Running head: STATEMENT OF PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

Statement of Personal Philosophy

Derek Smith
University at Buffalo

STATEMENT OF PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

Being able to reflect upon my experiences as a new professional I have been able to see
the growth and development in myself in having a deeper understanding of the student affairs
field and my current philosophy. Although some of my transitions in the student affairs program
over the past two years were difficult, it made me a stronger person, professional, and educator
within the student affairs field. In this paper I will discuss the purpose of student affairs and the
importance to higher education, then discuss the ideal college experience for students and how I
will create and sustain these experiences for students. I will follow with a discussion on values,
skills, and competencies I believe to be vital for the field. Next I will discuss my motivations for
wanting to continue in the profession and the area that I am most interested in. I will then discuss
my vision for the profession and how my identity will influence my work moving forward.
Importance of Student Affairs Work for Students
The development of student affairs as a profession dates back to the colonial period.
During the twentieth century, students had more opportunities to get involved in and out of the
classroom than in previous years. With the shift from focusing on the students academic needs,
there was a shift in developing the whole student in making sure they were well rounded
individuals to benefit society (Schuh, Jones, Harper, & Associates, 2011). In loco parentis was a
shift from student personnel workers taking the role as parents for students, to a more
generalized approach given the changing demands and different needs of college students. As
enrollments increased and the faculty member support declined, these student needs became
even more apparent (Schuh, 2011). Student affairs is needed in higher education to focus on
educating and continuing to develop the student in a holistic manner (Schuh, 2011). This means
making sure that all aspects of the student needs are approached in a broad way to ensure

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academic success. It is making sure that we focus on the students mental health as well as
academic needs, future interest, and involvement on campus.
An ideal college experience for students would be creating environments that are all
inclusive and multiculturally organized. My work in student affairs will help me to assess
organizational structures using the Multicultural Change Intervention Matrix (MCIM) in
assessing an organizations type of change (Pope, 2013). The MCIM model is based on two
dimensions targeting change on the individual, group, and institutional level. Each target level
within the matrix addresses first order and second order changes which is essentially change that
takes place on the surface level or more in depth change.
Creating the ideal college experience for students needs to start from a systemic level in
the way student affairs professionals view environments on a larger scale and breaking away
from viewing smaller ideal experiences of inclusivity on an individual basis. Going along with
the systemic change for creating ideal college experiences, student affairs divisions need to have
clear and concise mission and vision statement that serve as the beacon to success for students,
faculty, and staff to give direction and educational purpose (Kuh, 2005).
Creating opportunities for academic excellence is another ideal experience for students.
Kuh (2005) discusses different colleges and universities that excel in retention and completion
through his research. He identifies these as DEEP schools. The ideal college experience for
students is providing them with roadmaps for academic student success. For example, many
college students are lost in the process of degree attainment due to course requirements,
prerequisites, or misinformed, causing them to be delayed for their degree conferral. Advising is
an ideal experience that I would create for students given that national studies have found that
advising is an area of focus that students are not satisfied with (Kuh, 2005). Attending college for

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the first time, I never knew what courses to take or my career path guide. Ideally, I would
organize student experiences that would set students up using a similar model that Miami
University implements. Miami University assigns first year students with a full time live-on
professional advisor who is housed in the residence halls. Another factor that constitutes the
ideal college experience is educating faculty and staff members on various theories, in making
sure that we do not label and categorize different students but to allow them to conceptualize and
understand that students going through different experiences will be challenged. If as student is
having an identity issue, conclusions should not be made as to label the student at being at one
stage over the other within the theory, but rather understand the theory holistically to support the
student. Theory allows us to make sense and meaning out of different life events. Lastly, what
constitutes the ideal college experience is student engagement. Not being involved the first two
years of my undergraduate career, I became very distant and disconnected. For students to
succeed and have the ideal college experience I also think they need to be enriching and
meaningful leadership experiences. Pascarella and Terenzini (2005) discuss involvement in clubs
and organizations within the first year positively influenced standardized measures of critical
thinking (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005).
Skills, Values and Competencies and Influences in Identity
The field of student affairs draws from multiple disciplines ranging from psychology to
business finance. There are a wide variety of skills, values, and competencies that are essential to
the work that we do as professionals. The National Association for Student Personnel (NASPA)
and the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) present 10 different, but important
competencies for the field in their document Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs
Educators; Personal and ethical foundations, value, philosophy, and history, assessment,

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evaluation, and research, law, policy, and governance, organizational and human resources,
leadership, social justice and inclusion, student learning and development, technology, and
advising and supporting. The competencies are intended to pave way and provide direction for
educators in the field who wish to improve on the essential skills (ACPA & NASPA, 2015).
Although all of these competencies are great and needed for the field the three most that stand
out amongst the others are personal and ethical foundations, advising and supporting, and student
learning and development. It is important to be ethical in decision making when the lives of
students are at risk. Each of us goes through different experiences that shape who we and we
need to understand the values and beliefs that that shape our practices (ACPA & NASPA, 2015).
Advising and helping is another important competency that I continuously see in my work as a
Residence Hall Director, which is why it stands out amongst the other competencies. It is
important to understand the skills and knowledge with being able to support students and provide
them with guidance. It is in this competency that an advanced level of listening and managing
crises is important for the field (ACPA & NASPA, 2015). The reason why the student learning
and development competency stands out is the fact that we work with students and need to
empathize and understand the different experiences that diverse individuals go through and by
doing so we can utilize theory to inform our decisions, interactions, and application (ACPA &
NASPA, 2015).
There are a wide variety of essential values that are needed for student affairs but the
seven most important ones that stand out to me are education, compassion, confidence, honesty,
equality, purpose, and teamwork. These values come from my experience in higher education in
working with diverse individuals and organizations throughout the past 7 years. As professionals
in a higher education setting, it is my responsibility to continue educating our students and doing

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so with an intended purpose. Compassion will be needed in order understand different

experiences other than my own. It is important to be honest with myself in order to effectively
serve students, in drawing from different places and experiences in trying to relate. Honesty
relates to being confident in my ability to be true and comfortable with who I am so that I am
able to effectively relate. The value of teamwork is an important skill to have. When trying to
educate the whole student, we need to be team players given that most colleges and universities
have different student affairs offices that overlap with student needs. Working in Residence Life,
I am in constant communication with the office of Academic Affairs making sure our students
residing on campus are not falling behind academically.
My identity influences my work as a student affairs professional in many way that I have
come to realize interacting with students. Recently, I had a conversation with a student on
campus regarding their upbringing and how their home experiences growing up in a low
socioeconomic background affects their understanding of college policies. Although the student
could have went to their own Hall Director, the student came to me based on my perceived
identities. The student confided in me saying that he felt more comfortable talking to an African
American male because of his past difficulties with other races. I think my identities as a male
give me some privilege in the way that I interact on campuses with meeting with students and
being seen as an authority figure. Being African American allows me to connect with certain
students and their experiences given common obstacles in higher education amongst people of
color. In essence, my identities will allow me to connect with students on a deeper level in
understanding and empathizing with certain experiences that others may not be able to do. On a
broader scale, having an awareness of my intersecting identities I will be able to have meaningful

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dialogue with students who may be struggling either accepting their own or other individuals
identities.
Motivations and vision for student affairs
My motivations for wanting to continue in the profession of student affairs stems from a
desire to help students. As Reynolds (2009) discusses there are many challenges that come from
helping students on college campuses. However, there are many benefits to helping students such
as guiding them on their career path and educating them to be global citizens in making a
positive impact or helping students through tough times in their lives. One of the main reasons I
was interested in the field of student affairs work was the mentorship that I was provided during
my undergraduate career. I want to be able to help students during difficult situations and
celebrate their successes as well (Reynolds, 2009). It brings me great joy when I am meeting
with a student in any context in which I am able to make a difference and have a teachable
moment in having them make meaning of our conversation at hand.
The area of student affairs that I am most interested in ties perfectly with my vision for my
professional life in the field. The area that I am most interested in currently is residence life.
Having experienced living away from family and friends for the first time when I attended
graduate school, it made me realize the importance of staff and the residence life department.
Tying in the information by Rentz (2011), there are many facets to residence life other than
Resident Assistants and programming. Residence life encompasses a wide variety of areas such
as selection, training, academic learning communities, assessment, student conduct, budgeting,
food service, and facilities management. Transitions are difficult for many because it brings forth
the feeling of not knowing. The many transitions that I continue to face sometimes takes away
from the current moment but at the end of the day, I know that I should take a step back and

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realize the experiences that I am going through that will lead to further opportunity. Beginnings
are scary, endings are usually sad but its the middle that counts the most (Hope Floats, 1998).
This quote really resonates with me because it reminds us that although transitions are tough,
living in the moment and being present with different experiences through programs or campus
involvements is going to help aid in the difficulty. Within residence life, one of the main theories
that I draw upon is Schlossbergs transition theory. Going back to the area of student affairs that
I am interested in, in residence life, I am able to really understand students with this major life
events such as living on campus and possibly far away from home for the first time (Evans et. al,
2010). Residence life gives me a holistic experience and it fits into my vision in my professional
life because I would like to become a Dean of students within the next 7 years and long term a
Vice President for Student Affair sometime after.
Conclusion
The field of student affairs is essential in developing the whole student through different
experiences on campus. As practitioners in the field, we are able to educate students through our
experiences and our ideal environments. In understanding that student affairs draws from a
number of disciplines, my skills, values, and competencies for different areas is important to
recognize so that I am able to draw upon that knowledge as well as improve the areas where I
need further development. Being a student affairs practioners means helping students but another
important component to the work is understanding ourselves and how that will aid in our vision
for our professional life.

STATEMENT OF PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

References
ACPA & NASPA. (2015). Professional competency areas for student affairs practitioners.
Washington, DC: College Student Educators International.
Evans, N., Forney, D. S., Guido, F., Patton, L. D., & Renn, K. A. (2010). Student development
theory: Theory, research, and practice, (2nd ed). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Kuh, G. D., & Documenting Effective Educational Practice (Project). (2005). Student success in
college: Creating conditions that matter. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students: A third decade of
research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Pope, R. L., & Pope, R. L. (2014). Creating multicultural change on campus. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Rentz, A. (2011). Rentz's student affairs practice in higher education (4th ed.). Springfield, Ill.:
C.C. Thomas.
Reynolds, A. (2009). Helping college students. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Schuh, J.H., Jones, S.R., Harper, S.R., & Associates (2011). Student services: A handbook for
the profession. (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA; Jossey-Bass.