Career Tracks in Higher Education: Assistant Dean of Students

Eric Grospitch, Ed.D is the Assistant Dean of Students for the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. For this post, which is the second edition of our new guest post series on Career Tracks in Higher Education, Dr. Grospitch answered questions about his role, where it fits within the university, and what he does as an Assistant Dean of Students.

Name: Eric Grospitch, Ed.D.

Highest Degree Earned: Ed.D University of Kansas

Title: Assistant Dean of Students

Division his department falls under:  Student Affairs and Enrollment Management

Enrollment of the University of Missouri Kansas City:  15,492

Number of years of full-time experience Grospitch had when he began this position: 11

 The minimum education required for this position: Masters

Years of experience that were required for the Assistant Dean position: 8-10

What are your major responsibilities in your current position?

Responsible for oversight of Residential Life/Housing; Student Involvement (orientation, LGBTQIA, Fraternity & Sororities, Student Programing) Student Government, Student Allocations, Veterans programs, Campus Discipline

Does your role require direct service to students? If so, explain.

Yes, serving as an advisor to SGA, Allocations and various student focused committees.

How many persons in your department hold an equivalent rank? One.

How many people do you supervise? Are they Full-Time or Part-Time? Professional Staff, Trades/Custodial Staff, or Student Staff? (Please list numbers for each.)

• Directly – 2 Directors
• Indirectly:
  • Full time – Masters level –10
  • Full time administrative – 5
  • Full time maintenance – 5
  • Grad students -5
  • Undergraduate students – 50+

What is the title of the person your report to? What is the title of that person’s immediate superior?
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, and he reports to the Chancellor.

 What is your typical day like? Your typical week?

That is hard to say because each day is different based on the time of year with the ebb and flow of the academic year.

What do you spend the majority of your time doing in your current role? 

Clearly most of the time is in different meetings and following up on individual concerns, discipline or projects.

What did you think you would be doing more, when you applied for the job? 

I’m not sure what I thought I would spend more time doing, but I have spent more time working on enrollment management type conversations, and how all we do engages us in the recruitment and retention of students.

What survival skill is most important in your current role? 

Creating relationships with trusted colleagues is clearly the most important – and those colleagues may not be on your campus.  As you move “up” you are more and more isolated on your campus.  Having colleagues that you can connect with to bounce ideas, seek input and advice is critical. I have found that through my involvement with NASPA.

 Do you serve on committees within your department? Division? University-Wide? What roles do you play on these committees?

•  ZIPCar and Transportation Launch Team (Chair)
• Veterans Services Development Committee
• Collected Rules and Regulations Review Committee
• Academic Program Review Committee
• New Student Convocation (Chair)
• Divisional Customer Service Training Program (Chair)
• Campus Safety Messaging Committee (Chair)
• Case Management Team (Member)
• Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Divisional Assessment Committee
• LGBTQIA Partnership Committee (Chair)
• Violence Prevention Task Force  (member)

What advice do you have for persons seeking this type of position? 

The piece that has been hard for me, but most important is to take your time.  Many of us want Dean, VP roles, but the tradeoffs and politics need to be weighed as you move up – particularly as you balance life & job.  That said, I do think there are a few things to remember that I will tell anyone that will listen.

1. If you say you are going to do something, do it.  New and even seasoned professionals that forget or fail to follow through on commitments can quickly be chalked up to someone you can’t count on.
2. If you know something can’t be done in the time given, make sure you are honest in your statements. But again, if you say you can get it done, do it.
3. Do the things no one else wants to do.  With a smile.
4. Don’t have one year of experience 5+ times, work to diversify your work to get a true 5+ years of experience.
5. Look for ways to volunteer and get involved with different offices on campus.  Help with Bid Day, Orientation etc.  Those are tangible experiences that you can use to guide your career path later.
6. Get involved with a regional or national organization.  Whether reviewing proposals for a conference, volunteering at the conference, begin to build your network of friends and colleagues.
7. Don’t forget how small our profession is.  If you grotesquely burn a bridge in one place, it is very hard to truly start over, unless you are willing to reflect, learn and share about that experience.
8. Learn technology.  Twitter, web, etc.  We don’t need more technophobes and serving our students will require it.
9. Engage authentically in diversity training at all opportunities.  The more we know about ourselves, the better we are able to serve all of our students.
10. Read, Read, Read.  The student development theories that we learned in grad school are great, but things are changing rapidly and the research is trying to catch up.  Keep abreast of new ideas and concepts as it relates to retention and matriculation of students and bring those ideas (with appropriate citations/credit) to the table.

Eric submitted his article by e-mail, in response to my recent call for first-person perspectives on career tracks in higher education. You can, too! Visit our guest post submission form or e-mail sean@higheredcareercoach.com.

Do you have questions for Eric? Post them in the comments, or send him an e-mail. (He said it was okay!)