SEAHO Report - Fall 2024 - 18

FEATURE ARTICLES
Reimagining a Graduate Student
Employment Position with Purpose
By Mitchell W. Furtner, Vanderbilt University & Samantha McCann, Vanderbilt University
To ensure our Graduate Area Coordinator (GAC) position, Vanderbilt University's graduate staff level
housing position, aligns with department values and fulfills the mission of the unit, we (Mitchell Furtner, Area
Coordinator and Samantha McCann, Graduate Area Coordinator) were tasked as a new committee to develop
and implement goals and provide suggestions and guidance on the GAC position at Vanderbilt University over
the past academic year.
We developed a plan through a lens of business management and human resource management while
considering student development and the unit's values and mission. Our research and review identified four
key areas we believe every university housing department employing graduate students should consider
and review as it relates to the graduate employee experience: consistency, job performance plan, staff
development planning, and belonging.
Consistency
We first started with a full review of the job description and the creation of a universal task list. The job
description review is a great first step and way to ground all decisions. We reviewed the description and
compared it to what we wanted our graduate student staff to accomplish. It was also important for us to review
the job description taking the mission and values into account to ensure everything we kept, changed, or
added aligned with these founding principles and documents. We found the job description to already be well
aligned with all founding documents and needs.
Creating a universal task list was key to ensuring equity and consistency across the different areas of our
campus. This initiative recognizes the variability that may exist due to the distinct supervision teams and living
communities. By establishing a universal set of tasks, we ensure all graduate staff are working towards the
same goals and objectives. To create a universal task list, the committee first surveyed all GACs to collect
data on the job tasks they regularly completed, including items such as weekly key audits, in-person office
hours, bi-weekly staff meetings, student staff accountability conversations, and coordinating community events
and programs. The data revealed a few inconsistencies across teams. For example, some GACs reported
participating in weekly committee meetings while others participated on a bi-weekly basis, and the level of
involvement in different administrative tasks varied throughout. Therefore, the committee utilized the survey
data to compile a universal task list that outlines the specific responsibilities that all GACs should fulfill in their
role. This task list will be utilized during the recruitment, interview, and onboarding processes for GACs as well
as with Area Coordinator supervisory training.
Job Performance Plan
A vital component of any role is job performance. To truly develop a graduate employee program, more than a
solid job description and consistent work needs to be set - there also needs to be a strong and consistent job
performance plan. While this committee was in the process of developing the graduate employee program,
our central leadership team was developing a robust job performance plan for our undergraduate student
staff. This process was developed with a restorative practices framework to ensure proper coaching and
development was built into the process and all actions taken were restorative rather than punitive. Standard
expectations were set with regards to different job aspects and some common outcomes and responses were
described. We suggested the model be duplicated and adapted for the graduate employee role to provide
further consistency in the department and build upon a strongly developed framework. While we have not
finalized this component yet, we are confident it is the last component to our process and a necessary piece to
create a strong graduate employee program.
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SEAHO Report - Fall 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SEAHO Report - Fall 2024

Contents
SEAHO Report - Fall 2024 - 1
SEAHO Report - Fall 2024 - Contents
SEAHO Report - Fall 2024 - 3
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