I completed practicum on Monday, July 19 and one of my practicum supervisors took me out to lunch on Friday, July 16.
Reflection on Practice:
I think the time that was spent working at the Registrar's office was a unique opportunity. My practicum supervisor enlightened me on the differences between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs. I also realized how my blog posts did not fit exactly into Student Affairs theories like the experiences that I've read from my cohort. I have a whole new perspective on how Academic Affairs and Student Affairs need to work together because both houses are fighting to complete the same goals.
By working in the Office of the Registrar, I learned the following aspects (but not limited to):
- Maintaining academic records
- Collaborate on enrollment policies with Admissions and Housing
- Coordinating class schedules but also approving curriculum changes and upholding curriculum requirements in conjunction with the deans of colleges
- Creating and facilitating graduation (which is a huge task to do for such a small office)
- Athletic compliance while using a checks and balances system that is a standard created by the NCAA
- All things dealing with transcripts
- All things articulation
- All things academic calendars
- Couldn't forget about FERPA and the office's responsibility to student privacy
- Upholding the importance of being apart of the Mississippi culture
Overall, I enjoyed working in the administrative environment. Like I told my practicum supervisor, I wanted an experience that was not full of fluff and I definitely did not have fluff! I realized though that while I do appreciate an environment that is more administrative heavy, I enjoy the variety that Student Affairs brings to a career because I have yet to sit in an office all day and do administrative things as an RD. With Student Affairs, I actually look forward to the random programs or awkward developmental conversations because the most random things can be a challenge. Whereas redundancy (which I could see happening while working in the Registrar's office) will make a career less interesting for me.
Reflection of Theory and Textbook:
The purpose of me working at the Registrar's office was to gain a different perspective of what it would be like to work in Academic Affairs. The Registrar's office is such an essential piece to a student's development here that it is hard to realize that we do not talk about other important offices that affect student success within Student Affairs. While Student Affairs and Academic Affairs professionals both strive to educate students, the methods in which they attempt to educate students are different. But these two offices need to work together because both houses provide a unique experience that collectively help a student graduate from college. Taking it back to chapter five, Amey and Reesor (2009) reflect on the divide of academic and student affairs. Academic disciplines are connected with their fields and will serve their students accordingly while Student Affairs professionals will reference Academic resources but will serve students in the SA realm. From the Student Learning Imperative: Implications for Student Affairs, the purpose of the document talks about how higher education traditionally has organized itself into academic affairs and student affairs (Calhoun, 1996). Even though institutions separate itself this way, "this dichotomy has little relevance to post-college life, where the quality of one's job performance, family life, and community activities are all highly dependent on cognitive and affective skills" (Calhoun, 1996, p. 189). Reading this quote makes me realize that this divide is not important. It is important in sense that each house has a different approach to reaching students, but at the end of the day students will not remember the competition between houses in student success. Both AA and SA work hard at making sure their students are served, but it is even more important that the houses work together because the ultimate goal is to fulfill the needs of the institution, fulfill the needs of the students, and to affect the ever evolving culture that needs ever-changing graduates.
References:
Amey, M., & Reesor, L. (2009). Beginning your journey: A guide for new professionals in student affairs (3rd Ed.). Washington, DC: National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.
Calhoun, J. C. (1996). The student learning imperative: Implications for student affairs. Journal of College Student Development, 37(2), 188-122.
Reflection of Theory and Textbook:
The purpose of me working at the Registrar's office was to gain a different perspective of what it would be like to work in Academic Affairs. The Registrar's office is such an essential piece to a student's development here that it is hard to realize that we do not talk about other important offices that affect student success within Student Affairs. While Student Affairs and Academic Affairs professionals both strive to educate students, the methods in which they attempt to educate students are different. But these two offices need to work together because both houses provide a unique experience that collectively help a student graduate from college. Taking it back to chapter five, Amey and Reesor (2009) reflect on the divide of academic and student affairs. Academic disciplines are connected with their fields and will serve their students accordingly while Student Affairs professionals will reference Academic resources but will serve students in the SA realm. From the Student Learning Imperative: Implications for Student Affairs, the purpose of the document talks about how higher education traditionally has organized itself into academic affairs and student affairs (Calhoun, 1996). Even though institutions separate itself this way, "this dichotomy has little relevance to post-college life, where the quality of one's job performance, family life, and community activities are all highly dependent on cognitive and affective skills" (Calhoun, 1996, p. 189). Reading this quote makes me realize that this divide is not important. It is important in sense that each house has a different approach to reaching students, but at the end of the day students will not remember the competition between houses in student success. Both AA and SA work hard at making sure their students are served, but it is even more important that the houses work together because the ultimate goal is to fulfill the needs of the institution, fulfill the needs of the students, and to affect the ever evolving culture that needs ever-changing graduates.
References:
Amey, M., & Reesor, L. (2009). Beginning your journey: A guide for new professionals in student affairs (3rd Ed.). Washington, DC: National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.
Calhoun, J. C. (1996). The student learning imperative: Implications for student affairs. Journal of College Student Development, 37(2), 188-122.
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