Staffing Your ProgramThe roles of directors, coordinators, students, and others

What We’ll Cover

• Staffing Standards

• Student Roles

• Considerations for where to house

• Sample Organizational Structures

• Opportunities for collaborating across campus

Staffing Standards

• 40 students: to 1 staff

• During BLP start up: clarify roles of staff and appoint director

• Bonner Director reports to Senior Administrator

• Creatively leverage available staffing (e.g., work study, VISTAs placed with partners)

Thoughts?Dividing Staff Roles?

Student Roles

• Senior Intern(s)—training, site liaison, administration

• Congress Representatives—two student leaders with a big idea project

• Bonner Leadership Team & committees—class meetings, projects, community fund

• Bonner student liaison with campus-wide student leadership structure

Bonner Interns

Who?• 1 - 4 motivated students, mostly rising Seniors or Juniors, who

serve in key program management roles

• Primary placement for 10 hours/week is with Bonner Program

• Have demonstrated and developed leadership qualities throughout program (or on campus for new programs)

How to pick?• Identify students who have strong understanding of

Bonner Program and/or how service is organized on your campus

• Groom students in junior year (or before)

• some Senior Interns start in the summer before their year

What they do?• Coordinate the Bonner Leadership Team (students)

• Organize and help lead meetings, training, & enrichment activities

• Help manage service sites, serving as a liaison

• Help manage BWBRS

When and& Where? • Senior Interns have track at Summer Leadership Institute

• Many also were Congress Reps or attend Congress

Bonner Interns Training & Support

• Every summer and through online connections

• intensive training

• program management

• how to lead your peers

• how to design and lead workshops

• download and use the Senior Intern Handbook

Bonner Congress

Who?• Two motivated students who show leadership potential and a

desire to improve your program, school, and community

• Willing to communicate with peers, the Foundation, and other schools

• Will make a commitment above and beyond their regular service hours

How to pick?• Educate yourself and prospective students on the role

• Work with students to identify idea for their Congress Proposal

• Create a process that includes student voice (voting, presentations, nomination committee) and administrator input

What they do?• Design & implement a plan for a big idea to build or strengthen

their Bonner Program, campus, or community

• Collaborate with other Reps and learn from other campus programs

• Attend two meetings annually

When and Where? • Online (emails, Bonner Congress Group, Wiki)

• Fall Meeting and track at Summer Leadership Institute

Bonner Congress - Big Idea Project

• Their role is to Represent, Build, Lead

• They identify a project for strengthening:

• community impact• student development• campus-wide culture

• Start-up can be the Big Idea project

Bonner Congress Meetings

• Every fall and summer

• inspiring learning

• national networking

• connect with national and international partners

• attend workshops

• engage in visioning, planning and sharing best practices

When looking where to house consider

• Access to resources

• Visibility and location

• Access to students

• Access and status with faculty

• Institutional respect

• The potential for building a culture of service

Some Governance Considerations

Strengths Concerns Other

Student AffairsFit with broader

departmental mission; student-led programs; larger

scale

Fails to become integrated at institution’s core; lack of

curricular change; co-curricular devaluation

Many campuses have started from this vantage point

Academic AffairsMay build around capacities of faculty & students; with care, meet more complex

community desires

Service can be episodic if only tied to courses; lack of

student leadership; staff driven

Having program under Academic Affairs does not

guarantee curricular change

Student & Academic Affairs

(separate but coordinated)

Can provide a broader range of student & faculty

involvement and types of engagement

Lack of coordination can lead to frustration; students left to navigate options on

own

This strategy may be equally effective; it largely depends on leadership & resources

Integrated Center

(‘hub’ where curricular & co-curricular are

combined)

Leverages resources & change; curricular and

co-curricular; high potential for campus-wide

institutionalization

Coordination and decision-making may involve more

time & people; building but no vision or plan

Many established campuses seem to be moving here, but

it requires power negotiations

Questions?Considerations?

Sample of an Organizational Structure

Center Director(manages Center & oversees Bonner Program)

VISTAs(training, enrichment, community partnerships)

Other Center Staff(manage other programs)

Senior Intern(s)(training, enrichment, community partnerships)

Bonner Congress Reps(Foundation link, student voice, special projects)

Bonner Student Leadership Team(class reps, committees, community fund)

Site/Project Coordinators(campus-wide volunteer management)

Bonner Coordinator(manages Bonner Program)

Start-Up Model: Grow Over Time

- Bonner Program director may wear multiple hats- Begin with 5-10 students (usually freshmen with some upper

class student leaders)- Progressively add more students each year (by class)- Link with campus-wide service programs from outset (for

events, projects)

Bonner Program Director(manages Bonner Program)

Bonner Leaders(5-10 students — 2 serve as Congress Reps)

Other Campus Faculty/Staff(engaged in community service learning)

Student Service Programs(campus-wide volunteer management)

Established Program: Continues to Build Staff

Bonner Program Director(overall management)

Bonner Scholars & Leaders(20-100 students — 2 serve as Congress Reps)

Other Campus Faculty/Staff(engaged in community service learning)

Center Director(manages Center & oversees Bonner Program)

VISTAs in management roles(training, enrichment, community partnerships)

Service Learning/CBR Staff(supporting academically-based service)

Community Work-Study Programs(i.e., America Reads, 1-2 year commitments by student)

Site/Project Leaders(for teams of students at 6-15 sites or clusters)

Other Student Service Projects/Clubs(1x or occasional service projects)

Other Student Leadership Roles

Site or Issue Team Leader

• Manage a team of students who work at same service site or with a similar issue (i.e. homelessness)

• Issue-based research• Help set goals and create long-range plans• Recruit volunteers and coordinate projects

Class Reps• Represent class on the Bonner Leadership Team• Familiarity with the student development model• Assist with cohort/class meetings (training,

reflection)

Committees• Examples include:★Bonner Love (community building)★Community Fund★Campus-wide Initiatives

Sample Campus: Rider University

Assistant Director of Campus Life

(Annie Pasqua)

Urban Education Coordinator / FT AmeriCorps Member

Coordinator of Community House / House Director

(Jane Sanchez)

President

Bonner Senior Intern

Administrative Assistant

(Vickie Mclaughlin)

Director of Campus Life(Dave Keenan)

Site-Based Team

Site-Based Team

Site-Based Team

Site-Based Team

Site-Based Team

Site-Based Team

Site-Based Team

Site-Based Team

Site-Based Team

Dean of Students(Dr. Anthony Campbell)

Bonner Leadership Team(2 Freshmen, 2 Sophomores, 2 Juniors, 2 Seniors)

Opportunities to Collaborate

Leverage the Bonner Program to build campus-wide

culture

Academic Departments

CBR, PolicyOptions.org, courses, minor, High-Impact Initiative

Chaplain/Religious Life

vocation; advising; enrichment workshops

Public Relations/IT Departmentmedia, news, website

Student Life/AffairsShared training; calendar; student

groups

Career Servicescareer advising, fairs, trainings, nonprofit career exploration,

internships

Multicultural Affairs

diversity, training, recruitment, community relations

International Affairs

study abroad, trips, internships

Admissionsrecruitment, selection, diversity

Strategies for Collaboration?

• Access to and stated support of senior leadership

• Financial support (i.e., work study, stipends) for students to engage in service

• Visibility in online and written communications (from recruiting to alumni news)

• Faculty engagement and curricular links

• Lived mission, strategic plans, and budget that reflects community engagement priorities

Key Factors for Institutional Support

• Strategically build your team—starting with students

• Creatively consider new programs—from more Federal Work Study placements to partnering with national organizations

• Integrate, integrate, integrate

• Communicate frequently, positively, and strategically with those above you—manage up

• Build a core constituency on and off campus

Recommendations for Building Support

What else?