Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 50, No. 1 - 53

The Oshkosh Placement Exchange Experience
and student affairs align their values, it is important to think critically about who will be
involved in the selection process. For professional staff, various stakeholders make up
committees that guide the search process, often on behalf of the hiring manager. The
same process should exist when recruiting and selecting graduate students. Winston
and Creamer (1997) acknowledged the importance of a holistic approach to staff selection,
stating that, when establishing search committees, " care should be taken in their
composition to ensure that critical constituencies are represented in the committee "
(pp. 144-145). Through this logic, one would think that the stakeholders involved in
the graduate assistant search process should include both HESA faculty and student
affairs supervisors. It would also be beneficial to include current students who serve in
assistantships. This collective perspective from staff, faculty, and students on the assistantship
and academic experience will provide vital insight to candidates.
At this transformative early stage in their career development, incoming graduate
students with potential faculty, supervisors, and classmates engaged in their interviews
and recruitment will benefit from a sense of holistic support that one might
not infer from a singular, one-on-one interview. Through a connected recruitment
and selection process, " graduate preparation faculty can support the development of
accurate perceptions by exploring the influence of institutional type, while supervisors
can inform prospective employees of the nature of the work at their institutions "
(Davidson, 2012, p. 89). This intentional and visible movement toward collaboration
between practitioners and faculty from the start of the hiring process will enhance the
experience for graduate students (Haley et al., 2011). This connection is only the beginning.
By continuing this partnership and " designing learning-oriented assistantships
and tightening the classroom-workplace connection, students will come to more fully
comprehend theory-to-practice experiences, resulting in the development of a credible,
professional identity " (Haley et al., 2011, pp. 15-16).
PROPOSED MODEL FOR FACULTY/STAFF COLLABORATION
AT THE OSHKOSH PLACEMENT EXCHANGE
There is a clear need and opportunity for greater collaboration between academic affairs
and student affairs (Levy & Polnariev, 2016; Nesheim et al., 2007). Our academic
and student affairs communities are often described as isolated in silos and lacking
meaningful interaction outside the respective division. Collaboration has power and
can yield a symbiotic relationship that benefits everyone, including the students. With
this in mind, HESA faculty and student affairs professionals took the opportunity to
develop an innovative collaborative partnership for recruitment at the Oshkosh Placement
Exchange (see Figure 1, page 51). This recruitment conference has historically been
attended exclusively by student affairs professionals (primarily within residence life) to
With the academic program absent from the interview process,
OPE candidates are not getting the full picture of their experience
as a graduate assistant.
50 The Journal of College and University Student Housing

Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 50, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 50, No. 1