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Visionary Leadership
Student Affairs
professionals need to be able to communicate their
vision with others working with them and for them. True
visionary leadership encompasses being able to develop
solutions to problems, seeing the needs of the people
one is working with, recognizing when someone else's
expertise is better than one's own on certain topics,
and having the ability to inspire others to work towards
a common purpose. Visionary leadership is a skill that
I believe I will develop throughout my career; I will
continually be learning and growing in this area.
2002-2003 Cal Poly Pomona (Foundation Housing Service)
Community Advisor Training
2003-2005 Resident Advisor Training at APU
Community Advisor (APU) Expectations and Job Description
Staff
Development Opportunities
Canned
Food Drive - Cal Poly Pomona, FHS
2002-2003 Cal Poly Pomona
(Foundation Housing Service) Community Advisor Training:
As a
Resident Director (RD) at Cal Poly Pomona, I had the
chance to create the Community Advisor (CA) training in
coordination with two other RDs. CA training
encompasses the following elements: expectations of a
CA, discipline/judicial procedures, policies,
programming models and expectations, advertising
training, conflict mediation, etc. We did most of the
training in these categories ourselves, but for certain
topics, we partnered with other offices such as the
University
Police, emergency planning office, and
the cultural centers (African
American Student Center,
Asian and
Pacific Islander Student Center,
Cesar E. Chavez Center,
Native
American Student Center, and
The
Pride Center) in an effort to create partnerships on
campus and use the wisdom that other professionals could
offer the CAs.
As a part of this training, we
also planned a staff retreat for the 13 CAs. During the
retreat, we focused on staff development and team
building. This was a time for our CAs to get to know
one another and learn to work together as a team. Our
goal during this time was to have fun together and build
relationships with one another to provide support for
the year.
Because all of the RDs were new
to our positions, and nothing was left for us from past
years of training, we had complete freedom to design and
organize CA training the best ways that we saw fit. One
of our main objectives during training was to give our
CA staff a foundation from which to build. We wanted to
create an inclusive environment where our students could
ask questions and grow throughout the year. CA training
was the start of our journey together.
Training Schedule
Mediation Training
Confrontation Training
2003-2005 Resident Advisor
Training at APU:
During the two weeks of
Resident Advisor training, I met with my staff during
the afternoons in order to cover information particular
to Engstrom Hall, my own expectations as the RD, as well
as any other information that I deemed necessary to
training. During our individual staff times together,
my emphasis was on communicating a vision for the year,
working with them to create a vision and mission
statement for Engstrom, working with them to get
Engstrom Hall ready for opening, and simply creating a
fun and welcoming atmosphere where we could all get to
know one another on a deeper level. Training has always
been a time for me to encourage my staff to think about
why they are choosing to work with students. My desire
is that I would have the chance to help them see the
impact they can have on the lives of others if they take
their jobs seriously.
2003-2004 Vision/Mission Statement
Community Advisor (APU)
Expectations and Job Description:
One of the students that I have
on my staff at APU is in a position titled "Community
Advisor". This student's main responsibility focuses on
working with Engstrom Hall's Living Area Council (LAC).
This is a group of students who take an active role in
programming and seeing the needs of students in the
building.
Because the defined role of the
Community Advisor had generally been vague and left up
to the interpretation of individual RDs, I had the
chance to create my own expectations for this role. As
the year continued, I saw a need to help bring some
sense of consistency to the expectations of Community
Advisors on APU's campus. When the time came to hire
staffs for the 2004-2005 year, I served on the RA
selection committee and was able to create a job
description for the role of the Community Advisor. In
order to do this, I talked with the RDs of the living
areas on campus that also have Community Advisors. I
took the information that was common to all of our
expectations and helped formulate a job description.
My Personal
CA Expectations
CA Job
Description
Staff Development
Opportunities:
While working at APU, I have
begun to see a need for the RAs to be exposed to various
ideas within the field of residence life. I want our
students to have a well-rounded perspective of what
student affairs is and what other schools are doing to
meet the needs of students. Because of this, I proposed
that we start making opportunities available for the RAs
to experience conferences outside of APU. Two of the
conferences that I have worked to get our students to
attend include "Careers in Students Affairs" and
"Southern RAP". Staff development is an area of
development that I am working to make more accessible
for the RAs at APU.
Careers
in Student Affairs Registration
WACUHO -
Southern RAP
Canned Food Drive
- Cal Poly
Pomona, FHS:
This was an
event that I planned and organized during my year at Cal
Poly Pomona. I wanted to encourage our students to see
the world outside of themselves and help others in
need. As a result, I planned a Village wide canned
food drive. We took the food to the Pomona Valley
Inland Council of Churches food bank located in downtown
Pomona.
For this event,
I also created a contest between CA buildings. The CAs'
buildings who collected the most food/cans were rewarded
with a pizza party. This was a great incentive to
residents and gave them extra motivation to participate
in the event!
Food Drive Thank You Letter
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