Author: jarnold   Posted: 12/01/09

Greetings!

It is difficult to believe that this semester is nearly behind us already! I sincerely hope that you’re finding some time to refresh and energize yourselves, both personally and professionally, in the midst of what can often feel like a relentless pace!

By now, I trust that many of you are aware of the new “collaboratives” model that our association has adopted for resourcing and supporting our membership. I’m eagerly anticipating the development of many collaboratives that will engage and equip our members, and am looking forward to seeing this model becoming a robust, value-adding experience for our membership. I am pleased to be serving as the point person for the New Professionals Collaborative, one of the pilot collaboratives that will be launched this year. Additionally, Andre Broquard (Dean of Student at John Brown University) and Ezra Johnson (Associate Dean of Residence Life at Indiana Wesleyan University) are serving on the leadership team for this collaborative. We wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves, share a few brief thoughts about the New Professionals Collaborative, and invite you to ask a fellow colleague to consider joining us as we grow together as student development professionals.

As a collaborative, our mission is to educate and equip new professionals in the field of student development. Specifically, our desire is to see new professionals “thoroughly equipped” to serve Christ faithfully at their institutions. In the included brochure, you’ll see that we have outlined three goals that will assist us in pursuing this mission. Specifically, we plan to: provide engaging resources relevant to new professionals, provide support and encouragement for new professionals by creating numerous opportunities for connection, and by providing professional development opportunities that will encourage engagement and growth. In addition to these goals, we have devised a number of strategies that we are currently exploring that will help “give legs” to our mission. Currently, we are in the process of compiling a standardized professional development plan for new professionals. As I write this, mentoring “minutes” with seasoned veterans of the profession are being developed. Finally, we are in the initial stages of exploring the feasibility of a case-study competition for new professionals.

While our collaborative is still in the embryonic stages, we are excited about partnering with seasoned veterans and serving the new professionals of our organization. My hope is that this glimpse into what is in store for our collaborative has energized your own professional fervors. If you would like more information on how to join the New Professionals Collaborative, please feel free to contact me at jarnold@shorter.edu.

Blessings,

Joshua Arnold

Author: jarnold   Posted: 12/01/09

P.S. The “included brochure” will be posted soon. Please feel free to email me at jarnold@shorter.edu to request a copy in the meantime.