Effective Campus & Community Relationships
Graduates should be able to relate effectively with a wide range of people. Specifically, students should be able to demonstrate relational and professional competence:
a. in relating across cultural boundaries with many different kinds of people;
b. in relating across functional boundaries with people of widely varied roles within higher education;
c. as representatives of the institutions they serve to those within the larger community.
a. in relating across cultural boundaries with many different kinds of people;
b. in relating across functional boundaries with people of widely varied roles within higher education;
c. as representatives of the institutions they serve to those within the larger community.
Maintaining Local Community Relationships
My position in the service-learning office as CHAMP Director was one way I represented the institution to those in the larger community. Three times a week I would be out in the local elementary schools, a predominantly Latino setting. I worked with 4th grade students, their teachers, and the principals. When graduation time came I interacted with parents, family, siblings, the district office, the Rotary Club, the school board, and the city council. I had to maintain the reputation of the university as well as build upon it through my demeanor, my work ethic, and my relationships. For a large number of people I was their main, if not only, contact with Azusa Pacific University. I had the opportunity to work with some great people, to collaborate on a wider project that changed the lives of many 4th graders and APU students. |
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Campus Committees
While interning with academic advising, I had the opportunity to attend various campus committees. These included the undergraduate studies council, the general studies council, faculty senate, the orientation steering committee, the admissions committee, and the student life care team. While at the respective meetings, I got to interact with and listen to many faculty and staff members debate issues surrounding students. My supervisor and I would sit down together after most meetings and discuss their content as well as how to have effective campus relationships. This included advice on how to gain advocates for one's office in a college setting (Komives & Woodard, 2003). |
Preparing the University
Another major aspect of my service-learning position was to prepare the university for the community. In the six visit days I coordinated, I had to prepare 10 offices for the visit of 90 fourth graders each time. In coordinating these visits, I had to let the offices know who these students were and what could benefit them from their visit to APU. I also had to prepare APU students for their weekly visits to the Azusa schools. I would spend 5-10 minutes before the students went into the classrooms each week describing the activities they would be doing and how to approach them with the population they were working with. |
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