Perhaps no corner of the college campus better illustrates the innovations that the modern delivery of student services has experienced than does the university police department, where, according to Katherine Knott (2022) in "Inside Higher Ed," the growing trend toward a co-responder model--pairing mental health professionals with…

Previous research on preparation for the VPSA role has emphasized career progression rather than participation in professional development activities. This study aimed to explore the perceived effectiveness of 11 different professional development activities across 8 of the NASPA/ACPA Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators in…

In this chapter, we reconcile vocationalist and humanist education by embracing pre-professional programs' humanizing potential. Inspired by Freire and hooks' critical praxes, we define "humanization" as facilitating mutual relationships and respect between people. We draw from our experiences as educators and clinical supervisors in…

US higher education is undergoing rapid change, faster than it has in its 400-year history. While some changes could have been predicted, others, such as COVID, could not. This article will explore issues in the future of higher education, implications for student affairs, and their impact on the preparation of higher education graduate…

In the previous article, we defined the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and the scholarship of practice (SoP) and identified characteristics and qualities related to these topics. In this article, we provide examples of scholars who have conducted a SoTL project related to student affairs. Each of these entries describes the project…

Many college students exhibit symptoms related to social anxiety disorder (SAD); however, they were not addressed or diagnosed until college. College counseling centers are experiencing an increased number of students with SAD. College students with SAD often experience failing grades, have limited social interaction with peers, and lack…

The authors, as student affairs professionals in a medical school setting, are keenly aware of how easy it is to overlook the health, mental health, and wellness needs of learners in professional schools who are no longer among the undergraduate constituencies that are so often our primary focus. But first year medical students to interns through…

For this reflexive essay, I examine how immigration policy influences the student affairs profession, with a particular focus on undocumented students. I will first review how immigration and student affairs intersect. Then, I will discuss ideologies that shape Southern student affairs. Finally, I will share brief findings from my research and…

Some of the first competencies for higher education professionals were published in the 1937 "Student Personnel Point of View." These have evolved and expanded over time, and professional associations have defined knowledge, skills, and dispositions for the field in general and specific functional areas. These competencies, along with…

Student development theory (SDT) is a diverse corpus of academic and popular psychology with real-world application to the maturation of college and university students. It originated during the campus upheavals of the 1960s as part of a collective effort to reconcile restive students to mass higher education and modern technological society.…

In this article I highlight the complexities of trying to "do no harm" in student affairs practice. Drawing on my experiences as a student affairs professional who spent many years in roles responding to crises and working directly with students who had experienced trauma, I offer some lessons learned in my evolving understanding of a…

This basic interpretive qualitative study explores the multiple levels of context in which Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) Master's programs exist and how those levels of context influence curriculum development and teaching. Utilizing interviews with 44 HESA faculty members across the United States and Canada, findings illustrate how…

Professional associations support a field in many ways, including professionalization, setting standards of practice, advocating for members and the industry it supports, and generating and sharing knowledge, research, and scholarship. While they provide ongoing education, they can play a more intentional role in professional preparation. This…

In this final article, we have been tasked with discussing the future of professional preparation in student affairs. Making predictions about the future of anything, even in sedentary times, is dicey, so given the dynamism and chaos of today's world, the reader will find no such forecasts here. Instead, we summarize the challenges facing the…

This article examines the question of the purpose and benefit of professionalization of student affairs. We discuss how student affairs is positioned and positions itself at the "third space," in the intersection of administration, management, and the teaching and learning of students. In addition, the student affairs domain often…