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Welcome to my website! You can learn more about me by clicking on the various pages. My Google Scholar profile, NC DOCKs profile, and professional YouTube page may also be of interest.

Professional Philosophy

I find myself drawn to the field of higher education and student affairs because of my own time as a student in college. The college environment, where students are surrounded by opportunities for learning, doing research, and making new connections, has always felt interesting and engaging to me. As a student myself I took advantage of a great number of student affairs-type services and resources on my campus. Many of them changed the trajectory of my academic and professional careers, as well as my personal life.

My values have certainly changed since I was an undergraduate student, and many perspectives that I have had on issues surrounding higher education have also changed. In particular, these are a few “values” that feel most important to me right now. These are not the same as the NASPA/ACPA professional competencies that I will discuss in another section of this portfolio, though there are certainly connections to be made.

• Service
• Transparency
• Outreach

Service is something that I am constantly thinking about and engaging with in my job. I have formal service commitments, such as committees I am on and organizations that I work with. I am also a Faculty Senator at my institution, which is another formal service role. However, when I think about service within the context of student affairs, I mean something different. I am interested in providing students with all of the tools and resources that I can offer, and it feels important to me to do this in a way that minimizes the anxiety that can come with interactions between university employees and students. There are power dynamics present that cannot be denied, and I try to approach my interactions with students from a place of service, making it clear that I am there to help them. This does not mean that I allow students to take advantage of me or to violate academic and personal integrity standards. It does mean that I make it clear that they are welcome, that they are wanted, and that I am here to do whatever I can to assist them.

Transparency also feels significant to me in a number of different ways. I think that a great deal of confusion and anger can result when organizations and administrators are not clear and honest with one another and with the student body. I have seen students get angry many times over misunderstandings. This is often due, at least somewhat, to a lack of research on the part of the student, but it can also be a result of faculty and staff not communicating clearly with students. Being up front and honest about things is, in my opinion, the best approach to take whenever it is possible to do so. Allowing students to ask questions, to understand their perspectives, and to express their thoughts is important. It is equally important to make sure that faculty and staff have the same opportunities to share, learn, and ask questions.

Reaching out to students is one of my favorite parts of my job. I enjoy talking with them one on one and in groups to learn more about their lives and their passions. In recent years, I have made more of an effort to get out of the building where my office is located and to go to other locations on campus. It can be easy to forget that there is life beyond my unit and that the campus is made up of so many other parts. I enjoy seeing students interact with one another and observing their behaviors when they are not in a classroom setting. Their stories are interesting and important to me, and I find that talking with them can yield a great deal of valuable information in terms of how best to serve them.