Hi, Gene! How about if you address the same questions as Jason and Wendy? We'll see where that takes us and go from there.
1.) Describe your path in your career, the key points of your decision making, the forces that got you to where you are now.
2.) What are the key things you've learned about yourself and how you work and what the rewards are for you?
3.) Describe a challenging, difficult situation you've faced, how you handled it, and what you learned from it.
Thanks for doing this, Gene. I'm indebted and the students will benefit from your perspectives.
Best,
Tom
Sounds good. I have discovered that some of my responses are longer than the maximum number of characters allowed so they may be broken up into several posts.
ReplyDelete1.) Like most people in higher education and student affairs, as a young college student I never anticipated that I would someday work in higher education. My original undergraduate major was architectural engineering. I loved my drafting and design classes. Engineering calculus, now that was a different story. While I was an undergraduate at Oklahoma State University, I got involved in residence hall government and student leadership and then later became an RA. As an RA I couldn’t maintain an office in campus residence hall government so I got involved regionally and nationally in NACURH serving as director of the National Information Center (NIC) and later as Chair of the National Board of Directors. It was through these leadership positions and the opportunity to interact with a number of professionals that were outstanding advisors and mentors that I began to realize there were career opportunities in higher education.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing undergraduate school, I took a position as a graduate hall director at the University of Tennessee where I got my master’s in educational leadership. During my second year of grad school I got a full-time position as a hall director. After two years in that role and completing my master’s I went to Texas A&M University.
Originally I thought I would be at A&M for 2 or 3 years and then move on. Instead I spent 15 years at Texas A&M during which I held 7 different positions ranging from assistant area coordinator to associate director of student life (assoc. dean). When I first started at A&M my career goal was to be a director of residence life, but throughout my time in housing I had significant involvement in student conduct. Eventually, a position opened for the coordinator of judicial programs and I applied and was selected for the position. It was at this point that I began thinking about a path to become a dean of students.
At first I struggled with the decision of whether to go to law school or to pursue a doctoral degree. Ultimately, when I was honest with myself I was not interested in practicing law in the traditional sense, but truly enjoyed higher ed law and I decided I could still get this in a doctoral program. So I began the doctoral program at Texas A&M in higher education administration as a part time student.
While I was working on my doctorate I also became very involved in the Association for Student Judicial Affairs (today the Association for Student Conduct Administration). Through my work with this organization I met a number of other professional colleagues with similar career goals. As some of these colleagues completed their degrees and began applying for dean positions, I noticed they were having difficulties getting the positions they sought. Like me they had a very strong and solid background in student conduct administration (typically a key component of a dean of students role) and they had there Ph.D. However, institutions were not only looking for these things but some significant experience in other areas of student affairs. So I began to talk with my supervisor about ways I could get experience in other areas within our department.
It was at this time that some significant changes had taken place within the Division of Student Affairs and our department was split into two separate units (Department of Residence Life & Department of Student Life). Myself and another staff member had been appointed as Assistant Directors and there was a need for us to take on some broader administrative roles within the department and be less hands on with our functional areas. Thus, my supervisor suggested that my colleague and I switch roles as we moved to the central office. We could teach each other about our previous functional areas, but establish an appropriate supervisory distance and assume the broader administrative roles within the department. This was affectionately named the “Big Switcheroo” by staff within the department. Initially we were both a bit resistant to the change, but in the end it was one of the best professional experiences of my career. In addition to my experience with judicial affairs, legal services and mediation, I gained direct supervisory experience with off campus student services, adult & graduate student services, gay, lesbian, bisexual student services, and women’s programs. Later I was promoted to associate director and also got some in depth experience with disability services and orientation. With this portfolio of experience and the completion of my doctoral degree I was ready for the next step.
ReplyDeleteMy next move was to the University of Florida where I served as Dean of Students. It was a tremendous professional opportunity, but after six years and some pretty significant budget cuts I began to look for new opportunities. After a couple of interviews for different positions, my vice president inquired about my professional goals and offered me the opportunity to serve as Assistant Vice President & Dean of Students and I committed to another year at Florida.
During this time I had a number of conversations with professional colleagues and mentors. Several individuals suggested I consider small private colleges. One individual even noted to me, “Gene, you are a small school person stuck in a big school body. You need to give small schools a try”. So I began looking at smaller institutions, including private liberal arts colleges.
Initially, I found it difficult to get smaller schools to consider me for positions given my large public school background. Eventually I landed a few interviews and even turned one offer down. Then I came across Roanoke College, a fiscally strong institution that seemed to be making significant progress. The institution had a new president, but he had over 20 years of experience with the college. The rest of the cabinet was relatively new and came from varied intuitions and backgrounds. They were putting the finishing touches on a strategic plan that was ambitious but attainable. In so many ways this was a “Good” school that was poised for “Greatness”. When the offer came, I was initially hesitant because of some personal/family circumstances, but ultimately I decided this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.
I have served as Vice President for Student Affairs & Dean of Students for three years now and I have never regretted my decision.
Hi Gene,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Tyler Dean and my background is nursing education. After reading your responses I am curious if you knew what your colleagues meant that "you are a small school person stuck in a big school body?" After spending three years there it sounds like you made the right choice, but I'm curious what personal characteristics made you fit in better there?
It seems that most of our guest speakers have had a wealth of experience in both large and small institutions within student affairs. Do you feel that it is almost essential to experience both in one's career?
Hi Gene: I'm Christopher Combie from Michigan. Was there a particular reason as to why you were attracted to large schools and never considered small or private schools? I've heard some CSA professionals say that once you settle into a particular institution type, it's harder to break that mold. It certainly seems true with what you've shared.
ReplyDeleteHi Tyler. Thanks for your question. I had several conversations with a variety of colleagues on this issue. With the particular colleague that made this comment we had discussed it several times and this was his final summation. I had talked a lot about the types of things I had done at large institutions to to connect with students and to help personalize their educational experience rather than having them feel like just a number, i.e. my involvement in a series of welcome assemblies with various groups of students, a program called dine with the dean, the nickname students had given me "Dean Gene" etc. He and others talked about how satisfying and rewarding it was to be able to do these types of things with a much broader segment of the student population than I was able to reach in my previous roles. When my colleague said to me "you are a small school person stuck in a big school body" it just resonated with me and I had to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily think it is "essential" that every professional get experience at both large and small schools, but I do think they need to give it consideration. Sometimes people stick with big schools simply because they think it has clout or is more impressive. Honestly, I think there is a lot of that in people's minds. When I would meet with professional colleagues and introduce myself as dean of students at the University of Florida, people's reactions are definitely different than when I say I am Vice President for Student Affairs at Roanoke College. But that's not what it is really about. I have found the impact I have on students to be truly rewarding at my new institution. At the same time, I am not saying I will never work at another large institution, but I have to say that I am really glad I had this experience and I would have to think long and hard about leaving the small school environment.
Hi Chris. I think my attraction to large schools was something that came originally from my adolescent view of college. I was a first generation college student and I figured if I was going away to college I was not going to go to some small school nobody heard of. I wanted to go to a big school with a division I football team and get the kind of college experience I dreamed of whenever I watched college sports on TV. Unfortunately, a lot of kids choose colleges for silly reasons like this. I was no exception. Once I got into the big school mentality, I don't think I ever gave it a second thought.
ReplyDeleteAs far as breaking the mold and making the shift to another type of institution, the first step is internal. After that you need to do your homework and develop an understanding of the differences and be able to articulate why you are interested in making the change, particularly if you have spent a significant number of years in a particular type of institution. For me it was more than 25 years at large institutions.
Early in your career it is easier to do. After a while though biases do begin to affect the process, and those biases cut both ways. At large institutions people sometimes look at applicants from small schools and say, oh they will be overwhelmed by the magnitude and volume of things we have to do. They won't cut it here. Conversely at small schools they look at applicants from large schools and say they don't understand us and they are used to having tons of staff to do what we do. We wear too many different hats and they just won't cut it here.
Both of these perspectives are inaccurate, but it becomes an easy way to weed out the resumes.
Hey Dr. Z,
ReplyDeleteThis is Kelly Pearson from the 2005-2007 SPHE cohort. I've been working at USF as an Academic Advisor for about a year and a half and I have just started the PhD program in Higher Education Administration. Having had the opportunity to work with (for) you in the DSO, take classes with you during my grad program, and stay in touch (even though not as much as I should) throughout the years, I can say that you have definitely influenced my decision to continue in Student Affairs, so thank you!
You mentioned that you initially planned on spending only 2-3 years at A & M, but ended up staying for 15. What do you think it was about the institution and the positions you moved in to that made you feel comfortable staying there for so many years? Do you ever wish you had gotten some of the same experiences at different institutions?
Professionally, what has been the biggest transition in moving from the large public to the small private institution?
Thanks Dean Gene!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteFirst, Go Gators! My name is Jaymi Butler and I'm an academic advisor in the College of Arts and Sciences. I worked with you a little bit on some NASPA newsletter stuff awhile back (not sure if you remember that).
My question relates to your comment about the rewards you get from working with students at Roanoke. I would think you'd definitely have more opportunities for student interaction at a small school than at UF. Do you feel like you are able to make more of a difference in the lives of students as individuals, and is that more rewarding (or just different?) than being able to influence a larger student affairs culture at a place like UF?
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ReplyDeleteHey Kelly great to hear from you and thank you. Knowing that you have impacted someone else's life is one of the greatest rewards a person can receive.
ReplyDeleteThere are several reasons I was at A&M for so many years. First I was there at a time when there was a very special group of people working in student affairs. To give you an idea: one of the people I worked with currently serves as president of a university. 5 of us, and hopefully soon to be 6, currently serve as vice president's at other institutions. Several are department heads at other institutions, and the remainder are the department heads at A&M that are currently running the division. It was a very special group of people that came together at one institution. That was truly a once in a life time experience.
The second reason is because of the opportunities I had at A&M. During my 15 years, I had 7 different jobs. Contrary to what a lot of young professionals believe however, I only interviewed for two positions during that time - my first position and when I moved from Residence life to Student life. I have found that opportunities for advancement are not about waiting around for people to retire or move on to other positions, but rather about seizing opportunities and creating a niche or role for yourself within an organization.
Sometimes situations or opportunities arise and we need to step up to the plate and address the situation or fill the gap. Often it means putting in extra time and effort beyond your normal job responsibilities and not getting compensated or recognized for those efforts initially. But I have found that the people in the right places know what you are doing and will recognize you for it when the time and opportunity becomes available.
The third reason I stayed so long was that I was working on my doctorate part time while working full time. It took me almost 7 years to complete my course work part time (6 actually, my daughter was born during that time and I took a year off to make that life adjustment). Then I started my dissertation, but the Bonfire collapse occurred and I had to set aside my work for another year before I could get back to it. In all it took me just under 10 years to complete my doctorate while working full time. Not how I had planned it, but in the end how life worked out.
Lastly A&M was a very special place. Rich with tradition and a very student centered culture that was a great fit for me at the time.
My only concern in being there for so long was that when I was ready to leave would I be passed over for interviews because people at other institutions would be concerned that I had been there too long and wouldn't be able to make the adjustment. In the end this was not the case and most people told me that while I was there for a long time I had shown steady advancement and took on new roles and responsibilities regularly during that time.
My biggest professional transition from large to small has been the budgeting process. At large public institutions tuition and budget is often determined by external forces, usually the state legislature. The cost of tuition is almost an arbitrary amount set by the legislature.
In a private school tuition is a complex calculation of exact costs divided by enrollment. This calculation includes something called "discount". At a private institution there is the tuition sticker price and the discounted cost or what a student actually pays. The discounted cost is determined by a student's financial need and academic merit. So for example the sticker price might be $40,000 a year, but the average cost of enrollment might actually be $24,000. The money that students that pay more than the average cost pay is used to offset the money that students who pay below the average cost pay. It's complicated but a very interesting model of higher education finance.
Hi Jaymi. Good question, really made me think. I think a lot of us get into student affairs because of the student contact and the ability to change student lives on a personal level. I think that personal connection does make a bit of a difference and in the end, at least for me is more rewarding. I can remember saying to students in class when I taught at UF that as you move up in administration you have less student contact, but that you are able to have a broader impact on student lives through the programs, policies and decisions you make. In my current role I really feel I get the best of both worlds. A lot of student contact and the ability to have broad student impact. It has been very rewarding for me.
ReplyDelete2.) As I thought about this question there are a number of ways one could respond. Not sure if this is what you were looking for in this question but here goes.
ReplyDeleteWe all know that working in student affairs is not an 8 to 5 job. It has a lot of evening and weekend work involved. So how does one succeed in this profession and maintain some semblance of a normal life? First, everyone finds their own normal. It’s also not a static thing. Each of us goes through periods where we do well with balance, and then there are times it is all out of whack.
When I was a young professional, the former vice president for student affairs at Texas A&M and an icon in the profession, Dr. John J. Koldus would tell us, “Student affairs is not a job, it’s a lifestyle.” Initially when I heard this, I was a bit offended by what I thought was an expectation that was being placed on us: “You need to eat, sleep & drink your job.” But as time went on I realized that was not at all what he was saying. Instead, because of the demands of our jobs and the unusual hours, each of us has to find a way to integrate our job and our lives to create a lifestyle that works for us.
This is how it works for me. Now this is in the perfect world, and it doesn’t always happen this way, but it’s how I try to structure things.
Exercise is important, yet with my job my best bet at a consistent routine is in the mornings. So I try to get up early every morning (5:30 -6:00). When I am exercising regularly, the rest of the world just somehow seems to go better. After I shower and change I get to the office somewhere between 8 & 8:30. I begin every day by meeting with my administrative assistant and we go through the mail and my calendar for the day, so that we are both on the same page concerning priorities. Then I’ll spend about 30 minutes going through e-mail, focusing on the most high priorities items. I find that mornings are my better thinking and writing time, so I try to work on projects and reports in the morning and schedule meetings in the afternoon. Before lunch I will spend another 30 minutes on e-mail. At least twice a week I try to eat lunch in the campus commons and interact with students, faculty and staff. Afternoons are generally a variety of meetings. Most of these are supervisory, but ideally I seek to have at least one meeting a day that moves forward a specific project or initiative. If I have an open block I try to use the time to do the old “management by walking around”, and I visit offices and speak to staff and students.
I am in a unique situation now in which I live in a house owned by the college. It’s no officially on campus but immediately adjacent to it and I can walk to and from work every day. The President’s house is just a few doors down from my house. This was an arrangement I specifically looked for when I was searching for jobs. When I worked at Florida I lived just 7 miles from campus, but with traffic it would still take me more than 20 minutes to get home. If I had evening events to attend I would spend 40 minutes commuting, so often, by the time I got home it was time to turn around and go back to campus. So I usually stayed on campus. Now I have a five minute walk up the street, can relax for a few minutes, grab some dinner, catch the evening news and then head back to campus. It provides me with just enough of a break that an evening full of events is much easier to handle.
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ReplyDeleteGenerally, I try to limit evening commitments to three nights a week. So in a seven day week, 3 sometimes 4 days a week I will have evening events or activities to attend. These might be student programs, athletic events, board events, etc. I also hold a number of events at my house. For example, every week the SGA Exec meeting is held at my house. In addition I hold a number of student dinners at my house. In the Fall my goal is to invite every new first year student to my house for dinner, so when this gets rolling I will have on average two dinners a week. I also have IFC, Panhellenic and each of the Greek organizational leaders at my house. At different times of the year, particularly during breaks when the cafeteria is closed I host dinners for our student athletes that are in still in town because of their game schedule.
ReplyDeleteLater in the evening I will check e-mail again, and try to knock out things I didn’t get to earlier in the day. Evenings and weekends are also when I do most of my work concerning professional involvement, whether that is a professional association, some presentation I have coming up, a consulting report or maybe even an article I am writing (or a blog I am responding to ;-) ). I have heard some colleagues say they take one afternoon a week and reserve it for their professional writing or association work. Frankly I have never had a job or the staffing that would allow me to do this.
Now I say all this, and you might ask about family. Well I am at a little different point in my life, so this works for me, when it may not for a lot of other people. I will also be open and note that I am divorced and I would be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that I am sure my job played some role in my marriage, but I don’t believe it was a major factor. I have a daughter and we have always been very close. When she was young and I would go to various campus events I often took her with me. This provided us with time together and I could still do my job. I often worried what kind of impact this had on my daughter. Later, when she was in high school she told me, “You know it really cool being a Dean’s daughter. I get to go to and see things that most of my friends have never gotten to do.” There were several campus events that became annual traditions that she and I looked forward to attending: Panhellenic recruitment, the Stepshow, etc. To my amazement, my daughter decided to come to school at Roanoke and it has been incredible to have her here with me during the school year. She lives on campus, and has the traditional college experience, but we get to see each other on campus and I get to attend all of her lacrosse games, etc. She even became an SGA senator. Nothing like being called out by your daughter in the middle of a Senate meeting, “Dean Zdziarski couldn’t the college do …?”
I am also in a serious relationship with someone here at the college. She travels a lot for her job, so it’s a matter of us carefully planning our schedules so we can maximize our time when she is in town.
Overall, it’s a ‘lifestyle’ that seems to work very well for me. I find the student contact and my role at the institution to be very rewarding.
Hi Gene,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Jennifer Derushia, and I am an academic advisor for the College of Education at USF. I am writing my paper for Dr. Miller's class on the subject of campus crisis. Your name, of course, came up as a source for this topic. I must admit that I have not yet started my reading yet...but I did notice that your work appears to be published right around 2006-2007. This would mean that your material was written prior to the Virginia Tech shooting, correct? If so, then I was curious as to what sparked your interest in the topic.
Hi Jennifer. Thanks for your question. As I have noted in one of my earlier posts, that different opportunities came along in which there was a need or void that needed to be filled and I was able to focus some time and attention to those areas and soon found that my position was changed as a result. I also noted that I was working on my doctorate at Texas A&M. Both of these circumstances came together and generated this interest in crisis management.
ReplyDeleteA number of student emergencies occurred on the A&M campus that pointed out the need for us to develop a more in depth plan to respond to these emergencies. A colleague and I began working on this plan. Initially we borrowed significantly from the University of Florida and the plan that they had developed as a result of the Florida murder's in 1990. Ultimately we called our process the Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT). I became so intrigued by the issue of campus crisis management and some of the research we had done that I took it on as my dissertation research study. I had just completed my literature review, when my supervisor said to me, you know more about this stuff than the rest of us, you should take over the coordination and training of CIRT. So in August of 1999, CIRT became my responsibility within the division of student affairs. Then on November 18, 1999 that role took on a whole new meaning when the Texas A&M Bonfire collapsed.
That is the subject of my response to question number 3, Describe a challenging, difficult situation you've faced, how you handled it, and what you learned from it. I will write on that later this evening.