Running head: STUDENT AFFAIRS PRACTITIONER INTERVIEW 1

Student Affairs Practitioner Interview and Response

Joshua Jarvi

Loyola University Chicago

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Student Affairs Practitioner Interview and Response

When taking a look at the student affairs profession, it is not the typical career path that is

chosen before going to college. Most individuals who find themselves working in student affairs

have very similar journeys. Ardoin (2014) discusses this idea of the typical route to becoming a

student affairs professional. My story if reflective of the typical process where I valued my extra

curricular involvements as an undergraduate student, a mentor of mine told me that I should look

into student affairs, and now I’m pursuing a Master’s degree in the field. However, I found that

this is not the path for everyone. For this assignment, my classmate, Dominic Evans, and I had

the privilege of interviewing Kelly Benkert. Kelly is currently the Director of Leadership and

Community Engagement at Northwestern University in their Student Life division. Throughout

this interview, Kelly described that she had a very atypical path to her current position. She

unpacked her academic career as an undergraduate at Notre Dame, her time working in the non-

profit sector, her decision to pursue a Master’s degree, and how she currently got to

Northwestern University. I realized that our stories had some similarities, but were very different

for the most part.

Kelly Benkert’s Story

Kelly did her undergraduate coursework at the University of Notre Dame in English and

Anthropology. Throughout her four years as an undergraduate student, she was not the student

that most current student affairs professionals were. She labeled herself as a “non-joiner” who

had no interest in getting involved or diving into Notre Dame’s campus culture. Although she

was raised catholic, she struggled with the strong conservative identity of Notre Dame. As a gay

woman, she never found her “home” on campus. However, there was an increase in student

activism during her undergraduate years that did appeal to her. There was a priest who worked at
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Notre Dame who had publically come out as gay himself. The university began to edge him out

of the curriculum in classes that he taught and scheduled him for less church masses. She was

very passionate about social justice and activism around the LGBTQ+ community, but did not

see the higher education setting as one she would thrive in.

Upon graduation, Kelly found herself working in nonprofit organizations, mostly

centered on environmental issues. She worked as an organizer in Connecticut for a few years

before moving to a different organization. While working for the National Student Campaign for

Hunger and Homelessness, her task was to engage with college students about getting involved

with activism. Throughout this process, she gained a passion for educating youth on social

justice, power and privilege, activism, and society in general. After being in the work force for

seven years, she and her partner wanted a change of scenery and Kelly wanted a change in

careers. She started thinking back to practitioners at Notre Dame and how their job descriptions

aligned with some of the things she had gained a passion for throughout her work in nonprofit

organizations. She then started looking at different jobs and realized that she would have to get a

Master’s degree, and then she knew she would have to go back and get an education.

Kelly and her partner then moved to Seattle where she attended Seattle University for

her graduate coursework. She worked as a graduate assistant for one year, moved up into her

supervisor’s position after they left for another two years, and remained working at Seattle

University for a total of seven years. Throughout this experience, she developed the youth

initiative, which focused on a mentorship program with prospective first generation college

students. She also worked highly in community engagement and service learning in order to give

students a holistic educational experience. Kelly was given the opportunity to teach courses

where she developed a peer educator model that is seen as highly effective and still used to this
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day at Seattle University. Even though she was loving her experience in Seattle, she and her

partner realized that Seattle was not the place they wanted to stay forever. Kelly is originally

from the Chicago area, and knew she wanted to return someday. She started searching for jobs in

the area and her partner knew that she would not have trouble finding a job once Kelly did.

However, Kelly faced serious hardships when looking for a job. The majority of Kelly’s

experience was outside of higher education, and the role that she did have at Seattle University

was not one that was seen as very transferrable to most student affairs positions. So, in July

2015, the stars seemed to align. Kelly and her partner decided to pack up and move to Chicago

without either having a job yet. During the drive on the way to Chicago, Kelly received a call

about the position at Northwestern, which she graciously accepted. She was excited to begin this

role, as she is the first person to be the director of this new department of Leadership and

Community Engagement.

Similarities and Difference Between Kelly and Myself

I mentioned that I had the very typical path into the student affairs profession, while

Kelly clearly did not have the common journey. However, the common thread that we both share

is the passion for education and fostering positive social change among college students. This is

a core common thread that I believe is integral to the success of a student affairs professional. It

helps keep the work that we are doing impactful, and there is always an ever-changing goal in

mind. Another commonality that Kelly and I share is our sexual orientation identity. We both

identify as gay, so navigating that social identity in the field can be a difficult one. Some

conservative parents still may think that our main focus is to push our ideals onto their students,

which is the furthest thing from reality. Kelly and I discussed this briefly and how it has not been

too much of an issue for us, but we have both heard the horror stories that have taken place.
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Kelly and I had several differences when it came to approaching the student affairs

profession. She had no intentions or passion towards higher education upon completing her

undergraduate coursework, where I had so much school spirit I could have exploded. I knew that

I wanted to go directly onto a Master’s program to begin my time as a full time professional as

soon as possible. Kelly went on the route of working full time for seven years before realized

student affairs is something that she is passionate about. Another difference that we have is our

experience in functional areas. Ardoin (2014) states that it is highly beneficial to gain experience

is as many functional areas as possible in order to find where one’s true passion lies. Kelly found

her passion outside of higher education, and then found a position that relates the two together. I

have the majority of my experience as an undergraduate student who dove into as many

functional areas as possible. I know have a wide range of knowledge and experience where I

could fit into several different functional areas. However, no matter the similarities or differences

that Kelly and I may share, we are both focused on serving the students in any capacity that we

are able to.

Ensuring Success in the Field of Student Affairs

A lot of the success that student affairs professionals gain from their job is related to how

they approach the position. We should see ourselves as educators who are constantly instilling

knowledge into our students that is different than what they are learning in the classroom

(Magolda & Baxter Magolda, 2011). Kelly’s approach to her position is this exact idea. The

reason she went into student affairs was due to her passion for education and interactions with

college students. If we are able to see ourselves as a pertinent component to the holistic

educational experience and gain a sense of purpose, then we will feel a greater sense of

belonging, worth, and in turn, success. If we are unable to see our overall purpose in higher
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education and build from that, we as student affairs professionals can fall into the problem of

having an identity crisis as it relates to our career (Magolda & Baxter Magolda, 2011). Kelly

helped reaffirm Dominic and myself that we are going into the field for the correct reasons and

stated that we are going to be amazing student affairs professionals one day just due to our

interaction with her in the office. Actions such as this one is what makes our work meaningful,

and why I strive to be an impactful leader, mentor, and practitioner every day.

Another way to improve our success as student affairs professionals is to utilize

assessment in all areas of our position. Assessment is truly the only method to understand our

effectiveness as advisors, programmers, supervisors, and colleagues. Assessment is important in

understanding if students are gaining the knowledge and skills that it takes to be a competent

professional upon graduation (Schuh, Jones, Harper, & Associates, 2011). They go on to discuss

that this is how professionals make changes to their work to be effective and impactful towards

students and grow as a practitioner. Throughout the interview with Kelly, she mentioned that

assessment occurs in her work on a daily basis. Since she is the first ever director of a new

department at Northwestern University, they are constantly still trying to find their identity on

campus. Through this process, they are utilizing assessment tools to gauge what the students

want, need, and how they intend on interacting with her department. Through this assessment,

she has been able to make very impactful changes on campus. She mentioned that one of the

most important parts of her job is programming centered on social justice education. This was a

component that got her interested in higher education initially, and she is grateful that it is a large

aspect of her job now. She feels as though she is making a direct impact on the students and the

community, which makes her feel better knowing that some of her students may go on to be very

esteemed professionals in their occupational area.

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Another aspect of assessment that Kelly touched on was self-assessment. This idea is not

new to me, but it helped me understand how I can best grow as a professional. She mentioned

that she is always benchmarking what she is doing and how impactful it is to the individuals she

supervises and her students. One way that I can see self-assessment being the most helpful is by

focusing on the outcomes. Student affairs professionals always have to develop learning

outcomes for each of the programs or ideas they implement in their work. If the learning

outcomes are reached, that indicates success (Schuh, Jones, Harper, & Associates, 2011). Kelly

mentioned that it is even good to set learning outcomes for each task that we take on as

professionals. This helps us put more meaning into the work we do on a daily basis, and it

alleviates the feeling that we are putting in all of this hard work for nothing. When she

mentioned this, I immediately thought of a retreat that I am planning with my supervisor. We are

taking the Multicultural Greek Council to LUREC in a couple weeks and we incorporated the

low ropes and high ropes courses in our curriculum. When I found this out, I saw this as cutting

down on my planning and facilitation component. However, I am focusing now on building

connections with these students to help serve them better on a daily basis rather than enhancing

my facilitation skills as much as I initially thought. Assessment is important in demonstrating the

progress and purpose of student affairs professionals as educators.

Key Challenges in the Profession

It is no surprise that professionals in student affairs face challenges, but some of them are

more unique to careers in higher education. One issue that many individuals face is creating

boundaries between their personal life and their work life and how to maintain professionalism at

all times. Student affairs professionals are seen as working in a fish bowl occupation. This means

that no matter what they do or when they do it, they have the chance of being seen and
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recognized by a colleague or potentially a student. If the behaviors exhibited are not ones that are

idealized in society, these actions could diminish one’s credibility or professionalism. Many

student affairs professionals have to be extra careful when surrounding themselves with alcohol,

who they are getting romantically involved with, and how they present themselves on social

media (Janosik, Creamer, & Humphrey, 2004). One huge part that plays into displaying

professionalism is setting up boundaries between students. Kelly mentioned that she never lets

any student add her on social media in order to create that divide when interacting in person.

Personally, I have let students add me on social media, but I never take the action to add them

first. I also limit my student interactions on social media to Facebook in order to create some

kind of boundary. Kelly stated that it was something that got better with age and experience.

Once there is more of an age gap between the professional and the student, the separation seems

to happen more naturally. However, it is still something to keep in mind when serving as a young

professional.

Another idea that falls along the same path is self-care. One reason why self-care is so

important is because if student affairs professionals spend so much time giving to others and not

themselves, they will run out of anything to give and burn out. By not setting up any boundaries

and engaging in self-care, one’s competence level can decrease significantly (Magolda & Baxter

Magolda, 2011). One of the root issues why student affairs professionals struggle with

boundaries and self-care is due to our passion for our work. No one enters this position based off

of the salary they will make; we all enter student affairs because we care about the students. By

having such deep-rooted care for others, it blends our personal and professional lives very easily.

Also, it is difficult to identify the typical working hours of some practitioners. Residence life

staff seems to be working all day and every day, and that is difficult to manage. As a graduate
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assistant, it seems as though sometimes my part-time work blends more into a full-time

responsibility. So, as Kelly mentioned to Dominic and myself, it is important to take the time out

of our day to do things for us because just when we need that free time to ourselves, life happens

and the students need us first.

The last issue that I drew from the interview with Kelly is the idea of having one’s

personal values and beliefs not align with the institution that they work at. As mentioned, Kelly

did her undergraduate coursework at the University of Notre Dame. While attending there, she

struggled with the conservative climate of the institution. Once attending Seattle University for

her graduate program, she found a school that was largely focused on social justice and loved

every component of it. Now, she works at Northwestern University, which she identified as

being somewhere in the middle. There are students that she works with who are highly focused

on social justice which is what she likes to see in students. However, there are components of the

institutional history of Northwestern and the pompous arrogance that floats around some students

that she mentions as hard to navigate. Magolda and Baxter Magolda (2011) identify three

different ways to address these complications. Professionals can berate themselves for not

noticing earlier, keep their conflicted feeling internalized, leave the institution, or acknowledge

and discuss these differences and come to a common ground.

During my undergraduate institution, I hardly faced any tensions with what Central

Michigan University stood for. I have since transitioned from a larger public institution in a rural

area to a mid-sized private institution in an urban area. Although Loyola is a faith-based

institution and I am not religious, I have not felt any type of pressures surrounding that idea.

However, there are a few ideas that I disagree with. I believe that Loyola should provide their

students with contraceptives and condoms. This factor could prevent unwanted pregnancy for
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our students and could contribute to a healthier sex life as well. I also disagree with the fact that

same-sex couples are not allowed to get married on campus. I understand that Loyola is a Jesuit

catholic institution, however, it is not reflective of what society stands for today. As a school that

focuses on social justice, it seems as though this component labels the school as close-minded

and conservative in nature. However, these aspects are not complete deal breakers when it comes

to institutions I will work at or attend. Moving forward, I plan on doing extensive research on

each institution I apply at in order to understand what I am willing to tolerate or what I will

refuse to align myself with.

Conclusion

Through this interview with Kelly Benkert, I was able to gain more insight as to different

journeys and insights to the student affairs profession. This helped me realize that not everyone

in my field is the typical joiner as an undergraduate whose passions led them to a career in higher

education. I also learned more as it pertains to what it means to be a successful and competent

professional, and I hold many similar characteristics as someone who is currently at the director

level. I am very passionate about the education component of student affairs and constantly

challenging students to further grow and develop. Most importantly, what I have to keep in mind

are trying to avoid or decrease the challenges I may face as a professional. Although it is

impossible to have a perfect professional life, I will be sure to engage in self-care and other acts

of professionalism to limit the challenges that I have. Being able to interview a current

professional who could potentially be my colleague one day is very eye opening. Moving

forward, I hope to continue educating myself on the different functional areas of student affairs

and figuring out where I am best suited for my next career move.
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References

Ardoin, S. (2014). The strategic guide to shaping your student affairs career. Sterling, VA:

Stylus Publishing.

Janosik, S. M., Creamer, D. G., & Humphrey, E. (2004). An analysis of ethical problems facing

student affairs administrators. NASPA Journal, 41, (2), 356-374.

Magolda, P. M., & Baxter Magolda, M. B. (Eds.). (2011). Contested issues in student affairs:

Diverse perspective and respectful dialogue. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.

Schuh, J., Jones, S., Harper, S., & Associates (Eds.). (2011). Student services: A handbook for

the profession (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.