Pro-“fresh”-ional: A NASPA Competency Blog

Summer is the time of year where we are frequently asked, “Do you work during the summer?” We have to explain that not only do we work, but also we are extremely busy with planning for the upcoming year. You can make this summer the best summer by explaining your new love and focus on adding the Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators to your work. 

Each summer, we set out to plan as much as possible for the trainings and events beginning in July/August. We can begin our planning by spending a day to review our Student Affairs research and end the day with how we can use the Professional Competencies in our work. Student Affairs has a rich history and data to support our work and reviewing these materials provides us with new perspectives and excitement for our profession. In the same manner, reviewing the Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators helps us to define broad professional knowledge, expected attitudes of student affairs professionals, and can help inform professional development opportunities for our teams (https://www.naspa.org/about/professional_competencies). Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators can provide a mechanism for us to re-energize and focus on salient issues within our field. Below are some tips for how you can use the Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators this summer.

Making Competencies Happen

1. Have intentional conversations with your team and explain how and why competencies matter to our work.
2. Host a workshop about the competencies and ask your teams to take a self-review of the competencies.
3. Review training schedules for graduate assistants and include which competencies are covered for each session.
4. Tie Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators to professional development sessions.
5. Incorporate competencies for your professional staff new hire on-boarding process. Provide a worksheet on why the competencies are important, a self-review, and which competencies are relevant to their work.
6. Review job descriptions and link Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators to the position descriptions.
7. Create professional development plans, based on professional competencies, that will guide their professional trajectories.

This summer, I challenge you to take advantage of the resources available via NASPA to grow and develop your teams. When you do, please share your experiences with us because we are always better together! If you feel like nerding out about Professional Competencies, please feel free to reach out at knichols@atu.edu.