Staff and faculty at every institution could share stories about how they have seen some initiatives spectacularly succeed and others completely fail--leading to feelings of frustration and fatigue. Too often, a "good idea" or new institutional policy is developed in a vacuum or with little thought as to how professionals on campus will…

Undergraduate research is a way for students with minoritized racial identities to engage in a high-impact practice that increases their critical thinking, writing, and communication skills as well as their academic aspirations and retention (Bowman & Holmes, 2018). For racially minoritized students, the role of race is a critical component…

Research opportunities--in addition to culturally relevant programming, mentorship, professional development, and college funding--have been found to contribute to Latinx students' understanding, confidence, and awareness of research in college (Russell et al., 2007). While programs such as the Migrant Education Program and the College Assistance…

Foster youth are among some of the nation's most underserved students in higher education. Of the more than 430,000 youth in the foster care system, only about 50% will graduate from high school and as little as 3% will ever earn a bachelor's degree (Pecora, 2012; Wolanin, 2005). While critically important for smoothing students' transition from…

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) was connected to the cause out of a desire to motivate college students to become involved in its labor-organizing campaign. Other allied labor unions (here, academic labor unions) were also potentially connected to this goal. In 1996, the AFL-CIO developed the…

This 5-year, longitudinal, multimethod qualitative case study draws on data from the Promoting At-Promise Student Success (PASS) project examining a comprehensive college transition and success program called Thompson Scholars Learning Community (TSLC) that serves low-income college students, many of whom are first-generation and racially…

The number of students choosing to study abroad has steadily increased over the past 25 years. Immediately prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic, 10.9% of all undergraduates in the US studied abroad at some point while pursuing their degree. This rapid expansion has largely been welcomed on college campuses due to globalization and the sense that…

The impact of college STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] summer bridge programs is not well understood. This nationwide study pooled data from 27 colleges and universities involved in the NSF's [National Science Foundation's] STEM Talent Expansion Program to model changes in college career aspirations for 2 groups: 383 STEM…

The ACPA/NASPA (2015) Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators (PCASAE) were intended to educate students and professionals as whole individuals while providing guidelines for specific knowledge areas and expected skill sets. They can be used for self-assessment, professional development, and staff training. Student affairs…

In spring 2020, a worldwide pandemic caused many postsecondary institutions to pivot from face-to-face to online learning for the remainder of the semester. While some institutions reverted to face-to-face teaching in fall 2020, many institutions mainly remained online. As a result, the effect of students' disparate access to enabling technology…

The Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) at the University of Virginia was designed to prepare students from underrepresented racial and socioeconomic groups--including Students of Color, low-income, and first-generation college students--for graduate study in education research by developing confidence with skills and academic practices…

The Elon Gap Experience (EGE) was conceived out of Elon University's most recent strategic plan, the Elon Commitment (Elon University, 2009). One theme calls for "strategic and innovative pathways in undergraduate and graduate education," specifically "to launch a service program as part of a gap-year program" (Elon University,…

Positive mentorship perceptions relate to higher intent to persist (Baier et al., 2016) and sense of belonging (e.g., Apriceno et al., 2020). Apriceno and colleagues (2020) used multiple survey items to examine student engagement with mentors, but they were unable to consider how mentors incorporate Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)…

Summer bridge programs are designed to ease the transition to college by providing students with academic skills and social resources during the summer between high school graduation and college. Research shows that bridge programs are potentially effective at increasing retention and academic success of at-risk students by providing an early…

Higher education historians agree that the earliest direct antecedents to today's student affairs professionals were deans of women (DOWs) and deans of men (DOMs), administrative positions that first arose in the 19th century. While DOWs were expected to supervise women students within newly coeducational environments, they professionalized the…