9001

Higher Education Administrator and Student Personnel College and Graduate School Education, Heath and Human Services Kent State University

__Mission__: Our mission is to prepare highly effective higher education administrators and staff professionals who possess the skills and competencies required to meet the varied challenges facing two-year, four-year, and graduate institutions and communities today, and to help shape our institutions in the future.

From my experience I believe that the program has stayed true to its mission. This program has developed my critical thinking within higher education administration. Throughout my course work we have examined higher education and its diversity—preparing me for any university (public or private, two-year or four-year, etc.).

Despite the vast information that I have studied there remains a few themes within this program: leadership, structure/politics of organizations, student affairs and the emphasis of practical experience.

The concept of **leadership** was present in all of my courses. It has been continually stated that being a leader is important within higher education administration. It is important to be a leader within the organization, your peers and the students. The most valuable aspect of being a leader I learned through my graduate work was the “Personal Statement of Leadership” that I created in my “Leadership in Higher Education” course. Since I took this course my first semester in the program it is necessary for me to continue to reflect on my style of leadership.

The importance of understanding an **organization** is crucial in preparing to begin a career. This program has continually touched on aspects of organizations: how they work, what are the internal and external struggles, what type of organization will complement you, etc. These questions have helped prepare me to work with an organization and have also provided me with insight as to what organizations I will have a mutually beneficial relationship.

The backbone of this program is **Student Affairs**. The majority of classes has been focused on the relationship between administrators and students, whether through studying their development or learning the basics of business in order to create a better institution for the students. When I first entered the program I believed that Student Affairs was the career for me and while I still believe it is, my passion has taken a new form. While I found the courses “College Student Development” and “Career Development and Guidance” to both be interesting I was starting to feel that direct relationships with students may not be my passion. Courses such as “Politics, Policy and Power” and “Business Administration” were bringing out a new side of me. I want to work for students, but not directly with them. I have a passion for higher education and the students that pursue it. For this reason, I have found the file of development/advancement to be a good fit. This sector will fulfill my need to help students and universities while highlighting my particular skill set. Unfortunately, there are no courses in the program that deal with philanthropy or fundraising, other that a grant writing workshop which I am currently taking. The program and most of the courses are focused on Student Affairs, which is the basis for the program.

Another major theme of this program is the emphasis on **practical experience.** As I was stating in the previous paragraph the program is student affairs based, but through internships/practicums the student is able to choose any practical experience within higher education administration. Because of the emphasis on practical experiences I will have had four different experiences in higher education on my resume due to this program. The program has a good balance between theoretical and practical aspects of higher education, which is giving their graduates the “complete package” and better preparing them for the field.

Through the experiences and knowledge that I have gained, I am happy with my choice to attend Kent State University’s Higher Education and Student Personnel Master’s Program. I feel as though I have grown intellectually and professionally because of the guidance of the faculty and my peers. none //Optional:// a note about this edit for the page history log

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