Working with my fraternity at such a large public institution has been a great experience as well as a challenging one as well. With 42,000 students, it has been a difficult process to cater to all the needs of the students, as there are many. This amount of people does not allow enough opportunity to build meaningful relationships and dedicate the amount of time one would prefer to any type of family. Lehigh has about 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students and boasts over 680 faculty members. Among these faculty members, are the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs (OFSA) staff team who have welcomed me into their family and helped me assimilate into the office culture.
My experience since arriving has been nothing less than
an enjoyable one with the OFSA staff personally seeing to whatever needs both a
fellow intern and myself have required, assuring we were as comfortable as
possible. At our first day, we were treated like part of the team and everyone
would mention some fun facts about the dynamics and culture of the office. We
were even integrated into their staff meetings, where the first one involved
everyone revealing fun facts about themselves, to better acquaint everyone with
each other, learning more about us and us about them. I would describe them as
very down to earth and unafraid to express themselves as they really are
without ever losing their sense of professionalism.
It is
this great sense of truth and transparency that makes them unique, but also attributes
to their great success as an office since they apply it not only between themselves,
but also their students, chapters, colleagues, and community as a whole. The
office works to continuously keep all parties informed of all their chapters’
progress as well as all office efforts towards supporting the chapters in all ways
possible. They seek nothing less than the growth and betterment of the chapters
and its members alike. This is most evident within their accreditation process,
which is subjective only to take the chapters into better consideration towards
working for an impactful development, and not just fulfilling another
requirement.
The
idea is to ensure that the chapters do things not because they have to, rather
of their own accord and for their own personal growth. It would be my personal
recommendation to many institutions, including my own, that they would do well
to model after this process and utilize it to further push chapters towards
self-governance and sustainability. Another great aspect experienced was the
realization of the importance of alumni support for Greek Life at Lehigh and
how much backing the university has from its alumni. They are a constant source
of support, both physically and financially. Alumni are incorporated into
school events, invited time again to attend all sorts of programming. There are
alumni well into their experienced ages that still return for university events
and traditions, like “The Rivalry” which has occurred between Lehigh and
Lafayette every year since 1884. This is
an example of great school pride, even beyond graduation.
Beyond
the OFSA, the remainder of the Student Affairs staff as a whole have also been great and even took
the time to set up an Intern Day where they gave a tour of the universities’ facilities,
provided constant opportunities to learn more about Lehigh and its departments,
as well as meet as many of the Student Affairs staff as possible. We were even
provided lunch alongside the opportunity to sit down and ask questions to the Student
Affairs staff, and a little later the Assistant Vice Provost/Dean of Students,
Sharron Basso and Vice Provost of Student Affairs, John Smeaton. These sessions
were the most impactful since they provided great insight into Student Affairs
at Lehigh, the culture, a bit of history, and advice for those of us pursuing a
career in Student Affairs. Overall, the Intern Day was a great success and one
would have never guessed that it was the first of its kind.
With
the experience so far, two significant things that I have learned about myself
as a professional is that I am now very open to new options as compared to my
prior mindset, and the importance of procedure in all things you do. Originally
in my mindset into a student affairs career, I still had the
hope to possibly locate a job at USF or at least an institution very similar to
USF in the state of Florida, since that is what I know best and have become
accustomed to. I could not really see myself at a small private institution
since I felt that I would become suffocated or possibly bored due to the sheer
size of the institution and student population. But my time at Lehigh has
helped me gain a better understanding and perspective towards small, private
institutions and see the many benefits that they provide in tune with my own
personality. Smaller institutions often will provide more opportunities towards
establishing close relationships with both students and staff alike, since
there isn’t an overabundance of both to spread you in all sorts of directions.
So an ample amount of time can be dedicated to personal interactions and
creating a bond.
All
of these experiences so far have
inspired me to work hard towards my assigned projects with the office,
as well
as to make specific, attainable goals for the projects, where I feel
that I am
making timely progress. These experiences have also made me
recognize my professional values and what they may or may not include,
like
working closely with other people and the type of relationship I wish to
establish. I know now, thanks to the OFSA, how much I value teamwork
and
comradeship with my coworkers and have new ideas to bring that back to
my
assistantship and institution to better both, as well as USF as a whole.
-Javier Gonzalez