1. RA H.E.A.L. Series:
Holistic Education and Learning for Resident Assistants
Vladimir Rodriguez and Amanda Gilmore
pocomokehalldirector@salisbury.edu
manokinhalldirector@salisbury.edu
May 23, 2014

2. Introduction
Program Name: RA H.E.A.L. (Holistic Education and Learning) Series
Program Directors: Vladimir Rodriguez and Amanda Gilmore
The purpose of this program is to provide the RA staff opportunities to develop and
reinforce skills within their professional, personal, and academic lives. More specifically,
these are the overarching learning outcomes of the program:
1. To provide RAs training throughout the semester with sessions that will enhance
the job skills introduced during fall and spring training
2. To offer additional opportunities for RAs to develop new skill sets that will enhance
not only their current job performance, but also foster their overall personal,
professional, and academic growth
Statement of Need
Although RAs are thoroughly trained during the summer and spring months, we do not
provide them with active professional development throughout the academic year. In order
to best serve our students, we should provide extra opportunities for RAs to learn more
about their role in our halls and how to translate those skills into long-term applications.
Providing our RAs with the opportunity to enhance their job-related skills and personal
habits as student leaders should be a priority. As a department, we are always looking to
help our RAs juggle academics, the position, and their personal lives. Thus, this program
series will help them find that balance while encouraging both personal and professional
growth.
The continued training will also help to support our staff with common issues we faced this
year. For example, we spent a large amount of summer training reviewing protocol,
however, when the semester started, we ran into many issues from RAs who were not
calling the police or professional staff when it came to drug and alcohol incidents. Although
we spent several weeks discussing this issue, it was still occurring. The same protocol we

3. ingrained in our staff during training was the same protocol that RAs were struggling with.
This issue could have been addressed more effectively by offering staff the opportunity to
better understand protocol through a workshop. Additionally, considering that only
approximately 23 RAs are returning for the upcoming 2014-2015 year, these workshops
will help acclimate the overwhelming number of new RAs. This staffing situation creates an
ideal window for timely implementation.
Not only is it necessary to provide our staff with continuous job training, but it is also vital
to teach our staff how to apply these skills beyond the RA job. For those of them that have
an interest in pursuing a Student Affairs career, this training would be an especially salient
way to invest in their potential. Even if the professional field they want to enter is not
directly related, we should help them maximize the transferable skills garnered from the
RA position. Gregory Sawin argues that “transferable skills are those abilities that
employers believe are the most important for employees to have… skills such as critical
thinking, communication skills, and interpersonal skills are perhaps the most important,
and the most frequently cited in general” (Sawin, 2004). The department already expects
RAs to use these fundamental skills; specialized training would simply allow both the RA
and the department as a whole to fully capitalize on those skills.
Furthermore, the on-campus population as a whole will capitalize on the benefits of a
satisfied, well-trained student staff. If the RAs are stressed or confused, there is the risk of a
“trickle-down” effect on the residents. On the contrary, if our student-staff feels more
prepared, supported, confident, and balanced as a result of the RA H.E.A.L. series, it will
positively affect our residential communities.
Solution
With the support of the Resident Director cohort, Resident Directors Rodriguez and
Gilmore will voluntarily implement this series in the 2014-2015 academic year. In order to
accomplish the aforementioned learning outcomes, the training sessions will be catered to
address the vocalized needs of the 2014-2015 RA staff. To do so, surveys will be sent out to

4. each RA staff at the beginning and the end of the semester to understand what they
perceive as their current priorities, challenges, and interests. With this knowledge, the
department can help them explore relevant areas of growth.
Currently, the program directors envision these workshops taking place on Sunday
evenings at 6:00pm, ending before duty time. According to availability, they will be held in
the Chester Classroom or in reserved GUC rooms. Although these workshops are prepared
to function as optional, additional support for RAs, the department may find it favorable to
use some of the workshops as RA staff in-service opportunities.
In order to encourage RA participation beyond the merits of the information, the program
directors have brainstormed creative ways to gain positive buy-in from the RA staff. One
idea is to present these workshops as an opportunity to bond with your mentor/mentee. A
themed “Take Your Mentee” night presents an opportunity for this relationship to be
meaningful and active. Similarly, returning RAs interested in the RA H.E.A.L. program
would have the opportunity to assist or lead portions of the workshops in their areas of
passion, which in turn encourages their fellow RAs to come out and support him or her.
Giving the workshops this collaborative angle makes the program less intimidating and
more interactive.
Another idea to encourage RA participation is to use simple recognition rewards. At the
end of the year at the annual Sammy’s Award Banquet, RAs who attended at least 6 of the 8
workshops will receive a Gold Sammy certificate. Likewise, RAs who attended between 3-5
workshops will receive a Maroon Sammy certificate. These awards will recognize their on-
going commitment to furthering their personal and professional development and their
investment in the department.

5. Sample RA H.E.A.L. Workshops
Fall Semester:
1) September-- Protocol and Documentation
 Reviewing department’s protocol expectations
 Improving incident report writing
 Assuring confidentiality: Is it possible?
 Acting out role play situations and answering “what-ifs”
 What did you miss in training? Need clarification?
2) October-- Getting a Jump Start to the Semester
 Understanding how to use your time effectively
 Taking care of yourself throughout the semester
 Setting limits, maintaining balance, and addressing mental health
3) November-- Computer Lab Workshop: Revamp that Resume
 Effectively searching for summer and post-graduation jobs
 Developing a resume and cover letter
 Marketing your transferable skills
 Creating a LinkedIn account
4) December-- Check In before Check-outs
 How are you doing in the RA job, academically, and personally?
 Having fun: A stress relief activity!
 Evaluating your semester and where to go next

6. Spring Semester:
1) February-- It should go my way because…
 Understanding dispute styles and types of solutions
 Mediating roommate conflicts
 Reaching a mutually satisfying outcome in the workplace
2) March-- Who am I?
 Being self-aware
 Exploring my areas of strength and weaknesses
 Diversity self-test and discussion
 Creating my personal brand
3) April-- Communication and Motivation
a. Effectively communicating with your staff members and supervisor
b. Sensitively and appropriately communicating with residents
c. Staying motivated and de-stressing before finals
4) May-- Suit Up for What?
 Confidently yet genuinely networking
 Interviewing for experts: Interview styles, phone interviews, and etiquette
 End-of-the year flashback and progress reports
Evaluation
To evaluate the success of our programming efforts, we will designate learning outcomes
for each workshop. Each will have its own “lesson plan” that would be followed during the
session, designed either by the program directors or the specific workshop presenter.
At the beginning of each workshop, participants will complete an anonymous pre-survey of
relevant questions regarding the workshop topic. These survey questions will be measured

7. using a 5-point Likert scale. After the session is complete, the participants will also
complete a post-survey to assess what the RAs learned or feel more comfortable with
(Crompton, 2014).
In addition, professional staff observations will be vital to the evaluation process. The
professional staff is the front line in understanding their staff members, including areas of
strength and where they need further development. As the program directors, we will have
intentional conversations with the building directors to gauge if the workshops are having
a noticeable effect. Through these conversations, we hope to get honest feedback and
specific examples of changed behaviors among RAs. We would also determine what other
skills or areas of interest we should incorporate into our workshops.
Finally, having conversations with RAs that attended the workshops will provide us with
useful follow-up data. During these informal interviews, we would ask how they have
applied what they learned, which sessions were most helpful, and what sessions would
they like to see. These open-ended questions will help yield qualitative data to improve the
RA H.E.A.L. series and generally inventory the needs of our RA staff.
Cost
For this project, we are requesting a $200 budget. This funding would be used for
educational materials, refreshments, and certificates/rewards. We are requesting these
funds from the department in order to support the entire RA staff and the program
directors’ professional interests in staff education. Although the RA H.E.A.L. series will be
sculpted as a pilot program, we are open to exploring other financial routes that you might
provide to us.
Benefits
As a department under Student Affairs, we should actively search for new and innovative
ways to foster the growth and development of our staff members. We should strive to
provide our students with an understanding of how their skills can be applied to long-term

8. endeavors. Implementing this program will help RAs better understand their role and how
their skills can translate to life beyond college, preparing them for the next chapter in their
professional careers. Similarly, the RA H.E.A.L. series presents a teaching and professional
development opportunity for professional staff members, particularly the Resident
Directors. Presenting to students, creating lesson plans, and implementing training
sessions are all useful and marketable learning experiences for young Student Affairs
professionals.
Beyond the vast potential the program has to help RDs and RAs, the RA H.E.A.L. series also
has clear benefits for the Housing and Residence Life department as a whole:
1. More satisfied and productive staff, leading to happier communities
2. Improved protocol execution, mediation results, and general staff attitude
3. Greater output of reputable, well-trained student affairs professionals
4. A visible program to highlight the department’s investment in RAs
Additionally, this program will provide a low-cost evaluation mechanism for the
department. Through the implementation and feedback process of the RA H.E.A.L. series,
we would be able to better understand RAs’ overall thoughts of the department—what we
are doing well, where we can provide more support, and where we need to improve.

9. References
Crompton, P. (2014, April 21). Evaluation: A practical guide to methods.
Sawin, G. (2004). General semantics for better transferable job skills: A Review of General
Semantics, 147-150.