Running head: LEARNING OUTCOME NARRATIVE AREAS OF GROWTH

Learning Outcome Narrative Areas of Growth

Tori Engstrom

Seattle University

03-03-2019

SDAD 5900: Capstone

Erin Swezey and Dr. Nguyen

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Areas of Growth

The Student Development Administration program at Seattle University has given me

countless opportunities to develop myself, my practice, and my identity. Throughout I have

reflected on my strengths and areas of growth as a Student Affairs practitioner. The theme of my

areas of growth is obtaining a balance of personal and professional integrity. I am a

passionate person when it comes to students and students issues, and I know that the higher

education does not always put students’ needs first which can cause discourse and dissonance for

me in my roles. My areas of growth are comprised of developing patience, navigating higher

education politics, and gaining skills in confrontation.

Patience

Evidence: LO#3

Artifacts: F and B

One of the hardest things that I have learned throughout my time in the SDA program is

how hard and slow it can be to make change in Student Affairs and Higher Education. I am

someone who sees a problem, and wants to find the solutions and act immediately to resolve the

situation. However, change does not always happen quickly in Students Affairs, and I find

myself getting frustrated with the lack of momentum. Improving my LO#3: Exhibiting

professional integrity and ethical leadership in professional practice under these dimensions

will help me gain a control and understanding with these issues; establishing healthy boundaries,

practices and applies knowledge, skills and values to professional practice within the field of

student affairs, asking questions of my colleagues when issues or confusion arises rather than

assuming worst intentions, and demonstrating sound decision making, morally just leadership,

and having the humility seek guidance when needed. SDAD 5740: College Access and Equity
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helped me understand that creating and changing current policies and structures in higher

education takes time and can be a slow process. Access to college is included and critical in the

P-20 educational pipeline, according to Hossler and Gallagher’s College Choice Process Model

(1987), for student to be ready and able for college expectations and rigor, there needs to be

significant change happening in the elementary through high school curriculums. Part of my

mission statement (Artifact B) is to create change and make higher education more accessible

for underserved students. This is such a strong part of my mission, that I have a lot of

determination and drive to want to find solutions to make it happen, but sometimes I forget how

extensive the process of change can be. I need to remind myself on how the process can be and

even though changes may not be happening immediately, it does not mean they will never

happen. This also plays into taking action to what is in my control and things that are not in my

control. I have to acknowledge when to take on projects and when to say no, when to draw those

boundaries for my health so that I can continue to work toward change in higher education. Part

of my action plan (Artifact F), is to become more involved with the institution I work at and try

to encourage change within the Student Affairs Services for the better, at Green River College I

plan to participate in Green River’s Diversity and Equity Council and committees to help shape

and improve current policies and procedures at the college. I plan to attend trainings and network

with professionals in the field to help develop strategic planning to make higher education more

accessible for underserved students.

Navigate Higher Education Politics

Evidence: LO#9

Artifacts: G
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I have been learning briefly about the politics that come into play within higher

education, but I need to gain a better understanding of the specific politics that have an impact on

my office, role, and college. Through LO#9: Understanding issues surrounding law, policy,

finance, and governance I learned how federal and state regulations and policies impact college

access programs that I have worked with closely. My dimensions for LO#9 were developing a

working knowledge of national, state and local laws that impact the student populations,

acknowledging that resources are limited and consider how resource allocation can occur for

historically marginalized people, and being aware of the leadership and governance structures

of the different types of higher education institutions and organizations. My distinctive

contribution was leading the Peer Review Audit process at my internship with the Pre-College

Trio Programs at South Seattle College (Artifact G). I had to conduct an audit on all of the

student participant files and evaluate if the files were in compliance with federal regulations and

policies. I understand the broad level of how crucial it is to follow federal and state policies that

fund government programs and the process to provide evidence of a program’s effectiveness and

efficiency. In SDAD 5800: Higher Education Law, my professional development project

included evaluating the effect of the State Senate Budget Bill 632 (Wash. Rev. Code

§28A.150.260) on the Running Start Programs in Washington State. This project helped me

identify how complex and integrated the funding for education can be and how it affects

Running Start specifically. I want to gain more experience and knowledge on advocating for

educational funding through state measures and the level of effort it takes to understand how

Washington State breaks up their state budget and allocates funding to education.

Confrontation

Evidence: LO#6 and LO#8

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Artifacts: E

When I think about Pope and Mueller’s Multicultural Competencies (2004), I am

confident in my awareness and knowledge related to multicultural understanding and issues, but

I need to grow in my skills to confront oppression at the individual level. I have no problem

calling out systems and policies at the institutional levels about the oppression and barriers that

are imposed on underserved students, but still have tension and am nervous when it comes to

confronting individual people about their behaviors and actions. I get frustrated and irritated with

individuals that refuse to reflect on themselves and how their actions and behaviors contribute to

the problems related to oppression in higher education, I need to learn more effective ways to

confront this.

I know that gaining more skills in LO#6: Developing and demonstrating skills in

leadership and collaboration will encourage me to seek out opportunities and engage in

confrontation in an effective and healthy method. I plan to grow in LO#6 through these

dimensions, challenging oneself to grow in areas of weakness just as much as strength, building

relationships across student and academic affairs in order to improve the student experience,

and modeling the way as a leader in professional practice, standards, and respect. STML 5720:

Leadership, Personality, and Culture taught me the importance of taking risks to learn, if I am

not willing to be uncomfortable then I am not opening myself to learn. I learned how critical it is

to evaluate my identity as a leader and use James M. Kouzes’ “Modeling the Way” (2014) for

my success as an individual and impact how others act in their roles. I think it is crucial for me to

keep developing my leadership skills so that I can gain confidence in confronting individuals on

inequitable practices and policies.

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I have gained experience in presenting and feel confident in my abilities, but I know that

if I continue to work on LO#8: Communicating effectively in speech and in writing in other

forms, I can develop my ability to talk to other individuals about these issues. I know that I can

develop these needed skills through these dimensions, Articulate complicated policies and

procedures in different ways for different audiences, Demonstrate maturity, reflection, and

respect in email correspondence, presentations, and informal conversations, and in all forms of

communication, and Understanding that students, staff, and faculty have different levels of

experience and tailoring communication style to create a general understanding between parties.

The Social Justice and Inclusion Competency with the NASPA/ACPA Professional Rubric is one

that is very important to me because I want to help and aide underrepresented student

populations to be successful in their educational pathways (Artifact E). I know that as a leader

and as a white person it is critical that I try to find and adapt new practices in communicating

with individuals different from me and find a common ground on funding and supporting equity

work in higher education. I need to focus in on how I can better improve my communication

style and skills to have effective conversations on equity, access, and inclusion.

Conclusion

Patience, navigating politics in higher education, and developing effective confrontation

skills will help me develop and balance my professional and personal integrity as a Student

Affairs professional. I have grown so much in this program with my awareness and knowledge

of oppressive issues and systems that continue to impact students, but I need to work on my

skills in navigating Higher Education systems, understanding the long process it can take to

make change, and being uncomfortable to learn and confront others on these issues. I want to

serve my students the best way that I can and contribute to the change at my institution, in order
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for me to be successful, I need to learn how to balance my personal and professional values

while also representing an institution.

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References

Bergerson, A. A. (2009). College choice and access to college: Moving policy, research, and

practice to the 21st century. ASHE Higher Education Report, 35(4), 1-141.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2014). The leadership challenge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Pope, R.L., Reynolds, A.L., & Mueller, J.A. (2004). Multicultural competence in student

affairs. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Wash. Rev. Code §28A.150.260