Training Boost: How to Foster a Developmental Approach to Resident Assistant Training

While the roles and responsibilities of resident assistants (RAs) have changed over time, some things will continue to be a priority. Responsibilities such as developing relationships with residents, guiding them to campus resources, providing information, mediating roommate conflicts, documenting underage drinking, and responding to quiet hours violations remain constant. Britt Frye, assistant director for academic initiatives at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, pinpoints interpersonal and communication skills as being at the heart of these responsibilities. “These skills are used in leadership, mentorship, conflict resolution, community building, and assisting students with problems or concerns.” However, a major shift in the paraprofessional RA role is understanding not just what skills are required for the position, but how the role is enacted. This shift involves a more developmental approach to interacting with residents which focuses on enhancing the residential experience rather than simply acting as an enforcer of rules and policies

Welcome from the SLPKC Chairs (2013)

This is one of our most important newsletter issues. In Orlando, we hope you take advantage of the opportunities to engage with SLP KC members, our leadership team, and volunteer to become more involved with the KC. In addition, we welcome you to inquire about becoming a leadership team co-coordinator or team member. At each conference, we host an annual member meeting where we disseminate our annual awards, showcase our leadership team, and brainstorm about leadership practices Think Tank style

Welcome from the New SLPKC Chairs

Greetings! Please allow me to introduce myself as one of your co-chair elects for the Student Leadership Programs knowledge community (SLP KC). I am both honored and humbled to have been elected to this position and I look forward to serving the SLP KC to the best of my ability. To share a bit about myself, I have been a member of the leadership within the SLP KC for the past three years as the conference team leader. Those responsibilities have included collaborating with the coordinators of tile pre-convention workshop, sponsored programs, mentoring program, graduate support network, community/ graduate fair, and open meeting. I have enjoyed this immensely and it served as a catalyst for running for the co-chair position

An Examination of Mentoring Relationships and Leadership Capacity in Resident Assistants

The leadership capacity of resident assistants can be impacted by many experiences, including involvement in mentoring relationships. The purpose of this study was to examine if and how resident assistants’ leadership capacities are influenced by participating in these relationships. A sample of 6,006 resident assistants was analyzed using data from the 2009 Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership. An adapted version of Astin’s Input-Environment-Outcome college impact model was used as the conceptual framework, and the Social Change Model of Leadership was used as the theoretical framework. Overall findings revealed that resident assistants who participated in mentoring relationships exhibited significantly higher leadership capacities than those who did not, regardless of the mentor-protégé demographic factors. Also included are implications for practice and future recommendations

Book Review: Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty

Publisher Description: Keeping students involved, motivated, and actively learning is challenging educators across the country, yet good advice on how to accomplish this has not been readily available. Student Engagement Techniques is a comprehensive resource that offers college teachers a dynamic model for engaging students and includes over one hundred tips, strategies, and techniques that have been proven to help teachers from a wide variety of disciplines and institutions motivate and connect with their students. The ready-to-use format shows how to apply each of the book\u27s techniques in the classroom and includes purpose, preparation, procedures, examples, online implementation, variations and extensions, observations and advice, and key resources

Farewell from the Co-Chairs

Has it been three years already?!?!? Indeed it has. We have been honored to serve as Co-Chairs for the Student Leadership Programs Knowledge Community. As a farewell, we would like to reflect on our time as Co-Chairs and revisit our mission and strategic goals. The mission of the Student Leadership Programs Knowledge Community is to serve as a resource for higher educationprofessionals who have a professional interest in young-adult (i.e., college students) leadership training, education, and development. The Community will share best practices, provide critical evaluation of the field, examine standards for leadership programs, support national and regional efforts to develop student leadership programs, make contributions to the literature, recognize exemplary programs, and cultivate a forum for the presentation of new ideas. Our 2012-2014 Strategic Goals are outlined below

Farewell from the Co-Chairs

Has it been three years already?!?!? Indeed it has. We have been honored to serve as Co-Chairs for the Student Leadership Programs Knowledge Community. As a farewell, we would like to reflect on our time as Co-Chairs and revisit our mission and strategic goals. The mission of the Student Leadership Programs Knowledge Community is to serve as a resource for higher educationprofessionals who have a professional interest in young-adult (i.e., college students) leadership training, education, and development. The Community will share best practices, provide critical evaluation of the field, examine standards for leadership programs, support national and regional efforts to develop student leadership programs, make contributions to the literature, recognize exemplary programs, and cultivate a forum for the presentation of new ideas. Our 2012-2014 Strategic Goals are outlined below

The Reciprocal Cycle of Mentoring

The leadership development encounter we want to share has been ongoing for nearly six years. I met Matt Cooney after he returned from a study abroad experience in Mexico. I was hired as an assistant director and Matt asked me- Who are you and why should I care? A bit brazen, but forgivable. Once I told him about my experiences and why I was hired it was like at first sight. Matt and I connected instantly. Things got even more intense when I was his instructor for his internship and he had to be accountable to me online

Developing a Leadership Consortium

Although the term “leadership” did not appear until approximately the 1850s, leadership can be viewed as an ancient art (Bass, 1990). However, it was not until 1976 that the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Commission IV developed a leadership task force to investigate leadership programs in higher education and clearly defined the differences between leadership development, leadership training, and leadership education (Roberts & Ullom, 1990). The field of leadership progressed over the years by examining various components such as trait theory, behavioral theories, situational theories, and, most recently, leadership identity development theories. Since then, information regarding definitions of leadership, descriptions of leadership theories and models, the impact of leadership development on students, and how leadership styles vary based on ethnicity and sex have become prevalent in the literature

Modeling the way: Mutually beneficial outcomes of collaboration

Collaboration is a term often identified as essential, but far less frequently practiced. As leadership practitioners and scholars, the act of collaborating with colleagues by way of sharing best practices, resources, and knowledge is a must