Journey to the PhD with Trace Camacho: Mentors

Written By: Trace Camacho
Michigan State University

At the end of my last post, I mentioned the importance of finding mentors. Having a mentor isn’t just a necessity when applying to PhD programs, but a necessity as a student affair professional. I am lucky that I have a number of mentors that both challenge and support me in different ways. I will share with you how I came to find two of my current mentors Monica Miranda Smalls and Dr. Susana Munoz.

When I started as a graduate student working in fraternity and sorority life I knew next to nothing beyond my own organization. I just jumped in head first learning as much as I could. Luckily I had an amazing supervisor who taught me much, but I wanted a professional mentor in the field from beyond Iowa State. When searching for a mentor I had no idea where to start. That all changed when I was given the opportunity to attend the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors annual meeting in Cincinnati. I had heard about Monica Miranda Smalls before the meeting but I was shy and therefore apprehensive to talk to her (truth be told I was a little intimidated). Luckily, I had found some time during the meeting to have some brief one on one conversation with Monica that allowed us to break the ice. After the meeting I knew I wanted to ask Monica to be my mentor. I bit the bullet and sent her an email. To this day I am still taken back from the overwhelming response I got from her and how eager she was to serve as my professional mentor. Our mentor/mentee relationship has been great, we make time to catch up at every professional conference we are at together as well as email throughout the year.

Sometimes though mentors come into your life and you don’t realize they are mentors until later on. When I first met Dr. Susana Munoz it was over dinner at a local Thai restaurant in Ames. I was a member of a fraternity who has a close historical relationship with her sorority and we had several mutual friends and acquaintances. At the time I did think “hey here is a great mentor” I just wanted to be friends with her. Once I started thinking more long term about my student affairs career after I started my first professional position I knew I wanted to get my PhD. When I was racking my brain, thinking about people I could talk to about PhD programs Dr. Munoz immediately came to mind. Now when we see each other we don’t have just purely social conversations we always make some time just to talk about my goals in student affairs and my PhD aspirations.

Both these women have been amazing mentors. What makes them amazing is that they tell me what I need to hear not what I want to here. That’s not saying they aren’t amazing sources of encouragement which they are; but they also ask me questions that cause me to critically reflect. They also push me to do things I would have never considered before; they are the perfect example of challenge and support. As you are considering whom you want as your mentor, makes sure to choose individuals who will both challenge and support you. If you are having trouble finding a mentor look at your colleagues and friends you have within the profession, I am sure there are some great mentors just waiting for you to ask.

Region 6 LKC Drive-in; A Graduate Student Reflection

Written by Carlos Lopez Garcia
California State University, Fullerton

I recently attended the Region 6 LKC Drive-in at the Claremont University Consortium. The drive-in, which was mostly facilitated by Osvaldo del Valle, was structured around career mapping, navigating the field as Latinas/os, mentoring and networking and en-gaging in the field and concluded with a panel of more experienced Latino/a professionals.

The professional career mapping session was a definite highlight for me. As I enter my second year of graduate school, I need to be strategic about my fieldwork internship placements and how I plan to conduct my job search. This session allowed me to reflect on my immediate and long-term professional goals, obstacles and challenges. I had the chance to evaluate my strengths and the sources of support that can help me successfully navigate my professional journey. Beyond the personal reflection, we had small group discussions regarding our goals and concerns and were able to share some tips and strategies we‘ve used along the way. There was definitely a sense of support and encouragement both within my within my small group and the larger group of attendees.

While I am no stranger to micro-aggressions, I‘ve never experienced them in the workplace. Granted, I‘m only just begun my professional journey. However, I did find the navigating the field as people of color session helpful because it went beyond sharing personal stories of bias-incidents and racism and focused on how to appropriately respond to these incidents. Some of our colleagues shared their experiences and some talked about what they would do differently.

One of the best takeaways from the mentoring, networking and engagement session was about being intentional and finding the right fit when job searching. It‘s important to know what you are looking for, be open to challenges and find the right mentors and organizations to help get you where you want to go. Emily did a fantastic job discussing different types of networking and sharing personal examples with us. I think some of the themes from this ses-sion also came up during the panel as more seasoned professionals shared their journeys with us. I find great value and power in storytelling and sharing, so I always enjoy these type of panels.

This was my first LKC drive-in, and it was a great experience. Being an introvert, I sometimes feel overwhelmed when I go to national or regional conferences, but this setting felt more intimate and it was a lot easier to meet and connect with people. Thank you to the drive-in conference co-chairs Osvaldo and Naddia, the presenters and panelists, the LKC and Region VI!

This article has been featured in the current issue of the LKC Quarterly EZine. Check it out here.

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About the Author:

Carlos Lopez Garcia is a first-year graduate student in the California State University—Fullerton Masters of Science in Higher Education program. He also serves as a graduate assistant in the Dean of Students Office.

Hashtags & How to Use Them

Written by Estee Hernández
Texas State University - San Marcos

It’s no secret: I love Twitter. It is an innovative tool that connects us both personally and professionally. (For a comprehensive Twitter how-to, please check out@BreakDrink’s Twitter guide for student affairs professionals.) But few of us know how to maximize our Twitter use. This blog post was designed to discuss hashtags (i.e., words or phrases that begin with #).

Brief history about hashtags: they were a by-product formulated not by the Twitter creators but its users, and it is a way to connect posts about the same or similar topics. Sometimes, people will create ironic hashtags like #smh (meaning shake my head) or #oomf (or one of my followers). When you first log onto Twitter, popular hashtags will appear on the right side of the page as trends or trending topics. This means that they are the 10 most frequently used search items or hashtags in the Twitterverse.

Some common hashtags are below:
• #ff or #followfriday: Used on Fridays, of course, and suggest a user worth following
• #sachat: Denotes tweets that discuss or relate to topics in student affairs
• #sagrad: Used in reference to higher education/student affairs graduate programs and their students
• #sajobs: Tweets about job postings and/or job searching advice and resources use this hashtag
• #wlsalt: Used by women in student affairs (learn more about this hashtag here)
• Discipline-related hashtags: #reslife for residence life/housing, #cuad = College Union & Activities Discussion, #acadv for academic advising, #greekchat for fraternity/sorority life
• #salatino: Developed by the NASPA LKC to share news and resources about Latina/os in higher education

When you use hashtags in your tweets, Twitter automatically creates links that will lead to a search page that generates the latest tweets that mention the hashtag. To view what this looks like in action, click on any of the above hashtags.

Now that you know what hashtags do, you may be thinking to yourself, “That’s great, but why use them?” Hashtags are a great way to share resources, news, and inquiries with other student affairs professionals via Twitter.

A good follow-up question might be, “How do we keep track of hashtags?” If you’ve clicked on any of the hashtags above, and you’re logged onto your Twitter account, you have the option of saving the search—just click the button on the top right corner. When you go back to your homepage, the hashtag will be saved under Searches for easy reference.

Applications like TweetDeck (a program for your desktop) and HootSuite (a web-based application) make it easy for you to keep track of hashtags. Both of these programs let you create columns for every hashtag you want to follow. I personally use HootSuite to manage the Twitter accounts that I monitor. This is what it looks like:





(I manage a few Twitter accounts…)

On the far right side of the picture above, you can see a column that was created to follow our NASPA LKC hashtag, #salatino. This is a close-up of what the column looks like:



Several of the aforementioned hashtags will host regular chats where a moderator will facilitate a conversation about relevant topics in our profession. The most popular hashtag that hosts a chat is #sachat, and you can learn more about it here. Think of it as a professional development round table that takes place online.

It could get difficult to follow all the tweets that get posted during chat time, as the backchannel may become saturated. I suggest using TweetChat during this time. TweetChat will refresh the page at regular intervals, and it also allows for you to post tweets (and will automatically add the hashtag to the end of your tweet).

Often, conferences will create a hashtag for attendees to use throughout sessions, receptions, and other programs. A month ago, I attended the NASPA Region 3 Summer Symposium where we used #naspa3 for the duration of the conference. This provided an opportunity for professionals who were unable to attend to also garner information and resources that were made available there.

Two final notes before I conclude:
1. If your account is private and you use hashtags, your tweets will not appear when users search a hashtag. This includes users that follow you. Deciding whether to make an account private or public is a whole other discussion, so this is just an FYI.
2. Refrain from “hashtag abuse.” Reserve the use of hashtags for times when tweets are beneficial to those who are following the hashtag. For a discussion about “hashtag abuse,” please reference @StacyLOliver’s blog post.

The discussion does not end here! The Twitterverse continues to grow as more people create innovative applications to maximize our social media use. Know that this post, although long, is not exhaustive, but it provides a good starting point for those who want to make the most use out of hashtags. Please remember to follow us at @tweetinglavoz, and use #salatino to engage about topics pertaining to Latina/os in higher education!

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About the Author:

Estee Hernández is a Residence Director at Texas State University-San Marcos. She earned her Master’s degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs from Baylor University, as well as her Bachelor’s degree in French. You may follow her on Twitter at @esteehernandez.

Alternative Spring Break in the Dominican Republic

Written By: Angel Garcia
Elon University

As a Latino in the field, community service is a lifestyle. It is also seen as a key experiential learning component for colleges and universities. I would like to share a personally rewarding and inspiring experience: Dominican Republic 2011: Cambiando Vidas in Lavapie. (Translation: Changing Lives in Lavapie)

For the first time in my professional career, I had the opportunity to participate in an Alternative Spring Break Trip. Dominican Republic was the site, and Cambiando Vidas our community partner. Cambiando Vidas is an organization whose mission is to provide housing to the poor neighboring communities of San Juan de la Maguana in Dominican Republic including communities such as Lavapie and Las Charcas. Cambiando Vidas is an Elon University community partner through the Kernodle Center for Community Service.

Our mission was to build a house in five days for Luisa, a single mother of two young daughters. As any other project, the trip’s preparation was a key element for its success. Student coordinators did a phenomenal job preparing the trip by being inclusive. Every student had a part preparing for the trip. Groups were made and given the task to study and research the culture of the Dominican Republic; politics, food, weather, and language were some of the topics that the groups studied.

From the moment we arrived in the Dominican Republic, student’s experienced overwhelming hospitality provided by our local guide, Jose. Pepo, as he is known, was our guide and he is also the founder of Cambiando Vidas. We took a three hours bus ride from Santo Domingo to San Juan de la Maguana. During the drive, Pepo talked to all the students giving an overview of the trip, and thanking the students for their participation. We arrived at the hotel in San Juan at 11pm; seventeen hours after first beginning our journey on a plane in Charlotte.

Each of the five days was hard worked but enjoyed. Every day, we had breakfast at 7am and started working at 8am. We took a 15 minute ride, and on our way to the community, we drove by rice fields, sweet potato’s fields, and the scenery was spectacular. San Juan is surrounded by mountains so the weather during mornings and nights is very pleasant. Our first day at the site, we were able to experience the sense of community in Lavapie. Each day, about twenty community members, joined forces to build the house; Luisa and her two daughters included. We all shared jobs, asked for help, laughed together, and after five hard working days, Luisa’s dream of owning a house came true: two bedrooms, one bathroom, six hundred square foot house. But, size didn’t matter. What was importance was the service provided for and by the community and the experience shared those five days.

When I think of community service, I think about giving, sharing,learning and reflecting.

Giving: seeing the community of Lavapie come together and help each other without expecting things in return was a very admirable and inspiring experience. Community members worked for one or two hours and then returned to their daily lives. But those two hours were hard-working and full of joy. Students noticed that each day, there were new people and each day was a new adventure for them. Daily, students wanted to match the efficacy shown by the community members, and it soon became a friendly competition among the groups to see who helped the most. We were all supervised by professionals of course. Ultimately, it was a team effort. I recall forming assembly lines during concrete pouring and stacking up the blocks, and even when it was about 95 degrees outside, everyone had lots of fun.

Sharing & Learning: as a Latino advisor for a group of American citizens, it was essential for students to learn as much as possible from the experience and the Dominican culture. This learning outcome was easily achieved due to the community’s hospitality and friendliness, and the students’ willingness to share and learn. Students were learning and practicing Spanish through conversation and, at the same time, teaching English. The fun and outgoing Dominicans were teaching students to dance Merengue and Bachata. Lunch was, in my opinion, the most valuable learning experience during this trip. It brought up the concept of familia or familismo, which Latin cultures are known for. The kitchen where lunch was made consisted of a few stones and wood; but the flavor, simply remarkable. The community as a whole came together during lunch and simply enjoyed an hour of peace and deserved rest. Enjoying each others’ company, the whole community and students talked and joked around as if we knew each other for years.

Reflection: Before going to bed, we would come together and reflect on our workday. What did we do, what did we learn, what we liked the most and the least, etc. But, the most important part of our conversation took place when we talked about what we were going to do after this trip. If possible, we wanted to come back to Dominican Republic and continue to help the community. But, we also talked about the communities within the U.S. that could benefit from our service.

Acknowledging my own Latino heritage, I find a desire to help communities such as Lavapie every chance I get, or at least try to help. But I know that, by keeping in touch with them via facebook, our friendship will continue to strengthen. Ultimately, I don’t believe that service is a onetime type of event. I believe that the goal and meaning of community service should be to become agents of change for the development of our communities. The success of community service depends on what we do after the initial act; after the trip, after philanthropy, after the clean-up, after building a house. We have to weigh the outcomes of our service however, and make sure that we are maximizing our efforts while also maximizing our resources.

About the Author:

Angel Garcia is an Assistant Director of Residence Life (East Area) at Elon University. He earned her master’s degree in College Student Affairs from Nova Southeastern University (’10) and her bachelor’s degree from Florida International University (’08).

Journey to the PhD with Trace Camacho

Written By: Trace Camacho
Michigan State University

This will be the first of a series of blog posts documenting my experience as I apply to PhD programs. Hopefully this will be helpful to those of you thinking about pursing your PhD and also allow those of you with or (currently pursuing your PhD) to share your insight and wisdom. A little bit of information about myself, I am just completing my second year as the fraternity and sorority advisor at Michigan State University and I received my master’s degree from Iowa State in 2009.

I have already made the first big decision which is applying to PhD programs this fall. This sets in motion a laundry list of tasks I must accomplish before I can even complete one application. Signing up to take the GRE was my first task. Since I have taken the test previously, and it is about to expire, I am hoping for a better score. I will be taking the new GRE in August the two main factors that influenced my decision was: 1. there are no analogies on the new GRE and 2. If you take the new GRE in August or September you receive a 50% discount.

At this point I would be remised if I didn’t say I have had the wonderful guidance and mentorship of many Latino PhD’s who have been helpful but also caused me to reflect critically as start down this journey. Dr. Susana Munoz has been my sounding board providing me with amazing support but also asking me the tough questions. During a recent chat with Dr. Munoz she asked me “why now?” and “what will do after you get your PhD?”, I have reflected on these questions almost daily during my evening jog. As to the “why now”, I miss the classroom and I have a number of topics I am interested in researching, I actually keep sticky notes next to my computer of topics I am in interested in researching. To get my feet wet I have enrolled in a graduate level research class at my home institution for the fall.

So after I receive my PhD what will I do? This is the more difficult question to answer as my interests shifts from day to day. To balance my varying interests I would like to secure a position at the director level and also be an adjunct professor in a higher education program. I am trying to keep my options open as the job market may look different in five years.

My first piece of advice is to seek out a mentor. I am lucky in that I have an amazing professional mentor, Monica Miranda-Smalls; but also some amazing Latina Scholars who are always willing to share their advice such as Dr. Susana Munoz, Dr. Michelle Espino, and Dr. Judy Marquez-Kiyama. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice there are many great mentors in and outside of the LKC.

Adding Informational Liquidity to Latino Communities: The Search for Stories of Hope

Written By: Erik Peterson

Which degree is right for me? How can I empower my mind to make my dreams a reality? What are my dreams? Do I have a dream? Students living in today’s global economy face daunting choices. As more and more students are asked to pay more money for less schooling due to cut-backs in funding from state and federal budgets and with fewer scholarships from private charities available, more students are beginning to feel unsure about what to do after high school, a time when most are preparing to enter university degree programs. Of the students that do enter university, many remain unsure as to what course of study to begin, what subject to major in, and how a degree will translate in the real world after graduation. Of the students that aren't accepted to university, many wonder if community colleges offer anything of value. These concerns raise important questions that need answers but, with the current state of affairs in education, it is unclear where these answers will come from, let alone, what the answers will be. How can this country strive to prosper in the world when the very future of the nation is being asked such difficult questions and no help is being offered? What venue can offer a voice that reaches out across school fences, across state lines, and across national borders? What is missing from the courses available online from prestigious universities around the world? Or, from podcasts and youtube videos that theoretically show how a person could get a $100K education for free from home?

In July of 2010, I started a youtube project to document recent graduate’s college experiences in order to find answers to these difficult questions. From the perspective of recent graduates turned professionals from across the country, I asked what people studied and why each person chose the particular field or career he or she was currently in. I asked: had the person made the right decision? Was there ever a doubt as to what he or she had studied at university? While a student, did that person stick to one major or change direction mid-step by adding a minor or a second major? I thought about the time during which I went to college and, looking back, realized that very little help is available to students that don't already have strong support systems in the community, home, or in school. As budgets continue to face deeper cuts at the federal and state level, I find that counselors appear more concerned with making students take more classes off a checklist than making sure each student is happy with the choices he or she has already made. Neither my life nor my goals is a checklist, so let's be honest with today’s youth and let them know the truth about college, life, and working in order to make their lives better. Let’s face it, if we continue to give aspiring students the same checklist as before, without addressing what is happening in today’s job market, many of these aspiring students going through the system will be frightened or stifled by the lack of information available to them, especially the students that do not have mentors or peers to talk to.

The United States is home to many peoples, including Latinos. I myself am half Mexican, half Swedish. Though I didn’t have a Latino community to guide me as I grew up, I did have great parents to teach me that, with hard work and a no fear-of-failure attitude, one can achieve many great things. From my parents, I learned how to ask for help from others based on the truth and value of a person’s knowledge, regardless of their background or beliefs. I believe that Latinos have so much potential to shape the direction and narrative of this great country but we first need to empower our minds and assess what the current system is doing to our families, communities, and friends. I find that a person’s natural tendency is to take the path that he or she is already familiar with. With this youtube project though, we can expand the minds of the youth to create even more possibilities. We can be PhDs, bankers, dentists, scientists, lawyers, venture capitalists, but we can’t strive to be what we have never seen before. The people I interview for the youtube project show youths what’s out there, what’s going on in their globe. Today, it is up to each individual to ask what he or she wants to accomplish, what his or her passion and true calling in life is, and to get the necessary support in order to pursue and achieve those dreams. My hope is that one day counselors will be able to direct students to relevant interviews in the fields and career paths of their choosing and from people who are their relative peers—people that chose a path, succeeded, and are telling others how to do likewise. We can reach them. I know we can whether it’s in Monterey, California or Monterrey, Mexico.

To view Erik's youtube project visit: youtube.com/whichdegree4me
& follow him on twitter @emcp_

Parents: the Latino secret weapon in education

Written By Jen M.D. Matos

When I was a little girl, my mother looked me straight in the eye and said “Jennifer, you’re going to school until you have gray hair!” I remember thinking “Wow. I am going to be old—at least 40 years old by the time I completed school.

This decree from my mother was one early indicator that mom deeply valued education. However, mom didn’t just say she valued education, she showed me. Every night, before she started her 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at the hospital, she would check my homework for neatness and completion and perform a “surprise inspection” of my book bag. If I didn’t finish a math problem, that problem would greet me at breakfast.
When the nuns at school sent home letters to parents asking permission to “paddle” us if we got out of hand, my mom signed up right away. Was she trying to kill me? At the time, I thought that this woman must want me dead. After doing some research for my graduate program, I learned that my mother, like so many other Puerto Rican mothers, was determined to provide me with the best education possible.

In her article, What Happens if Juan Cannot Read, Maitri Pamo offered the bleak statistics on Latinos in education. On May 13, I became a different kind of statistic—I earned my doctorate. What I learned from my dissertation research on Latino parents offered me a counter narrative to what is said about Latino parents, Latinos, and education. While the dominant story in this country is that we, Latinos, don’t value education, the opposite is true. “Successful” Latino students credit parental involvement for their academic success citing strategies like checking homework, checking book bags (Antrop-González et al., 2005), and teaching the importance of respeto (Reese et al., 1995).

Latino parental involvement may not be all about cupcake sales and PTA meetings because Latino parental involvement looks differently than it does for some White parents (Ascher, 1988). Since the Latino voice is silenced and marginalized in this country, and since our culture is stereotyped but not deeply understood, what Latinos offer as parental involvement is rendered invisible. The construct of parental involvement was intended for White, middle to upper-class parents (Berger, 1991). However, if you noticed, Latinos don’t identify as White, and the over 90-year old construction of parental involvement needs to be updated.

Parental involvement is an antiquated construction that needs to be revamped. The number of Latinos is vastly increasing in the United States. Teachers, schools and administrators can prepare for the influx of Latino students by incorporating the advice of some experts—Latino parents, themselves.

This article was first seen on beinglatino.wordpress.com & used with permission of the author.
If you would like to contact Jen or have additional questions, she can be reached at jdmatos@socialjusticeatwork.org.

Sources

Antrop-Gonzalez, R., Velez, W., & Garrett, T. (2005). Donde estan los estudiantes Puertorriquenos/os exitosos? [Where are the academically successful Puerto Rican students?]: Success factors of high-achieving Puerto Rican high school students. Journal of Latinos & Education, 4(2), 77-94.

Ascher, C. (1988). Improving the school-home connection for poor and minority urban students. Urban Review, 20(2), 109-123.

Berger, E. H. (1991). Parent involvement: Yesterday and today. The Elementary School Journal, 91(3), 209-219.

Reese, L., Balzano, S. Gallimore, R., & Goldenberg, C. (1995). The concept of educación: Latino family values and American schooling. International Journal of Educational Research, 23, 57-81.

Getting the most out of Twitter at professional conferences

While most of us use Twitter primarily as a social media tool, it is also an excellent tool for professional development (please check out @BreakDrink’s Twitter guide for student affairs professionals for a comprehensive how-to, including how to set up your own account). With conference season well under way for many of us, and NASPA about a month away, this is a good time to discuss how to use Twitter at conferences.

The first step is to begin following your professional organizations on Twitter if you’re not doing so already (ahem, @NASPAtweets). Note that several organizations host separate Twitter accounts for the organization itself and for their annual conferences, so check to see if this is the case (NASPA does not). If you plan to attend The Placement Exchange, I strongly suggest following their account at @TPEcanserv. Begin following these separate accounts right around conference time. Chances are that the individual updating the account will provide you with the most up-to-date information on happenings at the conference.

Consider setting up text notifications for the conference/organization account, especially if you do not anticipate logging onto Twitter or if you do not have a smart phone (you are not alone). This will ensure that if there is a last-minute room change or session cancellation for example, you will know about it immediately.

Sometimes, organizations will tweet about secret events or giveaways only available to Twitter followers. I remember receiving a tweet about free t-shirts and bouncy balls from @HigherEdJobs at last year’s TPE. Look out tweet-ups (Twitter-talk for a meet-up or meet-and-greet) at the conference. Attending tweet-ups is a great way to connect and network with other tech-savvy professionals and of course, to find new followers.

Finally, make note of hashtags that are created especially for that particular conference (#naspa11 is the 2011 NASPA Annual Conference hashtag). Save that hashtag as a search item on your Twitter app, or create a separate stream for the hashtag if possible to do so on your particular app (available on HootSuite, for example). Monitoring the conference hashtag will let you see what public users are saying about the conference. Most importantly, contribute to the conversation and use the hashtag when applicable (here is a warning from @StacyLOliver about hashtag abuse).

Do you have any other tips to share? Feel free to comment below. Remember to follow us at @tweetinglavoz. See you at NASPA 2011!