Senior management and business major Chase Moore created an organization that caters to students who are interested in student affairs.
Established earlier this year, Student Affairs Leaders of Tomorrow was created to help students gain knowledge about student affairs, prepare to go into the field and be competitive applicants for graduate schools.
At many institutions across the nation, there is a division of student affairs. Student affairs practitioners are people who work as directors, assistant directors and coordinators at a university.
The division of student affairs at Ole Miss encompasses many departments on campus that serve students, such as the Office of Admissions, Career Center, Center for Inclusion and Cross-Cultural Engagement and the Center for Student Success and First-Year Experience.
SALT meets biweekly, on Thursdays from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Catalpa Room of the Student Union. A typical meeting consists of program outcomes for students, a leadership team, training seminars and workshop sessions.
Moore said his hope is for students to engage with others through both the organization and different departments around campus and to utilize professionals.
“We have a mentoring program piece and each of the student fellows have two mentors,” Moore said. “These are people on our campus who work in student affairs and have signed up to be mentors to our fellows. They work all across campus in the different departments, but they engage in our activities and attend every formal meeting throughout they year.”
According to Moore, with the growing number of undergraduate students interested in the field of student affairs and higher education, SALT seeks to also increase the number of prepared undergraduates that go into the field.
“I recognized in my time here that there are a lot of pre-professional organizations, but there was nothing for students interested in student affairs,” he said. “A lot of students know that they want to go into it, but they don’t know how or what to do to get into the field.”
SALT aims to educate students in professional development, presentation skills, cultural competencies, dealing with different types of people, ethical decision-making and identifying career goals. Members work on GRE test prep, obtaining recommendations and constructing resumes and personal statements, all of which are required for a graduate application.
Currently, there is no bachelor’s degree for student affairs; however, there are many universities across America that offer a master’s program in the field, making it necessary to acquire a master’s degree in higher education to pursue a career in student affairs. Students wishing to obtain this master’s degree can have an undergraduate background in a variety of majors.
With October being nationally recognized as Careers in Student Affairs Month, Moore is looking to partner with the university’s Student Personnel Association, Black Graduate and Professional Student Association and School of Education to facilitate events such as a GRE Crash Course, networking function and Careers in Student Affairs panel.
Moore said he hopes these events will bring awareness to the field and show appreciation to the university’s student affairs practitioners and professionals.
“We want to be able to help anybody and everybody,” Moore said. “You may not know what student affairs is, but it might be what you want to do. There are students that love to stay involved and end up in student affairs. If you want to be on a college campus for the rest of your life, I would say look into it. It’s an awesome environment.”
Senior integrated marketing communications major Brittanee Wallace said she joined SALT because she was interested in learning more about the student affairs profession and gaining a personal network of peers dedicated to becoming excellent student affairs professionals.
“SALT has provided me with professional mentors in my field and given me invaluable information to aid in the graduate school process,” Wallace said. “I would highly recommend SALT to any student on campus looking for a club that will help you develop long-lasting relationships and skills.”
