questions by James A. Baumann
For the last year, the Higher Education Consortium for Student Affairs Certification has offered seven credentials for professionals to gain knowledge and demonstrate their competency in a number of domains that span student affairs. Along with the core student affairs educator certification, programs are also available in campus recreation, student conduct administration, fraternity and sorority life, college unions, campus activities, and campus housing and residential life. With curricula prepared by select subject matter experts and graduate faculty, the programs offer unique opportunities for professionals to expand their career horizons and fill in gaps within their professional experiences and previous education.
We spoke with housing professionals from a variety of institutions and with a variety of titles who have completed the core certification as well as the one for housing to learn more about their motivation for undertaking it and how they have applied their learnings. This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Joining in the conversation are Sasha Masoomi, assistant director of residence life at Oxford University in Ohio; Kevin Conn, executive director of student housing and residence life at California State University, Northridge; Kenzel Hill, assistant director of residential life for conduct at Virginia Commonwealth University; Malory Sidarous, director of university housing at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; and Patrick Kililee, director of residential services at the University of Pennsylvania.
Talking Stick: What was your initial motivation for pursuing this certification?
Sasha Masoomi: I was intrigued and curious about the program when I first heard about it. There was a lot of buzz about the certificate program, and there was a lot of conversation about the pros and cons of a program like this. I was part of a conversation with some colleagues and friends, who were also intrigued but a little more skeptical. I was looking for professional development opportunities, and the certification process looked like a great way to test my competency level and knowledge.
Each year I am further removed from my own student experience, and I want to stay relevant and knowledgeable in the field. I was really excited that this was a pilot program and that I would be able to provide feedback and learn more about the program with a hands-on approach. Most importantly, I thought this would be an excellent professional development experience, and I was excited to be on the cutting edge of this certificate program. I knew that this experience would help me see where I had expertise and where I could continue to grow, to focus my next professional development focus areas.
Kevin Conn: I am always looking for ways to further advance my professional development. This opportunity was a way to deepen my connection with the field and advance my understanding of the critical aspects of my work.
Kenzel Hill: My initial motivation for pursuing certification was a general curiosity about what the certification process involved and what that meant for our overall profession. As I looked further into the process, I found it was a great opportunity to validate my professional experiences and reinforce my knowledge.
Malory Sidarous: I was curious about the process, what it would involve, and what it meant for the profession. However, like Kenzel, I saw an opportunity to validate my professional experiences, since my background is not as traditional as that of others. As someone with an MBA and a more operations-focused background, but with 15 years in the field, I saw a chance to reinforce my knowledge and expertise while at the same time identifying areas for professional growth.
Patrick Kililee: I have been aware of the idea of student affairs certification for some time. When the program was announced, I signed up immediately. I believe certification is another tool in the professional development toolkit, one that can provide some focus in planning one’s development.
Hill: I have approached this by focusing on being intentional and having a broad definition of professional development. I also have found that the best way that I develop as a professional is by developing other professionals around me and supporting them in their efforts.
Sidarous: My approach to professional development has been driven by taking advantage of opportunities to dig deeper, learn more, and say “yes” to new experiences. My initial entry point into the profession was as a marketing professional within a housing department. In order to do that job well, I wanted to learn more about the work, student housing, the residential experience, and more. By taking advantage of opportunities early on to be engaged with ACUHO-I and in my campus department, I discovered a passion and desire for the field.
Over the last 15 years, I have continued to look for opportunities to learn more and say “yes” to new experiences, which has driven my professional development. As I moved into leadership roles and as a senior housing officer, I definitely found a lot of joy and motivation in connecting my staff to professional development that will support their goals or introduce them to new ideas.
Kililee: Primarily, my approach has been focused on topics that directly impact my current work. I have focused on how to better understand and improve the work I do. I also seek ways to provide professional development support to my team.
Conn: Professional development is paramount, and I have striven to find opportunities for connection, engagement, and development throughout my career. I find great value in finding new ways to learn and improve my operations and the services I can provide alongside my team. I also seek ways to advance my understanding, knowledge base, and ability to give back to the profession through joining committees, presenting, and advancing research on relevant topics.
Masoomi: I am really drawn to experiential professional development opportunities, particularly ones where others are going through the process with me. I always appreciate getting the opportunity to connect with others in the field and with a community. This can include talking with graduate staff, students, and professional staff to get different perspectives and then going on to learn more about that topic through videos, reading, and conversations. I like to spend my time focusing on areas where I perform solidly but could push myself from good to great. I like to build specific skills and become more effective in a particular area of my work.
Sidarous: Honestly, as someone who never took “Introduction to the History of Student Affairs 101” or something similar, that topic in the program was definitely an area where I had some gaps. I felt fairly confident in my understanding and knowledge of student development theory, as I studied on my own early in my career since I didn’t have the coursework in my master’s program. However, the certification program did reinforce the value of the practical application of those theories, especially as our students and the work evolves.
Conn: This provided a good overview of the field and forced me to think beyond just my knowledge of the field and related texts, utilizing my knowledge for direct application to scenarios and situations that are quite relevant in our profession.
I love that idea about how it helps folks with different backgrounds and degrees. This could be a great way to help individuals in the field without traditional student affairs backgrounds to further their skill set and credentials.
Sidarous: Yes! It was a big motivator for me, as there are times when I feel like the odd man out in the room. While it has not generally bothered me, as I see the value of my experience in my role and at the table, I did see the benefit of the certification externally, when it came to other people who may not be as familiar with how a nontraditional background or degree translates to our work.
Kililee: In general, I found it interesting that there could be differences in the domain scores between the student affairs assessment and the housing assessment. One might have a broad knowledge within a domain, but not as much depth in the specialty domain, and, too, there are different applications of the same skills across disciplines.
Hill: The talent management domain was an area that provided a great deal of reinforcement of my previous and current work in staff supervision and development. I think this shows that a lot of the domains were developed with intentionality and supplement our professional experiences.
Masoomi: I have an MBA and have experience in business systems and knowledge of management theory, so the human resources section of the certificate program really reactivated this part of my brain. I do not delve into human resources work on a daily basis, but as I consider moving up and different career options, thinking through hiring, feedback, and human capital with a focus on higher education really helped solidify all of these ideas. I learned a lot from taking the certification exams, and I also learned a lot about assessment and am able to incorporate these ideas into my work more fully.
Masoomi: After I got my results from the certificate test, I really appreciated the detailed results and the deeper reflection on the learning domains. One of the areas that I passed but could improve further was in assessment. This motivated me to sign up for an online assessment course within a few months of completing the certification program.
Hill: The certification process provided a great reminder about the foundations of our profession and, specifically, the applicability of student learning theories. My master’s program was not heavily focused on this, and the program helped me reframe this aspect of my work.
Conn: It caused me to reflect on my knowledge base in the field and sparked an interest in revisiting relevant theories, texts, and advanced materials that I could always use as a reference.
Kililee: As we progress in the field, our scope of work often narrows. I appreciated that the certification covers broad topics within student affairs. I also appreciate the intersectionality of the work, as nothing in student affairs work stands alone. It builds and connects with other disciplines and theories.
Masoomi: The continuing education credit requirements have encouraged me to complete additional sessions of continuing education credits in areas that I may not have selected otherwise. I have started to attend more sessions specific to senior housing officers, and I am starting to think more fully about my next career steps. Some of the continuing education credits for sessions I have attended have been on the topics of human resources, thinking about large-scale budgeting, managing staff at the top leadership level, utilizing human capital most effectively, and being mindful of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Kililee: I will use certification as a roadmap to be more deliberate in my own development. I will also encourage my teams to seek certification and build their own development plans.
Sidarous: I agree with others that the recertification process will force me to be more intentional in those spaces and in seeking out professional development opportunities. For me, there were parts of the certification where I identified gaps in my knowledge, and I could see where a deeper understanding and learning in those spaces would directly support my current role and institution. That helped give me direction for the next steps.
Hill: I think that the recertification standards are something that I will use later in my career. I know that, over the course of the next five years, I will be more intentional in seeking out educational opportunities that reinforce my learning and experiences.
James A. Baumann is the ACUHO-I director of publications.