Winston Jones – Student Rights & Responsibilities - http://www.sa.usf.edu/srr
Gary Manka – Student Government - http://www.sg.usf.edu
CAS Standards: Student Conduct Programs
I sent our guests the blog questions last week. As soon as I have them back I will post them so please check back before next week's presentation.
Gary Manka's response to question 1 is below. There's some wacky formatting so I apologize for that!
ReplyDeleteCareer Path – I graduated from USF in 1977 with a degree in English. Upon
graduation, I worked five years as a night and weekend supervisor in the
University Center under the mentorship of Phyllis Marshall. I didn’t realize
at the time that I was actually in the higher education field. It was just a job
That didn’t require a specialized degree. The pay was horrendous and I
earned the same rate as a custodian despite a BA. The pay rates at USF were
half the rates of those at UF and FSU. I was promoted to the Reservations
Coordinator for two years and then worked in another department as the
Space Utilization Coordinator in the Registrar’s Office for a year. Phyllis
Marshall brought me back to the UC as the Assistant Director for an eight-¬‐
month temporary appointment at which time I would have to go through my
First national search for a position. It was then that I realized that there was a
Field known as Student Affairs. However, I was also recently married with
Two young daughters. Therefore, I applied to three universities aside from
My current and pending job at USF. Subsequently, I went through two
national job searches and was offered the position at USF and the Assistant
Director position at the Shriver Center at Miami University in Ohio. I decided
to take the position at Miami Ohio and pursue a Masters Degree even though
I had already completed 2/3 of my Masters in Public Administration degree
At USF. I worked for 23 years at Miami Ohio and completed my MS in College
Student Personnel. During this time I worked as the Assistant Director for
seven years, as the Assistant Director/Program Board Advisor for Student
Activities & Leadership for 13 years, and as the Director of Student Activities
& Leadership for three years before accepting the Director’s position with
Student Government at USF in 2008. Let’s just say that I followed the non-¬‐
traditional path in a relatively unknown field at the time. Many of the early
practitioners used this back door approach to the field where they gained the
Experience before the education.
Answers to questions 2 and 3
ReplyDelete2) CHALLENGES OF MY WORK – Long hours; average pay; sometimes second
class citizen status at a university (history of higher education where the
lesser non-‐academic tasks were either eliminated by faculty or relegated to
non-‐essential personnel); learning to balance your private life with your
professional life (even though it is a weighted toward the professional side);
your work is never done and can never be caught up especially at USF.
REWARDS – At some universities/colleges (e.g., residential) the summers
are slower and you have time to complete long-‐range projects and/or
strategic plans; the intangibles like seeing young adults growing into citizen
leaders; easy access to concerts, lectures, events, fine arts, etc.; opportunities
to develop a passion or interest in your field of study.
3) A PROBLEM I WOULD HANDLE DIFFERENTLY – Let’s face it. You are going
to make mistakes. The importance is to learn from your mistakes. I have
learned to balance the challenge and supports for students more equally.
There was a time at Miami when I advised a student regarding a concert she
wanted to hold outside the library. The outdoors space was considered off
limits even though the university would hold occasional events/concerts in
that area. She asked me what it would take to make this event happen for
her group. I explained the hierarchy to her and told her that she would need
approval in order to have the concert take place in that location. She went
through all the appropriate steps and got approval from the appropriate
Deans, but the President’s Office canceled the event because they didn’t want
a co-‐curricular event in an academic space and they didn’t want to start that
precedent there. The student was extremely upset and read me the riot act
as a result. She said I set her up for failure, which I inadvertently did to a
degree even though that was not my original intent. I had her work through
a set of challenges in order for her to experience the workings of a
bureaucracy when I should have been smart enough to know the politics of
the university and just told her no from the beginning. There is learning and
there is learning. It was a teachable moment for both of us.
Gary's answer to question 4
ReplyDelete4) ADVICE FOR STUDENTS PREPARING FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS WORK –
Everyone says that Student Affairs is a generalist degree and that once you
get a degree you can work in any position in the field. I disagree. It starts off
very general in nature, but once you start putting definition to your degree
(e.g., internships, assistantships, etc.) you become specialized.