Sunday, April 22, 2012

Opportunities to attend and participate in conferences


In the world of student affairs there are a lot of opportunities to do research: including publishing, and presenting at various conferences. In the course of my academic work, graduate assistantship, practicum experiences, and professional career I have had the opportunity to attend and participate in conferences.  

I have presented at Latina Youth Conference, Nebraska Cultural Unity Conference (NCUC), Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity (ISCORE), Student Affairs Administrator in Higher Education - NASPA Region IV, Association for the Study of Higher Education Conference (ASHE), American College Personnel Association (ACPA), National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME), among other national and local conferences.

On Saturday, April 14, 2012, I co-facilitated with Gabriel B. and Isaac G. a presentation on academics. We looked at what comes with being a first-generation student to attend college, the importance of academics and linking the importance to struggles to previous generations, and the importance of making the job to higher education. The workshop was presented to the men of Sigma Lambda Beta Fraternity, Inc. during their Midwest Regional Banquet 2012, Iowa State University.

The overarching learning outcomes were to: examine the importance of reflection and academics, create a meaning of what does it mean to be a first-generation student, and identify resources that are available at the university level.

On Thursday, April 19, 2012, Allison R. and I presented a session in the 3rd Annual Iowa Academic Advising Network (IowAAN) Drive-In Conference. We presented on Ways to encourage, support, and promote [academic] success in LGBTQ students.  We looked at how do we empower LGBTQ students to aspire to be successful. More importantly, how do we, as academic adviser and student affairs professionals, encourage, support, and promote LGBTQ students to be successful inside and outside of the classroom. There is an increasingly significant need to support LGBTQ undergraduate students. We addressed the need through an examination of relevant theory and literature and case studies. The audience participation and discussion was encouraged.

During the presentations we presented a list of terminology on LGBTQ, presented a diagram of sex, gender, and sexuality, and analyzed at a model of coming out. We looked at how as academic advisers, we often times have to provide counseling and mentoring – to help students develop their professional and personal identities.

Allison and I encourage academic adviser to:

·      Become more knowledgeable about sexual orientation
·      Include sexual orientation in definitions and discussions of diversity
·      Use same-sex examples in the classroom/meetings
·      Display safe space signs and other indicators of support
·      Recognize the value of having visible LGBTQ faculty and staff
·      Confront homophobic and heterosexist behavior, and respond to harassment, violence, and vandalism based on sexual orientation


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