Recently, a long-time friend retired after having worked in Student Affairs for three and a half decades, almost all of which he spent at the same institution! For 25 years, he served as the Vice President for Student Affairs at this mid-sized New England university. You can only imagine that during his tenure, he hired many, many colleagues to serve the students of his university. With each and every hire, on their first day on the job, he greeted them and gave them a copy of the 1937 Student Personnel Point of View (SPPV). He asked the new staff member to read it so they could discuss it later in the day. Place yourself in the role of a new member in the Student Affairs Division at this institution. Imagine that you have been warmly welcomed by the Vice President as you came into your new office, received a copy of this 1937 document, and asked to have a discussion with him at the end of your first day on the job. Like most new staff members, the idea of discussing this document with the Vice President for Student Affairs on the first day in your new job is overwhelming. You remember reading it in graduate school but haven’t picked up a copy since! When you mention the invitation from the VP to your departmental colleagues, each one uniformly tells you that this was one of the most influential professional development activities that they have ever participated in! Although you are skeptical, you have no choice about whether you will join the VP for this discussion. Since you have some time before the meeting, you decide to write out your answer as a way of gathering your thoughts and prepare for the discussion. For this first question of the week, place yourself in this position as a new staff member at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) preparing for your discussion with your new Vice President. Please submit your written thoughts in answer to the question — Does the 1937 SPPV relate to our work with students today?
