My love for and experience with advising and mentoring at my alma mater and into the present day has developed thoroughly. This appreciation for advising and mentoring has informed the motivation to be like the person(s) (mentors and advisors) that I have had throughout my time at the University of Northern Iowa and as I end my experience at Oregon State University. Similarly to my page on student conduct, it is very important to start with my “Why?” Why advising and mentoring?

My story really begins with a little bit of irritation, quite frankly. I had made an advising appointment with my first-year advisor to discuss what classes I was going to take for my second semester of freshman year. It was a required meeting to have my hold lifted to register for classes and as I described in the “Why student conduct?” narrative, school was not exactly my first priority. Besides the irritation I felt about having to be there, my advisor was not going to be available at my scheduled time. In fact, there were seven (YES SEVEN) students in front of me because he was having a hard time staying on schedule. Other advisors offered to see students and partially due to my overtly carefree nature about my studies, I accepted to see a different advisor. This advisor (who has now gone on to be the director of academic advising at UNI) started by asking me about my interests, how my first year was going, and where I saw myself. After talking for a little bit about my dreams and goals regarding graduate school and jobs, he stopped me and said, “but how are you going to graduate from UNI?” I was admittedly a little confused and must’ve expressed that via my facial expression because he asked again and followed up by saying my current GPA wasn’t going to lead me anywhere but back home. It was hard love, but it was needed and immensely appreciated. Not only did he challenge me to be better, he repurposed my entire reasoning for being in college. I don’t think he knew it at the time or even to this day, but that chance interaction essentially saved me from standing in the way of my own success and not persisting towards my dreams. Throughout my time at UNI, I had many wonderful advisors as I switched majors, added minors, and switched my major again. I still had not really absorbed the fact that advising was something I enjoyed and could pursue in the future.

The first two years at my undergraduate institution were catalysts for deep and at times painful growth. Fast forward to the summer before my junior year where I was hired to work as a Summer Orientation Staff member: the experience that gave me first true exposure to student affairs, but more specifically advising and mentorship. Throughout this time, I got to work with academic advisors and learned the curriculum for many majors from both a generalist but also a specialist perspective as I worked primarily advising Computer Science majors. I cannot even begin to tell you how rewarding it was to work alongside the same advisor who gave me that much needed tough love my first year of college (at the time, he was serving as interim director of academic advising). At this point in my “Why?” advising takes a bit of a back seat. It was through the orientation process that I identified my first mentor, my supervisor who was at the time serving as the Orientation Coordinator. This relationship was so instrumental to my success and as I continued on my journey at UNI, I established a network of mentors that all contributed to my overall success, each in their own unique ways. The last two years of my time at UNI highlighted the exceptionally important influence that having a mentor can have on a student’s success.

As I navigated the new waters of Oregon State University and as a graduate student, I sought new mentors and relationships as I knew this was key to my success. While these mentorship relationships or my success in the program did not happen as quickly as I would have liked, when the opportunity presented itself my relationships and success flourished. It is a two-fold internship experience in mentorship that reignited my love for and the importance placed in mentorship while working with my mentors, Kim McAloney and Jenesis Long as well as fellow CSSA graduate Trina Ramirez. As a team, we met virtually on a weekly basis and did a literature review on the effects of mentorship for communities of color in higher education. We realized throughout this process that we were engaging in mentor/mentee relationships while diving deeper into mentoring concepts. We submitted a proposal to showcase our work and our experiences at the 12th Annual Mentoring Conference at the Mentoring Institute at the University of New Mexico that was accepted. This was a phenomenal experience being able to present on a topic that not only am I passionate about, but has been so instrumental to my own individual success at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Between the time we completed the literature review and when we presented, Kim offered to become my faculty advisor in the CSSA program which I gratefully took her up on. The relationships I have developed with these women have continued to strengthen my own approach and my “Why?” when I think about mentorship and its overall importance.

Recently, I completed a different internship experience with the College of Liberal Arts Academic Advising. Advising was the primary reason I ended up pursuing a Master’s degree in the CSSA program and I was incredibly thankful to have an opportunity to deepen my understanding and exploration of advising. Throughout this experience, my “Why?” for advising remained the same: helping students navigate a system that was not built for everyone to be successful. The tenets of my academic advising philosophy statement are informed by my “Why?”, as well as how I show up in spaces with students in an advising capacity.

Advising as a functional area was the initial draw for me to the student affairs field as I previously stated in the “Why?” Advising and Mentoring segment of this portfolio. To briefly recap, it was through my experiences with academic and faculty advisors as an undergraduate student that became intrinsic in my decision to pursue a Masters degree in College Student Services Administration. While at this point in the creation of my portfolio I do not know if advising will be the functional area I transition into as a full time professional, I have had some wonderful experiences throughout my time in the CSSA program in the context of the world of academic advising.

My first interaction with academic advising was an informational interview for as required as an assignment in CSSA 557: Programs and Functions. I conducted my interview with CSSA alum, Carmen Wilson who is an Academic Advisor at the University of Washington’s Tacoma campus. It was an excellent initial glance into the functional area of academic advising. I was able to follow up on this experience of conducting informational interviews with people in the advising field while working with another CSSA alum, Jenesis Long. I was questioning the fit and difference of educational advising and academic advising so Jenesis connected me with other CSSA alums, Stephanie Heffner (academic advisor at the University of Oregon) and Gabe Hernandez (then TRIO educational advisor at Western Oregon University, now Student Success Specialist for TRIO at the University of Kansas) to get a more clear picture of the different types of advising that I could get involved with at an institution. While I think I likely will not develop an opinion of which flavor or genre of advising is “right” for me until I am in the field, I feel that through the informational interviews with previous CSSA students was instrumental in informing my foundational knowledge about the field. Additionally, these conversations did not just help me examine advising as a prospective profession, but it furthered my networking skills and gave me an ample amount of insight and advice on developing as a new student affairs professional in general.[Competency 5]

My first experiences with advising where I was able to truly engage in the field of academic advising came in the Winter 2020 term. I was strategic in pursuing an advising internship in the College of Liberal Arts the same term that I signed up to take CSSA 599: Academic Advising. I got to simultaneously learn in an academic and a practitioner setting about academic advising. More specifically I felt that I was able to take theories and approaches learned from the advising course and incorporate them into my practice as I met with students for drop-in appointments (Baxter Magolda, 2008; Freire, 1972; Schreiner & Anderson, 2005). Additionally I was given opportunities to develop my own personal philosophy and to identify the various elements that come together to inform an academic advising program: vision and mission, advisor philosophy and goals and objectives (Grites, Miller, & Voler, 2016, p. 67).[Competency 4]

A foundational theory and approach that has influenced my own future practice as well as when I was an academic advisor intern with the College of Liberal Arts was the combination of self-authorship theory (Baxter Magolda, 2010; Folsom, Yoder, & Joslin, 2015) and strengths-based advising (Schreiner & Anderson, 2005). Scaling this combined theory and approach back to short advising sessions with students anecdotally yielded positive experiences with students. By using self-authorship theory, I was a part of a catalyst for many students to begin, resume, or continue on their paths towards thinking critically about how they make choices that are influenced by values they have accepted by themselves, for themselves. It fosters authentic acknowledgment and respect for themselves as well as their lived experiences that they are bringing with them as they navigate higher education (Baxter Magolda, 2010). A strengths-based approach in advising has been an excellent lens to utilize as a new student affairs practitioner in multiple interactions with students but particularly so in my internship with CLA Academic Advising (Schreiner & Anderson, 2005). Reminding and emphasizing existing knowledge and skills that students have can be significant in giving that student the boost needed for them to even engage in true self-authorship. While it is not a “real-life” example, I was able to demonstrate what the combination of the self-authorship theory and strengths-based approach can look like together in a presentation I gave as a requirement for the CSSA 599: Academic Advising course. [Competency 3]

While I am uncertain that my next role in life will be an academic advisor or an advisor of any type at a higher education institution, I am certain that the theories and approaches that have informed my practice as an advisor will benefit me in many capacities despite my official title or duties. Being able to have the knowledge in the historical and academic underpinnings of the academic advising field has greatly enhanced the ways in which my own personal philosophy and practice has developed and will continue to develop. For the CSSA 599: Academic Advising course, I was tasked with developing an academic advising philosophy statement. This philosophy statement communicates and demonstrates the current informative tenets that guide my practice as an academic advisor. It provides the foundation in which I operate from and gives me a place to return to and connect with when I am feeling professionally or personally lost. This philosophy statement is something that I hope to continue to return to over the years and make revisions as I develop as a professional. [Competency 5]

I received an email that had been sent to the CSSA listserv towards the end of my first winter term in the CSSA program inquiring about interest in an internship opportunity for both on-campus and eCampus students that was taking a look at the effects of mentorship on women of color in higher education. I was genuinely excited as I had a preliminary interest in mentorship because of my own history and successes in higher education being guided by mentors. To give more context to this story, I was at a very critical point in the program. I was highly considering leaving the program completely for a variety of reasons, one of which being that I came up short multiple times to be offered a graduate teaching assistantship. I had reduced my credit load to six credits for the term to help me make a decision on how to proceed. I decided to take a shot at establishing an internship for spring term and if it did not work out, I planned to make my exit, something I had quite literally planned out. Kim McAloney and Jenesis Long reached out to me after I expressed interest and asked if I was willing to do a preliminary interview or conversation about what the internship would look like and what I was looking for in the experience. It was after that conversation and the confirmation that they wanted me on their team that I felt I had my first true connection to the program and Oregon State University in general. I do not think that I truly anticipated the depth and length that working with Kim, Jenesis, and co-learner from the eCampus program, Trina Ramirez, would bring!

Thinking back to that conversation with Kim and Jenesis, I remember expressing some fragility or nerves around the fact that I was asking to be a part of a team and discussion regarding women of color as a white man. I think I said something along the lines of “if I start displaying some privileged white boy stuff, please feel free to check me on that!” While this internship and overall experience was focused on mentorship and the effects it has on women of color in higher education, there was much appreciated space made for myself to further examine and understand the privileges I possess and how they show up and interact with those in my environment, particularly without intentionally and critically being considerate of these privileges. A strategy utilized in this examination was journaling not only about what I did for the week but also what ‘things’ came up for me as I was reading articles and interacting with my team members. We decided as a team to create intentional time on sharing what we journaled about that week in our weekly meetings which felt very validating and gave the opportunity to receive challenges regarding furthering my own social justice journey.

Throughout the term, we spent time collecting, absorbing, and educating each other on articles we came across that were also taking a look at topics similar to our own in a literature review. Additionally there were multiple opportunities extended to further our development as professionals such as conducting informational interviews with a student affairs professional that had written academic articles on topics we were interested in as well as developing our own individual philosophy statements on mentorship. Throughout this internship, I felt like I was in the driver’s seat and that Kim and Jenesis were co-piloting and guiding our vehicle on a journey and to a destination that yielded reciprocal and mutually beneficial objectives. As you might have read in the “Why Advising/Mentoring?” section of my portfolio, Kim and Jenesis recognized that the process we were engaging in to learn more about mentorship was in itself mentorship in action as they were mentoring Trina and I in areas outside of contributing to the literature review. Trying to work smarter not harder, we decided to submit an abstract to the Mentoring Institute Conference about our work together which was accepted! Not only were we able to give a presentation at the conference, our paper, Full Circle: Mentoring Graduate Students through Writing a Literature Review on Mentorship (Long, J., McAloney, K., Ramirez, T., & Whisler, G., 2019) was published in The Chronicle of Mentoring and Coaching.

As cliche as it might sound, I really cannot begin to express how truly meaningful my experience in this internship has meant for me. I have been a part of mentorship and an experience that sought to emphasize the inclusion of those that have historically been excluded from the benefits that mentorship brings. Through the process of the internship, I not only learned more about the importance of mentorship (particularly for those with marginalized identities) and grew professionally, but I found the mentorship I had been desperately longing for and remembered and established my purpose, my reason, my “Why?” I chose to dedicate myself to this field. This time in my CSSA career has provided me with the gusto and compassion to continue on as I gradually figure out where my next steps will lead me. As I engage in mentoring relationships where my role in these necessary relationships begins moving from mentee to mentor, I hold this experience very dear to my heart as it informs the vital ways in which I view, approach, and practice mentorship. Regardless of what is “next” for me as a professional, the concepts of mentorship learned in this experience such as liberatory frameworks to mentorship have been foundational in how I have developed and will continue to develop as a professional.

A concept that I have and currently am exploring is seeing myself as an educator. This idea was first introduced in my train of thought in my first fall term in the CSSA program by my instructor who would later become my advisor, Kim McAloney in CSSA 548: American Higher Education. Our final assignment was a paper and poster presentation on an “unsettled issue related to a policy or practice in higher education OR examine a topic or institution with a pivotal moment that should be examined.” From my memory, the importance of the poster presentation was so that we could demonstrate learning via educating others about a topic we had become ‘experts’ on. I can recall Kim saying that by being able to educate our learned knowledge, we were practicing being educators as developing student affairs professionals. I can also recall my inner dialogue and thoughts almost immediately shooting down this notion that I could be an “educator”. Despite my described reaction, this was the moment where the metaphorical “seed” was planted about the ways in which I began to think of myself as an educator. [Competency 1] [Competency 5]

Fast forward to my first interaction with Freire’s (1972) Pedagogy of the Oppressed where my inner dialogue was further contested regarding my (mis)conceptions of what or whom an educator was. Freire is critical of “the banking method” that is the basis of many classrooms in Westernized education. He introduces the idea of “conscientização” or conscientization: an ongoing educational process in which the learner seeks to progress closer to critical consciousness (Freire, 1972). The banking method is defined as the approach to education that emphasizes the teacher or educator as the master of the content whose job is to pass on knowledge to the receptor or student. It suppresses critical thinking and reinforces an existing power dynamic between the teacher and student by insinuating that the teacher is the knower of all and the student is ignorant and should be a “passive consumer” rather than an “active participant” as further described in Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom (hooks, 1994, p. 14). This piece by bell hooks (1994) has had a very recent impact on my perspective on the incorporation of pedagogy into my practice as a student affairs practitioner, but I will get to that in an upcoming paragraph. For my development as a student affairs professional that is an educator, these two works of literature have had a profound impact. [Competency 1] [Competency 5]

While working with Kim on an internship focused on mentorship, my other supervisor, Jenesis Long, mentioned that Kim was considering/looking for a teaching assistant (TA) for the CSSA 599: Transitions course. I had done some work as a TA as an undergraduate, and one of my hopes in the CSSA program was that I would get to have this experience again. I approached Kim about the opportunity and she thankfully brought me on board for the Fall 2019 term. Through my interactions with Kim in the context of being a graduate teaching assistant for the Transitions course, I have felt in real time the power that can come with living and practicing pedagogy as a student affairs professional. Despite the fact that this experience was in the setting of a classroom, Kim made space for us to equally discuss and reflect on ways that could enhance the structure and delivery of the course that she had previously constructed using our own lived experiences related to the class (i.e. her teaching the course, me completing the course recently). Rather than Kim “handing” me stuff to work on to lessen her load, she had me think about and identify what professional experiences I was needing to pursue and then we worked together to establish an agreeable process for the class. [Competency 4] [Competency 5]

While the course itself only lasted for one term, I got to be a part of the longer process that goes into developing and structuring a course, as well as being a support system for students in the learning environment. It was a priceless experience to engage from a different perspective in the classroom where Kim exhibited the pedagogies, theories, and best practices that inform her intentional and authentic approach as an instructor. I’ve come to identify that my experiences as a student in classrooms like this is a process of deconstructing old beliefs informed by oppressive structures about what education should be and who is considered an education. For many years I was rewarded for my passive consumption of information and never questioning the status quo in education. I am certainly a product of traditional American education and while this is not inherently bad, there is certainly individual work to be done (self-actualization) to recognize myself as a successful educator (hooks, 1994). This process then has a space for healing as hooks (1994) refers to work by Thich Nhat Hanh stating that educating is healing, or thinking about the teacher as a healer. While I still struggle some days to view myself as an educator, I have been able to establish foundational pedagogies and concepts that will further this process in a direction that is in conjunction with my social justice journey. [Competency 1] [Competency 5]

Baxter Magolda, M.B. (2010) The interweaving of epistemological, intrapersonal, and interpersonal development in the evolution of self-authorship. In M.B. Magolda, E.F. Creamer, & P.S. Meszaros (Eds.), Development and assessment of self-authorship (pp. 25-43). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Folsom, P., Yoder, F., & Joslin, J.E. (2015) The new advisor guidebook: Mastering the art of academic advising. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Freire, P. (1972). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder.

Grites, T.J., Miller, M.A., & Voler, J.G. (2016). Beyond foundations: Developing as a master academic advisor. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

hooks, b. (1994) Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.

Long, J., McAloney, K., Ramirez, T., & Whisler, G. (2019). Full circle: Mentoring graduate students through writing a literature review on mentorship. The Chronicle of Mentoring & Coaching, 3, 12, pp. 252-257.

Schreiner, L.A., & Anderson, E.C. (2005). Strengths-based advising: A new lens for higher education. NACADA Journal, 25(2), 20-29. doi:10.12930/0271-9517-25.2.20.