Leadership - Proficient

"The Leadership competency area addresses the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required of a leader, whether it be a positional leader or a member of the staff, in both an individual capacity and within a process of how individuals work together effectively to envision, plan, effect change in organizations, and respond to internal and external constituencies and issues" (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 22).



Growth Within Competency

The Power of Inclusion:  Taking a Values-Based Approach

Responding to a trend observed by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life of chapters having difficulty cultivating inclusive environments for their members, I coordinated a group of Greek house directors (Joelle Fundaro, Carson Lance, & Laura Saavedra) to present to all chapter presidents in the Greek community on this issue.  In particular, our presentation focused on issues surrounding by new members/neos join Greek organizations and what factors may lead to them leaving the chapter before or after initiation/crossing.



A unique component of the presentation that I was excited to share with the Greek presidents was French and Raven's Taxonomy of Power (especially as I had received my bachelor's in International Leadership Studies).  Although discussing a leadership theory of this nature was not typical in such a setting (in favor of theories such as Servant Leadership and the Social Change Model of Leadership), the realization of the type of relationships that take place among active and new members/neos made a discussion about bases of power both practical and relevant.  Using examples from history and popular culture, I described the five bases of power according to French and Raven:  Expert, Referent, Legitimate, Reward, and Coercive (Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy, 1993).  This demonstrates my continued ability to "identify various constructs of leadership and leadership styles"  and "apply appropriate leadership models to various situations in organizational life" as outlined in the Leadership competency (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 22). After explaining the bases of power, I led a discussion on how each of these forms of power can manifest in both positive and negative ways and through intentional or intentional actions.  The presentation was met with positive feedback, with some chapter presidents requesting a copy of our materials for discussion among their own members.



Bowling Green Student Development Association (BGSDA):  #HESANation​

For me, the #HESANation hashtag represents a culmination of intentional work and conversations have taken place among the master's students, doctoral students, and the faculty of the Department of Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA).  For the year of 2012, I served as president of the College Student Personnel's student organization, the Bowling Green Student Development Association (BGSDA).  The president of the Higher Education Administration Doctoral Students (HEADS) and I both felt that, while connections and relationships between the two programs were already good, there was potential for an even higher level of camaraderie among the two graduate programs of HESA.  Throughout the year, the two of us along with many others in the program continuously looked for ways to promote more of a "HESA" identity rather than a "CSP & HiEd" identity.  Simple events such as BGSDA/HEADS Bowling and large-scale events like the end-of-year HESA Banquet were a great start and showed how excited everyone was for more connections among the entire department.



With the arrival of new master's and doctoral cohorts at the fall HESA Convocation in 2012, the HEADS president (Ryan Bronkema) and I chose to theme our customary speeches at the event together rather than separately as had been done in years past.  With heavy discussion back and forth, the two of us developed a "superhero" themed event where I addressed the master's students in an Iron Man metaphor while he related the trials of doctoral work to that of Batman.  But another theme ran throughout both speeches, which was that of emphasizing the value of collaboration and friendships throughout the entire department.  When the HEADS president proposed the use of a hashtag called #HESANation, it became a rallying cry for the department that has led to continual outreach of both programs to each other for any and all events that each program is planning.  This year-long theme of promoting a HESA identity gave me experience in promoting and facilitating "collaborative initiatives and team-building efforts" (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 23).  It is my hope that the work put in by Ryan and I will continue on with future officers in both organizations.

Professional Competencies