PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Professional Development Plan

Social Justice Education:

Knowledge

Social Justice Education:

I do have some understanding of how race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation can impact a student experience. However, I have very limited knowledge base, language, and understanding of the student experiences of students with disabilities, veterans, and non-traditionally aged students as a population. Social justice education remains an important knowledge area for me because I entered this field in order to create more equitable and inclusive learning environments. This passion is something that I want to keep on the forefront of my priorities so that I can continue to be driven by a sense of purpose in my work.

Comparative Higher Education

This experience motivated me to gain a greater understanding of the impact of American institutions of higher education outside of the United States context. In addition, I would like to gain knowledge about educational pedagogy and practice that is not shaped by a western context. These tools will be increasingly useful as many institutions are seeking to develop students that are global citizens.Ultimately I hope that this knowledge will help me make meaning of my role as an educator in a global context.

Bias

Bias incidents shaped my work at Oberlin. I would like to continue to gain knowledge regarding the changing nature of bias incidents, especially as our field continues to better understand the implications of online environments in creating safe, secure, and inclusive communities. I would also like to gain an understanding of the creative ways that colleges and universities are responding to better their campus climate, specifically if there are restorative justice interventions that are designed to heal conflict on campus. Furthermore I would really like to better understand how campus leaders manage their own decision making practices and how faculty and staff administration are also impacted by a challenging campus climate.

Mental Health

Supporting students who struggle with issues of mental health was a consistent challenge in my graduate internship. These challenges have formatively shaped my desire to gain knowledge in how to effectively support college students that are dealing with a range of mental health issues. In addition to gaining an understanding of how to best support students, I strongly desire to gain a better understanding of the best resources, organizational designs, policies, and practices to better prepare and support student affairs practitioners in dealing with this challenging and emotionally draining issue.

Personal Foundations

Personal Foundations is a competency area that I desire to grow within because I have consistently struggled to understand and implement a sense of wellness within the last two years. I have struggled to prioritize health, and can recount instances where I have failed to maintain relationships that are important to my personal development. In my personal foundations competency I want to integrate the wellness practices that I have discovered in graduate school into my lifestyle. I hope to do so by exploring yoga, and utilizing my resources to spend time with loved ones

Assessment, Evaluation & Research

AER is an integral competency that all practitioners should feel comfortable with in order to provide ample evidence regarding the purpose and impact of the initiatives that we oversee. I do not want be a practitioner that is motivated to use AER in order to justify the work that I am charged to do within a university. I hope to deliberately use AER in order to understand how my initiatives are supporting students and to continually use feedback and data to improve the services and programs that I develop.

Human Organizations and Resources

My desire to grow in human organizational resources is driven by my intended career progression. I greatly want to grow in my supervision skill set. I have currently supervised undergraduate students. I would like to advance in my proficiency to supervise Para-professional and professional staff members. The different roles demand different supervision styles that are more collaborative and necessitate that my supervision style shift to delegate greater responsibility and cultivate a greater professional growth.

Student Learning and Development

My desire to continually advance this competency is guided by my belief that as educators we are called to promote a culture of promoting student learning within our institution. I see great opportunity to educate our partners across the institution to advance learning creatively through identifying “opportunities for collaboration” and creating initiatives that better the student experience.

Year 1:
• Attend Social Justice training institute
• Join a local yoga studio
• Supervise a graduate level staff member
• Identify a departmental need for assessment per the guidance of my supervisor
• Follow up with Rebecca R. Nelson Program Director of Bias Assessment and Response team at Ohio state. Develop a relationship with her per initial conversation at NASPA 2013

Purchase and read The Reorientation of Higher Education: Challenging the East-West Dichotomy

Year 2:
• See my nephew Kian, who was born while I was in graduate school
• Identify the best practices for the assessment that which identified the year before
• Attend a webinar through the Loyola University Chicago Center for Comparative Education
• Attend a workshop session to advance my knowledge in supporting students with mental health concerns & student learning and development competency
• Brainstorm potential conference presentation topic with Rebecca Nelson
• Attend the Facing Race conference hosted by Racialicious

Support the development of the departmental budget for Fiscal Year 2015.

Year 3:
• Reflect upon ways to infuse social justice education and student learning into training for students

• Present at a national conference on bias response or social justice
• Implement a program that increases awareness about mental health on my campus
• Research and attend a meditation/yoga retreat
• Research an immersion or international experience for new or mid-level student affairs professionals
• Take a vacation

Competencies

Professional Development Plan