Editors' Notes

Abstract

When we began our work as editors of New Directions for Student Services (NDSS) in 1996, we did not imagine that we would be at the helm of this sourcebook series for nearly 20 years. Much to our surprise, though, in spring 2016, almost exactly 2 decades after our first conversation about “Now what?,” the final volume for which we have responsibility will be published. Our first issue was #78 (in 1997) and our last will be #153, 77 sourcebooks in all and half the entire NDSS series through issue #153. In 2013, when we notified Jossey-Bass/Wiley that we would retire from the series as of November 1, 2015—the final deadline for delivering issue #153—we did what many “retirees” do: Look back and take stock (along the lines of “What have we accomplished?”) and look ahead to the future. This sourcebook—our 75th—is the result of that contemplation, though we have shared the task with a number of good colleagues. Our collective purpose is to describe and discuss trends over the past 2 decades that have had a significant impact on student affairs practice. This review is not exhaustive nor is it inclusive. There are any number of issues we could have chosen to address but did not. These include organizational changes, changes in professional associations, and “big picture” changes in the landscape of American higher education. We chose, instead, to address six broad topics that encompass the bulk of the foci of the NDSS series from 1997 through 2014: (a) student affairs practice, (b) students, (c) assessment, (d) digital technologies, (e) finance, and (f) staff preparation and development. We begin, in Chapter 1, with a review of the topics covered in the NDSS series from 1997 through 2014 and a profile of the guest editors whose work comprised the volumes published during that time. The topical chapters begin with Chapter 2, in which Florence A. Hamrick and Krista Klein describe changes that have influenced student affairs practice. In Chapter 3, Jillian Kinzie describes changes in undergraduate students over the past 2 decades by tracing the evolution of student characteristics and student affairs responses to those changes. She also provides a look into the future, based on her review of the past. Assessment in student affairs is the focus of Becki Elkins in Chapter 4. This chapter provides an overview of the history of assessment in student affairs in recent decades, considers current practice, and offers recommendations for the future. The challenges and potentials of student affairs practice in the digital age are addressed by Edmund T. Cabellon and Reynol Junco in Chapter 5. Some of the topics they consider include expanding technologies, social media, and the impact of digital revolutions on working effectively with students. Chapter 6 examines contemporary issues in student affairs budgeting and finance. Ann M. Gansemer-Topf and Peter D. Englin look at recent history of these topics and offer suggestions for dealing with the financial challenges of the future. In Chapter 7, Anna M. Ortiz, Ilinca Filimon, and Monica Cole-Jackson review changes in the preparation of student affairs educators over the past 2 decades and discuss issues related to development of student affairs professionals. The volume concludes with Chapter 8, in which we offer some thoughts about student affairs practice in the foreseeable future, based in part on what we and our colleagues have learned from looking at the recent past. As a final note, we are grateful for the good work of our colleagues on this volume, and for the time, effort, patience, and collaboration of all the guest editors with whom we have worked in the past 18 years. Their contributions to the literature of student affairs have been what we intended when we began this journey: interesting, provocative, useful, and timely. Elizabeth J. Whitt is vice provost and dean for undergraduate education and professor of sociology at University of California, Merced. John H. Schuh is director of the Emerging Leaders Academy and distinguished professor emeritus at Iowa State University.