Knowledge Areas | cspportfolio

Greek Life

Strategic Enrollment Managment

I have identified four knowledge areas relevant to my emerging career as a student affairs practitioner that I would like to enhance during my first few years as a professional. These four areas are: (1) strategic enrollment management, (2) Greek life, (3) non-traditional students, and (4) community colleges. For each knowledge area I have outlined my perception of my deficiencies and gaps in knowledge, what I would like to learn, and why I believe enhancing this knowledge will be beneficial for my professional development.

Knowledge Areas to Develop

Institutions of higher education could not function or exist without the presence of students who seek enrollment at the institution and want to persist in their degrees. Enrollment of students is therefore critical to the sustainability of the institution. Strategic enrollment management is a knowledge area that includes the strategies and considerations administrators should utilize when managing the enrollment of the institution. I admittedly have very minimal knowledge within this area; I understand that strategic enrollment management is a vital function of the institution, and I understand that it must be incredibly challenging to predict future enrollment and how changes in enrollment levels will impact all other operations of the institution.

I gained minimal knowledge of strategic enrollment management from my participation in a course called Leadership and Administration for Higher Education. In this course, I was briefly exposed to some of the terminology, functions, and considerations of strategic enrollment management at the university. However, I felt that this material was insufficiently discussed; for example, I know buzz words such as “the Iron Triangle”, but I truthfully could not explain what this was in any detail. Additionally, my experience within student affairs has solely been as an entry-level practitioner in the housing and residential life functional area. As such, my responsibility is to support the residential students who are already admitted into, and agreed to attend, the university. Therefore, I have experience implementing programs and interventions to help students persist at the university, which I believe to be related to enrollment management, but I do not have experience forecasting admissions or determining admissions criteria that would result in the optimal level of student enrollment.

I would like to learn more about strategic enrollment management so that I can expand my understanding of university-wide operations and the different considerations high-level administrators deliberate when creating a strategic vision for the university. I personally do not have innate skills to think strategically, see the bigger picture, and forecast a long-term vision. Therefore, gaining knowledge in strategic enrollment management will help me to see the bigger picture of the university and equip me with strategies that can make me a more versatile, effective administrator.

I have deficient knowledge of Greek Life and the purpose, functions, and student outcomes of fraternities and sororities. Although Greek life and residential life are interconnected in my current role at BGSU, I have not been adequately exposed to the world of Greek Life. I know that participation in Greek organizations is increasing nationally, and I currently interact with students who are members of Greek organizations regularly, yet I do not foundational or advanced knowledge in Greek life. I know that there are many national Greek chapters, and that the chapters are organized within umbrella organizations, but this is the extent of my knowledge. I do not have a solid grasp of the Greek alphabet, the definition of each Greek letter, the values and pillars of different Greek organizations, or the rituals and recruitment processes of Greek organizations. I also do not have knowledge of the relationship between the national, regional, and local bodies that govern Greek organizations or the rules and regulations specific to each organization.

I am highly interested in learning about Greek life for three reasons. First, Greek life is often interrelated with the Office of Residence Life on many campuses; Residence Life may own and maintain Greek housing units, and since residents in the residence halls may be Greek, it is likely that I will interact with Greek students. Second, I want to become a well-rounded generalist in student affairs so that I have the necessary knowledge and skills to be a high-level student affairs administrator one day. As such, I need to intentionally seek knowledge of functional areas that I do not have expertise. Third, I have an unfairly negative perception toward Greek life based on stories that I have heard from friends about negative Greek experiences, media and news reports on hazing, and my experience responding to crises where students who attended Greek parties returned to the residence hall overly intoxicated. I understand that my preconceived perception toward Greek life is based in distorted experiences and I am certain that there are positive benefits for students who participate in Greek life. Therefore, I would love to gain knowledge of the research examining the outcomes of Greek membership on student satisfaction, success, and retention, and understand the purpose and functions of Greek life for student development.

Throughout my courses in the CSP program, my professors often expressed that the prevalence of community colleges is on the rise. Attendance at community colleges has sky-rocketed in recent years, and community colleges are attracting a diverse student population. When I was applying to colleges a few years back, I vividly recall a negative social perception of my peers toward community colleges. The perception was that community colleges were a “last chance” stop for students who did not earn high grades in high school, or for students who were unsure what academic path to take and/or wanted to take classes for a lower cost before transferring to a 4-year institution. Now, after taking many courses regarding higher education and student affairs, I understand that community colleges are vital for increasing access to higher education.

Because of my past perception of community colleges, I am very interested in developing greater knowledge of community colleges as an institutional type. I would like to know more about the purpose, function, and reach of community colleges, as well as the impacts of attending community colleges on students. I want to gain knowledge of the structure and role of student affairs at community colleges, and the trends toward residence life emerging at some community colleges. I believe that knowledge of community colleges will help me succeed as a professional by enhancing my understanding of the profession. I believe that higher education should be highly accessible as opposed to a privileged opportunity for few; since community colleges increase student access to higher education, I believe I would greatly benefit from developing additional knowledge of this institutional type.

Unlike the other knowledge areas I want to develop, I feel that I currently have adequate knowledge of non-traditional students. For my “voices project” in the Student Development Theory course (CSP 6020), I explored the college experience from the perspective of a non-traditional student. Through the voices project and additional course material, I gained knowledge that non-traditional students include any student that has an experience atypical to the traditional student who enters college straight out of high school. As such, non-traditional students include those who took several years off before entering college, those who have large gaps between degrees or college attendance, parenting students, Veteran students, and other students with unique life circumstances. My experience and active research on non-traditional students helped me attain basic knowledge of what it means to be non-traditional, trends regarding non-traditional student enrollment, and the unique experiences and needs non-traditional students have at college.

I believe that I have adequate knowledge of non-traditional students, but I would like to further enhance this knowledge. For example, I know that Veteran students and parenting students are considered to be non-traditional students, but I do not know specific details regarding the unique experience and needs of these students. Additionally, I would like to gain knowledge of the transitional experience and issues non-traditional students face, and strategies and tools that can be utilized to support non-traditional students during their transition. I would also like to learn about the history of non-traditional students—where did this term originate, when were the first non-traditional students categorized as such, and what emerging trends are there for non-traditional students at 4-year and 2-year institutions? Lastly, I want to know about the structure, purpose, and responsibilities of the functional area dedicated to supporting non-traditional students.

I am interested in learning about non-traditional students because I believe it is the responsibility of student affairs administrators to holistically develop all students, regardless of their stage of life, past experiences, and developmental level. I believe in meeting students where they are at, so I would like to better know the needs and experiences of non-traditional students to more effectively support them. Furthermore, I intend to continue working in the housing and residential life functional area. As populations of non-traditional students--such as veterans and parenting students--increase on campus, residence life administrators will need to consider the housing options that will best accommodate such students. I would like to know more about current trends regarding residence life and non-traditional students, such as development of on-campus family and parenting student apartments at some institutions.

Community Colleges

Non-Traditional Students