Student Affairs Analysis

The field of student affairs is as diverse as the professionals who facilitate them and the colleagues and students who experience them. Student affairs could involve any form of educating, counseling, managing, advising, or any administrative role in a higher education institution. Student affairs professionals believe in the worth of each student by respecting opinions and diversity, while advocating to enhance student learning and student development. A few functional areas that typically fall under the student affairs umbrella include, Academic Advising, Career Counseling, and general Counseling services. Understanding and connecting with the mission and goals of the institution, department, and the job roles, is imperative in becoming

Academic advising is a meeting between a student affair professional and student to help the student create an educational plan to achieve their personal and academic goals. To do so, these professionals allow students the space to speak freely and will take into account the students unique skills, interests, and abilities before working with them to map out a path. Academic advisors play a special role in promoting student success, retention, and professional development (Schuh, Jones, Torres, 2017). Therefore, it is important for academic advisors to build positive working and trusting relationships with their students to ensure student success. These professionals are informed on other resources on campus and can refer students out if necessary. Advisors help students understand their options, be aware of resources, and determine what classes to take to achieve graduation status. Although advising is a shared responsibility between and advisor and student, it is ultimately up to the student to make decisions about how they will reach their goals. Advising centers may have workshops on certain majors and the classes and units needed to complete a degree. The advisor allows students the space to think through their failures individually and come up with appropriate solutions before helping them figure out a

Career Counseling is a process that will help students understand their interests, values, skills, and abilities to make future educational and life decisions. Career counseling services and techniques can help students become aware of their strengths and positive traits thus enhancing their self-esteem and self-authorship. The Career center offers a wide range of services including personality assessments, workshops, career and job fairs, and networking strategies. Workshops can cover different topics of career including, resume writing, job search, interviewing tips, and more. Career counselors will work with traditional and non-traditional students regarding career-related problems. Career counselors develop relationships with employers to obtain job, internship, and volunteer opportunities for students. Once a relationship is built, a career and job fair will be held to bring together students, employers, and faculty together to network and apply for jobs. A career counselor will assist college students who believe they are not competent in any industry and have trouble choosing a major. Brief career counseling sessions could potentially include personality and career assessments where students can further explore their interested career path. Similarly to Academic Advising, career services may be centralized or decentralized, meaning being