Mischelay Roberts

EDLD-6510/6791
September 24, 2013
Competencies Assessment
Part 1. Competency Reflection & Ranking
Professional
Competency Area
Advising and Helping

Current Ranking

Desired Ranking

2.5

Comments: In this area, I feel as if I have experienced many of these things and
developed pretty well in the basic area. From my past experience, especially
working freshman and transfer orientation at Grand Valley, I feel as if I am able to
do majority of the things on the basic level. I do not say I am a 4 yet because there
are still areas on the basic list that I have not completely evolved in.
Professional
Competency Area
Assessment, Evaluation,
and Research

Current Ranking

Desired Ranking

Comments: I rank myself so low in this area because these are things that I have
very little to no experience in. Collecting data and analyzing it is nothing that I have
done or something that I am particularly interested in. I know that in the future, it
may be something that I look more into because I know that it would be beneficial
to any field I go into, but that is just not my cup of tea at this time. All in all, I rank
myself the lowest now but want to go higher because I know it will be helpful but I
dont think Ill ever reach the absolute highest.
Professional
Competency Area
Equity, Diversity, and
Inclusion

Current Ranking

Desired Ranking

Comments: I feel like I am on the halfway mark in this area. EDI is very important
to me, one because I am of mixed race, and also because I know how important this
area is to the world and to education. I love to interact with others and broaden my
horizons on issues, cultures, and more. I can say that I would like to progress in this
area and learn ways to make others feel the same way that I do. Many people judge
others instead of embracing their differences and that is not how education should
be.
Professional
Competency Area
Ethical Professional
Practice

Current Ranking

Desired Ranking

1.5

3.5

Comments: I have taken some ethics classes and know some things in this area.
Regarding the basic level, I can say that I do some of the things, that why I dont
say I am minimal, but it does speak on the professional associations and using them

in work and I do not do that yet. Being so new into this area, I havent done much. I
do understand using ethics in work and teaching that to students. I want to gain
more knowledge in this area but I did not put a 4 because with ethics, you can
never know everything because issues come up where you have to put them into
play that may have never come up before.
Professional
Competency Area
History, Philosophy, and
Values

Current Ranking

Desired Ranking

Comments: I would say I am at the lowest ranking possible in this competency. I

am new to learning about the history, philosophy and values but I am only 3 weeks
into learning it. I hope to be able to apply and see how these things are valuable to
the field and how they have shaped the field to be what it is today. I also want to be
able to relate present day things to this area. Hopefully by the end of the program, I
will know so much more about the history, philosophy, and values and be able to
demonstrate and describe them.
Professional
Competency Area
Human and
Organizational
Resources

Current Ranking

Desired Ranking

Comments: I say that I am a 2 in this area. It talks about understand basic financial
functions, which I do from being a finance major. It also talks about basic
understanding of the workplace, supervision, networks, and more. I can say that I
am more than the intro ranking in this area but I am nowhere near extensive in this
area. I cannot say that I do not know how to supervise or understand the practices
relating to supervising, but I am not sure I would be efficient and effective in this
area. I hope to gain more knowledge in this area and be closer to extensive so I can
hopefully be a supervisor some day.
Professional
Competency Area
Law, Policy, and
Governance

Current Ranking

Desired Ranking

Comments: I rank myself very low in this area. I do know that there is an
importance of this area when looking at student affairs and how areas that fall
under it are affected. I am not good in the policy area, possibly because it has never
been an interest to me. I put a 3 as desired because I feel that this is an area that I
need to look more into because it could determine the type of institution I would like
to work at, how others play a role in institutions and overall and most importantly,
how these things affect students.
Professional
Competency Area
Leadership

Current Ranking

Desired Ranking

Comments: In this area, Im not sure if I should be a 1.5 or a 2. I feel as if I am a

leader but based on some of the things in the basic level of this competency, I can
say that I am lacking what they feel a leader should be able to do. I would love to be
a leader someday, not just in my eyes but also in others eyes. I want to be able to
take control, help others, work in groups, but represent change. That is why I gave
myself a 4.
Professional
Competency Area
Personal Foundations

Current Ranking

Desired Ranking

2.5

Comments: This is definitely an area I have been working on recently. I have goals
but they change often. I want to be able to know what I want to do and where I want
to be. I also want to learn to make these decisions based on my happiness and not
what others will think of me and what makes them happy. I give myself a 4 in
desired because I want my personal foundations to be one of the most important
things in my life. I want to be happy, healthy, and be able to identify where I want to
be. As of now, I am learning to better myself but I do need to take more time into
using resources to help me in this area.
Professional
Competency Area
Student Learning and
Development

Current Ranking

Desired Ranking

1.5

3.5

Comments: Since I am very new to theory, I give myself a 1.5. I would not say that
I am a 1 anymore because I have learned some things about student learning and
development theory. I would like to go much further in it, although I dislike the
amount of reading it takes to really get into it, because I want to be able to apply it
and talk about it in the future. Theory helps you understand students more and
where they are coming from. This would help me in the field some day.
Reflection: I see my strengths in areas that I have had to deal with in the past and
also in areas that have been important to me. Regarding development, many of my
competencies that are lower are areas that are directly relating to student affairs
that I have either not heard of before entering the program or areas that I have just
gotten a taste of from being in the program. I know that all of these areas will be
important in my future in student affairs and that is why development is so
important to me. Advising is a strength of mine from working orientation and I know
it shows because I was told that when interviewing for my GA position. It is
something that I have a passion for. Equity and diversity is also something dear to
me because I know that it makes for a great place and a great life. If you include
more and get perspectives and insights that you never had before, it can lead you
down a path you may have never known was there.
Part 2. Focus Areas
a) For each of the 4 competencies in a brief paragraph explain why you would
like to focus on each of these areas, and consider why they are important to
your development as a professional.

a) Leadership, Advising and Helping, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and

Personal Foundations.
b) Leadership: Leadership is important to me because being a leader is
something that has always been seen as something good. Its better to be a
leader than a follower is something that Ive heard for as long as I can
remember. It gives you the opportunity to take on things that you may not
have before but also for people to look to you as support and as someone
they can go to. I want to focus on this area because I want to become a
leader someday. I have been a leader of organizations in the past but to be a
leader in the workplace or at an institution and impact so many others would
be a great feeling and a great opportunity.
Advising and Helping: I want to focus on this area because as of now, this is
the area of student affairs I want to go into. I have had advising experience in
the past and it is also my current GA position. I want to be able to help guide
students in finding what they want to do in the future and to be the one that
they can come to for help, whether that help is to challenge them or to
support their decisions. It is important to my development as a professional
because what this competency says is what will help guide my future career.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: This area, as mentioned before, is important
for me. Including people of all different cultures, backgrounds, and more is
something that I feel is necessary in student affairs. You cannot work in
student affairs and single people out. Embracing differences is important
because doing so has molded the field so far. For me, doing this will help me
understand others and give me different ways to look at things.
Personal Foundations: Personal foundations is one of the most important
competencies in my eyes. If you do not have personal foundations, how do
you know what to believe in, what values you have, and how to do things that
you feel are important. It also leads to a healthy self, which is important if
you are going to help others. For me, increasing the ranking level in this area
is important for development. You can never stop developing yourself if you
are going to help develop others.

c) When looking at the areas I picked, I feel that job experience is one way that I
can develop these skills. With my current GA position, I hope to gain more
experience in Advising and Helping because I am working in an advising
office. Another way is to look deeper into these areas and what they say you
should have and find ways to get involved in them. For personal foundations,
this is one that you have to develop on your own in a sense. It is personal but
you can seek help, such as counseling or peer or mentor help in helping you
figure out what foundations are really important to you. You can also begin to
take on more roles in class, workplace, or in other aspects such as
organization advising to gain leadership experience. In any of these areas,
hands on experience is very important and gives you the opportunity to
figure out what works best for you. I also feel that putting myself out there to
others that are different from me. Also, looking at their needs and wants will

help me in the field. This is definitely something I can do while in graduate

school and my GA position.