Carrie Cristancho Mid-Term Reflection I am completing my practicum in the Office of Student Conduct at Georgia Southern University.

My mentor is the Associate Dean of Students, Dr. Mark Whitesel. I work closely with Mrs. Amy Ziezula and Ms. Julie Cantor, both Coordinators for the Office of Student Conduct. I currently have a Graduate Assistantship in the Dean of Students Office, which is close in proximity to the Office of Student Conduct. Both offices share the same space, so I was close to the people I am working with prior to my practicum. The relationships I have with Mrs. Ziezula and Ms. Cantor have changed since I am now working with them on a professional level; however, there are no personal issues between any of us which makes for a pleasant work environment. So far, my practicum experience would rank a 4 out of 5. I am really enjoying my experience and I am involved in a lot of different things within the Office of Student Conduct. I am getting experience in policy creation, judicial boards, sanctioning, initial meetings with students, and research. There are a couple of things I wish I could see more of, however. I would like to get more experience in the appeals aspect of student conduct. I have seen many meetings with students and I have served on many judicial boards. The last part of the process, the appeal, is something I have not seen and I would like to either talk through an appeal or observe how an appeal is handled in order to get experience with that aspect of the judicial process. One of the components of my portfolio is a report I am writing on the process within the judicial system in higher education. I am currently working on this project as a part of my practicum. In this report, I will write on the most common violations and sanctions. I will also give a detailed example of a case in order to explain the conduct process. This relates to my

practicum experience because it is pulling together all the aspects of working as a coordinator in the Office of Student Conduct. While coordinators are also involved in the creation or updating of policy and the creation of educational programs, the conduct process takes up a majority of their time and it is important for me to be familiar with that process. So far, the biggest eye-opener for me has been realizing how many steps there are to actually put policy in place. I am working on an Amnesty Policy that may be put into place in Fall 2014. When I first started working on this initiative, I believed I could propose an idea or some research and it would be looked over and approved or edited within a few days. I was wrong; however, we are making progress on the initiative. The best example of this delay is the most recent part of the project I have worked on. The first step was to see whether or not Georgia Southern wanted to implement an Amnesty Policy. This policy, in short, would state that if a student were to call emergency services due to a friend who has experienced a drug overdose or alcohol poisoning, the student who calls emergency services would be exempt from any disciplinary action that could be taken against them. After discussions, it was decided that Georgia Southern University would benefit from an Amnesty Policy. From there, I was given the task to look up other institutions similar in size to Georgia Southern University to see what their Amnesty Policies were. Even though we have been working on this policy since January, this is the most progress we have made. I gave the comparatives to my mentor and wrote an update to give to the Dean of Students, Dean Jackson. Our next goal is to get data from students using focus groups, but we have to wait until our proposal is approved before getting any data. My mentor and I recently discussed our philosophies within Student Affairs. I was asked to read a few articles on the priorities of Student Affairs, and I was asked which I believed was

more important: a students academics or a students well being. I answered that, while I believed both are important, it should be a priority to make sure a students well being is taken care of before a students academic issues are addressed. I mentioned that, if a student cannot take care of himself or herself on a day to day basis, that students academics will suffer as a result of that. If it is a priority to make sure the student is doing well, personally, the student will do well academically and, if there is an issue within academics, we can address that. My mentor agreed with me and told me how it is always important to ensure students are comfortable where they are. As we had this conversation, he mentioned to me that it is important to determine a balance with students. Students need to be motivated and given enough responsibility that they learn, but they also need to be supported enough that they feel comfortable. Too much responsibility can lead to stress and it can deteriorate the quality of their educational experience. Too much support can lead to students not learning anything because they have no responsibility. Finding the balance between support and motivation is key. I agreed with his philosophy on balance because it is something I have seen in my own experiences. There are a few areas I wish I were stronger in. The first area is knowing the policies surrounding sanctions. When deciding sanctions for students, there are some things I would like to suggest that are not possible due to different policies. For example, we cannot require a student to seek counseling as a sanction. I understand why the policy is in place, and I do not want to change the policy, but I do wish I were more familiar with similar policies so I can be more efficient in deciding sanctions. I also would like to be more familiar with Maxient. Maxient is a software that helps the Office of Student Conduct organize cases. I have used Maxient a few times and I have seen how Maxient is used in cases, but I would like to get more hands on experience with it. I feel as though having Maxient experience will be good for me in the future

as well. Maxient is a relatively new system, and many schools are just now adopting it as their organization system. If I had Maxient experience, I would be able to address that in an interview or on my resume which would be a benefit to many institutions.