Areas for Growth: Administrative Development (LO 1, 3, 7, 8, 9, Artifact E)

I do not think it is possible to be able to perfect any topic within a lifetime. However, in
order to enhance the personal growth of certain areas, other areas may not be as strong. I believe
this is the case for my time within the Student Development program. Although I cannot deny
that I have learned a lot about the areas of law, policy, finance, government, assessment,
evaluation, technology, and communication, I believe that these are the areas where I need to
intentionally find ways to grow as a professional. With my long-term goal of becoming a Vice
President of Diversity and Inclusion, I know that I will need to find ways to develop in all
sections of the NASPA/ACPA competency (Artifact E). However, for the time being, I hope to
implement my five-year plan (Artifact F) to gain the skill sets in the areas that I need to develop.
Law, Policy, Finance, and Government (LO 1, 3, 9). Overall, I really enjoyed
the learning about this topic area. I thought that SDAD 5760 Leadership in Governance, SDAD
5800 Higher Education Law, and EDAD 5700 Leadership in Education I were fascinating
courses. However, I know for a fact that I have a hard time understanding my role as a leader
when it comes to ethics, law, multiculturalism, and advocacy.
One specific example I can name where I realized that the politics of higher education
would be a personal struggle for me, includes the time where we had to play the role of different
departments within a university and propose fictional New Funding Requests (NFR) to our
EDAD 5700 Leadership in Education professor. My group represented the Academic Affairs
division, and we were debating whether we wanted to put funds towards online campus
environments or physical campus environments. Understanding that international students were
limited to only one online class a quarter, I made the argument that the improvement of physical

spaces can help with the recruitment of international students. By recruiting more international
students, we could support the budget of the tuition-driven institution.
I wanted to use this example to demonstrate the clash between my role as a leader within
an institution and my desire to support the international student population. I felt terrible, even
within this false situation, to talk about international students as tuition dollars. However, I
needed to do this in order for the proposal to not increase the number of online classes so that
international students can have access to the same number of classes and successfully graduate.
This is where experiences of understanding student issues (LO 2) and fostering diversity clash
(LO 5) with my identity as a leader who exhibits professional integrity and
ethical leadership (LO 3) to navigate the political environment of budget approvals. It has
taken me the entirety of the two years to begin to grasp the experience of upper-level student
affairs administrators through case studies and discussions.
Finally, I wanted to add that after completing the program, I am ideally supposed to
understand the foundations and emerging nature of the Student Affairs
profession (LO 1). However, I do not think I have fully grasped this concept, because I can
certainly name the foundational history of student affairs, but I still do not understand my
personal relationship with how the field was founded. As somebody with salient identities from a
background that was historically not supported by higher education, I believe that I need to take
time to reflect on how I fit into the historical legacy of student affairs. As demographics change
and higher education adapts to the advancement of technology, I hope to be able to recognize the
values and problems of the past but to also be able to let go. As I continue to pursue my dream
of becoming an Assistant Vice President or Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, I want to

reach out to mentors who identify with underserved communities and see how they balance the
mission of an institution, their personal experiences, and ethical leadership.
Assessment, Evaluation, Technology (LO 7, Artifact C2, C3, G). I have
noticed as we all continue to work positions where we are pulled in many different directions, it
is easy to forget about the theories, research, technological innovation, and evaluations.
However, there are many components to LO 7, where it states that I would have
developed abilities to utilize assessment, evaluation, technology, and
research. I do believe that Artifacts C2- my experience at South Puget Sound Community
College, C3- my graduate project on students with disabilities, and G- my experience at Pacific
Lutheran University have demonstrated my ability to develop programs while utilizing different
forms of technology. Through these programs, I have utilized systems ranging from Qualtrics,
Powerpoint, Photoshop, and Excel to benefit both my research practices and presentation of the
materials. I believe that technology is a hugely important tool and will only become more
important as we begin seeing the development of online courses and structures. However, it is
clear that as practitioners, we may lose time to do research for our specific positions or find ways
to innovate out practices. I hope that I can find ways to avoid this issue by maintaining
connections with national organizations as well as my professional networks.
As I continue on with higher education, I plan to dedicate more time and energy to
developing assessments that are grounded in theory and research, because it is valuable to
provide intentionality within all aspects of student development. One example in which I hope
to be able to implement theory with assessment, is to explore theories such as Schlossbergs
(1984) theory of transitions for first-year or new transfer students after attending a series of
events. I would want to see how the four Ss of situation, self, support, and strategies for coping

mechanisms would play into a students exploration to find their community within their first
year at my institution. With the combination of theory, which serves as the foundation for how
we function within higher education, and assessments of programs and services, we can see if we
are truly effective at our roles for supporting students navigate the college environment.
Communication (LO 8, Artifact E, F). Finally, I believe that is another area for me
to develop both personally and professionally. With gratitude to Angel Asuncion-Reed of the
Office of Multicultural Affairs, I had the opportunity to present a facilitation at the Puget Sound
Colloquium. During this experience, I felt like a mess, awkward, and scared. However, I have
heard feedback that I did not present myself in this way. I find learning outcome 8 and
NASPA/ACPA competency (Artifact E) to be important. Learning Outcome 8 states that
we need to have the skill sets to communicate effectively in speech and
writing, as the NASPA competency for leadership discusses the importance of being able to
articulate ideas and points well.
At the Puget Sound Colloquium, NASPA President Kevin Krueger presented about the
direction where higher education was going. Throughout his presentation, I felt engaged by his
presentation and presence. This led me to come up with critical questions on whether I enjoyed
him because he was a white male or if I was truly engaged. After thinking about it, I recognized
that this could be because of both. I believe it is important to acknowledge that there are
privileges within positions of power, but also privileges that can enable people to reach positions
of power. After the opportunity to see Kevin Krueger speak, I realized that I had areas to develop
my professionalism and communication if I wanted to someday be the President of an
organization. As part of my post-graduation plan, I hope to either take communication classes or
participate in a communication development workshop. Growing up, my parents always told me

the importance of taking a communication class, but I had a hard time seeing the benefit. Now,
after practicing interviewing for SDAD 5900 Student Development Capstone and for The
Placement Exchange, I realize that I should have taken up opportunities to develop my
communication skills.
My ACPA/NASPA Competencies (Artifact E) did not necessarily demonstrate that I need
to develop my communication skill sets, and I do believe that I have demonstrated an ability to
present through my internship courses, my MA project, and at the Puget Sound Colloquium.
However, after the Colloquium, I became inspired to add this to my Learning Outcome
Narrative. I hope that I can develop my communication skills in a way where I can authentically
present who I am as a person while being confident and engaging. I hope to further find
opportunities to develop as a presenter and take advantage of conferences to gain experience in
public speaking.