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K-State Today

March 28, 2016

Student Life assistant vice president presents at National Association for Student Affairs Professionals annual conference

Submitted by Carla Jones

Carla Jones, assistant vice president and senior associate dean of student life, presented a session, "Connecting Within Student Affairs and Across Campus as an Associate or Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs: Common Purpose Lessons From the Field" at the National Association for Student Affairs Administrators: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education Annual Conference March 12-16 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Jones led a panel discussion of issues related to leadership in student affairs and across higher education institutions. Included in the presentation were competencies for the associate vice president and assistant vice president position formulated by the association and the American College Personnel Association, or ACPA. The six areas of professional competencies are:

• Personal and Ethical Foundations
• Values, Philosophy and History
• Assessment, Evaluation and Research
• Law, Policy and Governance
• Organizational and Human Resources
• Leadership
• Social Justice and Inclusion

Some of the specific competencies addressed by the panel included navigating campus politics; serving as a mentor or role model for others; translating student development theory to diverse audiences — e.g., colleagues, faculty, students, parents, policymakers; sharing data used to inform key decisions in transparent and accessible ways; ensuring decision making processes include perspectives of various groups on campus, particularly those who are underrepresented or marginalized; engaging in campus governance; and assessing the effectiveness of the institution in removing barriers to addressing social justice and inclusion issues.

Jones has served in various roles within student life at K-State for more than 22 years. Her areas of supervision have included the women's center, the International Student Center, nontraditional student services, dean of students office, students activities and services and student government, as well staff support for strategic planning, accreditation, student learning outcomes, staff development, connection with academic affairs, student retention and risk management.

Prior to moving to Kansas as assistant dean of students, Jones was director of residence life at East Carolina University, assistant director of housing at the University of Florida and assistant residence hall coordinator at the University of Texas at Austin. Jones holds a bachelor's degree in English and secondary education, and a minor in French from Jacksonville University. She has a master's degree in higher education/student personnel from Florida State University and a doctoral degree in higher education administration from the University of Florida.

Jones serves as adjunct assistant professor in the College of Education at K-State, where she teaches in the student development graduate program. She serves on doctoral and master's committees and leads efforts to cultivate relationships between the college student affairs training program and student life. Jones also has served on the executive board for ACPA twice as director of commissions and chair of the professional issues national committee. Jones is noted for her work on the NASPA pre-conference program on the assistant and associate vice president position in student affairs.

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