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now to the brink of leading the entire department was also of particular
interest for me. This postsecondary educational leader has risen through the
ranks and makes for an interesting analysis of effective leadership.
Torres began working in this department as an undergraduate student
assistant for Student Outreach Services as a high school conference
representative. She was hired as a professional staff member in 2001 as an
Outreach Coordinator. She has since been promoted to Assistant Director of
EOP and Ethnic Affairs. Her primary focus in the department is Transitional
Programs which include Outreach, Recruitment, and Admissions (ORA),
Transfer Bridge, and EOP Programs and Events.
Cynthia Torres is the first person in her family to attend college. She
graduated from Hoover High School, less than 4 miles away from SDSU. She
attended San Diego City College where she attained her Associate of Arts
degree in Liberal Studies and Psychology in 1993. She transferred to SDSU
and was admitted through EOP as a Psychology major, attaining her
Bachelors degree in 1998. After several years on staff at SDSU, she attained
her Master of Arts degree in Postsecondary Educational Leadership - Student
Affairs in 2012. Her EOPS Counselor at City College was influential in
establishing her goal of becoming a high school counselor as Cynthia shared
that she wanted to impact and motivate students to want to attend college
because this was not done for her at her high school. Her EOP Counselor at
SDSU became her mentor and employed her as a High School Conference
representative for Student Outreach Services, which proved to be the foot in
the door that led to her career in EOP and Ethnic Affairs. This initial role in
EOP offered her an opportunity to leverage her experiences as a student
leader in MEChA and Associated Students to work with many student groups
in developing workshops and coordinating high school conferences as
outreach efforts to recruit underrepresented students to attend San Diego
State. This work experience changed her focus from high school counseling
to working in higher education.
The information collected for this study came from a personal interview
of Torres, interviews of members of her professional and student staff,
observations of her interactions with other staff, observations of her role in
the department staff meeting, informal conversations with Torres and other
staff members while on a walk across campus, and my own observations of
Cynthias character and reputation as a leader through our collegial
relationship.
Torres is an example of a skillful leader that deftly adapts her
perspective and use of multiple cognitive lenses. Her dominant frame of
leadership is the Human Resource Frame. She also uses the Structural
Frame when appropriate for producing reports, communicating data, and
sharing programming statistics. She stated that one of her core values is the
empowerment of students. This is the basis for the departments mission:
The Office of Educational Opportunity Programs and Ethnic Affairs is
committed to supporting first-generation, low-income students through
innovative outreach and retention programs that encourage them to persist
She provides information and support but does not direct them to perform
their jobs in any specific way. I found it interesting that she does not have
regularly scheduled meetings with her individual staff. Rather, she checks in
with them informally throughout the week to stay informed and to offer
support.
Regarding her use of multiple lenses, she said The idea of treating
everyone equally is flawed because everybody is different. She adapts her
communication with individual staff members based on their personalities
and work styles in order to promote their own growth and development. She
stated, It is important to build relationships with people and adjust my
approach to their personality and our relationship. She discussed how her
professional staff are very skilled at what they do and have a great deal of
autonomy while many of her student staff are relatively inexperienced and
unsure of themselves, which provides an opportunity to provide structure
and guidance. She further embodied the Human Resource Frame when
describing the office climate: We really do have a family unit here. We stick
by each other through the good, bad, and the ugly. After spending time in
this office, it was clear that her staff truly find satisfaction and meaning in
their work. They are empowered to use their full talents and energy in
support of their collective mission of empowering students.
This department is a clear example of the Team Leadership approach
(Northouse, 2013). Torres often makes leadership decisions about
monitoring her team or taking action. In most cases, she monitors their
progress and steps in only when necessary. At times she may intervene to
meet task needs. When necessary, her interventions occur internally within
the teams that she directly supervises. She may need to focus the team on
the goal at hand, or aid in structuring the task for less experienced student
staff members, she aids in planning and organizing events, and assists in
facilitating team decision making. Occasionally she takes external
leadership actions such as advocating and representing her team to external
entities. Her team consists of competent team members with clear,
elevating goals for their collective programs. Torres assists in developing a
results-driven structure that is based on data collection and reporting. Her
team is united in their commitment to their work and work in a collaborative
environment. The growth and development of the entire department is
testament to the success of their programming and initiatives to empower
SDSU students who might otherwise not be admitted to the university nor
persist to graduation. They have the data and results to support these
claims and continue to build upon them. An example is a new outreach
initiative to recruit higher numbers of American Indian and African American
students to San Diego State University. This effort is in support of the
universitys Strategic Plan of supporting diversity.
My observations in this study support the key principles of Northouses
Team Leadership approach and Bolman and Deals Human Resources frame.
It was interesting to observe these leadership principles in action in a highly
successful university program designed to empower underrepresented
Itinerary
Day 1
9:00am - 9:45am
9:45am - 10:00am
10:00am - 10:30am
Personal Interview
Department Tour and Staff Introductions
Graduate Assistant Interview
Day 2
8:30am - 9:30am
10:00am - 10:30am
11:00am - 11:30am
References
Bensimon, E.M. (1989) The meaning of Good Presidential Leadership: A
Frame Analysis. The
Review of Higher Education, Volume 12 (No.2), pages
107-123.
Bolman L. and Deal, T. (2008) Chapter 7, Improving Human Resources
Management, in
Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and
Leadership (4th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bolman L. and Deal, T. (2008) Exhibit 7.1 Basic Human Resource Strategies,
in Chapter 7, Improving Human Resources Management, in Reframing
Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership (4th ed.). San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
EOP Website retrieved from - http://eop.sdsu.edu/Content/EOP.html
Northouse, P.G. (2013) Ch. 11 Team Leadership in Leadership: Theory and
Practice (6th ed.).
Thousand Oaks: Sage.