My Context is Essay 1

My Context Is Essay
Kent State University
Kedron Taylor

My Context is Essay 2
Higher Education Administration never made it onto my job radar as an undergraduate
student. In retrospect, it is odd that the thought of working in student affairs never crossed my
mind because I worked for Ohio Universitys Event Services and Residential Housing
Departments for three summers, but eventually I made the connection and I am happy I did.
However, I am just now starting to realize exactly what context of Higher Education I would like
to have a career in. My mind has changed several times since the start of the program, but I
believe I am finally starting to see a clear direction that I would like my career to go
After graduation, I would like to work in student activities and programming at a fouryear, public institution. However, starting my career at a four-year private institution in order to
gain some experience is also an option I would consider. The description of my ideal position
may seem a bit broad, but ultimately I want to be planning events and programming for students,
and alumni if the opportunity presents itself. A major part of the reason why a Masters program
in Higher Education Administration appealed to me following my undergraduate years is because
of my time working for Ohio University Event Services. Through my experience with that
department, I learned how much I truly loved working with students, as well as the type of
environment I enjoyed doing that work in which is what makes me more partial to a four-year,
public institution. I like how many options I had with Ohio University due to their size and large
number of students on campus year round. Ultimately, I believe that I would be happy working
in student activities and programming for an institution as a whole, or maybe even starting off in
a specific department or college. Ideally, I would like to obtain a Coordinator of Student
Activities or Coordinator of Student Engagement position after graduation, and eventually rise to
Assistant Director of Student Activities and Programs or Associate Dean of Student Affairs. The

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possibilities in student affairs truly are endless, and I plan on taking advantage of that fact in my
current and future roles.
Currently my context is as a Graduate Assistant in the Office of the Dean of the College
of Education, Health, and Human Services at Kent State University. Dr. Daniel Mahony is the
Dean of the College of EHHS, whom I am responsible to, but I report directly to Dr. Mahonys
Special Assistant, Zach Nyangau. Zach is a Ph.D. student in the Higher Education
Administration program at Kent State, and delegates most of my tasks and projects to me during
my assistantship. However, sometimes Zach asks if I would like to take on some outside
projects, in which case I would report directly to whoever is in charge of that project. For
example, I am currently a member of the Student Awards and Scholarship Committee for the
College of EHHS that is being headed by Julie Wilcox, Director of Recruitment and Retention. I
am helping her plan this years Student Awards Ceremony that will take place in April, so
whenever I work with Julie on that project I report directly to her.
Kent State University is a four-year, public institution located in Kent, Ohio. My
assistantship is located at Kents main campus, but the university also has seven other regional
campuses mainly located in Northeastern Ohio. Kent State Universitys mission is as follows:
The mission of Kent State University is to discover, create, apply and share knowledge,
as well as to foster ethical and humanitarian values in the service of Ohio and the global
community. As an eight-campus educational system, Kent State offers a broad array of
academic programs to engage students in diverse learning environments that educate
them to think critically and to expand their intellectual horizons while attaining the
knowledge and skills necessary for responsible citizenship and productive careers (Kent
State University Office of the President Website).

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I believe that my work contributes to this mission in a number of ways, but most importantly, I
am in charge of organizing the annual College of EHHS Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony which
is an opportunity for the college to celebrate alumni who have demonstrated the qualities
expressed by Kent States own mission statement. It is really rewarding to meet individuals who
took the skills and knowledge they acquired at Kent State into the real world, and went on to lead
successful careers. It is even more rewarding to invite all of them back to campus to be honored
by our college, and see how important their time at Kent was to them whether it was five or fifty
years ago.
After reading Hirts chapter, Where You Work Matters (2006), it became clear that
ultimately I would like to work at a research university following graduation. Some of the
extrinsic values affiliated with research universities that were mentioned in the chapter included:
satisfactory salary and benefits packages, greater access to student staff, and great professional
development opportunities (p. 196). These are definitely aspects of a university that I greatly
admire and wish to have at a university that I would like to employ me. Of course, the
satisfactory salary and benefits packages are an added bonus to the job, but what really sparked
my interest is the research universitys emphasis on professional development opportunities. Hirt
mentions in her chapter, those at research campuses devote more time to professional
association activities than their counterparts at all other types of institutions (p. 196). I believe
that professional development is very important for student affairs professionals, no matter what
university you are aiming to work for, because through those opportunities you are able to better
yourself through development and networking. The professional development aspect of a
position is something that I will definitely be looking for when I am applying for positions after
graduation.

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In regards to the intrinsic rewards of research universities, Hirt describes them as being
quite different than those at other types of institutions. According to Hirt, whereas those at other
institutions develop deep, personal relationships with students and can see the changes in their
students at graduation, those at research universities believe what they do on a daily basis makes
a difference in the lives of students (p. 196). The intrinsic values are what I find less attractive
about working at a research university. Obviously at a larger university it is harder to form deep
bonds with all the students on campus, but I do not necessarily agree that believing is better than
seeing when it comes to student success and satisfaction. Personally, it would be hard for me to
work in a position where I just have to assume that what I am doing is benefitting students
instead of seeing it actually happen.
Currently, along with my assistantship, I am interning in the Office of Admissions at
Notre Dame College specifically working on their Orientation and Welcome Weekend
programming for this upcoming summer. Notre Dame College is a religiously affiliated college,
thus much different than the type of university I want to eventually work at. However, what I do
like about that type of smaller institution is that everyone knows everyone. I cannot go anywhere
on campus with my supervisor without her running into a handful of students who just want to
stop and say hello. That aspect of a university is not an intrinsic value of a research university,
but I wish that it was. For a university that values professional development at such a high level,
one would think that they would also value the development of personal relationships across
campus, but apparently not. Reading Hirts section on research universities does not change my
mind about wanting to work at one, but it definitely has made me aware of the attractive and less
attractive aspects of the institution that I will keep in mind for the future. Maybe if I obtain a
position at such an institution I can attempt to better some of those less attractive aspects.

My Context is Essay 6
I found three position announcements from HigherEdJobs that caught my attention while
faux job hunting. The first announcement was from Northwest Missouri State University and
was for a Campus Activities Coordinator. The position required a Bachelors Degree in a related
field, but preferred a Masters Degree in Student Affairs Administration or a related field (see
Appendix A). Some of the minimum qualifications included experience in event planning,
student development, and Greek Life. Some of the preferred skills included good strategic
planning skills, research and assessment skills, as well as three or more years of professional
experience in Greek Life or student development (see Appendix A). Some of the qualifications
and skills listed seem to imply that the person who obtains the position will deal a lot with Greek
Life. The minimum experience level of Greek Life or major event planning was one to two
years, and the preferred experience level of professional Greek Life was three or more years.
That level of experience in Greek Life leads me to believe the position deals mainly with
planning Greek Life activities.
The second position announcement I found was from Cheyney University of
Pennsylvania and was for a Coordinator of Student Engagement- The Wolf Experience position.
The position required a Masters Degree as well as a minimum of three years experience in
higher education. The announcement was not as in-depth as the prior announcement in regards to
qualified skills, but it gave a very lengthy list of anticipated duties associated with the position
(see Appendix B). Specifically the position deals with the development and coordination of the
universitys Sophomore Year Experience which includes a monthly Sophomore Seminar Series
(see Appendix B). The advertisers of this position must think that the person who obtains this
position requires a lot of professional Higher Education experience because it seems as if they

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will solely be developing and implementing the Sophomore Year Experience program. This is the
type of position I might try and obtain after a few years as a professional.
The final position announcement I found was from Ball State University for an Assistant
Director of Student Life position. This position called for a Masters Degree, experience working
with Greek organizations, as well as programming and planning skills. Some of the preferred
skills listed included two years of full-time experience working with Greek organizations as well
as experience with advising and facilitating National Pan-Hellenic Council member chapters and
formal recruitment (see Appendix C). Similar to the first position announcement, the advertisers
of this position include qualifications that imply that this person will deal directly with Greek
organizations, especially on a national level. Program planning is also another required skill that
leads me to believe the position will require a lot of time and attention directed to the planning
and implementation of Greek activities. Candidates without an event planning and Greek Life
background may experience difficulty within the position.
After reading the three position announcements, I have learned that I am in definite need
of more Greek Life experience. It seems as if most student activities and programming positions
work directly with Greek Life on a very large scale. I have undergraduate Greek Life experience,
but only as a member and not as a professional. I have the event planning background, but it is
really the Greek Life aspect that I need to start working on. I also need to develop my research
and assessment skills. Those skills were only mentioned in one of the job announcements I
found, but I still think that it would be in my best interest to develop those skills further. Most of
the position announcements I looked at called for two or three years plus experience in the higher
education field, which will be hard to prove that I have since majority of my experience will
have happened during my graduate program. A skill I might need to acquire in that situation is

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the ability to prove my skill set even though it hasnt all been in the post-graduate, professional
field.

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Appendix A

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Appendix B

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Appendix C

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Works Cited
Ball State University (2014, Jul 3). Assistant director of student life, office of student life.
Retrieved from
http://www.higheredjobs.com/fouryear/details.cfm?JobCode=175917466&Title=Assistan
t%20Director%20of%20Student%20Life%2C%20Office%20of%20Student%20Life
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania (2015, Feb 4). Coordinator of student engagement- wolf
experience. Retrieved from
http://www.higheredjobs.com/fouryear/details.cfm?JobCode=176016466&Title=Coordin
ator%20of%20Student%20Engagement%20-%20Wolf%20Experience
Hirt, J. B. (2006) Where you work matters: Student affairs administration at different types of
institutions Lanham, MD: ACPA/University Press of America
Northwest Missouri State University (2015, Jan 30). Campus activities coordinator, campus
activities. Retrieved from
http://www.higheredjobs.com/fouryear/details.cfm?JobCode=176014681&Title=Campus
%20Activities%20Coordinator%2C%20Campus%20Activities
Office of the President (2015). Mission & Planning. Retrieved from http://www.kent.edu/
president/ mission-planning