Early Career Professionals Course
What is the Early Career Professionals Course?
This course is designed for higher education professionals who are new to the field of Campus Activities. Ideally, participants will have 0-2 years of professional experience. We cover what you wish you learned in graduate school.
Each topic will be led by experts in the field and corresponds with the Certification for Student Affairs Educators domains:
- Strategic Leadership
- Foundations of Student Engagement
- Social Justice & Inclusion
- Human Resource Management
- Operational Management
- Assessment & Evaluation
Course Format
Participants are engaged in a 4-week/8-session series that involves synchronous learning, cohort discussions, and personal reflections of each topic.
The course sessions will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. ET.
Course dates: Jan. 14, Jan. 16, Jan. 21, Jan. 23, Jan. 28, Jan. 30, Feb. 4, and Feb. 6, 2025.
2025 Course Schedule
January 16: Strategic Leadership
Learning Outcomes:
- Set individual and organizational goals and employ long term planning strategies.
- Establish effective and reliable operating procedures.
- Develop and maintain mutually beneficial partnerships between departments and organizations.
- Cultivate a healthy and productive working relationship with your supervisor and other campus colleagues.
January 21: Foundations of Student Engagement
Learning Outcomes:
- Understand and employ methods for effectively coaching and/or mentoring students.
- Provide and promote a wide range of involvement opportunities.
- Build community on campus through programs and services.
January 23: Social Justice & Inclusion
Learning Outcomes:
- Articulate awareness and understanding of one’s attitudes, values, beliefs, assumptions, lived experiences, and biases, and identify how they affect one’s integrity and work with others in the organization.
- Design experiences that engage people from a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives.
- Design cultural programming that is authentic and multi-dimensional, encourages meaningful engagement and dialogue, and shows genuine appreciation for the culture.
January 28: Human Resource Management
Learning Outcomes:
- Select, onboard, and train volunteers and student staff.
- Understand the differences between managing volunteers and student staff.
- Understand and uphold laws and institutional human resource policies.
January 30: Operational Management
Learning Outcomes:
- Be knowledgeable of institutional fiscal policies and procedures (as well as variations in policies/procedures relative to funding sources) and ensure department spending is in alignment with said policies and procedures.
- Understand and follow emergency plans.
- Identify and mitigate risk in programs and events.
February 4: Assessment & Evaluation
Learning Outcomes:
- Assess needs of students from multiple perspectives, identities, and populations and ensure campus involvement opportunities are relevant and inclusive.
- Valuate organization success in retaining members and devise strategies to ensure members are appropriately involved in organization operations.
- Assess both operational and learning outcomes.