Changes in university staffing structures, the professionalisation of support staff and their increasing role in universities have been studied with varying perspectives and methods over the last two decades. The discussion has recently been enriched by the research conducted in different national settings. This paper contributes to the…

Professional staff, non-faculty employees who support the work of faculty and students, are one of the fastest-growing segments in the higher education workforce (Nadler et al., 2010; Mousavizadeh, 2021). Despite their expertise in a myriad of functional areas on a college campus, staff are not privileged as participants in the shared governance…

Approximately one in five college students suffers from food insecurity, however, racially/ethnically minoritized students attending urban universities are more likely to experience food insecurity. Although these concerns are well documented, there has been a gap in the theory-driven tools used by higher education professionals to alleviate food…

The problem was that Historically Black Colleges/Universities (HBCU) stakeholders must observe ways that student support professionals increases organizational effectiveness, for there is a need to understand the correlation of emotional intelligence (EI) and job satisfaction. The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to…

In this Dissertation in Practice (DIP), the lived experiences of professional women who have chosen to leave their jobs in higher education in Indiana are explored. The purpose of the qualitative phenomenological study is to communicate the essence of their lived experiences with leadership development in Indiana higher education. The aim is to…

This qualitative study aims to under the professional development experiences of Black women at Delaware's higher learning institutions. The study addresses the limited research on Black female higher education professional within a specific state. The phenomenological qualitative methodology allowed the researcher to tell the stories of…

Eight disabled white women disability services directors shared their experiences working in disability services in higher education. The ten principles of disability justice provided the framework for this interpretative phenomenological analysis. Individual interviews were used to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of the…

In recent decades, Iceland has become a more diverse nation, as witnessed, for example, in the increasing diversity of the school population. While recognising these changes, teachers have reported feeling unprepared to respond as they engage with students with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The interview study presented in…

In environments characterised by complex structures and processes, universities rely on co-operation and goodwill between staff to function effectively, underpinned by good service quality. However, there is a lack of research on relationship quality in internal service settings and on the role support staff play in the development and enhancement…

The problem addressed in this study is the underrepresentation of professional staff in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at West Coast community colleges. Although DEI efforts have mainly focused on faculty, professional staff have been overlooked, potentially leading to decreased engagement and feelings of undervaluation. This…

Student retention is a critical factor in higher education that impacts many essential areas. However, the average retention rate among community college students within their first year is only 61%. In addition, demographics for community college students demonstrate the challenges students encounter; for example, over 60% are employed, and 65%…

This user-friendly guide uses narrative storytelling to describes the principles of early relational health with direct application to day-to-day work with infants and parents. Practitioners on the front lines often feel great pressure to know "what to do" in a wide range of challenging situations. Drawing on both developmental science…

Much attention has been given to the changing landscape in higher education regarding declining student-enrollment rates and changing demographics. University leaders are giving higher priority to student-success outcomes, specifically retention, persistence, and graduation rates, resulting in a need to examine the emerging role of the student…

The article investigates asynchronous narrative research via email as a flexible and agentic method of collecting data that may empower female participants. A case study was used that focused on the challenges for academic and professional women at an Australian regional university. Twenty-one women responded by email to a range of questions about…

Workplace mentorship for aspiring leaders has been shown to improve job satisfaction and performance by providing opportunities for professional advancement. To date, few published studies have explored mentorship for college and university professional staff, with such staff defined as higher education employees who are not faculty or classified…