As #CSAM14 comes to a close, we have one more featured #SApro to share: meet Clare Cady!

What was your path to Student Affairs (feel free to include your plans as an undergraduate, etc.)?
I am a student affairs legacy. Both of my parents worked in athletics administration at Colgate University, the campus where I essentially grew up. Doing my undergraduate work at Clark University, I worked at the Dean of Students Office, which was where I first learned about student affairs. It was watching the Deans respond to 9-11 that showed me the critical importance of student services and support in higher education.

Why did you choose a career in Student Affairs? 
The first time around it kind of chose me. I was encouraged to check out the field by the Deans who mentored me as a student leader. I was studying International Development at the time, and wanted to join the Peace Corps. Working in Residence Life was my plan B – mostly because I wanted to travel internationally. My Peace Corps application process got held up for health reasons, and I graduated with no job. I applied to jobs working in Residence Life while living in my car, and was hired at Smith College as a Residence Coordinator. I chose to take this route because I wanted to help students in the same ways that I had been helped while I was in school.

I made the decision to leave student affairs during my graduate program. I worked full time as a Residential Education Director at Washington State University while earning my Masters, and I was exhausted. I’d learned in many painful ways that working in the field was not just a more involved version of being a student leader. I learned that education was a business, that hard choices needed to be made, and often I would be the one making them and/or enacting them. It felt very dis-empowering compared to my student experience. Also at this time I was questioning WHY I was doing the work. Was it because I’d grown up on a campus, went to school, and then worked on other campuses? I needed some perspective, so I opted to take some time away and work at a therapeutic wilderness program for troubled teens. I defended my Masters thesis in between shifts in the backcountry.

After about 4 years away from the field I made the choice to return. I missed the dynamic nature of higher education, and wanted to reconnect with the campus experience. I returned on my own terms: I do work that is connected to my personal mission (the one that led me to pursue the Peace Corps) of ending poverty, I had better boundaries that allowed me to avoid burnout, and I had a clearer and more mature perspective on what student affairs and higher education was. It was the right choice, and I find my work and experience fulfilling on a personal and professional level.

What motivates you to be a Student Affairs educator?
Access – creating it, maintaining it, and helping others to understand the importance. I particularly focus on access for low-income students, which is informed by my education and personal experiences.

How did you discern that Student Affairs was your vocation?
I would not say that student affairs is my vocation. The word delineates one’s calling, which for me is not student affairs, it is engaging in work that promotes economic and social justice. Student affairs is a vehicle through which I can engage in this broader vision. I understand how pivotal education is in improving the lives of others, and have integrated that understanding in to my professional mission. I hope to look back on my career and see that more people had access to higher education as a result of my work. Right now student affairs is the place where I enact that mission.

How do you stay motivated through draining or difficult experiences in your work?
I take time to do the things that recharge me: alone time, exercise, hiking, time with friends. There are times when the best thing I can do is step away and pretend my campus, students, and job don’t exist. When stepping back is not an option, I find ways to dig deep by connecting those busy moments to my professional mission.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your job in Student Affairs?
In my current job (I have had several at this point) the most challenging things for me are the stories – so many stories with so many difficulties. Sometimes I need to tell a student that we do not have emergency housing, and I know they will be sleeping in a car or in the library. Other times I know that no matter what we do, the student will have to leave OSU. It is hard to hear these stories, but I feel honored to serve as a container to hold them when the student is with me – they are trusting me with their pain. The challenge is emptying that container when they leave. It is not healthy for me to carry those stories home.

What is the most surprising (but awesome) thing you’ve ever experienced in your job in Student Affairs?
Honestly, I think the fact that my current job exists has been the most surprising and awesome thing. There are not very many human services offices embedded on college campuses. We need more.

What led you into your Student Affairs functional area? Is it where you “planned” to end up?
I’m going to push back a bit on the need to categorize via “functional area.” There are a lot of unique spaces in student affairs that are not linked to traditional “functional areas,” and I am most certainly working in one. The profession is evolving along with the needs of our students. Should we even be creating and perpetuating these categories? It seems to me that if we continue to think within existing paradigms we might not find the creative solutions that our students need.

All that to say no, I did not plan on doing the work I am currently doing.

What has surprised you most about working in Student Affairs?
When I applied for my current position I had been living in my car for the better part of a year (this was the second time that I had to do this in my life), so I had a strong personal connection to the position and the work. I shared a little bit of my story in my interview, and was told later that my transparency was part of why they hired me. Who knew that being homeless would be a plus in a job search? That kind of open thinking is not present in all of student affairs, but it certainly is here at OSU and in many other places I’ve been.

What is the best thing about a career in Student Affairs?
It is a tremendous privilege to be able to work on a college campus. There is access to so many benefits and perks (not for all folks – there is certainly class stratification within the field). My work is flexible, varied, inspiring, stable, and supportive. I count myself very fortunate in having that.

What do you wish you had known before you chose a career in Student Affairs?
I think of my “career” as the body of work I will do in my life, which is not just in student affairs (and may not always be even now), so I would not say that my career is IN student affairs. It would have been helpful when I took my first student affairs job to know I may not always work in student affairs, and that is OK. Graduate programs prepare us with skills for an amazing array of work, and student affairs is one path within that. I teach in the CSSA program at OSU, and I am often the first person to say to our students that they may work in another field at some point in their careers. Yes, I am here to develop professionals who will be my colleagues, and I am going to do that to the best of my ability. That said, I think it is important to be real about this, and to note that there is no failing in working outside the field. Leaving and coming back was the best thing I could have done for myself, and I think I am much better at my job because of it.

How can new professionals succeed in Student Affairs? (what does success mean?)
By being flexible and creative. Odds are you will at some point work in a job that does not exist at this moment. Odds are something in your personal life will impact the plan and trajectory you are imagining right now. Succeed by finding your brand of success, and allowing that to evolve as you do. Not interested in being a CSAO? That’s great – we need amazing and seasoned folks working at all “levels” in the field. Want to see what else is out there that is not in student affairs? You may experience (as I did) a lot of pushback from people who think you are making a mistake. Find YOUR success. Define it for yourself, and move toward it at your highest level of work. There are as many paths in this field as there are people in it. Recently we have become very fond of the idea of “authenticity.” I think this is how I live as my authentic self.

What are the most important tools for learning about a career in Student Affairs?
People who have worked in the field. Hear stories. Talk to people who have been in the field their entire career. Talk to people who have been in the field, left, and came back. Talk to people who have left entirely. Ask about their experiences, their goals, and their motivations.

What do you consider critical topics for Student Affairs educators right now?
Access for underrepresented populations, developing communities with a shared sense of responsibility, college costs, integrating technology into the higher education experience in a way that better equips students for their life after graduation, expressing the value of student affairs in a data-driven environment.

Which student development theories do you use most often in your work (your “go to favorites)?
My office is an experiential learning lab for students interested in careers in human services, higher education, public health, or human development, so I rely heavily on Kolb’s Theory of Experiential Learning. I tie that in with Gast’s work on Adventure Therapy, which comes from my work in therapeutic wilderness, to create curriculum and assessment for my student workers.

As for the students I serve (as if I don’t serve my student employees, which clearly I do), I struggle with many of the “classics” in student development theory because they were developed at a time when access to higher education was primarily the privilege of middle and upper class students. They have their place, but I don’t ascribe to them as readily. I really appreciate the work of Donna Beegle, Will Barratt, and Lee Ward in better understanding low-income, generationally poor, and first generation students.

What does a typical day look like in your current position?
I’ll tell you when I have one. Most days I work on program development, engage in supervision, and meet with students in need. Research and assessment are also common themes.

What do your parents think you do (how do you explain Student Affairs to folks)?
Well I already mentioned that my parents worked in student affairs roles when I was a kid, so they have a really strong understanding of what I do. That’s pretty amazing, because I grew up watching them develop student leaders, and I can call on them for thoughts and advice if I need it. It is a tremendous privilege.

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