Binghamton alum wanted to help college students succeed. How he made it a career

For Brandon Manning, the ability to pivot quickly to address different college students’ needs is crucial to being a good student affairs professional. He credits Binghamton University with setting him up for success.

Manning earned a master’s degree in student affairs administration from Binghamton in 2021, then became an associate director of student conduct at Columbia University. While it wasn’t his first career aspiration, his experience as a resident assistant while an undergraduate at SUNY Potsdam showed him how much he enjoyed making a difference in the lives of college students.

“The reason I went into student affairs was because I wanted to be the kind of person I needed while I was in college, for both the visible and not-so-visible issues I was having as a student,” Manning said. “In student affairs, you gain so many transferrable skills and honestly, the program at Binghamton set me up for success. Whether it’s research or student development in general, this program prepared me to serve as a collaborative leader helping me refine my abilities to better serve my students and campus.”

Many of the students Manning works with come to his office facing a range of issues including behavioral and academic violations, but he said this job isn’t simply about being authoritative.

Depending on the violation, Manning said, some students could be meeting with his office at potentially one of the lowest points in their lives. His approach with those students is as much about working toward building them back up as it is about accountability.

“I’ve been labeled ‘the question master’ because I like to encourage them to reflect on their actions,” Manning said. “We talk a lot with students about critically thinking in the moment and creating action plans to deter their behavior and learn from their experience.”

Manning said this “360-degree lens of support” approach reminds students that an incident doesn’t define them, it’s how they learn and grow from the experience. Students often end their meetings by telling Manning and his teammates they learned a lot from their hearings, or that they are grateful for the experience and opportunity.

Refining a student affairs career

For Manning, each phase of his college years provided another lesson that deepened his understanding of the important role served by a student affairs professional. His professional path almost went in a different direction, since he majored in music performance at Potsdam and his initial career aspiration was to become the dean of a music program at an arts-based institution.

As a resident assistant at Potsdam, the job exposed him to the full range of services and resources available on campus that as a student himself, he didn’t even know existed. Sometimes you don’t know what’s available until you really need it, he said, and that job was an opportunity to make other students’ academic experiences a little bit easier.

After graduating from Potsdam and taking a job as a residence director there, he took a job as a residence hall director at SUNY Cortland. There, he had the opportunity to work closer with the student conduct office and serve as a mentor to students through diversity initiatives.

Manning later took a job as the student rights and responsibilities coordinator at SUNY Broome Community College, where he had the opportunity to refine his skills in student conduct and diversity work.

In 2018, Manning decided to refine his career path as a student affairs practitioner. That’s what drew him to Binghamton’s master’s program. Courses focusing on research methods were especially helpful, he said, because they challenged his existing perceptions about the field.

’Help advance each other’

Perhaps the most versatile skill Manning carried from Binghamton to his current role at Columbia is the ability to serve multiple student populations. Working with 17 academic schools from undergraduate to doctoral levels at Columbia requires being able to pivot quickly and address different forms of student needs, he said. Binghamton’s student affairs program showed him how to handle those situations more effectively.

Manning doesn’t regret shelving his original ambition to solely become dean of a music program at an arts-based academic institution and he’s still thinking about where he’d like to continue with his career. He’d like to eventually become a vice president of student affairs.

For students considering entering the field, he encourages them not to be intimidated by higher education institutions. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable, he said, but it’s important to be transparent and authentic to succeed. These programs are meant to challenge students, he said, but also support them on their academic journey.

Being open to unexpected opportunities and recognizing them when they come along is part of Manning’s message to the students he works with every day.

“One thing I always talk about with my colleagues is to send the elevator back down for someone else to join you,” Manning said. “Advise them about what they can do to get to your level and then surpass you. That way, you help advance each other.”