10520Phil

Student Affairs Philosophy From an early age, my father instilled within me the importance and opportunities that a well rounded education would provide. My passion for education and psychology is the driving motivation behind my decision to begin a career within Student Affairs. I enjoyed the challenge, the inquires, and also the knowledge that was obtained through education. My goal is to not only have education as my own driving motivation but also to help others find a passion for higher education and learning. I am a strong believer that education is not only a classroom activity but that education occurs within all aspects of your life. It is my hope that I can help others find this and to help students become life-long learners. I see student affairs as a vital role within a student’s education. Faculty has the wonderful pleasure of helping students within the classroom and student affairs allow us the opportunity to help students outside the classroom. Education must be facilitated using multiple resources and student affairs are the most immediate resource available to students. Whether it is academic advising, resident services, financial aid, or career services, we are there to help ensure that the student learning is accomplished using a support and challenge model. The role of an administrator within this environment is to facilitate student learning through programs and opportunities. This allows students the ability to form a connection with the University. It also allows students to develop personal identity through creating their own experiences. Our role as administrators are to educate students through this process by creating intentional programs meant to promote education in various areas of life but also to make them enjoyable to the student. The type of programming that needs to be implemented should focus on the student in a holistic manner and work with the identity development, this would include programming related to time management, budgeting and financial management, diversity, communication, team building, leadership, etc.. Depending on the role that you play as an administrator the goals and mission of our jobs are the same, however we may focus on an area in a different way. Another duty of a student affairs professional is to role model both leadership and ethical behavior. Within student affairs we are expected to take on leadership roles either with students and/or staff. The importance of these positions is to have a clear understanding of what our personal leadership style is. For me this is to have a collaborative approach to leadership. I believe strongly in a team environment in which other individuals’ ideas are valued. However, I also understand that too much collaboration can lead to no decision being made so when decisions need to be made I am quick to act. Since every person and situation is different, I strongly believe in taking a situational approach to working with people. I also believe in a developmental approach to leadership, helping those to grow around me by supporting them and challenging them. Lastly, the most important aspect to any student affairs professional is to respond in all situations in upholding your own ethics. If we are not role modeling ethical behavior, how can we expect our students to respond in ethical ways? Ethical behavior is both a personal and professional obligation. There are specific rules and regulation that promotes ethical behavior but also morals play a strong role in working ethically. In all situations I will work in an honest way. One must be able to provide students with the knowledge and resources necessary but also to not instill one’s own beliefs onto the student. For this I have intentional conversations with the student’s and groups. They are there to make their own decision but my approaches to working with students are to ensure that they are making well informed decisions. I will usually use a questioning dialogue to initiate these conversations. Why are you choosing to do it this way, what are the advantages, what are the disadvantages, have you thought about, etc… This question style allows the student to analyze why they are making the decisions that they are choosing to make and at the same time allows the student to get to the root of their problem. Whether it is leadership, ethics, advising, or facilitating learning the role of student affairs professional is to ensure that students are learning inside and outside of the classroom. From upper administrations who are not working with students directly to those on the front lines a student affairs professional’s job integrates all of the roles above. These conversations must integrate leadership, ethics, advising, and a passion for education at all levels and that is why I have chosen this field.