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Introduction As I thought about what framed my professional practice I looked back to my first semester in this program. I had used the following quote in a paper for my internship seminar during my first year: ... Practitioners act first and foremost as caretakers, educators, and helpers to actively assist students with the emotional and academic demands of college life and to promote their personal development (Schuh, Jones, Harper, & Associates, 2011, p.399). I was drawn to this quote because I felt like it accurately described the role of a successful administrator within higher education and student affairs. While this idea still resonates with me, I would like to expand upon this idea in building my professional philosophy. I remember sitting in College Student Learning and Development when Professor Matt Mayhew first brought up the idea of self-authorship. Baxter-Magoldas theory on self-authorship has continued to resonate with me and frame my practice (Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton, & Renn, 2010). I was drawn to the idea of writing your own story as well as the theorys applicability to all populations. During my time working in higher education, I have worked extensively with nontraditional students and I felt that this theory was one that applied to not just the traditional undergraduate student but all students. I feel that my role in higher education is to assist students in becoming self-authored. This entails trusting the internal voice, building an internal foundation, and securing internal commitments (Evans, et al., 2010, p.186). I feel that students can become self-authored by helping students to assess their existing knowledge, challenging their knowledge, and help them to develop intellectually, helping students to develop their sense of self by creating opportunities that allow them to explore who

they are and what they believe, and finally helping students to develop interpersonally. In addition to creating and fostering environments for them to engage and challenge themselves intellectually, personally, and socially I feel it is also important to do this in an ethical manner and advocate for students so that they are able to successfully develop without encountering barriers. Intellectual Development As higher education administrators, I feel that it is part of our responsibility to create spaces for students to develop intellectually. This means challenging and supporting students so that they expand their thinking about the world around them. Intellectual development is one of the reasons students go to college in the first place but it is up to us to create spaces for this development to occur outside of the classroom as well as inside the classroom. Perry (1968) framed intellectual development as a scale ranging from dualism to commitment to relativism (Evans, et al, 2010). His scheme of intellectual and ethical development may serve as a framework for administrators as they attempt to create spaces for students to develop intellectually. In working with students and developing programs for students I have tried to keep this in mind and to provide them with necessary intellectual stimulation so that they can become fully self-authored adults. Personal and Identity Development Another area for successful administrators to focus on is the personal and identity development of students. This is a key component of developing a sense of self which serves as the foundation for self-authorship (Evans, et al., 2010). College is a critical time in development for most people and part of being a successful administrator is creating spaces to foster personal

and identity growth and to aid in the process. This should be done in concordance with theory. The challenge lies in creating spaces and aiding all students with their personal and identity development. A successful administrator should aim to serve all their students - not just the ones who may be more prevalent. I find this to be a challenge in my own work but I have tried to challenge myself in reaching out to all of my students rather than the ones who may stand out more. Social Development Several researchers have written about the importance of social integration as it relates to student persistence and success. I feel that creating opportunities for social integration and encouraging student involvement should be something higher education administrators should aim to do. This may be as simple as linking students to on-campus student organizations to something more involved such as creating learning communities. There have been numerous studies done on student engagement and its positive link to student persistence. Kuh (2001) denes student engagement as representing both the time and energy students invest in educationally purposeful activities and the effort institutions devote to using effective educational practices (p.1). His work on student engagement is based upon the idea that the more engaged a student is the more likely they will be to persist within higher education. Similarly, Astins Involvement Theory (1984) says that in order for students to develop they must be engaged and involved in their environments. Astin denes involvement as the investment of physical and psychological energy in various objects (Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton, & Renn, 2010, p.31). I work on the leadership team of a transition program and they state this as one of their major goals. This is especially relevant when working with students who may have a more difficult time integrating on their own.

Advocacy All of these components are tied together by advocacy. A major role the student affairs practitioner plays is advocating for their students. We cannot adequately create safe spaces for student development without first advocating for these spaces. This entails advocating for all students, not just those in the majority. I try to keep this in mind in my practice by advocating for students who may not be given a voice otherwise. This is partly why I decided to take on a fieldwork with the NYU Center for Spiritual Life. I felt that I was not well-versed in how to best advocate and work with my more religious students and sought out this opportunity to learn more. Ethical Practice Finally, ACPA has a published ethical statement for student affairs professionals. (American College Student Personnel Association, 2006). As any other field we should maintain ethical practice for the good of our students but also to maintain professionalism within our field. In working within higher education, a good student affairs professional has a certain responsibility to their students and their institution which they should attempt to uphold at all points of their practice. I have been conscious to practice in an ethical way during my time as an administrator. A few things that resonate with me from this statement are treating students with respect and helping them to become productive, ethical, and responsible citizens as I feel this relates to other tenets of my professional philosophy (American College Student Personnel Association, 2006). Conclusion

This past year and a half has been instrumental in shaping my practice. I now feel prepared to articulate what shapes my practice through the use of theory. The idea of selfauthorship particularly resonated with me as a theory because I feel that it speaks to my own personal experiences in college and my journey as I continue to try to reach self-authorship. It is also easily applicable to my own students as they attempt to solidify their beliefs, identity, and social relations (Evans, et al., 2010, p.183). As I transition out of NYU and move on to the next stage in my life, I hope to build upon this philosophy and continue to serve as an advocate, educator, and mentor to students.

References American College Student Personnel Association - College Student Educators International (2006, March). Ethical principles and standards. My ACPA. Retrieved November 1, 2013 from http://www.myacpa.org/au/documents/Ethical_Principles_Standards_large.pdf. Evans, N.J., Forney, D.S., Guido, F.M., Patton, L.D., & Renn, K.A. (2010). Development of self-authorship. In Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.) (pp.176-193). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Evans, N.J., Forney, D.S., Guido, F.M., Patton, L.D., & Renn, K.A. (2010). Perrys theory of intellectual and ethical development. In Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.) (pp.82-98). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Evans, N.J., Forney, D.S., Guido, F.M., Patton, L.D., & Renn, K.A. (2010). Using student development theory. In Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.) (pp.22-40). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Kuh, G.D. (2001). Assessing what really matters to student learning: Inside the National Survey ! of Student Engagement. Change, 33(3), p.10-66.

Schuh, J. H., Jones, S. R., Harper, S. R., & Associates (2011). Student services: A handbook for the profession. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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