)? Are there challenging interactions with faculty, colleagues, students, or parents that have made lasting contributions to your learning?
3) What keeps you going? What are the best parts of the work, particularly any surprises you've experienced, ways in which the work was better or more fun than you expected?
4) What advice would you share with entering professionals?
Again, a portion of the students will be interacting with you over the course of the coming week. They will react to your observations and ask follow-up questions. Whatever time you can spare to respond to them would be greatly appreciated. A dialogue with you, in effect, is what I am seeking.
Thanks again Dave!! I appreciate you! Dee Siscoe
To start us off, I'd like to welcome Dave Roberts, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Columbia College...
Dave, when you get a few minutes, please get the ball rolling by replying to the questions below. The exercise is intended to help our students learn through the experiences of others in the field. Since you are a graduate from the USF CSA program, I think they will find your comments and experiences to be especially interesting and helpful.
There are 32 students enrolled in EDF 6938, however only a third of the students are expected to actively participate in a dialogue with you this coming week. Students in the class with the last name starting with A-F will be monitoring and engaging with you in this process. The other students in the class will monitor only this week's conversation. Thanks to all, in advance, for your participation!
Discussion starters:
1) Describe your professional path in the field. If there are aspects of your decision-making (in your career choices) that may inform how our students approach the beginning of their own professional employment, please share them. If there are things you'd have done differently, please explain them.
2) Describe some challenges you've faced in your work. Are there experiences you've had as a supervisor (or with a supervisor) that presented particular difficulty (or joy)? Are there challenging interactions with faculty, colleagues, students, or parents that have made lasting contributions to your learning?
3) What keeps you going? What are the best parts of the work, particularly any surprises you've experienced, ways in which the work was better or more fun than you expected?
4) What advice would you share with entering professionals?
Again, a portion of the students will be interacting with you over the course of the coming week. They will react to your observations and ask follow-up questions. Whatever time you can spare to respond to them would be greatly appreciated. A dialogue with you, in effect, is what I am seeking.
Thanks again Dave!! I appreciate you! Dee Siscoe
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