Staff Motivation and Support: Critical Commodities in Student Affairs
Instructor: Joelle Davis Carter
CLOSED
Course Overview:
Staff Motivation and Support: Critical Commodities in Student Affairs is designed to encourage supervisors and managers to self-assess themselves through the Clifton StrengthsFinder and consider innovative and effective strategies and resources to more effectively motivate, inspire and support staff members. The concepts of E4 (Engagement, Empowerment, Evaluation and Execution) will serve as the guiding framework for this course. Through interactive discussions, readings, excerpts from a diverse array of professionals in the field; we will consider effective strategies to motivate staff as a means of cultivating staff talent and leadership in student affairs. The course curriculum has been constructed from higher education, human resources and organizational development and leadership literature. This approach will familiarize participants to various perspectives and challenge student affairs professionals, who are novice or experienced supervisor to think outside of the box by utilizing their own strengths and experiences as a mechanism to empower staff and advance the mission and goals of their respective units. Important Note: If interested students have already taken the strengths assessment, this course will be even more beneficial! Be sure to have your top five signature themes report on hand.
Course Outline:
This is an "easy-read and assignments based" course, developed with the demanding schedules of student affairs professionals in mind. Each week, participants will be expected to devote between 2-4 hours to complete required readings and other brief, reflective assignments.
Week One
This will include the StrengthsFinder assessment and provide a forum for participants to think more deeply about their own strengths and innate talents. Exercises and assignments will be designed to encourage participants to think about how they have and may apply their strengths to empower, motivate and inspire staff members.
Week Two
This will include readings from diverse bodies of literature including those from the human resource and organizational leadership literature. The concepts of E4 (engagement, empowerment, evaluation and empowerment) will be introduced for discussion.
Week Three
This will focus on how to apply the individual strengths coupled with the principles of E4. Participants will be provided with case studies and a final goal planning assignment to demonstrate how they would develop and implement a plan to support and motivate staff employing strengths and the concepts acquired during the course.
Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, active participants will:
Have a better understanding of their innate abilities and talents using the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment.
Gain new knowledge and understanding of theories and concepts based upon research on staff motivation and morale. Specifically, students will acquire information on ways to strengthen supervisory and managerial techniques.
Be able to develop an immediate, three to six-month plan action that specifically incorporates their natural talents and ideas to empower, engage, and evaluate staff members.
Instructor Bio: Joelle Davis Carter is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Education Leadership, Higher Education and International Studies at the University of Maryland College Park. Her primary research interests are minority serving institutions and issues associated with increasing diversity on Historically Black College and Universities, specifically. Prior to pursuing her doctoral work fulltime, Joelle served in several higher education administrations for over ten years. Her professional positions while at the University of Maryland included Executive Director for the Office of Human Relations Programs, Director for Diversity for the College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CMPS) and Coordinator for Transitional Programs in the Divisions of Letters and Sciences. In her capacity as Director for Diversity in CMPS, Joelle was responsible for implementing the College's diversity initiative called the Science and Technology: Addressing the Need for Diversity (STAND) program designed to increase recruitment and retention of women and students of color in the math and science fields. Within five years, she was responsible for increasing the graduation rates of minority students by 7% and raising over 1.5 million for diversity-related programs.
Joelle received her undergraduate degree from Winston-Salem State University in Middle Grades Education where she served as Student Government Association President for two consecutive years and received several honors for her contributions to student life on campus and in the State of North Carolina. After graduating from WSSU, she attended The Ohio State University where she received a M.A. degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs, which then led to her work in the field of student development. She is currently working in a part-time capacity at Morgan State University as Coordinator for the First-Year Experience while she completes her doctoral studies.
Joelle has prepared and presented numerous professional presentations and seminars on issues of diversity, leadership, strategic planning and program design to student groups, community organizations, corporations and educational professionals. Recently, she was recognized by the Prince George's County Business and Professional Women Organization as Woman of the Year for her work with a program called Girls Excelling in Math and Science (GEMS). As a Woman of the Year recipient, Joelle received citations from the Prince George's County Council as well as the Office of the Governor in Maryland. In 2003, Joelle received the Exempt Staff Award for Minority Achievement from the President's Commission on Ethnic Minority Issues. The Southern Association for College Student Affairs also honored her with the 2002 New Professional Award, which acknowledges the leadership and promise one demonstrates to the organization and to the field of higher education. She also served as Vice-President for Partnerships on the SACSA Executive Board from 2003-2005.
In addition to her professional work, Joelle is also the Founder and Chief Operating Officer for RJC Consulting, LLC, a company co-owned with her husband Randall L. Carter that specializes in providing premier training and development services for community agencies, educational institutions, and corporations. Founded in 1999, RJC Consulting has been invited to prepare and conduct trainings by National Association for Campus Activities (NACA)-South Region, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Reality Check New York City, Clemson University, Presbyterian College, Western Carolina University, East Carolina University, UPS, and Girl Scouts of Central Maryland.
