CAREERS IN STUDENT
AFFAIRS
JON SEXTON – THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
WELCOME TO
THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA!
WHY STUDENT AFFAIRS?
- You will have an important role in the growth and
development of students.
- Career track variety
- Vibrant collegiate working environments
- Collaboration
- Professional Organizations & Development
Source: Love, 2014
CAREER OPTIONS IN STUDENT AFFAIRS
WHAT PATH WILL YOU TAKE?
Graduate School or Full Time Position
FINDING A MENTOR
RESOURCES FOR ASPIRING STUDENT
AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS
NETWORKING ACTIVITY
1. Introduce yourself
2. Tell your partner what got you interested in student affairs
3. Are you thinking about grad school or a full time position?
4. What career field(s) are you interested in in higher education?
SELF-AUTHORSHIP
- “Self-authorship [is] the capacity to author, or invent,
one’s own beliefs, values, sense of self, and relationships
with others” (Baxter-Magolda, 2006, p. 3)
- “Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic
selfhood, whether or not it conforms to some image of
who we ought to be.” (Palmer, 2000 p. 16)
- “When I do not know myself, I cannot know who my
students are. I will see them through a glass darkly, in the
shadows of my unexamined life – and when I cannot see
them clearly, I cannot teach them well.”
(Palmer, 2000, p. 2)
SELF-AUTHORSHIP
- “One sign that I am violating my own nature in the
name of nobility is a condition called burnout.
Though usually regarded as the result of trying to
give too much, burnout in my experience results
from trying to give what I do not possess.”
(Palmer, 2000, p. 49)
TOP FIVE REASONS NOT TO GET INTO
STUDENT AFFAIRS
1. You’re looking forward to punishing students who
break the rules.
2. You’re single and you know there are a ton of
prospects on college campuses.
3. You’re looking forward to partying with your
student staff.
4. You’re excited to be in a field where everyone has
the same opinions and beliefs.
5. You want to be rich.
REFERENCES
• Love, P. (2014). Considering a career in student
affairs. Association of College Personnel
Administrators. Retrieved from:
http://www2.myacpa.org/profprep-career
• Palmer, P. J. (2000). Let your life speak: Listening for the
voice of vocation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Baxter-Magolda, M. B. (2006). Learning partnerships
model: A framework for promoting self-authorship. In
Wilson, M. E., & Wolf-Wendel, L. E. (Eds.). ASHE Reader on
College Student Development Theory.
CONTACT
Jon Sexton
jonathan-sexton@uiowa.edu
319-335-1495