My Context is Essay 2
My Context Is EssayKent State UniversityKedron Taylor
Higher Education Administration never made it onto my job radar
as an undergraduate student. In retrospect, it is odd that the
thought of working in student affairs never crossed my mind because
I worked for Ohio Universitys Event Services and Residential
Housing Departments for three summers, but eventually I made the
connection and I am happy I did. However, I am just now starting to
realize exactly what context of Higher Education I would like to
have a career in. My mind has changed several times since the start
of the program, but I believe I am finally starting to see a clear
direction that I would like my career to goAfter graduation, I
would like to work in student activities and programming at a
four-year, public institution. However, starting my career at a
four-year private institution in order to gain some experience is
also an option I would consider. The description of my ideal
position may seem a bit broad, but ultimately I want to be planning
events and programming for students, and alumni if the opportunity
presents itself. A major part of the reason why a Masters program
in Higher Education Administration appealed to me following my
undergraduate years is because of my time working for Ohio
University Event Services. Through my experience with that
department, I learned how much I truly loved working with students,
as well as the type of environment I enjoyed doing that work in
which is what makes me more partial to a four-year, public
institution. I like how many options I had with Ohio University due
to their size and large number of students on campus year round.
Ultimately, I believe that I would be happy working in student
activities and programming for an institution as a whole, or maybe
even starting off in a specific department or college. Ideally, I
would like to obtain a Coordinator of Student Activities or
Coordinator of Student Engagement position after graduation, and
eventually rise to Assistant Director of Student Activities and
Programs or Associate Dean of Student Affairs. The possibilities in
student affairs truly are endless, and I plan on taking advantage
of that fact in my current and future roles.Currently my context is
as a Graduate Assistant in the Office of the Dean of the College of
Education, Health, and Human Services at Kent State University. Dr.
Daniel Mahony is the Dean of the College of EHHS, whom I am
responsible to, but I report directly to Dr. Mahonys Special
Assistant, Zach Nyangau. Zach is a Ph.D. student in the Higher
Education Administration program at Kent State, and delegates most
of my tasks and projects to me during my assistantship. However,
sometimes Zach asks if I would like to take on some outside
projects, in which case I would report directly to whoever is in
charge of that project. For example, I am currently a member of the
Student Awards and Scholarship Committee for the College of EHHS
that is being headed by Julie Wilcox, Director of Recruitment and
Retention. I am helping her plan this years Student Awards Ceremony
that will take place in April, so whenever I work with Julie on
that project I report directly to her. Kent State University is a
four-year, public institution located in Kent, Ohio. My
assistantship is located at Kents main campus, but the university
also has seven other regional campuses mainly located in
Northeastern Ohio. Kent State Universitys mission is as follows:The
mission of Kent State University is to discover, create, apply and
share knowledge, as well as to foster ethical and humanitarian
values in the service of Ohio and the global community. As an
eight-campus educational system, Kent State offers a broad array of
academic programs to engage students in diverse learning
environments that educate them to think critically and to expand
their intellectual horizons while attaining the knowledge and
skills necessary for responsible citizenship and productive careers
(Kent State University Office of the President Website).I believe
that my work contributes to this mission in a number of ways, but
most importantly, I am in charge of organizing the annual College
of EHHS Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony which is an opportunity for
the college to celebrate alumni who have demonstrated the qualities
expressed by Kent States own mission statement. It is really
rewarding to meet individuals who took the skills and knowledge
they acquired at Kent State into the real world, and went on to
lead successful careers. It is even more rewarding to invite all of
them back to campus to be honored by our college, and see how
important their time at Kent was to them whether it was five or
fifty years ago. After reading Hirts chapter, Where You Work
Matters (2006), it became clear that ultimately I would like to
work at a research university following graduation. Some of the
extrinsic values affiliated with research universities that were
mentioned in the chapter included: satisfactory salary and benefits
packages, greater access to student staff, and great professional
development opportunities (p. 196). These are definitely aspects of
a university that I greatly admire and wish to have at a university
that I would like to employ me. Of course, the satisfactory salary
and benefits packages are an added bonus to the job, but what
really sparked my interest is the research universitys emphasis on
professional development opportunities. Hirt mentions in her
chapter, those at research campuses devote more time to
professional association activities than their counterparts at all
other types of institutions (p. 196). I believe that professional
development is very important for student affairs professionals, no
matter what university you are aiming to work for, because through
those opportunities you are able to better yourself through
development and networking. The professional development aspect of
a position is something that I will definitely be looking for when
I am applying for positions after graduation. In regards to the
intrinsic rewards of research universities, Hirt describes them as
being quite different than those at other types of institutions.
According to Hirt, whereas those at other institutions develop
deep, personal relationships with students and can see the changes
in their students at graduation, those at research universities
believe what they do on a daily basis makes a difference in the
lives of students (p. 196). The intrinsic values are what I find
less attractive about working at a research university. Obviously
at a larger university it is harder to form deep bonds with all the
students on campus, but I do not necessarily agree that believing
is better than seeing when it comes to student success and
satisfaction. Personally, it would be hard for me to work in a
position where I just have to assume that what I am doing is
benefitting students instead of seeing it actually happen.
Currently, along with my assistantship, I am interning in the
Office of Admissions at Notre Dame College specifically working on
their Orientation and Welcome Weekend programming for this upcoming
summer. Notre Dame College is a religiously affiliated college,
thus much different than the type of university I want to
eventually work at. However, what I do like about that type of
smaller institution is that everyone knows everyone. I cannot go
anywhere on campus with my supervisor without her running into a
handful of students who just want to stop and say hello. That
aspect of a university is not an intrinsic value of a research
university, but I wish that it was. For a university that values
professional development at such a high level, one would think that
they would also value the development of personal relationships
across campus, but apparently not. Reading Hirts section on
research universities does not change my mind about wanting to work
at one, but it definitely has made me aware of the attractive and
less attractive aspects of the institution that I will keep in mind
for the future. Maybe if I obtain a position at such an institution
I can attempt to better some of those less attractive aspects. I
found three position announcements from HigherEdJobs that caught my
attention while faux job hunting. The first announcement was from
Northwest Missouri State University and was for a Campus Activities
Coordinator. The position required a Bachelors Degree in a related
field, but preferred a Masters Degree in Student Affairs
Administration or a related field (see Appendix A). Some of the
minimum qualifications included experience in event planning,
student development, and Greek Life. Some of the preferred skills
included good strategic planning skills, research and assessment
skills, as well as three or more years of professional experience
in Greek Life or student development (see Appendix A). Some of the
qualifications and skills listed seem to imply that the person who
obtains the position will deal a lot with Greek Life. The minimum
experience level of Greek Life or major event planning was one to
two years, and the preferred experience level of professional Greek
Life was three or more years. That level of experience in Greek
Life leads me to believe the position deals mainly with planning
Greek Life activities. The second position announcement I found was
from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania and was for a Coordinator
of Student Engagement- The Wolf Experience position. The position
required a Masters Degree as well as a minimum of three years
experience in higher education. The announcement was not as
in-depth as the prior announcement in regards to qualified skills,
but it gave a very lengthy list of anticipated duties associated
with the position (see Appendix B). Specifically the position deals
with the development and coordination of the universitys Sophomore
Year Experience which includes a monthly Sophomore Seminar Series
(see Appendix B). The advertisers of this position must think that
the person who obtains this position requires a lot of professional
Higher Education experience because it seems as if they will solely
be developing and implementing the Sophomore Year Experience
program. This is the type of position I might try and obtain after
a few years as a professional.The final position announcement I
found was from Ball State University for an Assistant Director of
Student Life position. This position called for a Masters Degree,
experience working with Greek organizations, as well as programming
and planning skills. Some of the preferred skills listed included
two years of full-time experience working with Greek organizations
as well as experience with advising and facilitating National
Pan-Hellenic Council member chapters and formal recruitment (see
Appendix C). Similar to the first position announcement, the
advertisers of this position include qualifications that imply that
this person will deal directly with Greek organizations, especially
on a national level. Program planning is also another required
skill that leads me to believe the position will require a lot of
time and attention directed to the planning and implementation of
Greek activities. Candidates without an event planning and Greek
Life background may experience difficulty within the position.After
reading the three position announcements, I have learned that I am
in definite need of more Greek Life experience. It seems as if most
student activities and programming positions work directly with
Greek Life on a very large scale. I have undergraduate Greek Life
experience, but only as a member and not as a professional. I have
the event planning background, but it is really the Greek Life
aspect that I need to start working on. I also need to develop my
research and assessment skills. Those skills were only mentioned in
one of the job announcements I found, but I still think that it
would be in my best interest to develop those skills further. Most
of the position announcements I looked at called for two or three
years plus experience in the higher education field, which will be
hard to prove that I have since majority of my experience will have
happened during my graduate program. A skill I might need to
acquire in that situation is the ability to prove my skill set even
though it hasnt all been in the post-graduate, professional
field.
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Works CitedBall State University (2014, Jul 3). Assistant
director of student life, office of student life. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.higheredjobs.com/fouryear/details.cfm?JobCode=175917466&Title=Assistant%20Director%20of%20Student%20Life%2C%20Office%20of%20Student%20LifeCheyney
University of Pennsylvania (2015, Feb 4). Coordinator of student
engagement- wolf experience. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.higheredjobs.com/fouryear/details.cfm?JobCode=176016466&Title=Coordinator%20of%20Student%20Engagement%20-%20Wolf%20ExperienceHirt,
J. B. (2006) Where you work matters: Student affairs administration
at different types of institutions Lanham, MD: ACPA/University
Press of AmericaNorthwest Missouri State University (2015, Jan 30).
Campus activities coordinator, campus activities. Retrieved from
http://www.higheredjobs.com/fouryear/details.cfm?JobCode=176014681&Title=Campus%20Activities%20Coordinator%2C%20Campus%20ActivitiesOffice
of the President (2015). Mission & Planning. Retrieved from
http://www.kent.edu/ president/ mission-planning
