Community Leadership Observation Paper

Community Leadership Observation On September 28, 2015, my group members and I observed a staff board meeting at the Office of International Services. There were seven professional attendees, which hold roles of Director, Assistant Director, Assistant Director for programs, Programs Coordinator, Graduate Assistance in Communication, International Services Coordinator and Office Manager. These professional board members represent the Office of International Services at NCSU through, following the NCSU and government standards to better assist students coming from outside of the United States. These full-time faculty’s relationships to students serve as a primary resource to students while they live in the United States. At the meeting, Mr.
Carl Thomas, the International Services Coordinator and Office Manager, had an agenda item for every issue that the staff discussed. The rest of the members were invited to join in the discussion as soon as Mr. Carl addressed a topic from the agenda. Based on each person’s interjections, it appeared that everyone felt comfortable contributing. Besides that, Ms. Elizabeth James, the director, who allowed us to participate in the meeting, played a significant role in terms of affirming decisions or concluding what they discussed.
Many topics were discussed in the staff board meeting, of which I am only going to discuss a few.
The staff’s first discussion was about remodeling their offices. All members were welcome to share thoughts on supplies that needed to be replaced in the office. The other topic was on hiring full-time professional faculty for advising. Ms. James mentioned that they are low on staff, and it is difficult for the current staff to handle many students. While this appeared to be a major problem by listening to the staff discussion, Ms. James revealed that having lower staff in the department caused them to not focus on other programs designed for students. An energetic topic addressed by the staff was to have students involved in programs because they realized that only few students attend programs. They also talked about job opportunities on campus for international students, which would enable students to work 20 hours a week in places like Talley and the Library. From all the topics that they discussed, they plan on having another meeting before fall break to report what they had to do. There were deadlines on some things that they discussed, such as remodeling of the office. They hoped to achieve some things by the end of fall and spring semesters. The staff showed that they collaborate by asking and listening to each person’s opinion as well as finding a common
ground.
Based on the interest shown by the staff who appeared to be concerned about students, I learned that the staff work hard to make sure that they meet students’ needs. Despite their diligence in assisting students, there is work that needs to be done on students’ part. This means that it is students’ responsibilities to reach out to their advisors or staff to share their concerns. It is difficult for staff to know students’ concerns if there is no communication. I came with this conclusion because the staff mentioned students seemed to be isolated. The observation helped my group members and I think about how to approach our community when doing the assessment. I found programs for our community at NCSU are extensive and, I believe, our community can benefit from them. Since the staff mentioned students’ absence in programs, I believe the main focus is to find strategies to have students take advantage of these available resources.