The Advising and Supporting (AS) competency area addresses an individuals capability to advise and provide support to individuals or groups. The ACPA & NASPA (2016) rubric provides five dimensions to gauge proficiency in this area. The five dimensions are interpersonal skills, professional development, group dynamics, partnering with others, and conflict and crisis situations. I believe that I am at a intermediate level in this competency area.

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My previous position as a residence director has given me the experience and has allowed me to reach an intermediate level of proficiency in this area. In that position I supervised, selected, trained, and evaluated 5 Resident Assistants and hired, supervised, and managed payroll operations for 12 Night Desk Attendants. In that position, I ensured that my staff was doing well in their job performance and provided constructive criticism as well as improvement plans to keep track of their duties.

 

Residence life in general is student centered and it is important to keep that in mind with all of the work that we do. As a residence director for a first-year hall, I have gained a ton of experience with advising and supporting my residents from various cultures and identities. The demographics of the institution I worked for was drastically changing and it is important that I was able to understand that individuals may need a different forms of support based on their culture, race, and or class. I was able to learn this in the counseling courses taught by Dr. Gold.

 

The material I have learned in HEA 623 – Techniques of Counseling for Diverse Groups and Cultures has allowed me to acquire knowledge and participate in practiced applications of major and evolving theories of counseling while focusing on cultural and life choice differences. I was able to do self-awareness assessments, reflect on what I bring to the counseling relationship, and practice being fully present and non-judgmental for diverse people in class. 

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Being the Graduate Assistant for the Intercultural Center at SUNY Fredonia has also helped me become a better support for students on campus. I worked on a project to improve support for students who encounter bias-related or discriminatory incidents on Fredonia’s campus. In order to gauge the type of support students need, I have conducted focus groups where I ask a few questions regarding these types of incidents that students experience directly or indirectly. This experience has helped me to gain insight on lived experiences and hardships of students on campus. Insight of these issues has helped me to understand what the students are going through on campus and allows me to educate colleges and coworkers of these issues.

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                                                         Artifact 1:

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The RA improvement plan ensured that the resident assistants that I supervised were held accountable for their work. It also served as a document to set plans and goals for resident assistants in areas that they needed help in. 

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                                                         Artifact 2:

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The RA performance review is an assessment tool that I used during my job as a residence director. This assesment tool provided the resident assistants my evaluation on their work and also gave me an opportunity to voice any concerns or issues I had with their performance.

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