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  #1  
Old 09-13-2002, 08:28 PM
James James is offline
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I want to be a Greek Advisor or Student Life Administrator!

If you know how someone should approach being a Student Life Director or Greek Life Advisor . . . Or just someone that wants to be a College Administrator post it here.

You should try to give the following:

1. Tips on which higher degree to pursue.

2. Internships that may be useful.

3. Salary comparisons.

4. How to get noticed by College Employers.

5. Personal Experiences.

6. Whatever else may be useful
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  #2  
Old 09-13-2002, 08:32 PM
carnation carnation is offline
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You'll find a lot of great tips at www.studentaffairs.com !
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  #3  
Old 09-14-2002, 11:34 AM
Munchkin03 Munchkin03 is offline
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Cool

This summer I worked with 3 different graduate students in Student Affairs--one in residential life, the other in student activities, the other in Greek affairs. I don't know which schools are the best for those fields, though. I do know that there are some schools in Indiana (makes sense, eh?) that have good programs in Greek Affairs.
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  #4  
Old 09-25-2002, 05:21 PM
PearlGrrl PearlGrrl is offline
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I was on the search committee for a new Greek Life adviser (once upon a time...). The desired masters degree was Public Affairs and Administration. Any emphasis in leadership will also help. And as with any academic job, your grades (even undergrad) will be reviewed. Intern, consult, advise... get your hands on any experience you can!

Quote:
This summer I worked with 3 different graduate students in Student Affairs--one in residential life, the other in student activities, the other in Greek affairs.
Excellent!
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  #5  
Old 09-29-2002, 11:40 AM
Kevin Kevin is offline
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You could also start at a small school. I know the director of Greek Life on my campus is just a guy that was hired into the Campus Life office a couple of years ago RIGHT after he graduated. He had been student body president, IFC president, etc.. I'm a little wary having a guy that is an alumnus of a fraternity on our campus as Greek Life advisor but he's doing an okay job I guess.

He had no previous experience, no qualifications.. Just wanted to do it and he got it.. So maybe you could start building a resume at a smaller school and then move on?
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  #6  
Old 10-09-2002, 10:09 PM
AOIIsilver AOIIsilver is offline
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Job in student affairs/greek life

bump
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  #7  
Old 10-10-2002, 11:35 AM
FuzzieAlum FuzzieAlum is offline
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Actually, most of the Greek life advisors (and grad student assistants) I've known have majored in residential affairs/student affairs (whatever that school calls it) rather than public affairs.
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  #8  
Old 10-12-2002, 08:28 AM
navane navane is offline
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Exclamation Warning, long post ahead!

Ok!!! Now here's a topic I know something about!!

Guess what I do for a living? I'm a student affairs professional!

I don't work in Greek Affairs; my specialty areas are Orientation and Advisement and also Student Life/Activites. I'm currently in grad school full-time, but my most recent post was working as an Academic Counsellor. In student affairs, I have worked in the following sub-areas: Academic Counselling, Residential Life, Student Transition and Retention (like the orientation department), Student Activities, Academic Computing Services, and a little bit of Equal Opportunities. If you want to know more about any of these areas, feel free to ask or PM me.

I *OFTEN* see posts on Greek Chat asking about this career field. TriSigmaTX (who also works as a university administrator) and I have answered these questions a bazillion times, BUT I am always happy to answer them again!

Often, the people on GC who want to work as Greek Advisors don't realize that Greek Affairs is a part of a profession called Student Development in Higher Education (SDHE for short). They just think it would be "fun". If you are one of these people, that's ok! Instead of trying to get a job as a Greek Affairs officer, I would suggest volunteering at a higher level within your own organization or umbrella group (example: volunteering as an NPC regional coordinator).

I have to make this distinction because I really want people to be educated about what a Greek Affairs professional is - s/he is a university administrator, not a highly-paid soroity or fraternity member who gets to continue working with the greek system. Does that make sense?

So what if you really DO want to do it? Well ok! I'll use James' outline to answer:


1. Tips on which higher degree to pursue.

Firstly, having a related undergraduate degree helps. I knew from early on that I wanted to work in higher education. With that said, because I tailored my experiences, I have been a very strong candidate in internships, jobs, grad school apps etc. My first degree was a BA in Human Development with an option in Educational Psychology and a minor in Human Resource Management. A very good friend of mine applied to one of the same grad school programs as I did. His first degree was in Comparative Literature. He did not do as well during the selection process. He has some great experience in residential life, but I think his first degree hurt him.

There is some confusion about which master's degree to get. If you want to be an accountant, you get an accounting degree, right? Well, it's not that clear in SDHE. Most of the job postings I see say something to the effect of "Master's degree in Student Affairs, Education, Counselling, Educational Psychology, or 'other social science field' strongly recommended." Yes, kids, you can get a degree in Student Affairs. Sometimes they're called "Master of Student Personnel Administration" or "Master of Counselling - SDHE" etc. You just have to make sure you're not getting a degree in like business management or family and divorce counselling or something like that. I went overseas to get my degree. I am currently studying for a "Master of Education - Counselling in Education".

Pearlgrrl's description of finding a candidiate with a degree in Public Affairs and Administration I suppose falls under "other social science field" though I would NOT recommend this unless you are really short on options. In my humble opinion, a master's degree in education, counselling, higher ed...etc is much better than a public policy degree as far as this career field goes.

2. Internships that may be useful.

Anything related to higher education!!! Many people start out as an RA in their residence hall. I would recommend trying out different areas. There are some 20+ sub-areas of SDHE and you’ll definitly want to try out a few to see which areas you like best. Volunteer to work as tour guide for the outreach office, or as a freshman leader for the orientation office. Other ideas include the student activities dept, leadership center, multi-cultural center, disabled student services, the EOP office etc.

3. Salary comparisons.

Yikes! This is not easy to do; escpecially since wages are different from state to state. My last job, I was an Associate Academic Counsellor at a Southern California university and I earned $25,000/year. But, I also didn’t have a master’s degree. Usually, entry-level master’s degree candidiates could expect about $30,000 in Southern California (at least *I* refuse to take less! ). Of course, wages go up the longer you work there...or if you get a higher post. A Directorship could be $45,000+. One of my old bosses was the Director of our department - he was earning about $60,000/yr. He got promoted to a senior vice president position at a neighboring university and his salary shot up to like $100,000. Keep in mind though, that he had been working in the profession for some 20 years!


4. How to get noticed by College Employers.

What I think works best is having a solid degree and a nice variety of experience on your resume. Having a paid job in SDHE is good, but internships and whatnot are a good start for entry-level or junior positions.

5. Personal Experiences.

Hrm....this post is too long already - I’ll spare you.

6. Whatever else may be useful

Participating in on-campus clubs and extra-curricular activites is a big plus. Now, while greek life is great, keep in mind that holding 10 positions with your fraternity/sorority does not consititute “good variety of experience.” You might also want to participate with other campus activities like, student government, academic groups, chess team... whatever.

I am a member of two professional organizations:

National Association for Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA)
http://www.naspa.org

American College Personnel Association (ACPA)

http://www.acpa.nche.edu/

Both are excellent for finding out more about SDHE. You can do searches for universities which offer master’s programs...so, do check it out.

Again, if you are keen on working in SDHE, or are just curious, PM me if you have questions!

......Kelly
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  #9  
Old 10-14-2002, 02:31 AM
phisigduchesscv phisigduchesscv is offline
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My Campus, California State University Dominguez Hills is currenty hiring a Student Life Coordinator who, as part of their job description, will oversee Greeks and Clubs/Organizations. The university really prefers a master degree in "Counseling, Student Development/Student Personnel, Recreation or Higher Education". As Kelly stated you aren't only the Greek Advisor you are a Student Affairs professional which will entail advising, organizing events, hiring and firing, New Student Orientations etc.

Carolyn
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  #10  
Old 10-14-2002, 07:31 AM
navane navane is offline
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Hey Carolyn!

My old boss, the one I used as an example in my long post, is Randy Zarn,
Assoc. Vice President of Student Life at CSUDH. He was great to work for at CSULB and we missed him when he left. Though, we were really excited for him getting that big, fancy job at your uni.

.....Kelly
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  #11  
Old 10-15-2002, 02:16 AM
phisigduchesscv phisigduchesscv is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by navane
Hey Carolyn!

My old boss, the one I used as an example in my long post, is Randy Zarn,
Assoc. Vice President of Student Life at CSUDH. He was great to work for at CSULB and we missed him when he left. Though, we were really excited for him getting that big, fancy job at your uni.

.....Kelly
I absolutely love Randy, he's part of the reason Phi Sigma Sigma was chosen to be the first NPC at CSUDH. Randi has the position open on campus for the Student Life Coordinator. I actually work quite a bit with Randy since I am an Admissions Evaluator at CSUDH and work all the New Student Orientations. Plus I work with Randy through my sorority Phi Sigma Sigma.
Did you know Boualoy at CSULB? She came from Long Beach State to be the Student Life Coordinator at CSUDH. She recently resigned from her position to concentrate on married life and also spend some time with her parents.
If you want to send me a PM that you want me to print and give to Randy I'd be more then happy to. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you.
Carolyn
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  #12  
Old 02-29-2004, 08:09 PM
adpiucf adpiucf is offline
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*bump*
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  #13  
Old 02-29-2004, 08:25 PM
Dionysus Dionysus is offline
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Why the counseling and higher ed. degrees? From what I heard they require an undergrad marketing or communication degree and recommend a graduate degree in marketing at my school. I see the kind of stuff they do and I think it aligns more w/ marketing and communication.
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  #14  
Old 02-29-2004, 08:42 PM
PsychTau PsychTau is offline
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I can see how marketing/communication would help you in getting a job as an admissions coordinator/recruiter for a college (it's all about selling the university!), but I don't see how it would help in Greek Affairs.

The program where I got my Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology had a track in Student Personnel (or something very similar). The students in that program took the same classes as we did the first year, then branched off into different classes the second year. Their degree was less hours than ours, however. The counseling classes they took helped them to learn how to deal with people and problems, and developmental issues of that age group.

I wouldn't mind working in student affairs...it would put me close to my counseling background without having to get into the seriously mentally ill.

PsychTau
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  #15  
Old 03-03-2004, 10:37 AM
angelic1 angelic1 is offline
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I have been looking into this as a graduate degree actually..

I got my undergrad in public and urban affairs.. the masters degree offered at VT is student affairs administration in the higer education student affairs program.

I would like to go into alum relations work actually (thats if I stayed working for VT) or someother area.. who knows.
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