Running head: ACTION PLAN

Artifact I: 5 Year Professional Development and Action Plan Theresa Brostowitz SDAD 579 Seattle University 4/20/2014

ACTION PLAN
5 Year Professional Development and Action Plan Area of Professional Development Research Context I believe that it is important to participate in original research to both inform my own professional practice and to continue to advance the field of student development as a professional industry. 5 Year Action Plan

Assessment and Evaluation

Education

Social Justice and Multicultural Competence

As pressure for increased accountability compels higher education to be more focused and reflective, it becomes increasingly more important for student development administrators to understand the use of assessment and evaluation and to possess the skills to design and interpret ethical and objective measures for assessing programs and service for students. In order to continue to grow both personally and in my skills as a practitioner of student development, I am firmly committed to lifelong learning and the pursuit of a doctorate degree in a helping field. If I hope to be successful as a student development administrator and educator, I must continue to challenge myself to lean into the discomfort of acknowledging, understanding, and challenging systems of privilege and oppression. This includes an awareness and understanding of my own social identities and how to make space for the identities of others.

In partnership with future supervisors, colleagues, and students I will seek opportunities to participate in the research of others in order to learn the skills necessary to develop and carry out my own original research at a later time in my career. I am particularly interested in the college experience for traditionally aged low-income and Pell-eligible college students. I am currently enrolled in an assessment certification course and work group. Within the next five years, I would like to practice the skills I have learned in this course and begin to supplement with additional trainings and opportunities to be involved in assessment and evaluation work. Within five years, I would like to have selected and applied for either a second masters degree in the area of mental health counseling or a doctorate program in counseling psychology. I would like to seek out a mentor who is actively engaged in understanding their own social identities and will challenge me to continue to understand mine. I believe that a large part of this work also includes emotional intelligence, which I would like to continue to study. I would also like to attend the Social Justice Training Institute and other professional development engagements that will introduce me to new ideas and bring awareness to my privileged identities and strength to my marginalized identities. In turn, I can be a more effective professional for the students that I serve.