As a higher education professional, my approach to higher education and student affairs practice is grounded in three tenets:

Student Success. I believe that students are the lifeblood of any post-secondary institution. I believe that when we are at our best as professionals, we are able to support and empower our students to be their best selves in the classroom and beyond. As new cohorts of students bring new sets of hopes and expectations for their post-secondary education, it is imperative that higher education professionals develop novel, theory-driven approaches to the work that we do. As articulated through my competency analysis, I strive to create environments that promote student success largely through technology and meaningful assessment practice. By empowering my colleagues to explore new technical tools or to embrace assessment and evaluation as an essential component of student affairs practice, I am able to create sustainable and dynamic processes that can grow and adapt to the needs of students and staff alike.

Cultivating a Culture of Evidence. As shaped by my paraprofessional experiences in residential life and student conduct, I’ve developed a strong appreciation for the need to create a culture of evidence that guides my work as a higher education professional. A strong understanding of the educational experiences that we deliver to students, facilitated by theory-informed program assessment and evaluation, is essential to our work. I hope to challenge notions that assessment is a “scary” practice or an additional administrative burden that deters from student engagement. In my role, I’ve worked with department leadership as well as key campus partners to advocate that our unit puts more emphasis on assessment, especially as outlined in the professional competencies for our field. I’ve also worked with departmental leadership to advocate for more assessment-oriented processes, such as advocating for an assessment component at all levels of training, from student to professional staff. As I empower my colleagues to see assessment and evaluation as a valuable tool in their arsenal, I believe that we can not only better serve students but anticipate in advance what their needs might be..

Curiosity and Tenacity. Curiosity has always been one of my defining traits. I like to break systems down to see how they work and then fit all of the pieces back together. As the higher education landscape continues to evolve, I consider my strong sense of curiosity and tenacity to be essential components of my professional and personal identities. I think that curiosity and tenacity are absolutely essential in our quest to provide the best environments and experiences for students to be successful. As the resources afforded to us as higher education scholars and practitioners continues to dwindle for the foreseeable future, I feel empowered by a strong sense of tenacity to make the most out of these limited resources and to continue innovating in both student-facing programs and departmental mechanisms and policies.