This descriptive qualitative study provides a greater understanding about the approaches, challenges, and strategies associated with developing and sustaining affinity programs for Black collegiate women in higher education. Using a conceptual framework based on the theories of program planning and intersectionality, this paper offers in-depth…

This Education Leadership Portfolio (ELP) documents my efforts to create a new program for women in mid-level administrative positions at the University of Delaware (UD) through the Division of Student Life's Staff Development Committee. This program is designed to address the lack of diversity within leadership roles, especially the…

This chapter describes and discusses implications of the experiences of student affairs leaders--the challenges and the opportunities, the obstacles and the joy--for understanding and facilitating student affairs leadership.

Graduate programs typically provide the diversity coursework needed for students to develop the multicultural competencies necessary to fulfill their roles, yet the overall effectiveness of these educational experiences and their influence on the development of multicultural competence is unclear. This article describes a study designed to measure…

A complicated relationship exists among several variables related to entry-level student affairs professionals' preparedness for their first positions in the field of student affairs. In order to better understand the academic preparation of and the unusually high levels of attrition for entry-level student affairs professionals, their influence…

Higher education is deploying a range of innovative strategies in response to rising costs and financial challenges. This report presents findings from a NASPA [National Association of Student Personnel Administrators] study on cost-saving initiatives at three institutions. Each institution aimed to creatively address different areas affecting…

This chapter describes how assessment of co-curricular student learning outcomes can be used as part of the institutional accreditation process and the opportunities institutional researchers and student affairs educators have to collaborate in those efforts.

The Office Consultation Project is an innovative capstone project that partners graduate students in student affairs preparation programs with academic and student affairs practitioners. It provides an opportunity for students to apply research and scholarship to practical settings, while giving practitioners new insight into their units,…

Community colleges face struggles in helping students meet their academic, career, and personal goals. Student affairs practitioners can be innovators by creating initiatives to engage students. Practitioners can act as a bridge between student and academic affairs. This article explores how a group of counselors redefined their roles by designing…

To improve student retention in distance education, Simpson suggested in 2003 that institutions analyse their own retention characteristics and "spot the leaks." In 2008 the Centre for Distance Learning at Laidlaw College, New Zealand, employed two part-time academic support coordinators in an effort to improve student retention and…

Isothermal Community College (ICC) is located in Spindale, North Carolina. The college serves approximately 2,000 curriculum students every fall and spring semester and about 1,000 curriculum students in summer semesters. The Student Affairs department at ICC is divided into 10 functional areas. Over the last several years, student affairs staff…

Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, faculty members and student affairs educators often believe that the answers they seek about assessment are secrets kept by an all-knowing, powerful person. If they can just find the Wizard of Assessment and be granted the secret assessment formula, all will be well. The student affairs educators at California…

This article gives an overview of a new model for assessment practice within student affairs divisions. With the current increase of accountability and greater demands from higher education stakeholders, student affairs practitioners need to understand how to demonstrate the effectiveness and value of their work as it relates to the mission of…

Describes organization and implementation of "Help Anonymous, a telephone counseling service for students in distress. Volunteers trained and supervised by professional personnel, act as staff. Three services have thus far evolved -- listening, information, and referral. (Author)

Describes a four phase strategy used to identify, critique and improve an existing student services program consisting of collecting information, exchanging information among service units and faculty, publishing a student services handbook, and evaluating existing service effectiveness. (Author/JAC)