Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Ten Commandments for Chapter Advisors

From Dr. Frances Lucas at her presentation at the NPC 2010 Annual Meeting. Thought provoking.

1. Thou shalt reduce the cost of the sorority experience as much as possible.
     [No one knows when the economy will turn around. Is it necessary to have a big formal (insert your big event here) every semester or even every year?]
2. Thou shalt emphasize the need to pledge non-Caucasian women.
     [Are we doing enough to be inclusive? The world is shrinking; the countries of the world are all interconnected. Our members need experiences that mirror this reality.]
3. Thou shalt understand ageism, especially how the generations are different and how that relates to Millennials (born 1980 and after).
     [We did a great exercise where we discussed with a member of our own generation the positive and negatives of each group (the Great Generation (born before 1946); Baby Boomers (1946-1964); Generation X (1964-1980) and Millenials (1980-present). Dr. Lucas shared our lists with us; good interactive activity!]
4. Thou shalt realize sexism is alive and well and educate members about it.
     [Give them tools to handle the real world.]
5. Thou shalt understand that Millenials will have seven careers over the course of their lifetimes (so life skills are crucial).
6. Thou shalt consider higher education professionals part of your team.
7. Thou shalt get educated about the new norms of sexuality.
     [Norms are much more fluid now than ever; understand that and if you're from another generation, attempt to under-react to the unfamiliar.]
8. Thou shalt listen.
9. Thou shalt role model.
10. (write your own) mine: Don't tell; engage them in conversation.

1 comment:

  1. I like (well all of them) the "understand ageism" one. It's sometimes hard, yet so important, to understand what they're like/what's cool to them/what kind of people they're dealing with vs. what we see and do in our more-adult world... we need a manual on this! :)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...