MS Educational Leadership Career Paper. Andrew M. Kopitzke. University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

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1 MS Educational Leadership Career Paper Andrew M. Kopitzke University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

2 Introduction For the past seven years, I have worked in Residence Life under the umbrella of student affairs in one capacity or another. I began by working as a resident assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, then proceeded to work as a bachelor-level Hall Director at St. Norbert College. Currently I am working as an Assistant Hall Director graduate assistant at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. All things considered, I feel that it is my calling to continue progressing up the proverbial ladder in student affairs, and at least for the somewhat distant future, I have my eyes set on a specific senior housing officer position in Residence Life. Desired Leadership Position The specific job that I am aspiring to work my way up to is traditionally called the Director of Residence Life. The housing director is typically the top position in the department of Residence Life at a university campus. As an Assistant Hall Director, I am approximately five positions below where I would like to progress to, in a career sense. Colleges have varying positional hierarchies, but the logical progression of least to most prestigious jobs in Residence Life would typically be Assistant Hall Director all the way up to director with coordinator, assistant and associate positions along the way. Job Outlook According to the U.S. Department of Labor s Occupational Outlook Handbook, there is a positive job outlook for administrators in Residence Life and similar departments for the next 10 years. Job opportunities should be promising due to a large number of expected retirements and fewer applicants for some positions. The amount of available jobs should be excellent due to a large number of expected retirements and fewer applicants for some positions in the field ( Essentially there will be significantly more baby boomers retiring from the higher education administration positions than there are millennial and generation X employees coming up through the ranks to fill the positions. Salary The handbook also indicates that the median annual salary for the Director of Student Activities (a comparable position to that of Director of Residence Life), was $54,931 in ( It is also important to consider the benefits of such positions. Education administrators typically have very good benefits such as significant amounts of paid vacation days, generous health and pension packages, and some schools offer free tuition to the children of their employees ( I know that when I worked at St. Norbert College, I could have sent my children to an array of other private colleges at very little cost. The salaries of education administrators are contingent on several factors including the enrollment level of the school and the location, so the salary could be much greater than the $54,000 mark. 2

3 Location As one can infer from my introduction, I have lived in the fox cities for nearly seven years. I am definitely not scared to be nomadic considering I spent three summers halfway across the world in Thailand; however, I have realized that family and friends are very important to me. My parents are not getting any younger, and my significant other and I both prefer Wisconsin or the Midwest. My initial plan would be to stay in this region, unless a prosperous job opportunity became available. I know that senior-level housing officers tend to make more money in the Western and Southern states, but I am very comfortable right where I am. I also know that if I am more flexible in terms of moving geographically, there will undoubtedly be more job opportunities available to me. Position Requirements: Knowledge, Experience & Special Talents I spoke with my mentor/supervisor, Jacque Bollinger, regarding the educational and experiential requirements that are necessary to make it to my desired senior-level housing position. Bollinger is the current Associate Director of Residence Life at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She informed me that it is now customary to have earned a master s degree to be qualified for a director position in Residence Life. Bollinger added that at larger institutions, a doctorate is often preferred (personal communication, October 10, 2010). Besides my yearning to constantly expand my learning, this was one of the reasons I pursued a master s degree sooner than later. I did not want to get stuck as a multi-year Hall Director who could not advance. I recognized that masters degrees were preferred or mandated on many job postings for the next logical progression of jobs that I was interested in. Through my occupational perceptions combined with Bollinger s suggestions, I concluded that there are certain experiences that can help a candidate immensely regarding making it to a senior housing position. If at all possible, the first step is to work as an undergraduate resident assistant, and I was a RA for four years at UW-Green Bay. The subsequent steps include working as a Hall Director in one capacity or another and then after receiving a master s degree, climbing the rungs through the senior-level housing positions. Advancing to the top certainly is not easy and takes certain specialized attributes. The special talents that somebody aspiring to be the Director of Residence Life should employ to be successful in this job include building rapport with Millennial generation coworkers and staff. Hershatter and Epstein (2010) note, Millennials will continue to enter the workforce in large numbers until around As a professional in student affairs, I will also be working with Millennial students for the next 12 years and beyond. It will be critical to get to know what type of leadership style best works with this cohort. Jenna Graff, the Director of the International Education Office also suggests that it would also be important for a leader of Residence Life to collaborate well with other departments (personal communication, October 6, 2010). This is something I have been striving to do the past three years with international offices at my campuses. I have collaborated with international 3

4 offices to initiate programming and write policies to better acclimate international students. Graff suggests that the enrollment numbers of international students is going to be steady if not increase, depending on relationships with other countries and the economy (personal communication, October 6, 2010). As a Director of Residence Life, it will be important for me to be in the know with international student trends. Finally, one last subtle, important skill would be maximizing relationships with studentservice companies. As the Director of Residence Life, if the economic issues continue, I would undoubtedly have to do more with less. As Sara Lipka (2010) suggests, college leaders will inevitably continue to outsource many functions such as housing enrollment management and judicial record keeping to save time and money. It is imperative for the senior housing officials to become familiar with available technologies and build relationships with vendors. As the Director of Residence Life, I would either be working with vendors directly at conferences or sending ambassadors of mine to select appropriate technology advancements. In either case, it will be important for me to start building connections with student-service companies. 4

5 References Bollinger, J. (2010). Personal communication, October 10, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Edition, Education Administrators, on the Internet (visited October 15, 2010) Graff, J. (2010). Personal communication, October 6, Hershatter, A., & Epstein, M. (2010). Millennials and the world of work: An organization and management perspective. Journal of Business & Psychology, 25(2), Lipka, S. (2010). Student Services, in Outside Hands. (Cover story). Chronicle of Higher Education, 56(38), A1-A24. 5