Managing Conflict and Crisis
Graduates should have the ability to deal effectively with interpersonal conflict and campus crises.
Specifically, students should be able to...
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Provide leadership and positive solutions to resolving interpersonal conflicts
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Respond calmly and thoughtfully to campus crises
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Provide support to individuals, both students and employees, who have been adversely affect by interpersonal conflict or a campus crisis
Crisis Prevention and Management
As part of the Counseling Issues in Higher Education course I researched and designed a presentation about Stalking and Date Rape within the context of college and university campuses. The presentation was created to be presented as a workshop at a Student Development conference and/or training. A portion of the presentation focused on theories that are relevant to the issue of stalking and date rape including Feminist Theory (Davis, 2000), Evolutionary Theory (Davis), Social Learning Theory and Sexual Script Theory (Humphreys & Harold, 2007). The presentation also included extensive research, definitions, interactive activities, and suggestions for how Student Affairs Professionals can assist in the prevention and management of the issue.
Program Proposal Powerpoint Presentation
Leading Your Team
As part of the Administration in Higher Education course I wrote a paper entitled “Leading Your Team: A Case Study on Strategies to Improve Employee Performance.” The paper was centered around a conflict within the office I am currently employed in. The paper summarizes the conflict (an undergraduate student employee who is not meeting performance standards), discusses three strategies that could be used to resolve the conflict, and suggestions to the supervisor in how to incorporate the strategies into the actual situation. The three strategies discussed within the paper were created based off of the following published theories and/or concepts: Structural Frame (Bolman & Deal, 2008), Human Resource Frame (Bolman & Deal), and Inspiration in the Workplace (Gallo, 2008) with supporting research from Tucci (2008), Goldsmith (2008), and Bolman & Deal (2001).
Office of World Mission Staff '07-'08
Crisis Situations
I have spent many years working in youth ministry as both a volunteer and as paid staff; in youth ministry I have had several opportunities to be involved in crisis and conflict intervention and management.
Student Pregnancy
This past summer I had the opportunity to walk alongside a female student from my youth ministry during a crisis situtation. Several weeks after summer camp I recieved a text message from a student who seemed desperate to talk to me. I called her to find out what was going on, but during our phone call she insisted that we meet. We met up about an hour later and she immediately revealed to me that she believed she was pregnant. During our time together I did a lot of listening! We also discussed her options, next steps, and what role she would like me to play in the next few weeks and/or months.
Sitting with this young woman as she grappled over the decisions she had made and the decisions she needed to make about her future was a blessing and an honor. I have never felt so compelled to sit, listen, and mourn with a student as they shared their life with me. It was in these moments that I began to truly understand the desperation, heartache, fear, anxiety, and stress that comes along with an unplanned teenage pregnancy. I have never truly understood how trapped a young woman could feel by a pregnancy until I looked into this student's eyes; here she was ready to leave for college in two weeks with the opportunity to pursue her dream of an education and now one action had put all of that into jeopardy. No crisis management class or youth ministry seminar can prepare you for this moment; it is a moment that I had prayed would never come, but it did and through it all God granted me with listening ears, a loving heart, a graceful spirit, and a wise words.
Student Injury
In youth ministry, unfortunately, student injuries occur fairly frequently due to the high risk activities we and our students participate in on a regular basis (i.e. snowboarding, skateboarding, wakeboarding, etc.). Typically the injuries are minor: scraps, bruises, bumps, and sprained ankles; however, sometimes the injuries are of a more critical nature: broken bones, deep cuts, unconsciousness, and/or seizures. On several occasions I have been a first responder to a student injury.
A minor injury that occured while playing vegetable softball
