Joe Sabado – Higher Education & Technology Leadership

I will be  attending a training session today to prepare for my role as a Transitions Course facilitator for STEP (Summer Transitional Enrichment Program), a summer bridge program for incoming first generation and under-represented students at UC Santa Barbara.  I feel really privileged to be invited back for my second year as a  facilitator. I attended STEP in 1991 as a student and I was also a Resident Assistant in 1994. For the past few years, I have supported the program’s technology needs which includes developing and managing an on-line application/registration system for students and a management system for the staff.  With all the services and programs I have been involved with at UCSB, STEP means the most to me. This is what introduced me not only to the university and its resources, but it was also where I met some of my life-long friends. As I review the agenda for the training, I find myself reflecting on my experience in student affairs as a student who used the services, as a student worker in multiple departments and as a professional. I think about the significance of my job to me personally, what really drives me and why I enjoy it so much.

I really don’t know what makes a good student affairs professional or what makes one qualified to be one. I don’t have an advanced degree in this area so I certainly do not have the theoretical perspective on student development, administration and thorough understanding of historical background, amongst other areas.  At times I feel inadequate because I don’t have the formal education so I read as many literature I come across with and I have several mentors to provide me perspectives. I have even gone through an entire list of readings listed in a syllabus for  a graduate course in higher education administration.  While I have thought of pursuing a Masters degree in Student Affairs,  life and financial circumstances have not been so accommodating.

What I do know is that ever since I was a student in 1991 and when I became a professional as a student affairs webmaster in 1996, I have always enjoyed working with students, hoping to make a positive difference in their lives, and helping other colleagues in all areas of student affairs. Most of my colleagues at UC Santa Barbara and those I met  in the social media world know me as a technologist because that is my current professional role and have been the last 15 years. A colleague told me once “sometimes we forget that you’re more than a techie, we tend to put you in the IT box.” I typically have not shared my experience as a non-techie in student affairs so I can’t blame them for putting me in the techie box. But as much as I love technologies and the satisfaction of being able to deliver web applications, vendor systems, technology delivery is not ultimately what I think what my job is. My job is student service.

What I find rewarding about student affairs is that I learn so much about so many different aspects of life, not just student life, but life in general.  My role as a divisional level resource  has allowed me to work with all departments in UCSB Student Affairs. For example:

• When I work with the Women’s Center, MultiCultural Center and Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, I learn about gender, class, social justice and discrimination issues that still in our society.
• Working with Educational Opportunity Program and STEP reminds me of the issues first generations and under-represented students and families must face. I was a first generation student when I came to UCSB and I still see the same issues I faced back then with the generation students I interact with today. There was no one in my family who mentored me on how to deal with college life issues and that there is formal education to be pursued beyond my undergraduate degree.
• Working with Counseling Services, Student Health Service, Disabled Students Program and with mental health practitioners involved with Distressed Students Protocol remind me of the serious physical and mental health issues students must deal with in and out of the classroom. It also reminds me of the need to accommodate the different backgrounds of the students that must be taken into account when dealing with them.

Where I find most personal satisfaction is working with students and the other activities outside my technologist role. Serving in  student fee advisory committee, student resource team, reading admissions applications, and serving as student organization advisor provide me with reminders of who I am ultimately serving, the students, and that I am able to somehow make a difference in their lives is what motivates me. As an aside, moving forward with new technologies like social media and mobile web, I have also found these activities very critical to my understanding of the culture and trends of students today.

The fact that I am able to enjoy a career that combines my interests in technologies and student affairs is a blessing I don’t take for granted.  In my role as a leader in a central student affairs technology department, I do try to impart to my team members the perspective that we are student affairs employees and technology is what we contribute to our organization. In order for us to be effective in what we provide, we need to understand not only the business processes but the culture of student affairs in general and the sub-cultures that exist within each unit.  I left student affairs 3 times in the past to pursue other opportunities but I ended up coming back.  I am not sure what the future holds, given budget cuts and efforts to combine university units but what I do know is that to this point in my life, having a career in student affairs has been really great, professionally and personally.

A person’s identities can be defined many different ways. I sometimes define mine based on my relationships as I view them and how others may see me.  These circles are connected, never isolated. Depending on the context, a particular circle grows bigger than the others.   As I define them at this moment, these circles are the most salient to me.  When I revisit these circles in the future,  I am sure they will not be the same. What are your circles?

You listen to what others say about you often enough that you start believing them. This is particularly true  when others point out your “limitations” and “shortcomings”. I have gone home feeling angry because a co-worker, intentionally or not, wronged me.  It really used to irritate me when some individuals infer that I am somehow in my position because of preferential treatment or that I’m not qualified. I have been asked jokingly “How many asses did I have to kiss to get my position” or that I’m a “neophyte”.

I convinced myself I was not qualified for a position because I don’t have the education, I don’t have the abilities to do the job, I don’t have the experience or I’m of the wrong color.  For years, I played the “victim” role.  At some point, I guess I got tired of feeling sorry for myself and I stopped apologizing for what others have pointed out as my shortcomings.  I also realized I needed to adjust how I view myself and proactively took actions to get me away from the victim mentality.

Below are some things I have come to believe and  try to practice. By no means am I always confident in my abilities but I think my self-doubts have certainly become less.

• Surround yourself with those that believe in you. From time to time, I spend time with my mentors to be reminded that I am okay. It helps that I have supervisors and some co-workers that believe in me. What helps me the most is that I have a partner, my wife, who provides me unconditional support.

• Be your biggest cheerleader. You are your biggest ally and sometimes, you may be your only ally.
  

• Don’t take it personal. I read a quote somewhere that went like this “hurt people hurt people.” Unfortunately, in our lives,  we will deal with folks who take out their anger, jealousies, insecurities on others.

• Focus on your strengths.  In my case, I like talking to people and I love being able to develop teams, getting people to work together, helping motivate others and so I’ve focused on learning more about how to be a better project manager, a better leader.

• Stop trying to get people’s respect. Aim to do the right things and respect will hopefully be the by-product. But, doing things just so you can get people’s respect is just a waste of time. There will always be those that no matter what you do, you will never be equal to them in their eyes.

• Keep “poisonous” thoughts out of your mind. I once read this good advice – “You wouldn’t want a poisonous snake to enter your home. Why would you allow poisonous thoughts enter your mind?”

• Stop apologizing. Your accomplishments did not come overnight so you do deserve your them. In addition, when you do make mistakes, just acknowledge them as mistakes, learn from them and move on. We’re our own harshest critic sometimes.

• Stop taking yourself too seriously. No one’s perfect, we won’t always accomplish our goals, but doesn’t mean we should consider ourselves as failures.

Any other advice you can add to the list above?

It’s 2 am and I’m sitting in front of my computer, working on random things, thinking about what life would be like 5, 10 years from now. I’m turning 39 in a week or so and I couldn’t help but to reflect on how blessed I’ve been. I have a wonderful relationship with my wife of 10 years, wonderful family, great job and seemingly a bright future ahead. It’s certainly been a journey to this point. There was once a time when I was young in the Philippines when my family and I, four of us, lived in a room no bigger than 15×15 square feet.  We had to cook outside on a gas stove burner and walked a couple of hundred yards to use the restroom.  I remember my mom and I walking from house to house selling some packaged meat products and plates. There was one time when she was doing a demo of supposedly hard-to-break plates and when she dropped one to show how durable they are, it broke in to pieces. Somehow, maybe because I was too young to know what being poor is all about, or maybe because my parent always had food on the table. I think I finally realized how much my parents sacrificed when I was about in 3rd grade and we were living with my aunt’s family. It was during Christmas and my cousins opened their gifts. They had candies, etc. When I opened mine, I found a half-torn paper money as a gift from my mother,  the same half-torn paper money I had seen in her wallet days before. I think that’s when I finally realized there really wasn’t a Santa Claus or rather my mom was Santa Claus. Looking back at that period of my life, I really appreciate what my parents did for my sister and I.

When we moved to the US, my parents took jobs they could get soon after we got here. My mother worked at a fast food pizza place and for a shopping store in the stock room for years. My dad worked multiple jobs for years, including as janitor for a local mall. I still can’t figure out how he had the energy to do what he did. He worked 2 jobs and on his days off, he took side jobs with my mom to clean stores and even mowed lawns.  He left the house at around 6 am and worked until 1pm or so, he’d come home, take a nap and leave again to work from 3 to 11 at night. One of the proudest moments for me was seeing those big posters you’d see at the mall with my dad’s picture and with a caption that read something like “Ask Jose (my dad’s name)  about his son about UCSB”.  In my entire life, I don’t remember my parents asking me for anything in return for what they did for me.  To me, graduating college was given. My parents never really forced me to study hard or to motivate me. I guess I was one of those “good kid” that really always wanted to please them.

I’m not the smartest but somehow throughout my life, either through luck or God-given will, I was always presented with opportunities much bigger than I anticipated or I thought I deserved.  I look at my career and I’m not even sure how I got to where I am now other than I feel like I was always at the right place at the right time. There were certainly those few individuals that really opened doors for me.

I’m not sure what the future holds but to this point in my life, I am thankful for what has been given to me and a big part of it is because of my parents. Whatever happens in the future, all I know is to this point, I’ve lived a blessed life.

Sometimes I think we only move forward and accept bigger responsibilities in our professional lives when we feel capable and confident, when we feel ready. I had a co-worker once who turned down a promotion because he felt he was not ready. How many of us never even bother submitting our job applications to a position we would like to apply for but based on the job description we don’t feel we won’t even be considered? How about not accepting a job assignment or an opportunity because we think we’re not capable and we are scared of failing? I still feel that way from time to time but looking back at my career, the greatest growth and greatest sense of accomplishments came when I decided to be bold and just accept the responsibility without thinking much of the consequences of failure. Let me give you three experiences that made a significant impact on my career.  These are three instances that while it may not have been the brightest move, by stepping up and taking on the challenge, I was able to use them to grow as a person and as a professional.

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