One Size Does Not Fit All: Traditional and Innovative Models of Student Affairs Practice (review)

Abstract

One Size Does Not Fit All: Traditional and Innovative Models of Student Affairs Practice, by Kathleen Manning, Jillian Kinzie. & John Schuh. New York: Routledge, 2006. 240 pp. ISBN 0415952581. One Size Does Not Fit All based on data from a national research project focused on investigating why some colleges did better than expected on their NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement) scores. The project known as DEEP (Documenting Effective Educational Practices) considered the unique features found at 20 colleges and universities that helped them create effective educational environments. A more detailed explanation of the DEEP project and its findings found in the book Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter (Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, & Whitt, 2005). This second book based on DEEP data attempts to look at the organization of student affairs divisions and the models, or characteristics, that worked for the DEEP institutions. The purpose of the book is to delineate models for student affairs (p. viii). This goal accomplished by taking the reader from models to innovative models of student affairs practice. There are four parts to the book, and their order meant to create a case for making changes within student affairs organizations that are innovative and focus on student engagement. Part 1 provides an introduction to the historical foundations of student affairs practice, to student engagement, and to the relationship between engagement and the work of student affairs divisions. Part 2 describes three traditional models of student affairs divisions: out-of-classroom centered, administrative centered, and learning centered. The third part of the book focused on the two innovative models that were observed in the DEEP project: student-centered and the academic and collaboration models. The final part of the book attempts to weave the basket by tying together concepts and taking a closer look at collaboration between academic and student affairs as well as at the factors needed to make this collaboration work. Each of the models in One Size Does Not Fit All presented in the context of historical influences, theoretical underpinnings, strengths and weakness of the model, and examples of how these models are exhibited in practice. The strongest element of the book that it pulls together information from both historical and current research to create a cogent description for how student affairs divisions are organized. Other than a few chapters in student affairs handbooks (Ambler, 2000; Dungy, 2003), there are no books that provide this level of both historical and current research specifically focused on the organization of student affairs within higher education institutions. This book oriented toward practice and does a nice job of translating findings from the DEEP research project to practice applications in the field of student affairs. As part of this translation, the authors effectively emphasize two positions that challenge some commonly held beliefs. The first position that programming for students not the most important element of student affairs practice; instead, the authors posit that the central element of practice the way staff members work to integrate the academic mission into students' lives. …