Running head: STRENGTHS 1

Learning Outcome Narrative: Strengths

Eli Heller

Seattle University
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Learning Outcome Narrative: Strengths

Since graduating with my bachelors degree from UC Irvine in 2014, I have gone through

a series of professional and geographical transitions that have shaped my personal and

professional identities through the present and enhanced my capacity to adapt to new challenges.

Most significantly, my move to Seattle and enrollment in the Student Development

Administration program challenged me to understand how my identities (particularly my race

and class background) to a large extent affected my undergraduate experience. Because of my

privileged upbringing in a suburban neighborhood located in the San Fernando Valley region of

Los Angeles, California, I had never considered or critically examined how my privileged

identities influenced my major choice or positive college experience prior to my enrollment at

Seattle University. Because my parents are both artists, I was encouraged to discover and pursue

my passions at the collegiate level, regardless of the outcomes of this choice, and chose to study

literary journalism and art history as an undergraduate. No part of my undergraduate education

emphasized or even incorporated social justice, multicultural competence, self-reflection or

discernment. I ultimately chose to pursue student affairs professionally because I strove to

accomplish meaningful work as a professional and impact positive change in others lives.

A large part of my transition into this program was learning how my personal perspective

influences my work with students and about what each of my identities mean in the context of

professional student affairs practice. Schlossbergs (2001) theory of transition applies to my own

transition into the SDA program, including my adjustment from a large, public, research

university to the small, private, faith-based setting of Seattle University, and my gradual

understanding of how the Jesuit context informs my work as a student affairs practitioner. I have

ultimately transitioned into a more self-aware way of living, both personally and professionally.
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Building relationships with students through individual advising and support

My most significant strength at the current moment is building relationships with students

through individual academic advising. This relates to learning outcomes #2, #8 and #6. The key

dimensions of learning outcome #2 are having a strong awareness of how students develop

during their time at a university, and understanding what factors influence student involvement,

student success, and decisions students make during college, such as major choice. The key

dimensions of learning outcome #8 are communicating accurate and up-to-date information to

students in a clear and concise manner and writing and speaking clearly when interacting with

students and other professionals. The key dimensions of learning outcome #6 are calling upon

others areas of expertise to assist students best and developing strong and mutually beneficial

relationships with colleagues and supervisors. I have demonstrated achievement in each of these

areas through clearly communicating academic major requirements and policies, offering

individualized referrals to key resources, and providing holistic support to undergraduate

business students as an academic advisor at Seattle University.

I began the SDA program with the intention of pursuing a professional role in which I

could work with students in an individual capacity, catering to each students individual needs,

goals and identities and planned to pursue professional academic advising following graduation.

Artifact A demonstrates my effectiveness with communication, through my graduate assistant

role as an academic advisor and other professional roles I have filled previously. I have a

penchant and a preference for working with students individually, particularly in an academic,

goal-oriented context, and have frequently called upon the knowledge of practitioners in various

functional areas in order to serve students best. My work for the Albers New Student Mentor

program has included inviting professionals working in various functional areas outside advising,
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to contribute to the mentors knowledge of the depth and breadth of the resources offered by

Seattle University, through focused presentations and teambuilding activities. This indicates my

resourcefulness and adeptness in collaboration. As my integrated mission statement (Artifact B)

demonstrates, I am committed to creating environments in which students can practice mindful

discernment and goal setting through individual contact and relationships, and have both initiated

such relationships myself, and guided two distinct groups of upper division peer mentors to form

such relationships with freshmen. Overall, through my work in academic advising, peer

mentorship and career services, I have ultimately strengthened my ability to guide students to

success both inside and outside the classroom, and developed a strong understanding of students

and student issues. This is further evidenced by my self-evaluation in the Advising and Helping

Competency area of Artifact E.

Serving as a liaison between student populations and the outside world

Through my internship experiences, SDA coursework, and co-curricular content, I have

developed an ability and passion for serving as a liaison between college students and the outside

world. I demonstrated this strength through my focused work with on-campus recruitment as an

Industry Relations intern at UCLA. This strength also further relates to learning outcome #6.

Though I initially entered the SDA program with the intention of ultimately serving as a

full-time academic advisor, I have since discovered my passion for experiential learning,

specifically in the form of internships and co-curricular experiences, and feel that serving in an

external role, whether as a liaison between two functional areas on a college campus, or between

students and employers, is one of my greatest strengths. Through my internship at the UCLA

Career Center, I gained a strong awareness of the various types of practical, career-focused

internship opportunities available to students through on-campus recruiting and their significance
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to student career development and discernment, as well as an understanding of the role on-

campus recruitment plays in student employment and transition out of the university setting. As

I demonstrate in Artifact F, I strive to become part of the on-campus recruitment process,

whether as a university recruiter, internship coordinator, manager of experiential learning

programs, or employer relations specialist. I would demonstrate my strength in collaboration

and ability to create mutually beneficial relationships in any of such roles. Further, as I outline in

Artifact C3, I have learned what I consider to be two key responsibilities of all career services

professionals in higher education. First, it is the responsibility of career services to teach

students how to advocate for themselves in the workplace, since employers will not always make

the same efforts toward inclusive practices as student affairs practitioners, and students may find

their identities to be underrepresented in their workplaces after graduation. Second, it is essential

for all career educators to make students aware that not every aspect of their learning or studies

will be applied to their professional roles after graduation, and that they must learn to strike a

balance between professional and personal identities post-graduation.

In regards to collaboration among functional areas, particularly from my work in SDAD

5750, as evidenced by Artifact C1, I have learned about the importance of incorporating career

development into a students overall undergraduate academic career, and the positive effects this

has on student retention and degree completion rates. From my internship at USC, through

which I gained a strong understanding of student academic success and the factors that influence

retention rates, I learned that guiding students to create solid career goals and aspirations

contributes to successfully retaining them. I feel that tools such as Strengths Finder and the

Strong Interest Inventory are excellent starting points for assisting students in their initial career

development processes. Through my work in COUN 5120, I have also learned how to apply
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career development theories to my work with students. Most significantly, I feel that Social

Cognitive Career Theory (Lent, Brown & Hackett, 1994), in regards to guiding students to boost

self-efficacy and to develop personal goals and outcome expectations, and career narrative theory

(Savickas, 2001), in constructing and deconstructing students career journeys prior to, during,

and after graduation, will assist me in my individual support of students.

Critical self-reflection on privilege and how it affects student experience

The theme of critical self-reflection relates to learning outcomes #4, #5, and #10. The

key dimensions of learning outcome #4 are meeting students where they are academically and

personally, understanding diverse identities, and guiding students down individualized pathways

to success. The key dimensions of learning outcome #5 are creating environments in which all

students can explore their identities and serving student needs according to functional area and

specific student population. The key dimensions of learning outcome #10 are understanding how

personal identities affect ones professional identity, and developing preferences for working in

specific functional areas or with specific student populations. I have shown my abilities in each

of these areas through my work with diverse populations as an academic advisor.

One of my most significant strengths as a professional is my ability to critically analyze

the ways in which my own experiences and identities influence my practice. Much of my self-

reflection processes throughout my time in the SDA program have involved unpacking my own

class and racial privilege. Because my parents are college educated and I attended a high school

where the vast majority of the students attended college full-time immediately following

graduation, my transition to the university setting was relatively smooth. Pursuing higher

education in affluent and suburban Irvine, California, I did not experience any initial culture

shock during my transition to college. Having the freedom to study what interested me most is
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another facet of my privileged identities. As an undergraduate, I engaged with experiential

learning in the form of studying abroad in Europe and completing several internships, and

understand that these opportunities can also be framed as privileges or as career vehicles that are

not accessible to all students. My journey to professional student affairs practice and to

emotional independence can be analyzed through Baxter-Magoldas (1984) theory of self-

authorship and Chickerings (1993) theory of identity development. With my newly developed

understanding of my privileged identities, I feel that I am better equipped to support students of

diverse identities and backgrounds, in keeping with Pope, Reynolds and Muellers (2004) theory

of multicultural competence and Yossos (2005) theory of cultural capital.

Additionally, from my coursework in EDUC 5100 and EDUC 5130, I have developed a

strong understanding of oppressive structures and cycles of socialization and my responsibility as

an educator to interrupt these oppressive phenomena. In Artifact E, in response to the Social

Justice and Inclusion competency area, I explain my understanding of the tension between access

and equity in higher education, and from my experience working in an office that serves

academically at-risk students at USC, I learned how this can be traced to classism in the form of

the presence of many legacy students at the university, the universitys prioritization of these

students needs, and the widening class gap between these students and those of diverse

identities. Finally, in Artifact C2, I discuss my own learning in regards to classism and class

privilege and how they affect student success and retention at a large, public research institution

similar to my alma mater, in response to the work Paying for the Party: How College Maintains

Inequality (Armstrong & Hamilton, 2013). In my future practice, I strive to support all students,

understand how students of diverse backgrounds and experiences perceive my identities, and

continue to advocate for social change and social justice in higher education.
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References

Armstrong, E. A., & Hamilton, L. R. (2013). Paying for the party: How college maintains

inequality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Baxter-Magolda, N. (2001). Theory of self-authorship. In N.J. Evans, D.S. Forney, F.M. Guido,
L.D. Patton, & K. Renn (eds.), Student Development in College. (183-193). San

Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Chickering, A.W. Seven vectors of identity development. In N.J. Evans, D.S. Forney, F.M.
Guido,L.D. Patton, & K. Renn (eds.), Student Development in College. (66-81). San

Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Lent, R.W., Brown, S.D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of
career and academic interest, choice, and performance [Monograph]. Journal of

Vocational Behavior, 45, 79-122. In D. Capuzzi & M.D. Stauffer (eds.), Career

Counseling: Foundations, Perspectives and Applications. New York, NY: Routledge.

Pope, R.L., Reynolds, A.L., & Mueller, J.A. (2004). Multicultural competence in student affairs.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Savickas, M.L. (2001). Toward a comprehensive theory of career development: Dispositions,
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vocational psychology: A volume in honor of Samuel Osipow (pp. 295-320). Mahwah,

NJ: Erlbaum. In D. Capuzzi & M.D. Stauffer (eds.), Career Counseling: Foundations,

Perspectives and Applications. New York, NY: Routledge.

Schlossberg, N. (1984). Transition theory. In N.J. Evans, D.S. Forney, F.M. Guido,
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Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Yosso, T. J. (2005) Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community
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