MSHE Learning Domains

Leadership

Going through the MSHE program, graduate assistantship in the Diversity Initiatives and Resource Center and the Titan Dreamers Resource Center, and fieldwork has developed my leadership skills in multitude ways.  Being open and vulnerable, and challenging myself to lean into discomfort allowed me to grow as a leader.  I have learned to become comfortable in taking initiative and take advantage of opportunities to present and facilitate workshops, voicing my perspectives on issues, and attend conferences to develop myself personally and professionally to become a transformative leader.  I have found that I am strong in the human resource frame of organizational leadership (Bolman & Deal, 2008).  I hope to work on structural, political and symbolic frames to help me navigate any institution I work in. As a leader it is also very important for me to continue to fiercely advocate for diversity, social justice and equity to ensure all students have access to the resources, the support, and the knowledge to not only reach their educational goals, but also become leaders and agents of change themselves.

Education

I see education as a life-long process and the MSHE program has shown me that to be an intentional student affairs educator and scholar-practitioner, means that I must continue learning about new research and literature, and reviewing theories and their applications to my practice.  I feel that I have grown a lot in this area and expanding my knowledge base.  The courses in the program, from History and Philosophy to Student Development theories and Practice to Theory to Practice (Knefelkamp, 1978), will continue to serve as foundations on how I approach my work as a student affairs educator moving forward.  I have also gained a lot of knowledge from the students I challenge and support in the Titan Dreamers Resource Center.  I have learned from getting to know them and their narratives and integrating them in their own learning (Yosso, 2005) through the various programs and services that we provide.  They have helped shape me into a student affairs educator who hears and listens.  Going through the program has also helped me understand my own philosophy of student affairs and how I can integrate the knowledge I have gained to better serve students.

Assessment and Evaluation

Coming into the program, I did not know a whole lot about assessment and evaluation and how important they are to higher education.  Going through the program has taught me how these tools can be used to show how programs I create align with not only the learning outcomes, but also the vision and the mission of the institution.  I was able to use my knowledge of assessment and evaluation through the many projects I have been a part of in my courses, my graduate assistantship and fieldwork. In a higher education environment that ties funding with performance, assessment and evaluation can help show empirically through data, quantitatively and qualitatively, how programs are working and help student affairs educators like myself improve them.

Personal and Professional Development

The MSHE program, my graduate assistantship, fieldwork and attending conferences have contributed greatly to my personal and professional development.  Personally, taking EDAD 524 Diversity Access and Equity course reignited my passion for social justice and higher education.  The class enabled us to unpack ideas like Critical Race Theory (Delgado & Stefanic, 2012) and Community Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005), and how we can integrate them in our work to help change higher education to increase diversity, access and equity for underrepresented students and empower them to be active participants in their own learning.  I have learned how to be an ethical leader by following principles I learned by reading about Kitchener’s (1985) Five Ethical Principles.  I have been able to learn from my experiences these past two years and was able to apply what I have learned in class and conferences to help support our undocumented students in the Titan Dreamers Resource Center.  The program also allowed us time to reflect on our journey.  I really appreciate that I have been able to self-reflect on my personal values and how they affect my work and vice versa.  I feel that being able to reflect in this way has made me a more intentional student affairs educator.

 

Social Justice and Advocacy

 I have learned so much from working with students in the Titan Dreamers Resource Center and at fieldwork sites. Prior to the program, I saw our students in a deficit lens and want to “save” them from challenges and barriers. I was working for them rather than working with them, ultimately contributing to their disempowerment and oppression.  Taking courses in the MSHE program challenged me to look at the cultural wealth of our students and seeing their backgrounds and experiences as sources of their resilience and strength that help them navigate higher education despite challenges they face (Yosso, 2005).  The courses we took on diversity, access and equity, and student learning and development in summer session really brought this home. Spring (2011) highlighted how marginalized groups, including students of color, have resisted against the dominant White, Anglo-Protestant culture. I feel that having these counterstories are essential in instilling not only a sense of pride for our students, but also to help empower to become agents of change as highlighted by Delgado and Stefancic (2012) while navigating through college. It has changed the way I interact with our students.  Multicultural competence and social justice remains a very important factor in my work, but I have become even more intentional and committed to it.  I have learned that being sensitive to our students’ diverse experiences and backgrounds helps me gain insight on to how better serve and empower them. As Pope and Mueller (2011) note, being aware of our own privileges and biases is hard to do because “it raises feelings of guilt, shame, discomfort, resentment, and anxiety” (p. 347). I have been more intentional in examining my own biases and allowing myself space to step back while interacting with students.  My experiences in the program have made me more aware and reflective of the power I have as a student affairs educator to be an agent of change.