|
Effective Campus and Community Relationships:
It is important that Student
Affairs professionals have the ability to work
effectively with a diverse group of students, staff, and
faculty. This includes both relational and professional
competence in working with people from different
departments and cultural backgrounds,, a variety of
people in many institutional roles, and being a
representative of the university to the community in
which one lives. Effective campus and community
relationships also include the ability to relate student
concerns to the appropriate campus department.
Counseling Center
Campus Safety Office
City Links
Goals
Faculty and
Administration Relationships
Panel Participation
Counseling Center:
One of the efforts that I have
made to maintain positive and effective working
relationships with others on campus has been investing
in my relationship with the Counseling Center. The
Counseling Center is one of the offices that Residence
Life works closely with throughout the year. Often, I
have students in my building that I refer to the
Counseling Center for various reasons including eating
disorders, depression, relationship concerns, boundary
issues, and suicidal ideations. For me, it is important
that I maintain a good partnership with this office. I
know that this office plays a crucial role in helping
students succeed when they are struggling. As an RD, my
hope is to support them in any way I can and partner
with them in serving our students.
One of the ways that I keep
this relationship up to date is by meeting with a
counselor from the Counseling Center on a consistent
basis. During our meetings together, I spend time
asking questions, getting to know the counselor
personally, as well as asking for advice regarding
situations occurring in my building. We also spend time
brainstorming ways that our offices can better work with
our students and with one another. Another way of
working closely with the Counseling Center is by
promoting the services the Counseling Center provides by
publicizing their group counseling efforts.
APU
Counseling Center
Campus Safety Office:
Another office that I have
worked closely with at both Cal Poly Pomona, Foundation
Housing Service and Azusa Pacific University is the
office of Campus Safety. The Campus Police at Cal Poly
Pomona often helped the RDs break up parties, deal with
fights between residents, and simply be a presence to
deter crime. Campus Safety at APU helps deal with the
same type of situations as at Cal Poly as well as
creates a presence helping students feel safe while on
campus. As an RD at both of these institutions, I have
had the opportunity to work closely with the officers.
I have learned a lot about how to best support and help
them, as well as when to call and ask for their
assistance with a situation. The help that the Campus
Police and Campus Safety Officers provide is
invaluable. Their presence and support helps so much in
making my job as an RD easier. Often, these officers
can deal with the tangible emergency situations at hand,
allowing me to deal with the student development and
counseling needs of students who may be involved.
An example of my partnership
with the Office of Campus Safety at APU can be
illustrated by a situation that occurred at the end of
the 2003-2004 school year. At the end of the year,
during finals week, the students were getting very out
of hand - setting off fireworks, dry ice bombs, throwing
water balloons at students on campus, and simply being
disrespectful to the overall campus community. One
night, the students' actions were completely out of
control; none of the students were listening to the
requests of Campus Safety, and Campus Safety was
short-handed in dealing with the situation. As a
result, Campus Safety called several of the RDs and
asked for our help in dealing with the situation. As a
result, I ended up walking around campus and being a
presence throughout the middle of the night. The RDs
worked alongside of Campus Safety to help them control
the atmosphere on campus. We were able to talk with
students, help deal with the situation, and work to
create a better atmosphere on campus. After this night,
the Chief of Campus Safety wrote a letter to the RDs who
were involved thanking us for our efforts.
Letter from Chief of Campus Safety
APU Office
of Campus Safety
Cal Poly Pomona Office of Campus Police
City Links:
City Links is a day that the
students from APU work in the community by serving at
local community centers, schools, and churches. They
complete a large variety of tasks including building a
community garden, restoring the river, helping with
cultural events, and painting. This is an event meant
to build up the relationship that APU has with the
cities of Azusa and Glendora. It is a chance for
students to get involved in hands on projects that serve
the community in which they live. After the service
projects, there is a festival for residents of the
community. The festival provides games, food, face
painting for kids, pony rides, and other events
celebrating the partnerships that APU has with the
community.
For the past two years, I have
been privileged to partner with the Ministry and Service
Office at APU to help with this event. My RA staff
volunteers their time to set up for City Links, prepare
for the festival, and serve in any ways that are
needed. This has been such a great opportunity for me
to support both APU as well as the community that I live
in. It is a tangible way for me to show that I value
what the Ministry and Service Office works for as well
as value the people in the community.
City Links -
2004
Ministry and
Service Office
City Links Reflection
Goals:
One of my professional goals
for this year is to be intentional about the
relationships that I have with other offices on campus.
My goal is to visit and learn what an office is doing
every month; as a challenge to myself, I want to be
intentional to visit offices that I do not interact with
normally in the course of my job. The offices that I
hope to learn more about include the Office of Student
Success (orientation), Multi-Ethnic Programs, Career
Center, Health Center, Campus Pastor's Office, Student
Life, and any other offices that I may encounter. By
gaining an understanding of these offices, I want to
learn ways that I can support them. I also plan to see
what they are doing and simply make connections with
other professionals and students on campus. I believe
it is important that I know and understand what other
offices on campus offer the students; this will allow me
to better be able to refer students to the appropriate
people on campus who can help meet their many needs.
Faculty and Administration Relationships:
As a Residence
Director (RD), one of the main aspects of my job
consists of programming for students living on campus.
For various events, I have had the privilege of working
with faculty and administration from different
departments on campus. For example, I had a faculty
member from the department of Christian Ministries come
and speak at an event on balance and boundaries.
Recently, the women RDs planned an event on women in
leadership. For this, I asked Azusa Pacific
University's Chief Financial Officer to come and speak
as part of a panel. I have been learning the value of
exposing both my students and I to perspectives outside
of Student Life. Working with Faculty and
Administration has been great in that I have become more
familiar with other facets of the university.
Women In Leadership E-mail
Panel Participation:
During my time in the
College Student Affairs (CSA) program, I have
participated in panels titled "Careers in Student
Affairs" and "Balance". The "Careers in Student
Affairs" panel gave me the chance to express my
experience as a student in Azusa Pacific University's
CSA program as well as my experience working in
Residence Life. As the new professional in the panel
titled "Balance", I discussed my experience in learning
how to draw boundaries with students, find time for my
family, and balance a life full of school and a full
time job as a Residence Director. These panel
presentations helped me gain experience presenting
before other people - both strangers and my peers. They
also allowed me to gain confidence in my abilities as
well as helped in validating my personal learning and
experiences.
Careers Day Flyer
Balance
Flyer
Back to Top |
