Running Head: PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ESSAY

Analytic Personal and Professional Essay

Elizabeth Kalinowski Ohrt
April 9th, 2016

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ESSAY

Since my last portfolio review, I have continued to focus on how to establish my

professional identity as well as address suggestions for improvement provided by the committee.
While it has been less than six months since my last review, I believe that I have continued to
make progress towards my long-term professional goals through a combination of engagement
within NACADA, continued exploration of my research interests, and communication with my
peers. I have been also been able to use my directed study to explore academic advising theory
and dissertation ideas as I reach the last stage of this hugely influential educational experience in
the Higher Education Program at Mason.
One of the biggest successes I have had since Portfolio II was the publication of an essay
on a pilot study I started in my Qualitative Research course and wrote for publication in my
Research Writing course. Proactive Advising with First-generation Students: Suggestions for
Practice was published on January 31st, 2016 in The Mentor, an academic advising journal
published online by Penn State. The experience was meaningful to me because it not only
demonstrated the hard work and effort required for publication (not to mention patience), it
showed me that this is something that I can do. It was reassurance that the research that I am
interested in is meaningful and important, and that my voice is worthy of being heard. While, I
knew all of this intrinsically, it is powerful to me to have the added assurance. I am grateful to
my professors for helping me to develop my research interest in first-generation student
experiences as well as my writing skills.
While I have not submitted anything new for publication, I have a few ideas that I would
like to pursue with colleagues. Since 2011, I have been working with my institution to help
create an academic advising network. We have had enormous success in connecting a
previously wholly disparate group of advisors. Focused on collaboration, communication, and

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ESSAY

professional development, the Mason Academic Advisor Network (MAAN) grew from three
individuals working together over lunch breaks to brainstorm ideas to over 250 advisors,
administrators and partners across campus. We have established a comprehensive advisor
training, a monthly workshop series, and a marketing campaign aimed at encouraging students to
see their advisors early on in the semester. Through this process we have heavily influenced the
development of advising reform on campus, which has lead to exciting changes including the
establishment of an advising vision and mission. We have shared the success of MAAN at
various NACADA conferences inspiring other institutions to begin their own networks. I look
forward to working with these peers to publish an article on our experiences so that others might
learn from our successes (and missteps).
This spring I presented at the NACADA Region 2 conference in Hyattsville, Maryland. I
was excited to present some of what I learned in my first-generation advising experiences
literature review and pilot study. I was able to talk about what I had learned through a poster
presentation. Additionally, I co-facilitated a roundtable discussion with a colleague on
longitudinal assessment of retention initiatives. This discussion was based on our experiences
trying to retroactively assess the progress of students who had participated in an intrusive
advising program I facilitated over the past four years. We had been asked to demonstrate the
long-term effects of our efforts by administrators and we found that this was a more complicated
process than originally anticipated. The roundtable conversation focused on hearing experiences
from others and sharing ideas, failures and successes. Participants left with a list of suggestions
so that they might avoid some of the pitfalls that we fell into (know exactly what you are looking
for, brainstorm the data you want to collect first, set a clear goal for when the work has been
complete).

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ESSAY

In order to address issues brought up in my Portfolio II review, I was able to take a

Directed Studies course to focus on theory (what it is and is not), expand my knowledge beyond
the higher education literature, and delve deeper into first-generation student literature. My
understanding of what theory is and is not was precipitated by the frustrating discovery that
theory connected to academic advising and its effects on student outcomes is not as robust as I
would like. There is currently only one identifiable advising theory that is specific to the
academic advising field, Integrative Learning Theory, which was proposed by Lowenstein in his
August 2014 article, Toward a Theory of Advising published in The Mentor. This article in
particular guided me in my current understanding of what I would consider academic advising
theory. Lowenstein asserted that academic advising theories should contain two essential
elements: 1. It must identify advising as a unique field of practice and thought, and it must
differentiate it from other, similar fields. 2. It should prescribe what should happen or what
would ideally happen in advising. While I agree with these principles, I identify as a social
science researcher and believe that advising theory should go beyond a normative framework. It
would be beneficial to the field to have a theory that can describe, predict or explain phenomena,
characteristics that are inherent in other definitions of theory.
After exploring some of the analogic, developmental, and normative theories used in
advising, I followed the suggestions of the committee to explore social capital theory and its
application to higher education. Pernas (2006) application of social capital in her student choice
model was particularly interesting to me. She explored the idea of habitus, and included social
capital as a key element in individual habitus. The focus of this model was on college access and
choice but I believe these ideas are applicable when examining student engagement and retention
as well. Social capital theory lead me into sociological research but I also explored ideas from

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ESSAY

economics (human capital), developmental psychology, Vygotskys Cultural Historical Activity

Theory, and counseling.
Advising theory was the focus of my directed study course but I found myself struggling
with how to apply this focus to identifying a researchable question. I switched tacks, deciding
instead to focus on reading more on the topics I found interesting to see how theory was applied,
but also, secondarily, to attempt to discover a question I could use for my dissertation. To
address my gap in first-generation student outcomes I have delved more deeply into this topic.
Understanding the financial barriers that many first-generation students face has been one area of
focus for my readings that I believe has created a more well rounded interpretation of their
experience. I also began to find literature related to first-generation student preferences for
particular advising approaches (developmental versus prescriptive). In pursuing this line of
inquiry I have narrowed down a research area interest: determining first-generation student
preferences in academic advising, how mandated advising or proactive advising may impact
first-generation student outcomes, and what elements of the advising relationship may positively
impact student outcomes. Currently, I am interested in examining trust and how this element of
the advising experience may impact student outcomes.
In addition to some of the content knowledge that I was asked to expand upon, the
committee pointed out a need for attention to editing, details, and APA format. These are
elements of writing that I do not naturally focus on in my process. Going forward, I believe that
it will be important for me to continue to seek feedback on my writing throughout my career.
Additionally, I have learned recently that I need to give editing more time in my writing process.
I often find myself rushing through the editing stage, focusing more on big picture elements like
flow and understanding, rather than formatting and style. As I move into the dissertation stage, it

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ESSAY

will be imperative to find ways to make editing a more prominent step in my process.
Over the past few months I have been reflecting on the end of my experience as a student
in the PhD program. In reading my original goal statement for admission into this program I am
reminded of my long-term goals: To improve upon my research and assessment skills, to
contribute to the general knowledge base on higher education and how we can help students
succeed, and to be a leader in my institution and in my field in retention and advising. I think I
have made great strides towards these goals and find that I have achieved most of them. I will
continue to pursue my goal of being a leader in the field in regards to retention and advising, not
only at my institution. I believe that my dissertation work will support this endeavor
tremendously and am excited to reach this stage in my PhD career.

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ESSAY

References
Lowenstein, M. (2014). Toward a theory of advising. The Mentor, August 12, 2014, Retrieved
from https://dus.psu.edu/mentor/2014/08/toward-a-theory-of-advising/
Perna, L.W. (2006). Studying college access and choice: A proposed conceptual model. In J.C.
Smart (ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Vol. XXI, 99-157.
New York: Springer. doi: 10.1007/1-4020-4512-3_3