Eric Hunter – Student Recreation – http://usfweb2.usf.edu/camprec/rec.html
Diane Zanto – Student Health Services - http://www.shs.usf.edu/
CAS Standards: Clinical Health Programs, Health Promotion Programs, Recreational Sports Programs
Blog answers are posted below!
Diane Zanto's response to question 1.
ReplyDelete1. Describe your career path, how you started and how you got to your current position.
As a college student I selected nursing as a career path because I knew I wanted a job working with/helping people. My first couple of years after graduation I worked in a nursing job designed more to accommodate my family life, than to further my career. However, I found a niche in working as a case manager in Community Mental Health, which peaked an interest in the linkage between community health, primary care and mental health. At that point I pursued a Master Degree to become a family nurse practitioner. I was in the first class for nurse practitioners in the state of Wisconsin, and it was an exciting time to create a career path for health care in the community.
After graduation from my master’s program, I worked in public health in an administrative and clinical capacity. Work in public health eventually led me to a career in college health. The mission of public health is to prevent and monitor illness in communities. Colleges are unique communities, that have specific public health concerns and college student health focuses on primary prevention of illness and treatment of acute illness. In college health I have worked as the administrator of Student Health, while maintaining a clinical practice. This is a very rewarded and challenging position, staying abreast of all the administrative changes in health care such as insurance reform, changing privacy laws, billing practices etc. Clinically, a health care provider must continually update their knowledge base to stay abreast of the latest research and recommendations for clinical practice guidelines. It is very interesting and rewarding work, to be able to help young adults stay healthy, learn lifetime health habits and pursue their academic careers.
Diane Zanto's response to question 2.
ReplyDelete2. Explain the particular challenges of your work. What are the special rewards?
Challenges as an administrator of Student Health are typical to most administrative positions.
a. Supervising and managing staff is always challenging. Finding a balance between meeting the needs of the organization and the needs of the staff is part of the job daily.
b. Budgeting, protecting and making wise use of student $$, doing more with less is widespread in the Student Affairs environment and is always a challenge.
c. Organizational and planning skills are essential. Clearly defining goals for an organization, while handling day-to-day responsibilities is challenging.
d. Balancing the needs of the organization with the needs of the unit. Collaboration with other departments is essential and yet the day-to-day work of providing health care for students needs to take priority.
Rewards
The most personally rewarding experiences that I have had involve individual success stories with students or staff or the rewards of teamwork resulting in Accreditation for the facility.
a. Recently one of our staff members that I have spent time mentoring won a well deserved “Outstanding Service Award”. Over this past year this individual went from a hard working rather passive nurse, taking direction and providing care, to a leadership role. She has blossomed personally and professionally.
b. Assisting students in coping with personal or academic issues successfully. Everything from assisting an eating disorder student overcome her issues with food, students coping with and successfully ridding themselves of addictions, to teaching about the appropriate use of antibiotics and how to minimize the risks of STDs. All important life lessons.
c. Clinic accreditation.
Diane's answers to questions 3 and 4.
ReplyDelete3. Many. I used to sign a lot of stuff without properly reading and reviewing the material. I signed a letter that went out to all students that was written by a competent staff member without reading it thoroughly. It contained inaccurate information and caused me and the university embarrassment.
4. My advice would be to get involved with student organizations on campus and take an active role in advocating for students. I would also advise getting a grad assistant position or other student position to work in a variety of student offices, to get a thorough understanding of the kind of work that is done in each area. Match your interests, lifestyle, background and experiences with the field you want to get into. Branch out as much as possible. Learn how to measure learning outcomes and how student affairs contributes to academic success. Seek out a mentor.
Eric Hunter's response to questions 1 and 2:
ReplyDelete1.) Describe your career path, how you started and how you got to your current position.
I began as an undergraduate working part time in the intramural department as an sports official. I enjoyed that environment and learned that there was a national organization devoted to the work of collegiate recreational sports (NIRSA). I attended a conference as an undergraduate and found an assistantship at the Univ. of Southern Mississippi in recreational sports. After graduation my first professional position was with Texas A&M University in their recreational sports department. Following 6 years there I went to work for the University of West Florida in recreational sports for 2 years and then the rest here at USF.
2.) Explain the particular challenges of your work. What are the special rewards?
The most challenging aspect of being a Director is probably the personnel aspect. From hiring to evaluation, the personnel aspects of administering a large department are daunting sometimes. There is a lot of paperwork and accountability that comes with this territory that one has to be able to accept.
The rewards come when I am faced with a daily mix of issues that keep each day interesting. From the mundane to the more global issues, it seems that there is always something new to face. I also gain a lot of satisfaction from seeing the program and facilities yielding so much participation. I know that is gratifying to my staff who work so hard to make good things happen.
Eric's response to questions 3 and 4:
ReplyDelete3.) Are there any problems you've faced that you would now handle differently? Can you describe one of them?
I would approach evaluations a lot more critically. Early on, evaluations were something to just complete and move on. As time has progressed, I know realize those evaluations are a key component in staff improvement. If done accurately and honestly, they can be effective change agents.
4.) What advice would you give to a student preparing for student affairs work?
Whatever aspect of Student Affairs you choose to pursue, I would make sure that you totally immerse yourself in that profession during your graduate career to the fullest extent possible. Too often I have viewed student affairs graduate students not obtaining the job they would like due to not having a full time devotion to their desired line of work. This would include attending appropriate conferences, research papers, presentations, and any other networking opportunities that afford themselves. There are a lot of ‘generalists’ out there and very few dedicated to a specific line of Student Affairs.