Tony Ribera,
Currently in the Higher Education & Student
Affairs Ph.D. program at Indiana University
What
is something someone planning to enter the field should know?
Student Affairs
is a really evolving profession. The expectations and norms are always
changing. Today, things are even a lot different than they were 5-10 years ago.
// I wonder what will be different from today to when I enter the field as a
professional. What sort of new issues will be the hot topics?
What
it really means to be a student affairs professional?
It is first and foremost
very intentional. Sometimes, learning can tend to be done by default but a true
student affairs professional educates students by design rather than default. If
they’re intentional, they’re constantly assessing it and looking for ways to
improve. // Probably one of my biggest takeaways from Tony is this whole idea
of assessment and intentionally evaluating what is being done in order to use
that data for improvements. Realllyyy interesting!
Grad
school advice?
All programs are about student affairs at the surface level so I
need to take a look at how each school approaches or focus on things. Because I know I want to be able to come out of a program with a lot of
experience in different areas, he suggested I check out what they’re doing with
practica and internships. // That makes a lot of sense. Of course everywhere
sounds like “a good program” at the surface level because all student affairs
programs are going to have similarities. I have to challenge myself to dig
deeper to really find the best fit!
Interesting
thought:
The students I would potentially be working with will go through a lot
of personal growth even in the span of one school year. That individual is
going to look a lot different in June from what they did in September. // Wow,
that’s a beautiful thought. I'll probably keep that in mind for the rest of my life.
On a personal note:
On a personal note:
// Whenever I talk to professionals, they ALWAYS stress the important of mentor relationships. When they share their personal career paths, they always slip in things like "and then my mentor encouraged me to..." Tony is actually my mentor's mentor. I feel like having this conversation with Tony was a true testament to the power of mentorship. Not only was he a big influence on the success of my mentor Sarah, the strength of that relationship actually led to Sarah having a big influence on me. The chain of influence probably goes back infinitely. Who knows? Maybe I'll pass on the same kind of thing to someone else one day. Such an interesting thought indeed.
