Though theories about retention and student development have been in the literature for decades, they have mainly existed in silos with little exploration of how they could or should be used together. This scholarly paper seeks to engage with the idea that there are synergistic connections between student development and retention theories that…

Internships are widely promoted high-impact practices that can have positive impacts on students' academic and post-graduate success, yet how specific features facilitate these outcomes is understudied. Instead, internships are often studied in terms of mere participation, without recognizing that these experiences are complex pedagogic spaces…

Though many colleges and universities claim to be driven by missions that highlight access, equity, and student success, academic policy and practice do not always mirror these claims. American higher education institutions are "obsessed with smartness" (Astin, 2017), yet fail to support educational attainment in an equitable manner.…

Academic self-efficacy is critical to academic success. Hence those working in higher education need to make deliberate and substantial attempts to foster academic competence, confidence, persistence and resilience in the students they teach, given they are essential components of academic self-efficacy. Addressing an identified gap in the…

Global competence has become a popular concept for engineering institutions around the world. Despite its recent emergence and still vague characteristics, it has been widely adopted by institutions aiming to prepare globally minded graduates. However, the concept's elusive and complex nature requires careful consideration in order to lead to…

In this article, the authors argue that colleges and universities have an ethical obligation to respond to the problem of cheating in a way that honors higher education's duty to facilitate students' moral and civic development. After the authors compare and contrast the punitive versus developmental approach to cheating, they explore the promise…

The success of educational systems in shaping youth into citizens capable of facing global, national, and personal challenges has been associated with students' ability to develop human values and competencies. This study, therefore, maps the extent to which key human values associated with the three levels of consciousness--namely,…

In this wide-ranging interview, Krista Tippett, a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and the New York Times bestselling author of "Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living" (Penguin Press, 2016) shares her perspective on wisdom, the reemergence of hope, and the need to talk about values.

This essay advances discussion of the evolution of student development theory as foundational knowledge for student affairs practice and the role theoretical consensus plays in the application of theory to student affairs practice. We located our discussion within the context of student affairs as a low-consensus field and address 2 related…

There is a great deal of variability in the practice of orientation across the country at South Africa's universities, and there is limited knowledge of what exactly constitutes good practice in orientation. Many areas of enquiry remain unexplored, and remain blind spots for South Africa's higher education sector. The article addresses this…

There are two important premises at the core of the American democracy: inclusion and dissent. Focusing on the premise of democratic dissent, the overarching goal of this study is understanding how colleges may encourage desirable civic outcomes. This dissertation is proceeds in an alternative format, containing three distinct manuscripts. Chapter…

Education research focused on Pacific Islanders over the past 30 years has overwhelmingly concluded that U.S. systems of education are failing these students, but the global movement towards culturally relevant and inclusive education has had an indelible impact on the number and types of support available for Pacific Islander students in the…

This chapter explores how digital and social technologies may be impacting the developmental journeys of traditionally aged college students. It provides important conceptual distinctions and explores the application of college student development theory in digital spaces along with implications for practice and inquiry.

We used quantitative data from the National Study of LGBTQ Student Success to investigate if participation in high-impact educational practices influenced lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer (LGBQ+) students' academic development. We also examined if these effects are mediated by perceptions of the campus environment. Our findings suggested that…

Scholars and practitioners alike often assume that discomfort is a necessary and productive aspect of the college experience. We used a range of theories grounded in the concept of dissonance to question these assumptions and critically analyze the role of discomfort in collegiate learning and development for today's diverse college student…