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Managing Up: Developing Workplace Confidence as a New Professional

Managing Up: Developing Workplace Confidence as a New Professional

Please Note: This event, Managing Up: Developing Workplace Confidence as a New Professional, was originally scheduled for October 13, 2025. It will now take place on October 10, 2025.

In this panel-style webinar, mid-level professionals will share their career journeys, and discuss how they navigated progressing to higher level jobs in student affairs and higher education. Panelists come from a variety of student affairs backgrounds and will give advice to newer pros about navigating office politics, culture, and advocating for yourself in the first few years in the profession. Panelists include Troy Young, Director of Residence Life at Holy Family University, Asiah Claiborne, Director of Student Transition Programs at University of Texas at Dallas, Charlie Ferens, Assistant Director of Residence Life, University of New Hamphire, Victoria Esquer, Assistant Director for Student Affairs, University of Southern California, and Madeline Frisk, Coordinator of Student Government Relations and Advisor to Greek Life, Portland State University.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Be able to identify common career hurdles for new professionals and ways to navigate them.
  • Discuss how to approach advocating for career opportunities with supervisors.
  • Develop an understanding of positive and concerning professional cultures in student affairs.
  • Identify pathways for their future career success.

Elizabeth Bluth

Graduate Admissions Marketing Administrator

University of Southern California

Elizabeth Bluth (she/her) is a seasoned student affairs professional with experience developing, implementing, and managing programs and communication campaigns to support students’ belonging, wellbeing, and thriving in higher education settings. She currently serves as a Marketing Administrator, Graduate Admissions for USC Bovard College, supporting current and prospective students in the online graduate programs. Previously, as the Communications Coordinator for the Office of the Vice President for Student Life, she worked closely with the VP and her senior leadership team, supporting student engagement, development, and awareness of key programs and services through strategic communication and project management. During her graduate studies at USC Rossier, Elizabeth served as an admissions student ambassador and the Director of Professional Relations (‘23-’24) and Operations (‘24-’25) of the PASA Network, leading the student affairs alumni mentorship program, hosting career development events for PASA grad students, and helping to plan the annual Higher Education Summit. During her career, she has held positions as a faculty member at multiple institutions. As a professor, Elizabeth advised a diverse array of students, utilizing a holistic, culturally competent mentoring approach influenced by appreciative, proactive, and self-authorship advising theories and led experiential learning courses abroad, managing and instructing groups of students and alumni in the UK and Greece. Within NASPA, she holds positions on the New Professionals and Graduate Students Steering Committee Leadership Team and the Region VI Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Advisory Board. In 2024, she was awarded the Region VI Graduate Rising Star Award at the NASPA Western Regional Conference for her focus on inclusivity and accessibility in the student affairs profession. Elizabeth holds a BA in Theatre and Creative Writing from the University of Redlands, a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from The New School where she held a competitive Graduate Teaching Fellowship, and a Master of Education in Postsecondary Administration and Student Affairs from the USC Rossier School of Education. 

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