Student Services Personnel Attend Training Academy

Daughn Pruitt (left) and Donna Artho recently attended the Academy for Student Affairs Professionals.

Daughn Pruitt, assistant vice president for student services, and Donna Artho, administrative budget manager in the office of the vice president for student services, recently completed the Academy for Student Affairs Professionals at Texas A&M University in College Station.

The intensive five-day academy focuses on the distinguishable skills valued by the student affairs profession and connects the work of student affairs practitioners to student learning and the overall education mission of the institution.

"The overarching goal of the academy is to develop a collective voice to make student affairs work meaningful to students, practitioners and the broader campus community," said Merna Jacobsen, coordinator of organizational and staff development for the division of student affairs at Texas A&M and coordinator of the academy.

Participants received specific training in student development theory, legal issues, counseling skills, ethics, assessment of student affairs programs, and the history of higher education and the student affairs profession. Academy content was presented by student affairs practitioners and scholars and required participants to engage in case study analysis, self-assessments and group projects.

"Each session provided information that was valuable to new student affairs professionals as well as to those with years of experience," said Pruitt.

In addition to representatives from Sam Houston State and Texas A&M, student affairs professionals from the University of Houston, Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, Texarkana, and Tyler, Midwestern State University, and Winthrop University in South Carolina also attended.

"Meeting and networking with other student affairs professionals offered an outstanding opportunity to learn from their experiences," said Artho. "In addition, I was able to immediately apply concepts and strategies discussed at the academy to my professional responsibilities at SHSU."

Vice President for Student Services Thelma J. Douglass said that she was pleased that the training session allowed student service professionals to participate and receive specific training in student affairs programs.

"Current and historical trends in student service address the need for staff to be knowledgeable in pertinent aspects of student services in higher education and the student affairs profession," Douglass said. "When student personnel professionals are trained in the academy, it enables us to develop opportunities for our students to learn outside of the classroom."

The academy was featured in this month's issue of Leadership Exchange, a journal of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

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Media Contact: Julia May
July 20, 2004
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