These trainings are for student affairs departments and divisions who are looking to do a significant overhaul, or start fresh at a new beginning, on how they approach their work relationships and needs of entry-level professionals. Each training within this bundle is short, readily applicable, and full of practical learning outcomes that allow you to hit the ground running.

Effective Onboarding and Socialization for Retaining Entry-Level Student Affairs Professionals

Dr. Ashley Tull, Clinical Associate Professor, Southern Methodist University

Onboarding and socialization is the process of learning university culture, mores^[a], developing relationships, and departmental nuance. During the first weeks and months on campus, some departments spend time only training entry-level professionals for their job and spend little or no time engaging in proper onboarding and socialization. In this training, join leading researcher and practitioner Dr. Ashley Tull as he describes key onboarding and socialization processes to incorporate into your new hire processes!

Program Structure

• Key Essentials for Effective Onboarding and Socialization
  • Essential 1: Understanding person-organizational fit and values through supervision
  • Essential 2: Curbing job dissatisfaction and factors that influence attrition
  • Essential 3: Orienting to the field and critical partners
• Three ways to put the essentials into practice

Effective Expectation Setting for Retaining Entry-Level Student Affairs Professionals

Dr. Carolyn Golz, College Administrative Officer, University of California, Santa Cruz

Expectation setting, follow-through, and communication is key to fulfilling goals in any department. In this training, our instructor will help you understand the importance of ongoing, repeated, and 360 degree expectation setting.

Program Structure

• Key Essentials for Effective Expectation Setting and Fulfillment
  • Essential 1: Clear definitions and competencies
  • Essential 2: The 360 degree process
  • Essential 3: University and field context
• Three ways to put the essentials into practice

Engaging in Synergistic Supervision for Retaining Entry-Level Student Affairs Professionals

Dr. Matthew Shupp, Assistant Professor, Shippensburg University

Everyone has a supervisor, but are they an effective supervisor?  In this training, join practitioner and researcher Dr. Matthew Shupp to learn the principles of synergistic supervision. You will leave this training with readily accessible tools and tips to immediately apply synergistic supervision to your practice with entry-level student affairs professionals.

Program Structure

• Key Essentials for Effective Synergistic Supervision
  • Essential 1: Understand the model components
  • Essential 2: Identifying and defying bad supervision
  • Essential 3: Assessment of supervision
• Three ways to put the essentials into practice

Holistic Professional Development Plans for Retaining Entry-Level Student Affairs Professionals

Dr. Amy Denise-Halter, Student Success Projects Manager, Colorado State University

Using professional development planning as not only an attrition deterrent, but also as a growth tool, can help create a dynamic and well-rounded team. Join our expert, Dr.  Amy Denise-Halter, to develop active, engaged, and competency-based professional development plans with entry-level student affairs professionals.

Program Structure

• Key Essentials for Effective Professional Development Planning
  • Essential 1: Competencies and assessment
  • Essential 2: Creating alignment
  • Essential 3: Accountability and revision
• Three ways to put the essentials into practice

Effective Training Plans for Retaining Entry-Level Student Affairs Professionals

Dr. Ann Marie Klotz, Dean of Campus Life, New York Institute of Technology

The initial first few weeks and months of an entry-level student affairs professional’s life at a new campus or in new position are critical times when it comes to the retention of that employee. In this training, you will learn critical components and methods to train your entry-level staff with an eye for increasing retention and satisfaction in those positions.

Program Structure

• Key Essentials for Effective Training Plans
  • Essential 1: Understanding your training context
  • Essential 2: Training job vs. life skills
  • Essential 3: Assessment of training
• Three ways to put the essentials into practice

Several scholarly articles in student affairs indicate that 40-60% of entry-level student affairs professionals leave the field within their first five years. While some of this can be natural attrition or bottleneck promotion issues, there is still a considerable amount of work organizations need to do to improve their retention of these entry-level pros. This high attrition level within the field is an enormous sink of time and resources that can be curbed by implementing the practices that we discuss during this training.