The Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Membership

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ASSOCIATION OF FRATERNITY/SORORITY ADVISORS DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS, & FUTURE RESEARCH From analyzing AFA membership data collected with each registration, we now have a better understanding of who we are as an association as well as a number of important points for departure that merit study in their own right. We know that a growing and sizable minority of our members are headquarters professionals, suggesting a direction in which AFA can improve its services so long as they do not eclipse AFA’s mission. We know that campus-based professionals are nearly two-thirds female, though women are represented disproportionately less in senior-level positions. Further investigation is needed to understand why this is the case. We also know that the vast majority of campus-based professionals identify either as entry-level or mid-level. Combining this knowledge with the knowledge of the female-minority in senior-level positions and the perceived lack of professional development opportunities for mid-level professionals, there is a niche opportunity to create a mid-level women’s professional institute for higher level career trajectories. We know that 73% of campus-based professionals identify as White, leaving much room to diversify the field. As homophily, or attraction of individuals to similar others, is often a factor in mentor relationships upon which encouragement to enter student affairs is often predicated (Taub & McEwen, 2006), diversifying the professional landscape is essential to attracting increasingly diverse individuals into student affairs graduate programs. Taub and McEwen (2006) suggest this could be achieved by recruiting diverse paraprofessionals and student leaders such as RAs, orientation assistants, and others in work-study roles that involve helping others into student affairs graduate programs. 12 12 For a complete list of suggestions, see the full article. 12 What We Know About Our Members and Why It Matters
ASSOCIATION OF FRATERNITY/SORORITY ADVISORS Data indicating the relative youthfulness and therefore inexperience of many fraternity/ sorority professionals and the inordinately high rate of turnover in positions and attrition in the field as a whole needs to be explored in earnest. While anecdotal narratives can provide helpful tributaries for more substantial waters, they are inadequate alone for illuminating the salient factors contributing to attrition in the field. Likewise, the inverse question should be asked: what statistically significant factors contribute to retention in the field? While literature does exist exploring this question with student affairs professionals, the fraternity/sorority advisors subgroup is unique among them and merits its own study. Understanding the professional, emotional, financial, and other factors that contribute both to attrition and retention will help the Association take proper measures and advocate accordingly just as institutions of higher learning seek to do the same for their students. We also learned that fraternity/sorority professionals are highly educated and that they can expect their earning trajectory to increase with each educational degree earned, although it is unclear how much increased earnings are a function of professional experience and position-level irrespective of educational attainment. Future research should design a study controlling for these variables to determine what measurable impact, if any, such attainment had on their normal compensation or other intangible benefits it afforded. LIMITATIONS While this brief overview of the campus-based and headquarters membership of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors tells us more about the profession than we had previously known, including validating suspicions we could previously only argue anecdotally, the present analysis suffers from several unavoidable limitations. Future data collection must be improved in order to produce increasingly valid and reliable figures going forward. This includes streamlining questions such as asking for exact salary amounts instead of ranges and removing unnecessary response categories that complicate analysis. It also includes introducing more discerning questions, such as the type of masters earned, public or private institution, office budget and source of funds, and ratio of full time staff to students overseen. Most importantly, we need the support of our members and their willingness to fill out their AFA membership information completely upon renewal. The more members who do so, the greater data fidelity we will have and consequently the greater our ability to advocate for the profession. As assessments such as the Fraternity and Sorority Experience Survey have risen in importance and popularity given their product of illuminating a holistic picture of the undergraduate member experience and chapter health, so too is it important for the Association to learn more about its members so as to better advocate for them. CONCLUSION Who will advocate for the advocates who give much of themselves but often feel alone in the struggle? We believe that the better AFA is able to support our constituent members, the more empowered these professionals will be to do good work in their communities. We have come a long way serving our students through our leadership, but we cannot neglect ourselves in the process. We have much still to learn and we hope you will continue to lend us your support, patience, and ideas going forward. We will continue to support the profession through research in order to advance AFA’s mission and better advocate for our members. What We Know About Our Members and Why It Matters 13
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The Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Membership

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