Running head: FUNCTIONAL AREA INTERVIEW

Functional Area Interview:

EOP/S and Its Functions on Student Affairs
Mayra Sierra
Azusa Pacific University

FUNCTIONAL AREA INTERVIEW

Functional Area Interview: EOP/S and Its Functions on Student Affairs

FUNCTIONAL AREA CONTENT
EOP/S is the acronym for Extended Opportunity Programs and Services. EOP/Ss
mission is to help low income, educationally disadvantaged, first generation students
successfully complete a post-secondary education. Students education could mean preparation
to transfer to a university or learning the skills required to enter a vocational career. The program
provides students with above and beyond resources. The students are in a contract which requires
them to see a counselor twice a semester, be enrolled for at least a twelve unit load, and pass
sixty-seven percent of their classes.
Robbins (2012) reflects on the mission of academic advising which is to assist students in
realizing their fullest potential by offering superior advising to students. The goal is that
academic advising is responsive to the developmental needs of the students. Tying it to Golden
West Community Colleges mission, Robbins (2012) mission is similar in a sense. They both
express the need to help students achieve their objective which is to further their education.
INTERVIEW
I contacted Russell Terry, M.S., at Golden West College, for a discussion of his student
affairs career and how he came about accomplishing his goals. Along with interviewing him, he
introduced me to Hong Bush, M.S., Brandon Danico, M.S., and Ashley Berry, B.A. They all
gave bits of information on how their functional area works. Mr. Terry is an expert in the field,
having been in student affairs for over thirty years and teaching for over five years. The entrylevel jobs offered in this particular office were both paid and unpaid-volunteer internships. This
is required because in order to be able to obtain a full-time position you need to have had a
couple of years of experience either with counseling or teaching. Also the second entry-level job

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would be an adjunct or part-time position. Further, starting salary is between $40.45 and $48.95
hourly based on education and based on lecture hour equivalent. As stated later in one of the
questions, mostly all of the counselors in the EOP/S office do not take part of any association,
even though they might have been part of one while in their college career.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
To assess information about student affairs, I asked Mr. Terry, How did you come to be
in the position you now hold, education wise and experience wise? He then answered that he
had worked in College Administration at Cal State Fullerton. He was then offered an assistant VP
position at UC Irvine as the director for Financial Aid and EOP. After, he was offered another
position at Golden West Community College in 1976 where he worked in Management. He then
decided to go for a Masters in Theater and a few years after that decided to do a Masters in
Counseling at Loyola Marymount University. Since then he has been working at Golden West
Community College for twenty nine years (R. Terry, personal communication, September 15,
2014).
PHILOSOPHY
Furthermore I asked him, What is your philosophy of student affairs? He answered by
stating that,
I live my philosophy every day I believe that it is our responsibility to ensure that our
total homeless of our students is taken care of. The homelessness of the person that we
are dealing with, most of the time the teachers will only deal with the students within the
subject matter in their classroom but when they come in and they are sitting with us in
student services it is everything that goes about that student as they are moving around
the room. I believe that student services especially with counseling let them see, given

FUNCTIONAL AREA INTERVIEW

them a multiplicity of choices; they do not know that yet until they come, that is my
philosophy (R. Terry, personal communication, September 15, 2014).
Mr. Terrys philosophy goes into depth with the responsibility of taking care of his
students, but I feel like its the students responsibility to make sure they seek help. Student
affairs professionals are there to help students, to those who come by and ask for help, ask for
resources and ask for guidance. Students should be treated as adults, in a holistic way, so they
should be responsible for their actions.
AVERAGE DAY
Moreover, I asked him, What do you do in an average day? After a chuckle he
answered,
I have a daily report schedule which shows me my appointments, every thirty minutes I
will have either an academic or personal counseling appointment or everything all
combined. Right now is the time to do applications for transferring, so we have been
preparing students for October/November application process. Usually here you never
know how your schedules are going to be; today it is solid throughout the day and a thirty
minute break for evaluation time in which I enter things in the computer. We also keep
case managements where we note the dates when the student came in to their
appointments and what we talked about (R. Terry, personal communication, September
15, 2014).
White and Lindhorst (2011) noted that academic advising is a relationship between a
student and a student affairs representative for the student to have a plan in order to succeed in
college. This note was similar to what Mr. Terry mentioned in the interview, when he stated that

FUNCTIONAL AREA INTERVIEW

in each of his appointments he does counseling either academic or personal (personal

communication, September 15, 2014)
Robbins (2012) mentioned that advising sessions are conducted on a one-on-one basis
and group advising as well, because it allows a large number of students to be advised together.
He also mentioned that academic advising occurs at a designated time during the semester,
quarter, or academic session, when students are expected to schedule meetings with their
respective advisors (Robbins, 2012). This goes along with what Mr. Terry stated in the interview,
which was that he has advising sessions every thirty meetings and depending on the time of
month he will have specific sessions either advising peak time or application time (personal
communication, September 15, 2014)
RESOURCES
In addition, I asked him, What resources, taking into account financial, human and
technological areas, does this program provide students with? He answered me with,
We get food donated every Wednesday where we go, collect, and offer it to our students.
It is one basic need that it is being met. We also provide priority registration, tutoring, a
computer lab, free printing, academic advising, personal counseling, single parent
services (C.A.R.E. program, see eligibility requirements), book vouchers, orientation,
laptops loans, referrals services for all the other offices on campus and off campus,
emergency loans($150 per semester, cash with no interest), transfer assistance, UC and
CSU application fee waivers, application completion assistance, EOP recommendations,
personal letter of recommendations for private Universities, EOP/S Grants Free
Workshops, and peer advisement (R. Terry, personal communication, September 15,
2014).

FUNCTIONAL AREA INTERVIEW

After this question was answered, he took me to talk to a couple interns while he helped a
student out.
White and Lindhorst (2011) mentioned some of the resources provided through academic
advising which are awareness of majors, degree requirements, and academic opportunities such
as study abroad, undergraduate research, and facility with Web resources. These resources are
much less than what was mentioned in the interview, such as computer lab, emergency loans, etc.
MOST ENJOY AND LEAST ENJOY
I then asked Ashley Berry and Brandon Danico, both interns for the EOP/S program,
What does a person enjoy most about his/her position? And their least? They both answered
given something that they thought Russell Terry would say,
Interaction with the students is probably his favorite part; he loves to talk and to educate
students on all the aspects of college life, what the college has to offer. He loves to help
people; he is a very much people person. It just seems like he gets a sense of enjoyment
being around students; he makes his connections by talking to students.
I can see why that is his favorite part of being an advisor. When choosing the career of an advisor
or even faculty, you must enjoy being around with students. Also people who want to join this
student affairs spectrum should be motivators, in order to be good student affairs professionals.
His least enjoyable aspect of being in his position would probably be politics. For
example, Cal State Long Beach is a popular school, a lot of people apply to there from all over
California about seventy to eighty thousand a year but they give precedence to feeder schools.
We get a lot of talented students, with supper high GPAs, do everything right, fulfill all the
requirements for the Cal States and they do not get in. Cal States cater to local schools, supper
talented students will not get admitted to their first choice school and that really bothers him; he

FUNCTIONAL AREA INTERVIEW

believes it should be about merit rather more than it should be about being at a feeder school (A.
Berry and B. Danico, personal communication, September 15, 2014).
REPORTING STRUCTURE
Next I asked both Ashley and Brandon, What is the reporting structure of the office or
program? I also asked, What other offices/programs does it work with more closely? They
responded by stating that,
There is a little bit of collaboration, but usually every office is just within their own
office. One counselor is connected with financial aid so when students have questions
about money they are referred to her.
EOP/S is funded by the federal government along with TRIO; therefore collaborating
with others is not so much an option because the funding is pretty much strict. More or
less we are a family and we try to keep our students here and serve them here (A. Berry
and B. Danico, personal communication, September 15, 2014).
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
Further, I asked Hong Bush, an EOP/S counselor, To what professional associations or
conferences do they belong? Hong responded, I used to belong to the California Counseling
Association, but not anymore. And as for the other counselors to what I know none of them
belong to an association (personal communication, September 15, 2014). White and Lindhorst
(2011) noted that faculty and staff advisors form the basis of the National Academic Advising
Association, founded in 1979, which is devoted to the advancement of academic advising. This is
a contrast to what Mrs. Bush mentioned when interviewed. She stated that none of the advisors
were part of an association (personal communication, September 15, 2014) According to both
situations, it all depends on what institution you work at and for what department. Community

FUNCTIONAL AREA INTERVIEW

College professionals might just focus on the student development and/or teaching their students
while on the other hand, private and public four year institutions professionals might have a
connection to an association due to their schools involvement.
CURRENT ISSUES
I asked Mrs. Bush, What are the current issues and trends facing this functional area?
She responded that the issue was now resolved, but that last year the school did not have enough
classes for their students; science courses were the ones mostly impacted and it was all due to
budget cuts (personal communication, September 15, 2014).
White and Lindhorst (2011) mentioned some of the current issues that higher education is
facing, which is that high schools are not preparing students academic skills well for them to
succeed in college. They are entering college with low preparation and this makes it harder for
academic advisors to teach students how to go about becoming disciplined. Another issue is the
cost of higher education, which is rising; therefore, creating barriers for students to complete
their college degree. These issues were different to what Mrs. Bush responded in her interview.
She mentioned about there not being enough classes for their students (personal communication,
September 15, 2014).
Mrs. Bushs view on current issues goes along with White and Lindhorsts (2011) view.
They both mentioned money being an issue; either through budget cuts or the high cost of
obtaining a higher education. Budget cuts are due to the institution not having enough money;
therefore, my view on this issue is that one of the reasons why the cost of higher education is
rising is probably to prevent budget cuts, and prevent from having to shut down programs.
ADVICE

FUNCTIONAL AREA INTERVIEW

Additionally, I asked her another question, What advice would you give someone who
wants to enter this functional area? She went to say,
Patience. You need to start of doing adjunct part time counseling and must have a Masters
in Counseling which is the minimum requirement to get into a community college job. So
once you get your degree you would put your name into the pool of all the community
college districts then from there start doing internships. If a college likes you, they will
get you. For sure you need to have the teaching experience, because they prefer
counselors to have that type of experience as well as internship experience at a
counseling setting (H. Bush, personal communication, September 15, 2014).
B. Magolda and M. Magolda (2011) mentioned that student affairs requires an interest in
working with people and a desire to build meaningful relationships. Also he stated that it requires
thirst for new knowledge and not being afraid to explore different cultures (B. Magolda and M.
Magolda, 2011). With that they mentioned and what Mrs. Bush said in the interview differ in a
way but it makes sense altogether. You need patience, in order to want to learn more and more
after an idea has been updated or outdated.
MOST IMPORTANT TO SUCCESS
Another question I asked was, What do you feel is most important to success in this
functional area of EOP/S? Hong Bush responded by stating, I will contribute the success to my
students success if I do a good job and I see them graduating, transferring, and succeeding thats
my success (personal communication, September 15, 2014).
WORKING WITH FACULTY
I also asked, In what ways do you work with faculty? She responded by saying,

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10

With our program what we do is send progress checks to the instructors to ask them how
our students are doing in the program but we do not have one-on- one contact with the
instructors. We go to meetings; we belong to different committees, so we see them and
interact with them but not in a one to one basis. We do not interact much but without us
the students will be lost (H. Bush, personal communication, September 15, 2014).
White and Lindhorst (2011) mentioned administrative and organizational structures,
which connect to working with faculty. There are three organizational models for academic
advising: centralized, decentralized, and shared. In the decentralized model, academic advising is
given through the faculty and sometimes by the staff. Similarly, the shared model, is when
students are advised in the advising center and then when declared they go to their faculty. This
is distinct to what Mrs. Bush mentioned in the interview, that faculty does not work hand-byhand with advisors. According to White and Lindhorst (2011) it depends on the colleges as well,
some colleges want to the faculty to be involved in order to create relationships with the
students.
On the other hand, Robbins (2012) mentioned that academic advisors include
professional full-time staff advisor, faculty advisors, peer advisors, graduate assistants, deans,
and so many more; faculty serve as academic advisors while also having a teaching load. This is
similar to what White and Lindhorst stated, but contrast to what Mrs. Bush said in the interview.
COMPARISON BASED ON INSTITUTIONAL TYPE
White and Lindhorst (2011) and Robbins (2012) pointed out a few things that were
similar to what the people interviewed stated. While in some cases they contradicted each other,
they had great factors that made me think twice before accepting one position over the other.
Academic advising is a great functional area to work in; not only are you working with college

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11

students but you are making a difference in someones life. Furthermore, the interview was taken
from a community college stand point, but there are other points to look at academic advising.
There is from a public four year institution or from a private four year institution. It all depends
on the institutional type, but I feel that from understanding the articles views and the
interviewees I can say that academic advising focus on students success.
Community colleges look at academic advising more on succeeding and trying to help
students transfer to a four year institution by providing them the tools necessary to do so. While
four year colleges strive to push students to success and graduation, by guiding them through the
right path. Coming from a public four year institution where I completed undergraduate studies
and having the opportunity to interview a community college advisor, gave me a different
perspective of them both. EOP at a Cal State institution provides guidance toward graduation;
most of the resources offered were advising, tutoring, workshops and a grant. Comparing that to
Golden West Community College, I see major differences between the resources offered. At the
EOP/S Office in Golden West College it was more about ensuring that the student was well of
while attending college. They offered so many more resources than just the basics, such as laptop
loans, emergencies loans, free printing, etc. As you can see, the roles and functions differ
between the institutional types.

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References
Magolda, P., & Magolda, M. (2011). What counts as "essential" knowledge for student affairs
educators? In Contested issues in student affairs diverse perspectives and respectful
dialogue (1st ed., pp. 3-5). Sterling, Va.: Stylus Pub.
Robbins, R. (2012). Everything you have always wanted to know about academic advising
(Well, Almost).Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 26(3), 216-226. Retrieved
September 22, 2014, from http://0www.tandfonline.com.patris.apu.edu
White, E., & Lindhorst, M. (2011). Academic advising. In Rent'z student affairs practice in
higher education (4th ed., pp. 96-118). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas