Running head: COMPETENCIES SELF-ASSESSMENT 1

Professional Competency Self-Assessment

Dawson Delph

Miami University

EDL 676: Foundations of Student Affairs

Dr. Jayne Brownell

Professional Competency Self-Assessment

As I have reflected on the ACPA & NASPA Professional Competencies, I have

discovered many areas of both weakness and strength. I believe the strengths can be accredited to

the amount of student affairs work I was involved in during my undergraduate experience in

addition to working so closely with a successful professional in the field who knew many of the

best practices and outcomes of being proficient in each competency. Unfortunately, not being in

a completely well-defined student affairs environment in addition to not having received any

academic education or training in the field, I have identified areas where there needs to be

significant growth for which I am looking forward to.

Strengths

Working as a peer supervisor during undergrad, I was able to implement several

professional competencies in my job. While I feel that they are strengths, I know that I have not

fully developed in most of them. The main areas that I would categorize as strengths for myself

are Advising and Supporting (A/S), Personal and Ethical Foundations (PEF), Organizational and

Human Resources (OHR), Leadership (LEAD), and Technology (TECH). I simply believe that I

have achieved at least some foundational outcomes among these competencies, whereas I am

still striving for foundational outcomes or even a basic understanding of others. I believe this

speaks to the significant overlap found among the competencies aside from their distinct, central

ideas (ACPA & NASPA, 2015).

I pride myself on leadership and organization. Both competencies that encompass those

areas, OHR & LEAD, intersect regarding advocacy, networking, teamwork, and interpersonal

skills. As someone who feels like they understand that both leadership and organizational skills
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go beyond making decisions but is often more focused on how you are interacting with others in

addition to developing a plan of action in coordination with campus partners to address certain

situations. Being able to effectively communicate interpersonally, serve as a mentor to other,

reflect on my authentic self and incorporate that into my identity as a leader, and advocating for

change (ACPA & NAPSA, 2016) are actions that I believe I have exhibited in the past that make

leadership a strength. My most transformative experiences thus far have been my leadership

positions during my undergrad. They shaped who I am and enhanced my ability to be a leader in

various scenarios and environments both in and out of the classroom.

I believe PEF contributes to leadership as a strength for me because my leadership style

is based on my integrity and ethical codes. Competence in this competency require that you can

apply a personal process for making ethical decisions and analyzing personal experiences for

deeper growth (ACPA & NAPSA, 2015). I believe this highlights a couple of ways this

competency intersects with the competency of leadership in how I approach the two. I think that

this competency is the foundation for every best practice in the field. Being acutely aware of

one’s moral compass and having the ability to articulate why policy and decisions are made

based on certain ethical codes are integral in an effective student affairs environment that is

supportive of both students and professionals.

Furthermore, I have formed alliances to effectively complete work assignments with the

understanding that such alliances either benefit or hinder professional credibility, developed and

delivered professional presentations for work, and have played a significant role in the hiring,

staffing, and training members of a team (ACPA & NASPA, 2016) that lead me to believe that

OTR is a strength for me. On the other hand, I recognize that I am easily at the beginning of a
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foundational competence within this competency because there is a lot more practical, on the job

experience to be gained that cannot be acquired in the classroom.

Advising and Supporting (A/S) is an area that I am beginning to develop more in my

internship. I am currently the graduate advisor for two student programming boards. This

competency is defined as providing support and advice through feedback, critique, and guidance

(ACPA & NASPA, 2015) which is something I have been comfortable with for some time. I

spent most of my time as an undergraduate student advising and supporting the orientation leader

team. Many of the outcomes assigned to this competency outline a majority of what I have been

focused on for so long. While I have not done this in a professional capacity, I feel like my

experience doing so will translate well into my work as a professional in the field.

Lastly, I have the benefit of being born and raised amid a technology boom. As a result,

my entire world is shaped by the use of technology. The ways that I communicate, do work, and

complete assignments are all technology-based. It would probably be difficult to find many new

professionals who were not at least proficient in the TECH competency simply due to their

surroundings. Proficiency in this competency has been critical during a global pandemic as it

calls for adapting quickly to technological changes and promoting that among students and

colleagues, using technology and software to gain access to and process vast amounts of

information, and anticipate and address technology crises when they happen (ACPA & NAPSA,

2015). I would say that I have experienced even greater growth in this competency just over the

past year than I ever have before.

Weaknesses

When I discuss competencies that I view as weaknesses, I mean those that I am still

striving for that basic understanding of. If I were to pick any, it would be Values, Philosophy, and

History (VPH) and Assessment, Evaluation, and Research (AER). I chose these two because they

are those that I have never put enough thought into. I would probably say that I have considered

and learned more about these two things in the past two months than I ever have. I have always

worked in student affairs in a practical sense as an undergrad. I was never responsible for

knowing the values, philosophy, and history of the field. While it directly pertains to the work I

was doing, I never made it a priority to connect it to my work. VPH requires that you can

connect those things to the work you are actively doing in the field by embracing the foundations

of the profession (ACPA & NASPA, 2015). While this competency is quickly changing due to

my graduate coursework, I would still consider it a weakness.

AER is a weakness because I have never enjoyed any type of research or evaluation,

therefore I never dedicated any time to it in the past. In the past, I have distributed surveys and

analyzed feedback for programming and event but to do serious research and assessment was out

of the question because I just didn’t enjoy it. Although, I now realize it is a valuable tool for

gathering important data and synthesizing that data for use in a plethora of ways throughout the

university community.

Areas for Growth

I aspire for growth in every competency. As a graduate student and soon to be an entry-

level professional, I have a lot to learn. Areas that I have reflected on where I have some

comfortability, but they didn’t fall into either category of weaknesses or strengths are: Law,

Policy, and Governance (LPG), Social Justice and Inclusion (SJI), and Student Learning and
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Development (SLD). While I have some experiences in each of these areas, I would assume that

I am experiencing the beginning of foundational outcomes in hopes of moving toward a more

solidified competence soon.

With social justice and student development being a large focus in the SAHE program, I

feel as if both SJI and SLD are being developed enormously on the theoretical level. Both

subjects are topics of almost every class because we integrate it into our everyday work as

professionals. If we are going to advocate on behalf of students, we have to make sure we are

doing so in an equitable way that prioritizes the way that students develop over their time in

college. Additionally, we must understand the systems of oppression that affect the ways

marginalized groups experience development.

I am beginning to realize ways in which I can implement theory into practice in my

internships and future jobs. However, I don’t feel comfortable enough in my understanding of

theory to design and implement programs to promote student development or effectively critique

the dominant group perspective that is present in models of development (ACPA & NASPA,

2015). I am positive that by the end of the SAHE program, I will have developed these

competencies tremendously.

To end, something that has become a focus of mine is higher education law. I want to

attend law school after I get my master’s degree so I can work in university counsel offices. I am

quite disappointed that this competency, despite being a huge interest, is not as developed as I’d

like for it to be. While I am familiar with some higher education law, various policies, and how

the law in the broader context of our country affects education, I wish I was better able to

understand and inform others about the legal aspect of policy development and university

function. As time moves forward, there are so many regulations and laws that dictate how
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universities can operate – especially public institutions. The wrong move or violation of a law

can result in lost government funding, fines, and audits/investigations. With the heightened

attention to discrimination and sexual assault, all types of institutions require greater proficiency

in terms of law, policy, and governance as a way to make sure they can stay compliant. Out of all

the ACPA & NASPA competencies, this one is one that I am looking forward to developing the

most.

Conclusion

Analyzing one’s self as a rising professional in terms of best practices and benchmarks

that are complex is difficult. I struggled to determine where I was within certain competencies.

However, I see the benefit in reflecting on my current position among these competencies as a

way of developing a plan on increasing advanced outcomes going forward. I appreciate the

intersection of the competencies and how growth in one can contribute to growth in another.

Student affairs practices seem to build off one another rather nicely. I think the collaboration

within the field is an amazing way for new professionals to gain experience in various

competencies. Graduate school internships, practicums, and assistantships are also designed as a

way for students to gain practical experience and practically implement the theory that

underlines the competencies and the student experience. I am looking forward to looking back on

this self-assessment and comparing where I am going to be as a profession to where I am now as

a graduate student.
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References

ACPA & NASPA. (2015). Professional competency areas for student affairs educators.

https://www.naspa.org/images/uploads/main/ACPA_NASPA_Professional_Competencies_

FINAL.pdf

ACPA & NASPA. (2016). ACPA/NASPA professional competencies rubrics.

https://www.naspa.org/images/uploads/main/ACPA_NASPA_Professional_Competency_

Rubrics_Full.pdf