Running head: PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT

Personal Professional Philosophy Statement Karl Turnlund Miami University

PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT

When I was a Senior Hall Coordinator at my undergraduate institution, I was given an

anonymous note that expressed gratitude for the work I had done that allowed that student to feel valued, safe, and at home in the residence hall. This deeply personal and moving message affirmed my career aspirations and laid the groundwork for my work in student affairs, which rests on the foundational philosophical goal of contributing to campus environments in a way that engenders a pervasive sense of belongingness and inclusion in order to promote the holistic development of all students. Built on this goal, my professional beliefs, values, and the professional vision that results from putting those beliefs and values into action comprise my personal professional philosophy. In reflecting on the philosophical tenets of the Student Affairs in Higher Education program at Miami University and the larger philosophical context of student affairs through the work of authors such as Borrego, Dungy, Broido, Baxter Magolda, and Reason, I find support for each component my professional philosophy which deepens my passions, understanding, and vision for my career in the field. Professional Beliefs and Values Meeting Them to Serve Them: My Professional Beliefs Similarly to the original philosophical statement of the field, the 1937 Student Personnel Point of View, my professional philosophical foundations are built on the belief that students must be developed as whole people and not only in an intellectual way (Evans & Reason, 2001). Recognizing students as holistic individuals requires that practitioners celebrate the uniqueness of each individual and the fact that all students enter college with varying levels of experience and maturity. In order to serve all students effectively as a practitioner, I must meet each student where they are developmentally, appreciating and respecting where they have come from and

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what they are hoping to gain from their collegiate experience. This education-for-all mentality aligns closely with the belief held by Dewey that education should develop the capacities of all individuals, regardless of race, class, or gender (Reason & Broido, 2011). Everyone deserves to

have support, if support is necessary, on their collegiate journey, and I can best support students holistic development if I respect and honor their unique needs. Guiding this practice of meeting students where they are and celebrating their individuality is my belief in the value of service and my own understanding that I want to commit my life to helping others thrive. Over the course of my own personal development, I have had the privilege of having an appropriate amount of support from mentors and friends who also afforded me the respect and freedom I needed to be myself and to grow holistically. Having been helped in this way, I want to help others develop similarly. Consequently, I see my supportive role very much in the light of being in service to others. This perspective is in alignment with many of the seven essential values of student affairs practice as articulated by Young and Elfrink (1991, as cited in Reason & Broido, 2011). These include altruism, freedom, and human dignity, each of which compliments my professional belief that student affairs practice is rooted in service to students that ensures that students welfare, capacity for choice, and inherent worth is supported and encouraged (Reason & Broido, 2011). Individualization and Inclusion: My Professional Values These core professional beliefs in service and honoring each individual student largely informs my professional values, the first of which is the value of supporting individuals as they develop into the best version of themselves. This value of individualized attention with individual outcomes is largely grounded in the SAHE value and curricular focus of self-

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authorship, which is to say that students should be encouraged and supported as they develop an

internal understanding of themselves as unique and valued individuals (Student Affairs in Higher Education [SAHE], n.d.). Building on my belief that each individual has unique needs, supporting student development in a way that promotes individual trust and affirmation in the self provides students with the capacities to meet those individual needs. A student development outcome of this nature aligns closely with what Shreiner calls thriving, or the point when students are fully emotionally, socially, and intellectually successful and engaged (Shreiner, 2010, p. 4). Though students may be able to reach a place of thriving during their collegiate experience without support, as a student affairs professional, I am in an advantageous position to encourage student development to the point where they can better understand themselves, their motivations, and develop trust in their self-affirmation. Through this support, students are more likely to thrive within the campus context, an outcome on which I place great professional value. In order for each student to fully be themselves and develop holistically into the best version of that self, they must feel safe, supported, and valued in their community. My second professional value, promoting belongingness, is an act that is motivated by my belief in service. As a student affairs professional with the capacity to influence an educational context where students have the opportunity to dynamically develop into better versions of themselves, I owe it to those individuals to create a space that honors each individual. This honoring is supported by the SAHE program value and curricular focus of inclusion, which states that similarities and differences among individuals should be celebrated in an atmosphere that respects each person (SAHE, n.d.). Without an inclusive environment, students are more prone to feeling unsafe and out of place, factors that can be counterproductive to both development and wellbeing (Cokley, McClain, Enciso, & Martinez, 2013).

PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT

Beliefs and Values Enacted to Vision Though I find the philosophical support of the components of my personal professional

philosophy explored in this statement encouraging, what provides the most motivation for me as a young practitioner is how my professional values and beliefs can be instrumental in directing my daily practice in a way that allows me to enact these values. I conceptualize this application of my beliefs and values to be my personal professional vision, which is twofold. First, I can enact my value of inclusion within my practice through striving daily to create an inclusive campus environment where I work. Because of this connectivity to my beliefs and values, and because a developmentally appropriate, engaging, dynamic, and educative context is integral to holistic student learning and development, the creation of such an environment is a cornerstone of my philosophical vision of myself as a student affairs practitioner (Borrego, 2006; Dungy, 2006; King & Baxter Magolda, 2011; Whipple & Murphy, 2004). The facilitation of a campus climate that values learning and development is no small task, yet it is an essential component of not only my own professional philosophy, but also the deeper undergirding philosophies of the student affairs field (Borrego, 2006; Dungy, 2006; King & Baxter Magolda, 2011; Whipple & Murphy, 2004). On a more micro-level, and in order to enact my value of supporting students development into the best versions of themselves, the second component of my professional vision is challenging students to grow, question, and affirm themselves. In this way, I aim to do the work that Baker and Griffin (2010) describe as being a developer. They write, A developer opens doors, helps a student think through what he or she wants to do, and identifies and creates opportunities for the student to build the necessary skills to succeed, (Baker & Griffin, 2010 , p. 6). Development can push students outside of their comfort zone, but can be done in a way that is

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supportive of the student to ensure that the challenge is not so great that growth is stunted. This

component of my professional vision closely aligns with the SAHE value and curricular focus of challenge and support, which states similarly that learning environments should seek to balance challenge with a network of support to ensure maximum student development (SAHE, n.d.). Through my role as a developer, I hope to serve students in ways that are developmentally individualized, thus advancing my professional value of ensuring that students have the opportunity to develop into the best version of themselves, a philosophical component that also undergirds widely held philosophical views within the field (Baker & Griffin, 2010; Reason & Broido, 2011; Schreiner, 2010). Final Thoughts Through enacting my professional beliefs and values and implementing my professional vision, I am living out my personal professional philosophy. Though I understand that I will face sizeable challenges in seeking to meet my foundational philosophical goal of contributing to campus environments in a way that brings about belongingness and inclusion in order to promote the holistic development of all students, the positive outcomes of meeting those challenges will be transformative within my campus context and the lives of my students. When viewed through this lens of my personal professional philosophy, the challenges will be worth the time, the application of passion, and the personal commitment that will be required to see my professional vision come to fruition.

PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT

References Baker, V. L., & Griffin, K. A. (2010). Beyond mentoring and advising: Toward understanding the role of faculty developers in student success. About Campus, 14(6), 28. doi:10.1002/abc.20002 Borrego, S. E. (2006). Mapping learning the environment. In R. P. Keeling, Learning reconsidered 2: A practical guide to implementing a campus-wide focus on the student experience. (pp. 11-16). Washington, DC: National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, American College Personnel Association.

Cokley, K., McClain, S., Enciso, A., & Martinez, M. (2013). An examination of the impact of minority status stress and impostor feelings on the mental health of diverse ethnic minority college students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development , 41(2), 8295. doi:10.1002/j.2161-1912.2013.00029.x

Dungy, G. J. (2006). Learning reconsidered: Where have we come? Where are we going? In R. P. Keeling, Learning reconsidered 2: A practical guide to implementing a campus-wide focus on the student experience . (pp. 1-2). Washington, DC: National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, American College Personnel Association. Evans, N. J., & Reason, R. D. (2001). Guiding principles: A review and analysis of student affairs philosophical statements. Journal of College Student Development, 42 (4), 359 377.

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King, P. M., & Baxter Magolda, M. B. (2011). Student learning. In J. H. Schuh, S. R., Jones, & S. R. Harper (Eds.), Student services: A handbook for the profession (5th ed.). (pp. 207 225). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc. Reason, R. D., & Broido, E. M. (2011). Philosophies and values. In J. H. Schuh, S. R. Jones, & S. R. Harper (Eds.), Student services: A handbook for the profession (5th ed.). (pp. 80 95). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc. Schreiner, L. A. (2010). The Thriving Quotient: A new vision for student success. About Campus, 15(2), 210. doi:10.1002/abc.20016 Student Affairs in Higher Education. (n.d.). SAHE Core Values. Retrieved from http://www.units.miamioh.edu/csp/sahe/prospective_students_applicant_information_co e_values.html Whipple, E. D., & Murphy, R. K. (2004). Student activities. In F. MacKinnon (Ed.), Rentzs student affairs practice in higher education (3rd ed). (pp. 298-335). Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.