Student Affairs Educators Research Articles

“What are you looking for in a candidate?” The career search process for international students in higher education student affairs

AbstractThis study examined lived experiences of two international student affairs professionals in the United States. Through a series of interviews, the dialogues unfold rich narratives that explore the multifaceted journey from academic preparation to career placement in the field of higher education student affairs (HESA). It also underscores the unique challenges encountered by international students compared to their domestic counterparts during the job search process. Given the limited research pertaining to the experiences and support for international graduate students during the job search process in the field of HESA, this study provides valuable insights and implications for educators, institutions, and career support services to better address the needs of the diverse and growing demographic of the candidates.

Plurisexual Student Affairs Educator Trauma and COVID-19

In this critical quantitative study, we used regression with moderation analysis to investigate the factors that exacerbated or mitigated plurisexual (bisexual and queer) student affairs educators’ workplace trauma responses during COVID-19. Using the concept of monosexism and critical trauma theory, we assessed distinctions amongst 914 monosexual and plurisexual student affairs educators’ experiences with workplace trauma, finding a significant moderation effect of plurisexuality when it came to institutional leadership support’s prediction of workplace trauma response. Implications for student affairs research and practice are also discussed.

Advancing toward social justice via student affairs inquiry

Inquiry represents deep learning through a process of seeking answers to questions. Our ‘why’ in connecting student affairs inquiry to social justice is not likely self-evident. Social justice relies on connected actions, whereas through our approaches to assessment in student affairs, we have traditionally favored research-related activities that strive to maintain strict objectivity. But just as our overall conceptions of the roles and responsibilities of student affairs educators have evolved, so too, must our conceptions of the roles and responsibilities of those engaged in student affairs inquiry. As a student affairs educator tasked with conducting inquiry activities, one has to make choices about the process of gathering and analyzing data, and reporting findings. There is an ethical obligation to do so with veracity. This ethical obligation to engage in the inquiry process with utmost honesty does not conflict with using inquiry as a tool to advance toward social justice. Through this article, the author explores the connections between the processes of inquiry and social justice, and asks readers to consider social justice as a critical and central component of inquiry work.

Activism trends in higher education: Snapshot from 2018 to 2021

Throughout the history of higher education, students have engaged in activism, demanding that institutions become more and more equitable. This study shares data collected across Big10 institutions through the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership regarding trends in activism involvement, activism behaviors, and social issues around which those behaviors were focused. Findings indicate that 1) overall, activism-related behaviors increased, and 2) issues about social identities and policies increased. By better understanding student activism, student affairs educators can adapt, change, and grow with student needs, especially working with and for student activists.

Black Women’s Narratives Navigating Gendered Racism in Student Affairs

White people, Black men, and non-Black People of Color often expect Black women to care for others, often to the detriment of Black women being able to prioritize their own needs. This feeling is even more pronounced in helping professions, such as student affairs, and is consistent with a history of expectations that Black women care for others’ needs. In this manuscript, we use Black Feminist Thought to explore racial battle fatigue and how Black women student affairs educators worked to center themselves and focus on their healing from gendered racism. We employed a narrative inquiry methodology to center participants’ stories. Findings illustrate differences between self-care and healing, the importance of community, and efforts to support future generations of Black women. Our work builds on Black Feminist Thought as a theoretical framework and contributes to the literature on the particular ways racial battle fatigue manifests and strategies for healing in the midst of navigating gendered racism.

Career Development Is Everyone’s Responsibility: Envisioning Educators as Career Influencers

Significant world events such as the COVID-19 pandemic have shifted the way that people of all ages view their careers and the meaning of work in their lives. While campus career services hold a mandate to facilitate student career readiness and success, it cannot accomplish this ambitious goal alone. Career influencers are student affairs educators, administrators, and faculty members who regularly interact with students on campus and can initiate meaningful career-related conversations—even if they do not hold career development expertise. The authors discuss the value of purpose narratives that students can construct to describe their experiences and help build resiliency during times of uncertainty. The conclusion provides recommendations for post-secondary educators to consider to effectively frame every student conversation as a career conversation.

Artificial Goods: Credentialism and Student Affairs Professional Development

Artificial Goods:Credentialism and Student Affairs Professional Development Laila I. McCloud (bio) and Niki Messmore (bio) Because of ongoing pessimism and frustration with the increased work expectations that do not correlate with increased financial compensation, student affairs professionals are left wondering what the future of student affairs is (21st Century Task Force, 2020). Graduate preparation programs and professional associations that have maintained their position as significant socialization agents for the field (Duran & Allen, 2020; Perez, 2016) are also wrestling with this question. Many student affairs professionals spend several years in graduate school being socialized into ways of being, thinking, and doing that often perpetuate whiteness. This socialization shows up in the classroom where faculty position graduate Students of Color as the experts on race-related issues (Harris & Linder, 2018) while failing to encourage racial identity development among white graduate students (Briscoe & Jones, 2022). This socialization continues as educators become enmeshed in their institution's culture. When these graduate students transition into full-time employment, the positioning of particular groups of people as experts on certain issues will follow them. The presumption of expertise on certain topics (e.g., anything diversity related) carries over into the availability of professional development opportunities. In recent years, opportunities for student affairs educators to pursue professional development have increased. These opportunities include pursuing additional degrees (e.g., a master's or doctoral degree or certificates) or learning experiences sponsored by professional associations (e.g., conferences, C.E.Us., or certificates). However, these opportunities come with physical and financial costs that need to be collectively assessed and evaluated by professionals and faculty compared to their effectiveness in enhancing student affairs practice and improving the quality of life for student affairs educators. Graduate preparation programs and professional associations have pushed practitioners and faculty to think about the role of credentialism in perpetuating whiteness, neoliberalism, and labor inequity that fuel our current evolution. THE ROLE OF ARTIFICIAL GOODS For this conversation, we understand credentials as any formal education deemed necessary or helpful for career advancement and social mobility. Credentialism perpetuates inequality in that individuals in senior-level positions operate as gatekeepers by controlling who has access based upon what Collins (2019) referred to as an "artificial good" (p. 243). Certificates [End Page 246] become an artificial good as they are used to demonstrate that a student affairs professional has more education, not that they are more skilled or knowledgeable. In this case, the increasing call for more skilled workers pushes student affairs educators to obtain additional educational currencies in a highly stratified labor market. Student affairs professionals are also in a unique position because their place of employment is both a site and guarantor of information production (Walters, 2004). We exist in a system that promotes credentialism while also seeing it as tied to our own success and credibility. We will explore these credentialing initiatives from our perspectives as a Black woman faculty member in a higher education and student affairs (HESA) graduate program and a White woman, mid-level student affairs professional. WHO'S CREDENTIAL IS IT? Contemporary social issues have pulled our attention to how whiteness dictates the entry into and movement within the student affairs profession. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted many highly rejective graduate programs to eliminate their reliance on standardized testing to grant admission. The question remains whether the decision to eliminate the testing requirements was about disrupting whiteness or a response to limited opportunities to complete the test. Once students are enrolled in the program, faculty spend a significant amount of time assuaging students' concerns about their professional futures. Graduate students receive messages that they should know the functional area they want to work in for the rest of their careers. However, students who are racially marginalized often comment that they worry about having future career opportunities limited if they pursue certain functional areas. This worry is exacerbated by students' social locations and the organizational structure of student affairs divisions, which promote siloing of student identity and development. Two issues arise from this siloing as it relates to credentialing. First, the presence of certificates for particular functional areas perpetuates the idea that there is a particular way of doing the...

Spiritual Development Theory and Internationally Mobile Students

Students come to a university with a diversity of religious, spiritual, and secular backgrounds and identities. This theoretical perspective explores the relevance of spiritual development theory for understanding and supporting internationally mobile students’ holistic development. Spiritual development theorizing in higher education student affairs is analyzed across the landscape of three waves of student development theory with particular attention to implications for practice.

Assessment is a leadership process: The multilevel assessment process

AbstractThis article provides a new conceptual model for student affairs assessment that describes the unique and intersectional contributions of student affairs educators, departmental leadership, and divisional leadership with the assessment process.

In search of safety: A case study of LGBT+ college students’ perception of safe spaces at a rural university

The purpose of this study was to better understand how LGBT+ college students find a safe space on college and university campuses when there is not one already provided for them. Strange and Banning’s (2015) four environments served as the theoretical framework. Data were collected through individual interviews with six college students who identify within the LGBT+ community and attend a mid-sized institution in South Georgia which does not have an established safe space. Students indicated locations like the library, front lawn, and individuals such as faculty, staff, and student organizations offered safe spaces. The results can better inform student affairs educators or any professional who works with LGBT+ populations on how to better support these students while they are under their guise. It also supports the trend of colleges and universities establishing safe spaces for their LGBT+ students.

No Place Like Home: The Coming Out Experiences of Gay Men in Student Affairs and Higher Education Preparation Programs

Development occurs over the lifespan, and student affairs educators are not exempt from that life-long process. This article examined the coming out experiences of gay men within student affairs master’s preparation programs. The study was comprised of 11 participants representing seven different higher education/student affairs administration programs. The findings of this study offer the following: first, the study offers insight on the coming out experiences of gay men in graduate preparation programs. Second, the findings showcase the role that student affairs programs, curriculum, and instruction play in the identity exploration process for gay men. Finally, findings from this study offer implications for pedagogical approaches and frameworks within student affairs/higher education administration programs.

Exploring the role of faculty and staff mentors in fostering ethical leadership among undergraduate students: “We have to narrow the distance”

PurposeThe purpose of this interdisciplinary study is to identify the aspects that faculty, student affairs educators and students indicate as salient for effective mentoring relationships that enhance ethical leadership development.Design/methodology/approachThis exploratory qualitative inquiry used the Relational-Ethical-Affective-Dialogic (READ) mentoring model as a framework to examine the experiences of 13 undergraduate mentees and faculty/staff mentors in a formal mentoring program. Each study participant engaged in one semi-structured interview. Researchers coded and analyzed data using the sort and sift, think and shift process identifying power quotes to guide the thematic analysis.FindingsThe data collected in this study revealed insights into the aspects of mentor relationships that both undergraduate mentees and their mentors perceived as contributing to students' ethical leadership development. Salient elements included: (1) relational features of the mentee-mentor dynamic including trust and reciprocity; (2) structural features of the mentoring program including its focus on ethics; and (3) mentoring approaches that were attentive to power and positionality within the mentoring relationship and involved professional judgment about self-disclosure.Originality/valueThis study adds to the literature by exploring effective mentoring for ethical leadership development across disciplines. With colleges and universities serving a vital role in preparing the next generation of leaders for ethical engagement in their democratic and professional roles after graduation, it is imperative to broaden our understanding of how faculty and staff can support students' ethical leadership development.

Preparing Education Researchers: Identifying Necessary Competencies for Teachers, Administrators, and Student Affairs Professionals

This descriptive study aimed to answer two research questions: (a) what are the assessment, evaluation, and research (AER) competencies necessary for three educator types (teachers, K-12 administrators, and higher education student affairs professionals); and (b) what are the similarities and differences in competencies by educator type? Current professional standards for each educator type were identified and coded for alignment with AER topics, then reviewed for similarities and differences. Results suggest that teacher competency standards focus heavily on assessment; administrator competencies focus on ethical decision making and continuous improvement; and student affairs professional standards focus on advocacy and supporting institutional mission. These results imply that education preparation programs may need to adjust AER course curriculum and instruction to align with distinct educator needs.

The power of supervision in (re)socializing student affairs educators

AbstractThis article explores supervision as a form of professional socialization. Accordingly, we provide an overview of socialization theories before examining the role of supervisors in (re)socializing student affairs educators to norms, values, and standards of good practice in the field and in their workplaces over the span of their careers.

"18 is not a magic number": Faculty Reflections on Student Development Theories in Creating Inclusive Classrooms.

Inclusive classroom training typically focuses on course design, teaching strategies, and evaluation practices girded in best teaching practices. Our university has hosted inclusive classroom training for six years, but just recently began providing mandatory training in each of the university’s academic departments for teaching faculty (including term, tenure-track, tenured, and adjunct professors). The newness and relevancy of student development theories to faculty proved worthy of increased attention by our Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. Using qualitative assessment data from our institution's mandatory Inclusive Classroom Annual Training for faculty, we present findings that illustrate how instructors would benefit from cursory information on student development theories. Faculty reflections focused around three themes. First, it is essential for faculty to humanize teaching and learning by remembering to teach students and not just course content. Second, faculty could connect their new knowledge of student development theories to their pedagogies and specifically how it can promote inclusive classroom environments. Finally, participants shared vulnerabilities by interpreting their past, present, and future teaching through a lens of student development theories. Also provided are recommendations to enhance teaching development for faculty, teaching and learning centers, and student affairs educators centered on the importance of student development theories.

"This Research that We are Doing is Just the Beginning of the Conversation”: Undergraduate Researchers Enacting Literacies of Relationality

We extend theoretical perspectives of critical listening and storying with undergraduate researchers of Color as they conducted a Youth Participatory Action Research inquiry. Undergraduate researchers designed, analyzed, and shared findings of their photovoice project examining their transition experiences to a PwI. We asked: what literacy activities do undergraduate researchers of Color enact during the photovoice project; and how are undergraduate researchers’ literacy activities shaping and, in turn, shaped by contexts of relationality? We conceptually frame our work as extending notions of quilting across African Diaspora women’s communities. We discuss how undergraduate co-researchers enact literacies of relationality while examining transition experiences of first-year students of Color. This stance-taking considers how educational communities including teachers, teacher educators, education researchers, and student affairs educators may meaningfully incorporate knowledge, perspectives, and questions of preservice teachers of Color, which are an integral part of transition experiences of undergraduate researchers and future teachers.

The Role of Institutional Agents in Supporting Undocumented Latinx College Students

Data from a qualitative study of 16 undocumented Latinx college students across the U.S. indicated that student affairs educators can support undocumented Latinx students by serving as institutional agents. The main findings from this study indicated there are two main ways institutional agents supported undocumented Latinx college students: (a) provided emotional support, and (b) assisted with navigating campus.

"We Wear the Mask": Self-Definition as an Approach to Healing From Racial Battle Fatigue

Bell's (1992) thesis of racial realism, in concert with the work of Wilderson (2007), Hartman (1997), and Sharpe (2016), positions the afterlife of slavery as an irreconciled event that is ongoing and permanent. If the assumption is that racism exists and, subsequently, racial battle fatigue is and will be an enduring embodied experience that results from it, what possibilities exist for Black students, faculty, and practitioners to heal? We trouble the notion of self-care, highlighting the rationality-laced logics (Feagin, 2010) that inform how student affairs educators survive racial battle fatigue and we look more closely at the terrains of healing. We propose that the achievement of such a place requires an alternative theoretical ground that is made possible in and through self-definition.

Strategies for Practicing Self-Care from Racial Battle Fatigue

Racial battle fatigue is the exhaustion that People of Color feel from repeated exposure to racism, as well as its negative impact on their emotional, physiological, and psychological health and wellbeing. Although People of Color have engaged in resistance and resilience in the midst of racism, it still takes a toll on their bodies. In this article, we focus specifically on Black student affairs educators, given the racial battle fatigue they navigate working in a helping profession where they are often expected to prioritize students’ needs above their own. Using a narrative methodological approach, we centered the stories of 35 Black student affairs educators across various institutions to identify the strategies they used to practice self-care in the midst of racial battle fatigue, including unplugging from the people and places that caused them harm, building community with other Black educators, caring for their bodies, finding safe spaces, and using counseling. We offer implications for practice for Black student affairs educators and those working to support them in navigating racial battle fatigue.

Advancing a Deliberative Paradigm to Bolster Democratic Engagement in Student Affairs

This article explores the historical and contemporary commitment of the student affairs profession to fostering democratic engagement. Shortcomings of current approaches are analyzed, and a deliberative paradigm utilizing six key democratic practices is explored, emphasizing how student affairs educators can bolster democratic engagement through deliberative practices.