The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered unprecedented disruptions in higher education, forcing swift changes to core operations, particularly within divisions of student affairs. A review of the literature reveals COVID-19 presented many unique challenges for students and student affairs professionals, including disruptions in traditional…

Concerns about alcohol use at college events have been documented for students, administrators, faculty, and the community across the history of higher education in America. Concerns range from the scrapes and bruises related to events that encourage or allow student inebriation, to student alcohol poisoning. Yet, a host of campuses have developed…

Visionary leadership theory is built upon the premise that leaders cast a vision for followers by developing an image of the future and then inspiring followers to achieve that vision (Sashkin, 1996). Visionary leaders articulate where a group is going and encourage the group to innovate, experiment, and take risks in pursuit of the vision. How is…

In the past several decades, the number of college students who experience mental health concerns has increased astronomically. During that time, acts of campus violence have increased as well. Unfortunately, many colleges have been unable to effectively meet the needs of students with mental disorders. This article explores the challenges…

Luisa Havens Gerardo is Vice President for Enrollment Management at Virginia Tech. She has served the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) as president, vice president for access and equity, chair of the international admissions committee, and member of the nominations committee and the program committee…

The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly changed the context of higher education during the Spring 2020 semester. As the virus began to spread across the United States, colleges and universities canceled inperson classes and activities, closed campus, and moved all operations online. Within the communication discipline, introductory communication course…

State policymakers and the public at large have a vested interest in the successful governance of their higher education institutions. The citizens who are appointed or elected to serve as board members of a state's colleges and universities oversee valuable public assets that they hold in trust for the state and for current and future…

Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) have wrangled with state governmental agencies for decades about the role the government should assume in overseeing campus operations. IHEs continue to argue that government intrusion impedes efficient IHE operation. Government agencies counter that IHEs are provided tax dollars to complete the job of…

This paper examines community-campus partnerships, specifically regarding community partner representatives' lived experience of trust and reciprocity with community-engaged administrators at an institution. This research focused on how trust and reciprocity manifested and was sustained within these relationships, with the goal of supporting…

A university president's preparation for a crisis is paramount to the wellbeing of a campus community and ultimately to the longevity of their tenure as the institution's leader. How do university leaders determine what constitutes a crisis for their institution, and once that decision has been made, whether or not to respond, and further, how to…

This article features a case study from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), a large, public, urban, research university, in which challenges in administering financial aid for study abroad early in the COVID-19 pandemic led the Education Abroad and Student Financial Services teams to revisit practices and protocols. This article describes…

By many accounts--on August 11th and 12th, 2017--a "Unite the Right" rally organized by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, catalyzed a series of violent events culminating in the injury of dozens of people and the death of three people (Alvarez, 2017; Astor, Caron, & Victor, 2017; Heim, 2017; McKelway, 2017).…

In 2013, Chancellor DuBois convened a Task Force on Diversity with the aim of making the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) a model for diversity by "increasing the demographic diversity of the VCCS so that teaching faculty and leaders look more like the communities we serve" (Chancellors Diversity Task Force, 2014, p. 3). The hard…

The reasons a student may choose to enroll and matriculate at a particular postsecondary institution are many. Yet a sense of belonging and a strong emotional connection often supply all the incentive students need. Campus environments play a central role in the college choice process as the ecology, climate, and culture of an institution…

Ongoing professional development is critical even for the very top executives at community colleges. While many community college systems focus on the onboarding of new presidents, professional learning should be a never-ending process. The best institutions recognize this and devote time and resources to the continuing development of their…