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Professional Development on a Part-Timer’s Wage

Recently, I have been bumped down to even more of a part time status at work. Who knew that you could be part time at being part time? Well you can.

Naturally, my professional ego took a hit (again) when the news came out, so I started researching/thinking of ways to stay relevant in my career so I can ensure that I am able to stay up to date on Student Affairs things once the next job search starts (not that it has really ended, but I digress).

Granted I am learning a lot of things at work for the little time that I am there, but I know that I need to be ready for other functional areas and campus climates.

Plus as a part timer, I get absolutely no professional development funds.

Coming from Iowa State where I received $2,000 for professional development just for myself on top of all the things that the department and university provided at no cost to me, having nada was a bit hard to swallow. I was super spoiled there, but it also made me very aware of how important it is to stay in touch with the field outside of my job description.

When I graduated with my Master’s, I thought the world was so open to me. I never thought that almost 4 years later I would be where I am now.

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A bright-eyed Master’s grad who has no idea what is about to unfold.

Funny thing is, the world is still wide open for me, it has just taken a few humbling experiences for me to catch on to that.

I have been collecting little tidbits here and there for the past 8 months of how I can still get quality professional development but do it on the dirt cheap. AKA FREE.

So here is my journey to find professional development on a part-time wage.

My part-time-professional-go-to guide so to speak.

–>Organizational memberships

  •  In my field, it is fairly common to be a member of one of the large professional organizations, your functional area organization, and then regional organizations. Here are the breakdown of how numbers work for someone who is paying out of their own pocket.

NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators)

  • As an individual, it would cost me $75 to join.
  • Conference registration-$400-500 (not including transportation, hotel, and food)

ACPA (American College Personnel Association)

  • As an individual, it would cost me $93 to join.
  • Conference registration-$450-900 (not including transportation, hotel, and food)

AHEAD (Association on Higher Education And Disability)

  • As an individual, it would cost me $245 to join.
  • These are just the big guys. It does get cheaper the smaller the organization. I am sure you get the picture though that memberships cost money. Memberships do award you benefits and access to various things, but right now I am not sure it is worth shelling out my own small paychecks for. Some of these fees may not seem like a big deal, but any amount of dollars can make a huge difference for someone who is only getting 20 hours a week. So no dice on memberships.

Since memberships and conferences were obviously not going to work for me, I went on the search for webinars, websites, and online journals.

–>Webinars were quickly was scratched off my list because of cost again. I am looking for free here people!

–>Websites

  • This should be a no-brainer. Most websites are free to access, although some do require membership log-ins to gain more information, but you can get by without.
  •  My only struggle with websites are that it can get overwhelming really quickly with all the additional links and resources that you can click through. I personally get side tracked easily. I have found that I have to go searching for a purpose otherwise I get lost in time and get stressed out by what I don’t know. I mean is there a dead end on the internet?
  •  Here are some starting points for websites:

The obvious

A little more digging

  • Every functional area is going to have a website so just Google search it.

Random

  • Pepnet (This provides resources for people working with the deaf or hard of hearing population, but the information is invaluable for all professionals! I love clicking though resources, and I learn something new every time I am on the site.)
  • Student Affairs History Project (this is just really interesting to me)
  • I Google searched “student affairs professional development.” With this search, dozens of university divisions of student affairs websites popped up. After clicking through several sites, you can find A LOT of good stuff. I found presentations, articles, general knowledge. Also it was interesting to look into random schools and see how their divisions were organized and who did development on a division level. Fascinating. Mind expanded!

–> Journals, Newsletters, and List serves (oh my)

Upon digging into websites, I continued to find articles, which spawned into a whole category of its own. I have listed only free resources I use currently, but there are tons out there with paid subscriptions as well:

  • Chronicle
  • The Mentor: an Academic Advising Journal (email subscription)
  • Conflict Management in Higher Education-It is no longer being updated, but there are lots of articles you can open and read. And let’s be honest, some things are always relevant, and even if they aren’t it is nice to get historical context on some things.
  • Disability.gov-(email subscription)
  • Military.com-(email subscription) At first glance, this may be personal seeing as I am a military wife. However, most of the topics are relevant to college students, and I increasingly am seeing how military students are not talked about much on the college scene (another topic for another day).
  • Student Affairs on Campus (online articles)
  • Journal of Student Affairs at New York University (online issues)
  • I don’t use each of these every day, or even every week, but I try to really challenge myself to open something new every so often. Having a variety of websites to peruse allows me to see different views and issues. With some being emailed directly to my inbox, I can see highlights and click from my email account on topics that I find intriguing.

–>Other ideas I have had over the past 6 months

Stay with me on this one. With social media growing at an alarming rate, pretty much anything is searchable. Including presentations y’all! Bring the conference to me! Boom! You can search topics, student affairs presentations, trainings, etc. If you are willing to sift through search results you can find some pretty sweet gems in there! This takes some patience, because I sure did find some doozies. But in the name of free, it is worth it.

  • Facebook groups

There are a vast variety of groups to join.  I have a few that I follow that range from running to specific job areas. Each provide articles and a chance to connect with professionals across the world. My favorite right now as far as professional development goes is “Professional Development for the Student Affairs Professional.” They are constantly sharing articles, research, apps, relevant questions, etc. This has been easier for me because it is a quick format instead of clicking through links and tabs on websites or doing my own random searches all the time. Twitter would be able to provide similar benefits, I am just not familiar with that platform.

  • Books

I have a tub of professional books that I have collected over the years and have never read, which I am embarrassed to say. I have added this to my goals (30 for 30) to take advantage of these things I have already purchased. Also I am really excited to be connecting with Ellen on this goal as my accountability partner to actually make this happen.

  • Blogs

This one should seem obvious since I am a blogger. Some are just for giggles and are a place to relate and some are more prolific and make me ponder the meaning of my work. Blogs are a great place to see personal views across the field. I have a link on my sidebar to a large list of blogs in Student Affairs-The SA Directory. It is nicely organized in several ways so you can search a topic/area/person, whatever your heart desires. I like bloggers because it makes the profession seem more real and heartfelt to hear the personal stories.

  • Old conference schedules

In my online research, I kept coming across old conference schedules. I would find myself reading through a schedule from 5 years ago to see what topics were covered. This doesn’t give you a lot of meat, however, it is a great place to start if you are wanting to get fresh ideas or want to see what people have done. It has become a springboard for me to search topics and people (yep I look to see if people are “repeat offenders” with publications or presentations). Also, this gives you ammo when looking up things on Youtube. Sometimes you can even get the presentation material if you are lucky! (Can you tell that I am a Learner yet?)

  • Say yes to opportunities

While I may not have money for professional development, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been to any. I have jumped on free seminars here on campus and in my department. I am capitalizing on opportunities that are paid for me. I either find these by word a mouth or watching the daily APSU newsletter.

  • I did a presentation at a Wounded Warrior Conference
  • Seen a few webinars with the department
  • Attended a Women’s Leadership Series here at APSU
  • Attended a Retirement Funds Seminar here at APSU
  • Also connecting with the community I believe counts as an opporuntity-volunteering as POC (point of contact) for Tom’s Unit and working with the shelter are providing me different perspectives of interacting with people and constituents-oh and organizational structure.

–>Podcasts and Radio

My absolute favorite free professional development that I have found are podcasts and radio! Why I didn’t invest in this arena before now I have no idea! These are amazing. I love the ability to listen to people talk while I am working or doing other things. That’s what I call multi-tasking!

  • NPR is my go to radio. I listened to this while in undergrad for some political science and history courses, but I am not sure why I ever stopped. (Maybe it was my interview to be accepted into student teaching that scarred my NPR experience-I still see that professor in my nightmares.) NPR obviously covers a wide range of topics so you can pick and choose what you want to listen to. I think a worldly view is helpful when reaching out in the university realm.
  • You can find podcasts on most major professional websites. Some are free and some are not, but I have had a plethora of freebies to keep me busy.
  • As far as podcasts go, I have to say my favorite is from Life Work Balances. Each week a new interview is uploaded about various people across the field. This one PhD student (Conor) reaches out in different formats to find people to interview. Some he already knew, others recommended to him, and others who contact him. The topics range so widely, but ultimately we are all connected by the college student and striving for balance in this world. It has been really interesting and rejuvenating to hear each person’s story and context. As you know I love stories, so this is probably why this is my all-time favorite. Besides the personal stories, I have learned about various universities, programs and research focuses through these interviews. I learn best through personal connections, so this has been really meaningful for me to listen to these each week.

These are specific resources for Student Affairs and Higher Ed, however, I think the idea can go across professions. It does take some patience and diligence to find some of these things. If you keep at it, you can find a myriad of free resources out there to challenge your thinking and keep your mind fresh. It has been really encouraging to read through/listen to these resources. Being able to still connect freely has given me hope in my part time woes. I want to forever be a “student” in the profession and be able to evolve no matter what my circumstances may be.

As I reflect though, I have had great experiences since I started my Student Affairs journey and have been blessed with so many opportunities to challenge me professionally and personally. Some of my favorite learning moments have been at conferences that cost me several hundred dollars, and then others that I have done in the comfort of my own home in my pajamas have been just as worthwhile. You just have to be willing to say, “I still want to learn,” but also know your means in order to do so. Even though I can’t afford a lot of the “mainstream” professional development, I can still rock out some good stuff on my own. You have to have the gumption to make your own path sometimes, and with the way that technology is moving, you really can do so much for free. Thank you internet inventors for making this gal a little smarter!

Please note that these are all my opinions. I was not contacted by any group or affiliation to write about them. I got all links and prices directly from organization websites. I just wanted to share resources that have helped me in my Student Affairs journey and make professional development more accessible. My intention was to show that you can still obtain relevant and awesome professional development without shelling out any cash.

So there you have it. My effort to remain a professional as a part-time lackey.

Do you have other free ideas that I should be looking at?

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Homemade Bath Salts

Another homemade gift item. I made these for my step-mom and my aunt.

This one began as an attempt to make these bath bombs, but it turned out to just be salts.

Here is our story. I adjusted the directions to what we did, so if you want the “bomb” part, you need to follow her recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 3 c cornstarch
  • 3 c baking soda
  • 4-5 c lavender epsom salt
  • 1 c lemon juice
  • blue and red food coloring
  • muffin tins

Directions:

  1. Combine all ingredients (except food coloring) in a bowl and mix
  2. Add several drops of food coloring to get desired coloring
  3. Press firmly into a muffin tins
  4. Let dry several hours or overnight
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Supplies were all purchased at Walmart.

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Perfect and ready to be set.

So here is where we went wrong. I scoured several of these bath bomb recipes, and many said you could substitute lemon juice for citric acid. Well my pea brain didn’t translate that lemon juice is a liquid whereas the citric acid is a solid. So that liquid made a dramatic difference on the mold and how it stuck things together. For future reference, if you do substitute lemon juice, dramatically cut the amount. We added more of the dry ingredients to compensate. I estimated how much we put in there since we kind of guessed to make the consistency stick. (And I was in slight panic mode at this point, so I wasn’t thinking clearly about the documenting the measurements…)

Even after sitting for more than 24 hours, the molds did not stay as a mold.

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They were like mush.

Sooo, we decided to just keep them as mush and put them in the jars as salts. I will prevail!

I added a scoop to each one so the recipients can easily get enough out for a relaxing bath.

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This “recipe” made two of these large jars as salts.

Things to know if you attempt these:

1. Make sure you know what you are doing when you make substitutions.

2. Use silicone molds. Fortunately for this part, we could scoop them out with a spoon, but if they had hardened I am not sure they would have come out as nicely.

3. You will make a big mess and your kitchen will be overwhelmed with the smell of lavender. (Maybe the mess is just me…)

4. You should probably use someone else’s recipe. Just saying.

I will say that these do work though, so if you want bath salts, have at this recipe!

I hope you enjoyed another round of Pinterest vs. Stephanie.

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Crochet Infinity Scarf: Back Post Stitch

As promised, here is the scarf that matches the boot cuffs I showed on Sunday.

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I did this more than 6 months ago, so I don’t have specifics of how many stitches it took and the like.

I do know that I learned how to do the back post stitch! A friend of mine showed it to me, but here is a pretty good video of how to do it.

The only thing I did different is that I did not do a regular double crochet stitch in between each back post. So every stitch across the row was a back post double crochet.

I really like the ripple effect that it gives.

Then I used a needle to sew the two ends together so it became an infinity scarf.

Fairly easy, and it was super warm too because the back post makes it pretty thick.

I am not sure how this stitch would look on a blanket, but on scarves and hats it looks great!

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Quirks of Clarksville

I have been in Clarksville for about 8 months and there are a few quirks I have noticed about the roads here.

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1. Businesses in the area love sign spinning. Even in this cooler weather, I still see this happening. I would say that they are more than a distraction than they are an attraction for a business.

2. School Buses have pick up/drop offs on main thoroughfares. Who does this? Also I was not aware that when you are on a highway the opposite direction still has to stop for an unloading bus. I am fine stopping, but kids should not be crossing a 4-6 lane highway!

3. Hand washing cars is a mighty big thing in this area. On my way to work I see probably a dozen car washes offering the “best hand washed service” in town. From what I have seen they are fairly competitive rates with a machine wash. I feel that it rains too much here to warrant paying for a car wash. Maybe when I get a new car that will be something I am more invested in….but probably not.

4. Not only are kids walking across 4 or 6 lane highways, but people not associated with school buses just cross the street with traffic buzzing buy, and I mean not on a crosswalk or with the help of streetlights. It has been absurd to watch people just mosey on across the street like it is a sidewalk and will dart between cars like we are New York City or something. People do it in the rain, sunshine, night, day, with groups, by themselves, in suits, in pajamas…apparently it is a thing. The craziest sight is seeing people drag strollers and kids who can barely walk across the highway in full traffic! I have seen people standing in the middle turn lane for several minutes waiting for the cars (who are going around 45-50 mph) just whiz on by. Walking seems to be a way of transportation here, but they could at least find an appropriate crosswalk. Also if they are going to be doing this, they need to learn to wear reflective gear or bright clothing, maybe a PT belt. I am just saying reflective pieces of clothing are helpful for you and the drivers so we DON’T HIT YOU! (In case you were wondering, I have never hit someone, but it has come very close to this by my accord and others around me.)

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This is an example of the road where people walk across. Just imagine lots of traffic and pedestrians intermingling (and no flood).

5. One road can go by several names. It can be ridiculous trying to find a new place or give directions because one road has 4 different names. The main strip in town has the following titles:  Fort Campbell Blvd, 41A, 79, Providence Blvd, and 2nd Street. Now I understand how they correlate, but when I first got here, you can see how it may be difficult to keep things straight. There also isn’t the greatest signage depicting the changing titles. And depending on who you talk to will change how they refer to it. For example, I refer to it as Ft. Campbell Blvd, and Tom calls it 41A. It can get silly…I also still haven’t found the CiCis we were looking for back in August when our family was in town.

The things I probably would never know if I didn’t commute…

Have you noticed any quirks of your town?

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Crochet Boot Cuffs

I really tried pushing myself with my crochet abilities for Christmas gifts. It is about time too. There areso many things beyond blankets that I want to do, but I have some big blanket projects I need to finish first before the semester is over.

This project was fairly simple. I wanted to make boot cuffs for my sister in law since she wears boots all the time. This pattern was a good one to follow.

My one recommendation is to make sure you don’t make it too tight. Measure your leg with jeans on to make sure they will go over your pants.

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I crocheted the bodies first like this.

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Then I used a needle to sew the ends smoothly.

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There you can see the ruffle.

I didn’t get a final picture of them. Apparently in my haste to get all the gifts done, I took this one above and forgot a nice finish photo. Whoops.

This is what they look like with boots from the site.

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I made a scarf that matched, and I will be showing that later this week.

I hope that you had a great weekend.

The Whitener household definitely is ready to put this last week behind us. (We are lovingly referring to it as the week we would like to forget.)

It is a new week though, and honestly it can only go up.

Have a wonderful Sunday!