- Describe your view of Red Rocks Community College as an institution. What has driven you to seek a full-time position here, specifically?
- Long experience with this college, since first days in 2008 as a student
*Fell in love with Red Rocks belongingness-orientation. Putting community in the community college moniker - I think that Red Rocks has truly committed to building sense of belonging in students since long before it became a focus of higher ed. research
- Since my time as a student, Red Rocks has only grown in its dedication to building up the student sense of belonging and resources for student support
*Key examples: expanding TRIO grant programming, expanding student clubs and interactivity through Fox Life, creating High School Diploma program, just to name a few recent examples…
- Have been thrilled to see my own values reflected at RRCC, especially in the areas of social justice and racial, gender and other categories of equity-work…as with Red Rocks’ continued commitment to hiring for DEI-oriented positions in the face of recent administrative backlash…
*I couldn’t easily imagine wanting to work elsewhere, as there are very few institutions other than RRCC whose values and whose determination to live up to those values, so completely align with my own.
- Describe any college-service-oriented commitments you have taken on in prior higher-education roles:
- In my role of CPZ coordinator, current since 2022, I have:
*Helped contribute to RRCC sense-of-belonging by volunteering for minor, semesterly services, like working welcome tables and enrolling in the HR welcome buddy program for new RRCC employees
*Hosted student success strategies workshops on behalf of the First Year Experience department, during a time when FYE was long without an active director
*Served for almost 1 year with the CCCS Tutoring director’s functional group consortium, as its secretary. This has included:
*creating/recording meeting minutes,
*commuting to various CCCS schools to represent RRCC tutoring at
in-person gatherings of functional group,
*sending all meeting calendar reminder and follow-up
correspondences to group members, and
*checking in monthly to help co-chairs prepare for each upcoming
meeting*I’ve also consistently offered guidance and mentorship with new tutoring lab coordinators as they have come aboard to supervise other labs than CPZ
- Outline any relevant academic, educational background in the areas of math, English and/or communication. What makes you qualified to help spot for coverage, source competent tutors, or to provide discipline-specific training in these content areas?
*Academic background began with history, a heavily research-writing oriented discipline.
*That background made me a shoe-in for becoming the resident history/social sciences research writing specialist for the RRCC Writing Center, after I came aboard in that role in 2014.
*That academic focus also made me effective in promoting writing across the curriculum as a representative of our writing centers at CCD and RRCC to history classes and history, political science and geography department meetings.
*My long experience working as a writing center tutor, both in the specialty of history research and social science writing, and in other areas, like creative, technical and rhetorical analytical writing, makes me confident that I could easily fill in for any writing center tutors absent.
*The same experience makes me confident I could intelligently inform some of the discipline specific training in the WC, particularly on historical research writing and The Chicago manual of style.
*My extensive experience with writing tutoring also makes me confident that I can effectively assess prospective writing tutors for their fitness for employment in that lab.
*On the math side, my academic journey took me back to school for a STEM degree (math, stats and prob emphasis, completed in 2021). I received As in almost every math class I took there, College Algebra, through Trig and the Calc Sequence, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Real analysis, statistical theory and probabilistic modeling.
*That academic background served me well (especially having worked my way up from the very foundations again) in tutoring developmental math for a number of years in CPZ. But I have some experience spotting for tutors in the RRCC math lab, and giving content-specific guidance to higher math tutors here, so I am equally confident of my ability to cover when ML is short staffed, and to help develop or arrange math-specific training, and to effectively assess the fitness of various candidates for hiring in the RRCC math lab.
*Describe the key criteria you would be looking for in hiring potential tutors as a coordinator of multiple labs at RRCC, should you be offered the position.
Throughout my tenure as CPZ coordinator, I have consistently prioritized a few critical criteria in my hiring process for new tutors:
*Sufficient subject matter mastery - of course, I have taken pains to confirm the subject mastery necessary as a baseline requirement, a process for which I have reviewed transcripts meticulously and sought referrals from prior instructors, in the case of student tutors, and prior coordinating supervisors, in the case of professional ones.
*Signs of strong emotional intelligence and other tutoring-critical soft skills - I have always been a stated believer in the maxim that it takes as much EQ as IQ, if not more, to be a capable educator and I do consider a tutor to act as a kind of educator. Accordingly, I have tried to assess the patience, empathy, understanding, and freedom from pre-judgment in prospective tutors that I have found integral to a successful application of the tutoring craft.
*Professionalism and solid communication skills/habits - I am not stringent with tutors under my supervision; I strongly believe in playing the supportive role, rather than a domineering one as a supervisor. But I do work to coach all tutors toward maximum timeliness/punctuality, professional dress and work-appropriate speech and behavior. I expect tutors to communicate frequently, clearly and comprehensively with myself and with students they serve.
*Equity-mindedness or at least open-mindedness to equity-work - I expect tutors under my supervision to share my commitment to equity-work, as closing equity gaps is simply impossible unless the effort is sustained and concerted across all staff.
*Multicultural and Multi-lingual Tutor Background - Given my personal and professional commitment to equity-work and building students’ sense of belonging in an emerging HSI, I consider tutors with multicultural and multilingual background to be especially strong candidates as I have worked to diversify the tutor pool in CPZ over time.
*I am comfortable stating that each of my new hires in the CPZ since I’ve come aboard as coordinator has shared nearly all of those characteristics, and we have seen the staff flourish and leverage the power of diverse backgrounds and perspectives more than ever before. I think there is now an opportunity to bring comparable flourishing to the staffing of other labs going forward and I would be eager to apply these same criteria to hiring for those services, if given the opportunity.
Describe your experience working higher education tutoring spaces/roles. Emphasize any experience in a supervisory position.
*Experience tutoring goes back to 2010 - worked at CCD for 7 years in reading lab (since coming aboard in digital literacy center in ASC). Helped students there with reading comprehension exercises, digital story-telling assignments, grammar skills drills, and very basics of the writing process.
*Came to Red Rocks in 2014, worked for 7 years as a Writing Center tutor. My worked covered the full gamut of phases in the writing process and the research process, but I ended up specializing as a point-person for historical and social science writing in that center, including serving as an expert in Chicago manual of style formatting.
*Starting in January of 2016, I came aboard in CPZ as an ENG tutor, reprising much of my work for the CCD Reading Center years before. I performed in that role for 4 years, with a high degree of student satisfaction with my work.
*In 2017, I returned to school to seek a STEM (math) degree, after which I became able to help students in CPZ developmental math subjects. I worked in that capacity for 2 years before the COVID lock-down era, and returned to that work with the end of lockdowns in 2021.
*Overall, my higher ed. Tutoring experience spans 15 years, two Colorado community colleges, and three academic support resource labs.
*Supervisory experience began in April of 2022, when I was hired as CPZ Coordinator after David’s elevation to Director of Supplemental Learning, a position in which I have worked for all the 4 years since. [MANY more details in later potential questions].
Describe any experience you have performing the routine operational functions of a tutoring coordinator and highlight any employee or supervisor feedback that has rated your performance in this area positively:
*Again, been in the role of CPZ coordinator for the previous 4 years.
*Have overseen sourcing tutors, working with HR to hire and onboard them, training tutors in CPZ-specific content, communicating with employees and staff and faculty collaborators, marketing CPZ services to students, tracking budgets and assessing/analyzing CPZ tutoring’s usage and effect on student success.
*A few good examples of my innovative approach to hiring tutors in CPZ:
- Working to diversify the racial/ethnic make-up of our tutoring roster. On the math side in particular, I have successfully increased representation of Hispanic/Latino tutors in particular, many of whom are multilingual, to increase cultural engagement and sense of belonging for Hispanic students at our emerging HSI.
- Another example has been my work to increase the presence of student tutors in CPZ, again more on the math side (but also on English side in one notable case).
- These changes have, in my estimation, increased foot-traffic to CPZ, helping boost the sense of belonging for students even further, as they have sought to work with tutors who are relatable, who identify with them culturally, speak their languages, etc.
*In the realm of coordinating content-specific training:
- I collaborated with math faculty to provide math tutors in CPZ with a series of trainings getting them up to speed on excel-based statistical formulas used by co-req support stats students. This was a very well-received training series, based on anecdotal feedback from tutors themselves.
*On my communication as a supervisor:
- In the latest anonymous employee feedback survey rating employee experience and supervisor satisfaction in CPZ, conducted this prior Fall, 100% of CPZ employees rated their satisfaction with my communication habits as 5/5.
*In the area of budget-tracking:
- I have kept consistent records every semester anticipating the overall and subject-specific operating costs each term. I have also used those records to inform scheduling and programming for CPZ, throughout my tenure.
*All told, I have considered it a great privilege of my life to be entrusted with the various aspects of tutoring supervision in the College Prep Zone. I have received consistent “exemplary” annual performance ratings from David, my direct supervisor, as well as 5/5 “overall satisfaction” ratings from 100% of CPZ employees in an anonymous survey in Fall 2025.
*Would love to have the opportunity to apply my dedication to student services through high-quality tutoring administration, to other areas overseen by our department.
Summarize your knowledge of/experience using tutoring-relevant technology and programs, particularly those relating to tutoring disciplines like math, English and communication:
Throughout my experience working in higher-ed tutoring spaces, I have:
- Become acquainted with a variety of writing center scheduling programs, most lately the MyWCOnline platform. I am familiar and proficient with most aspects of the student and tutor interfaces for that platform, and am increasingly well-acquainted with the full administrator scheduling functions.
*Become very familiar with navigating, and coaching students in navigating, research databases, like Ebscohost, Academic Search Premier Plus, JSTOR, Google Scholar and more.
*Become proficient with the graphing calculator DESMOS, including built-in accessibility tools, which I have trained tutors to use in my current role overseeing CPZ math tutors.
*Become familiar with the Webwork homework submission platform, Pearson MyMathLab, and MyOpenMath.
*Leveraged my deep knowledge of excel functions (particularly statistical ones), in coaching/training math tutors who help students with excel-based stats problems. I have worked my knowledge of statistical processes into digital literacy and statistics course-relevant math handouts, for distribution to students in LC.
*Become proficient and trained tutors in the use of Wolfram Alpha’s AI-integrated calculator and unlimited problem generation tool, and have strong command of the syntax and interface for the symbolab online calculator application.
*Developed proficiency with digital tools for helping students become better at studying, and general metacognitive competencies for overall college success, including Brainscape AI-based flashcard generator, Taskade for time management and calendar creation, and Otter.AI for transcription of tutoring sessions/notes. I have trained tutors in all these programs, as well as general AI prompt engineering principles.
Overall, the key areas of focus for me in learning about and training tutors in tutoring-related tech have been: AI-integrated systems and assistive technologies for accommodating tutored students with disabilities, with the above giving just a few key examples.
Describe your understanding of and commitment to equity-mindedness in higher education. Share any relevant background in equity-minded programming/initiatives to which you have contributed in your work:
Equity-work has been a major overall centerpiece of my practice in my current role.
Most notable area has been in tutor training developments I have overseen:
*First training innovation was to establish/create the first-ever DEIB module in our mandatory new tutor orientation training course, which I did in collaboration with those who were then DEIB experts on campus.
*Eventually oversaw full-scale overhaul of all training material in our third level of tutor certification training series. Before I came aboard training focused mostly on multiculturalism, but I broadened to include curriculum on:
*How tutors can help build up student sense-of-belonging, grounding that discussion in cutting edge higher ed. research
*How tutors can engage with students culturally by using the CECE model of Dr. Samuel Museus
*How tutors can analyze the role of privilege in student success and work to check their privilege, especially when accommodating student differences without prior judgment or implicitly biased assumptions.
*Another vital aspect of my enhancing tutor training on equity-oriented practices, was to update our materials on topics related to accessibility and accommodating students with disabilities in the tutoring environment.
*All through the session I developed on that topic, I stressed the importance of accessibility as a vital aspect of inclusion for tutors in their best-practices, as students with disabilities will very often view having the disability as a core component of their identities.
*I took advantage of many professional development opportunities in inclusive best practices in higher ed, including two DEIB book clubs, one microaggression mitigation training, and the SAFE ZONE CCCS general P.D. offering.
But beyond institutional commitment, I am personally deeply motivated to embrace equity-work, especially as I become more and more convinced by cutting edge research, of the essential role of the on-campus sense of belonging in student success. I have worked tirelessly to instill that same ethos and commitment in the tutors I have hired and trained.
Share an example of when you worked to coordinate or provide accommodations for students with disabilities:
In my current role, I have regularly overseen special tutoring accommodations for students who qualify through the Accessibility Services office.
Example 1 - last fall, I arranged for one-on-one, high-impact, high-dosage tutoring for students in College Prep-level math classes, who were referred to CPZ by accessibility advisors.
- In one of those cases, the high-dosage tutoring that I scheduled for CPZ
math tutors to provide weekly, was consistently well-attended and likely
contributed to the student's having gone on to pass the course. Example 2 - I personally provided high-dosage tutoring to a student with cerebral palsy over two separate semester of economics coursework; I also arranged for the presence of a CPZ tutor to act as a real-time notetaking scribe throughout those sessions.
Another area of significant commitment to accessibility in tutoring supervision for me: overhaul of accessibility-oriented tutor training materials.
- I worked with accessibility services staff to expand the scope of topics in which RRCC tutors receive guidance on making tutoring accessible: now includes guidance in:
*accommodating students with various visible and physical disablities,
(executive functioning impairments like ADHD
*leveraged my knowledge from MHFA certification to give tutors guidance about serving students who are having significant mental health challenges during sessions.
*Also expanded pre-existing guidance on working with students with learning disabilities.
Finally, I’ve been consistently committed to providing tutors knowledge of assistive tech. Coordinated with accessibility services staff to host them as facilitators of assistive tech mid-semesters training for students, in Spring 2025.
All of these efforts have, I believe, increased access and access-oriented inclusion for students in LC and other tutoring spaces across the institution.
Describe any unique tutoring programming initiatives you have overseen, especially in math and/or English tutoring:
In my current role, I’ve overseen the expansion of tutoring programming for students at the development level, including collaborations with academic affairs:
*Expanded sphere of courses CPZ tutors serve on the Math side, from MAT-0250 and MAT-0300, to include co-requisite courses in Math for the Liberal Arts, College Algebra and Introductory Stats. Have developed and collaborated in development of supplemental materials (handouts and practice tests) in all these topics to distribute to students in CPZ. And overseen tutor training in these new content areas.
*Oversaw the creation of resources in digital literacy, for the first time offered through CPZ, and have encouraged CPZ tutors (ENG and MAT) to familiarize themselves with those resources and distribute them to students who have dig. lit. needs.
*Worked with math faculty to increase CPZ test review offerings for students to attend in prep for each upcoming exam; now includes all courses in MAT 0300/1340 STEMCore.
*Developed in-class workshops on study strategies tailored, by myself and by tutors I supervise, to specific course-relevant topics in each discipline. Example 1: workshop for CPZ English class on active reading for journalistic source analysis. Example 2: Active reading and note-taking in the OER statistics textbook, developed and offered at request of co-req stats teachers…
*Under my leadership, CPZ continued and expanded workshop offerings for drafting and writing exercises in developmental ENG classes.
*Oversaw scheduling/staffing for what I think were CPZ’s first-ever remote math tutoring services, utilizing appointment system in EAB navigate…
*I have also made CPZ available, when necessary, as an Accuplacer review/preparation resource for students referred from assessment center, allowing us to partially fill a role left behind after dissolution of the Learning Collaborative program.
Summarize your experience training tutors. Highlight any experience developing, hosting or arranging trainings on general tutoring best-practices/principles.
*Have taken the reigns of, revamped and updated our already quite robust general tutor training series. Includes (as David knows), 4 levels, from Mandatory new tutor orientation moving up through 3 levels of certificate training (each of which is linked to potential pay increases).
*Overall, I’ve taught 7 new tutor orientation classes, not including one I co-taught with David. Have also overseen the orientation, in a one-on-one format, of dozens of tutors individually.
*I’ve taught 5 theoretical foundations of tutoring classes (not including co-taught class). That course covers topics from andragogical learning theory, to tutoring as an interpersonal com. process, to Soc. method of questioning for encouraging students to engage in metacognition, to the theory of learning styles/preferences.
*Since having revamped material in working with students from special pops., I have taught 3 of those classes.
*Since rolling out newest version of the certification, level II course, now all around Assessment and its roll in best tutoring practice, I’ve taught that class once (or twice).
*I collaborated with area specialists in DEIB, accessibility services, instructional technology and academic affairs, in devising/designing that training content, and securing greater legitimacy and buy-in from tutor trainees and other interested stakeholders in our training program.
*I have overseen the first-ever full digitization of any certification training course (specifically Working with Students from Special Populations) an effort augmented by collaboration with instructional tech.
*I have also introduced our first-ever general “mid-semester” trainings. So far, I have taught 2 rounds of “AI in tutoring”, taking great care to update all material in the rapidly changing world of AI-integrated higher ed. tech. We also hosted the disability access technologist for one round of tutoring-relevant assistive tech.
I’d be thrilled to see how the general tutor training program would evolve, should I be entrusted to continue in its oversight going forward.
Describe any experience you have coaching employees in general, and tutors in specific. What formats have you used for providing employee feedback, or for soliciting feedback from your own employees…Summarize your general philosophy of coaching and/or providing feedback to direct reports:
In my role as CPZ coordinator, I have worked to provide consistent informal feedback, with regular check-ins to inform their performance and provide feedback on my supervision from them to myself.
Just this past fall, I worked to formalize the process with our first-ever digital feedback surveys, one for reflecting on their own performance and one for giving feedback on my performance as supervisor.
In response to their results from the first survey, I gave appropriate praise and provided resources for addressing their (most often self-identified) areas for improvement, in attempt to employ long-term coaching strategies as currently advocated by RRCC Human Resources/leadership.
In response to results from the second survey, I worked employee feedback into my managerial trajectory for the spring, especially in areas involving the marketing and promotion of CPZ services to students.
I would characterize my coaching and feedback style as mutual and collaborative. While I have had to sometimes wield authority that overrides tutors’ ideas of how the center should operate, I always prefer when I can lean on as much input, expertise and participation from employees as possible.
I’m a firm believer in the many minds multiplier of productivity, in the nurturing of employee buy-in for programming, and in the power of constructive, candid and transparent feedback to strengthen organizations with asymptotic improvement.
How would you characterize your style of leadership as a supervisor?
My approach to supervision is motivated by a few key concerns:
In my view, collaborative input from all employees is essential to leverage diverse expertise and experience of the whole team. Examples: I’ve tried to loop in tutors on all projects/materials design processes/programming initiatives, and to consult with them on marketing/promotion of services.
I would also characterize my supervisory style as highly communicative. I hold myself to an extremely vigilant standard of correspondence, and I try to exercise transparency about new updates for our services/department and broader institution, wherever possible.
I generally have an open-door policy for my office, and overall, employees seem to be quite comfortable approaching me, especially with immediate needs.
That is not to say that there haven’t been times when a firmer, more authoritative (less collaborative) approach has been necessary, but on the whole, I believe that my employees are trustworthy, both in professionalism and tutoring competence. I have been satisfied to let them operate with significant agency, until they give me a reason to modify that approach.
In all, I believe in promoting the workplace psychological safety that comes with supervision that is communicative, collaborative, trusting of experience/expertise, open to feedback and reflective upon critique.
How would you rate your ability to work as a member of a departmental team? What has your role been in tackling group projects on professional teams in the past?
From early on as CPZ coordinator, my administrative role extended well beyond my own sphere of job duties - I consistently volunteered to contribute to our overall team success in a few vital areas:
*Routine Learning Commons operational oversight, particularly later in the workday, overseeing Student assistants in their closing duties, after other administrators had long since finished for the day.
*Marketing and promotional representation of LC at events across campus (mostly through student life and concurrent enrollment tabling and speaking opportunities)
*Data analytical functions - routinely volunteered to analyze and visualize Pear Deck remote tutoring data to inform departmental virtual tutoring programming.
*Revamping the learning commons and tutoring webpages, with my colleagues after the rollout of the new college website
*Organizing/moving/placing furniture in our spaces
*Covering for my teammates during bouts of absence
Overall, I’ve been very fortunate to have terrific team members who are just as keen as myself to ensure that our department runs smoothly and continues to grow its impact on student success.
Describe your efforts to promote tutoring services to students. Give an example of an innovation in tutoring marketing that you have spearheaded and describe the results:
As CPZ coordinator, I have worked to reimplement pre-COVID era marketing techniques employed by earlier coordinators, including:
*Carrying forward prior practices of semesterly CPZ promotional correspondences to developmental ENG and MAT class faculty
*Working with RRCC marketing to updating and running monitor ads across campus
*Conducting semesterly orientations to our services to whole classes upon instructor request
I have innovated in the area of marketing as well, expanding student outreach to include:
*semesterly direct email campaigns to all students in CPZ-relevant courses (first online and then for ALL courses)
*CPZ paper flier distribution with embedded QR codes, linking to CPZ webpage, at least once every fall and spring semester
*the CPZ’s first ever direct-to-student texting campaigns using EAB navigate software
Results: a separate assessment of CPZ tutoring on the math side in 2024 showed a nearly 5% increase of usage by students eligible to visit the center from 2018 to 2024. This could be evidence that the aforementioned marketing efforts have proven successful since I’ve been in my current role, though of course other factors may surely be at play.
Provide an example of a time when you collaborated with faculty to develop resources for students and/or tutors:
Solid examples:
*Oversaw design and facilitation of workshop in student success skills at the request of instructors in both math and ENG departments, including: active reading and note-taking for OER math textbooks and active reading for analyzing journalistic sources.
*Also worked with instructors to provide content-specific math tutor training; specifically on helping students use excel-based statistical formulas, a training held over two consecutive semesters.
*I also worked with faculty to gain approval for math handout materials for general distribution to students in LC
*Faculty have also aided in my design/development of tutor training materials, most notably for Assessment in Tutoring (where I worked with ENG and MAT faculty to provide trainees with in-class assessment docs, and AI in Tutoring mid-semester training (where I worked with computer science and math faculty to ensure accurate representation on AI technologies).
Provide examples of when you collaborated with other, non-faculty staff to develop resources for students and/or tutors:
As CPZ Coordinator, collaborated with non-faculty staff on a number of critical fronts:
Hosted original workshops in the area of scholarship essay writing for students in COSI/TRIO/STEM grant programs; helped facilitate several such workshops, whether or not I was the one presenting…
Recruited disability access technologist to provide tailored tutor training to our department staff on tutoring-relevant assistive technology
Recruited instructional technologist (Digital Accessibility Coordinator) to provide guidance in making digitized tutor training resources in our certification series web accessible
Also collaborated with IR to conduct data-driven assessments of relationship between CPZ math tutoring and student success
All of these projects were very fruitful and well-received by students/tutor trainees/faculty/staff concerned.
Summarize your own professional development that has helped maximize your effectiveness in tutoring coordination. Emphasize any certificates you have obtained, conferences you’ve attended, or research you have completed as a part of the process…
During my time in my current role, I have engaged in many rounds of voluntary professional development, including:
*Mental health first aid certification - principles from that training were incorporated into my revamp of working with students from special populations tutor training…
*Stop-the-bleed training to maximize my helpfulness in extreme medical emergencies
*I have enrolled in two different DEIB book clubs, attending almost every discussion session for each, to learn about the critical role of equity-work the communitarian success of our college and our ability to serve our increasingly diverse community as an emerging HSI
*I have completed many voluntary training offerings through CCCS professional development program, including SAFE ZONE for serving students in LGBQIA+ community, conflict resolution training, and stress management for employees.
*Went on to incorporate principles from many of these trainings into my own tutor training materials for broader tutor/employee benefit and edification…
*In terms of conferences, I have twice attended the Chancellor’s Summit on Adult Education, and have twice attended the COLTT (Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology) conference in CU Boulder; focused on attended sessions centered on issues of access, inclusion and AI.
My own training has, I believe, made me a more effective supervisor, a more caring colleague, a more calm/collected employee under stress, a more capable conflict resolver, and a more passionate/powerful advocate for student belonging, inclusion and access…
Describe any experience assessing the effectiveness of a tutoring program under your leadership:
*Conducted, in Summer of 2024, a comprehensive assessment of relationship between CPZ math tutoring and student success for all student data between SP ‘22 (when I first came aboard as coord.) and SP ‘24. I focused on that timeframe both to avoid folding in data skewed by COVID era and because it corresponded with period of my leadership.
*SU ‘24 Assessment results: showed significant benefits to math students seeking CPZ tutoring other those who did not, both in terms of course passing rates and finishing grade value averages.
*Pattern especially pronounced for students in MAT-0250 (20% boost in pass rate), in Hispanic/Latino students served (13% boost) and in first-gen students (11.5% pass rate).
Overall usage of CPZ math tutoring services increased by approx. 5% (as proportion of all students eligible for service) from a prior ILEARN assessment of 2018.
Half of that time was spent under my leadership, so I am proud to report that during that time, CPZ has remained an invaluable resource for the specially vulnerable population in developmental math courses.
Describe your approach to conflict resolution with or among tutors as employees or with students you have served. Give an example if possible.
I’ve been fortunate that I have not needed to employ conflict resolution techniques all that much; I have only occasionally witnessed conflict emerge.
One recent example of when my training in this area was helpful was when one our CPZ employees expressed that there had been a personal and ideological clash between herself and a fellow CPZ tutor. The former saw the latter as adopting a somewhat deficit-minded perspective in working with a particular student.
At the time I was surprised to hear that report, given that I had known the other tutor for years and had never known her to express deficit-minded perspectives on students performance.
My approach to the conflict was to ask the employee with the grievance to share the details with me privately, during which time I took pains to listen fully, validating her emotions as she gave voice to her experience and perspective.
It turned out that, by serving first as a listening ear for that employee, instead of jumping right into reaction, I was able to help diffuse the negative impression she had formed of her colleague.
She ultimately concluded, after our discussion, that her co-worker would give her a good opportunity to share her own perspective and to maybe have productive conversations together where, even if they disagreed, they could learn a lot from each other, and grow accordingly.
Since then, the two have successfully avoided conflict and confrontation, even when working shifts that overlap.
I would summarize my management of conflict resolution, even when I am directly involved in a conflict (which is rare) as follows: start with listening, proceed with measured, reasoned deliberation, act with transparency and basic human respect, no matter the circumstances, and then escalate any disciplinary action if necessary.
I find that when this playbook is followed, extreme conflicts can be avoided, even in situations where tensions and disagreements have arisen.
What questions do you have for this hiring committee or for the leadership of the department encapsulating the position for which you are currently applying?
I have heard much, in recent months of talking with different leaders in the CCCS tutoring director’s/coordinators community, about the need for tutoring services to evolve, in both format and approach, to accommodate fast-moving trends like AI-integrated tools for academic support.
My main curiosity about this department at RRCC as it is and as it will be is this: how do you all see tutoring/academic support evolving to fit an educational environment in which students are increasingly reliant on AI tools and what would the role of this associate director be in contributing to or helping to manage any aspects of that evolution?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND CONSIDERATION FOR THIS POSITION!
-
Active Study Presentation86
-
Test-Taking Strategies Presentation64
-
Time Management46
-
Andragogy42
-
Andragogy Review14
-
Tutoring as an Interpersonal Communication Process38
-
Theoretical Foundations - Session #199
-
Theoretical Foundations - Session #281
-
Effective Scholarship Essay Workshop73
-
Students from Special Populations - Session #1116
-
Students from Special Populations - Session #281
-
Learning Commons Introduction Spiel14
-
CPZ Introduction Spiel - Math9
-
CPZ Introduction Spiel - English9
-
Sample Bio Flash Cards AI Training7
-
AI in Tutoring Sample Deck7
-
Reallocation Interview Qs22
