Faculty and Staff
Faculty and staff can participate in several ways with SMU Alternative Breaks. Some of the opportunities are outlined below:
Faculty & Staff Trip Advisors
Every Alternative Break trip throughout the year has a faculty/staff advisor participate on the trip. The role of the advisor is to help add perspective and educational value to the trip during service, reflection, and group time. The advisor will also help Student Site Leaders during times of emergency or if there are any issues. Advisors will ensure all SMU policies are in effect during the trip, but the trip will be led by the Student Site Leader. These trips serve as a great opportunity for faculty/staff to get involved with students in a non-traditional role. View some of the experiences of past faculty/staff advisors: Coming soon! We cannot do this program without you, and greatly appreciate your support! There is no fee for faculty/staff advisors. Faculty/staff advisors may bring a spouse or adult child with them on the trip at their own expense and based on room available on the trip. Application coming soon!
Trip Participants
Faculty/Staff may also go on trips as participants in a non-leader role. In this case, the student trip fee will apply for the faculty/staff. This is a great way to meet students, get involved in meaningful service, and meet another faculty/staff member. Apply here: Application coming soon!
Advisory Board
Faculty/staff members may also participate in helping SMU Alternative Breaks (AB) continue to expand and improve into the future. SMU AB has created an advisory board of faculty/staff members dedicated to constantly improving and furthering SMU AB. The mission of SMU AB’s advisory board is to provide experienced feedback on the endeavors of SMU AB while fostering continued growth of the organization and active citizen movement. The advisory board will meet twice a semester, and individuals may become more involved on a regular basis if they so desire. Examples of responsibilities would include critiquing a new marketing plan, advice on recruitment strategies, analysis of financial development efforts, etc. The goal is to offer some form of long-lasting and experienced leadership for the organization that will extend beyond a student’s life at the university. The SMU AB Executive Board (students) will run the SMU AB program, but will meet with the faculty/staff advisory board twice a semester to learn and benefit from the experience of Advisory Board members. If you interested in this opportunity, please email either Lisa Walters (Organizational Development Chair) at lnwalters@smu.edu, or Stephanie Howeth (AB Advisor) at showeth@smu.edu. If you wish to apply, you may do so here. Some areas of experience we are looking forward, but are not limited to, include: fundraising, financial development, leadership development, recruitment strategies, public relations, social media, web design, database creation, community organization relationship building, social justice, and social movement development.
For more information, contact Student Director Matthew Gayer, mgayer@smu.edu
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