This phenomenological study aimed to better understand how new student affairs professionals perceived their sense of self-efficacy and how it impacted their career satisfaction, especially during the COVID-19 global pandemic. This study examined the lived experiences of new student affairs professionals. Data were collected through a series of…

This qualitative study examined the manifestation of work-related stressors that SAPros of Color who provide direct services and support to Students of Color working at a large, tier-one research institution experience. Additionally, this study explored participants' self-care behaviors and strategies used to cope and probed for potential…

The purpose of this study was to test a model for conceptualizing the socialization experiences of new professionals in student affairs, particularly in light of the high attrition rates commonly documented in the literature. Whereas past research has examined individuals as the locus of socialization, this study analyzed organizations as the…

A great deal of research has established training student affairs and higher education (SAHE) professionals in helping skills is important to assist undergraduate students in college and university programs with mental health needs. The COVID-19 global pandemic placed SAHE professionals in a unique position to support college students as students…

Advisors of student organizations face many challenges, including holding students accountable while respecting their autonomy, dealing with challenges of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and navigating their lack of training. Coupled with other professional obligations, it is common for advisors to feel stressed and under-prepared in their…

Most research on Student Affairs practices is centered around student engagement and support; however, this qualitative study focuses on the Student Affairs professionals who support college students. Specifically, this dissertation focuses on the intersectionality of race and religion and how these Student Affairs professionals are able to engage…

In this article, we discuss the role of scholarly practice in activism and advocacy for student affairs professionals. We provide an overview and history of scholarly practice in student affairs, highlight the challenges and barriers to scholarly practice, and provide a needed connection between scholarly practice and activism in student affairs.…

In this article, the author describes the changes to their work in higher education due to the COVID-19 international pandemic. The move away from campus and in-person meetings and interactions to work-from-home and videoconferencing led the author to consider the changes to the students lives: What was it like for them taking their last steps off…

Starting a new job can be likened to be thrown into the deep end of a pool and being expected to swim with no prior lessons. Not only is this practice dangerous at actual swimming pools it is also detrimental in the workforce. Student Affairs is a high turnover field with over 50% of new employees leaving the field completely within the first 5…

In this interview study, I examine how student affairs administration (SAA) works at rural community colleges as well as how rural senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) function in their leadership roles. The study purports to understand student affairs in the context of "rurality," or what it means to be rural. Two primary research…

A correlational student was conducted to explore the relationships between student affairs professional self-efficacy, participation in professional development, and career commitment. For the quantitative portion, the researcher ran Pearson r correlations for self-efficacy scores, career commitment scores, and the number of professional…

This qualitative study considers how gender affected women vice presidents of student affairs' (VPSAs) or senior student affairs officers' (SSAOs) professional experiences and career trajectories to gain insight into the influence of gender on all women professional's working experiences and ability to advance in the field. Although there is a…

This case study examined how eight higher education and student affairs (HESA) professionals' racial ideologies functioned in their understanding of racial conflict. Findings revealed that participants aided in delegitimizing students' perceptions of racial conflict based on their campuses' compositional diversity, history of racial conflict, and…

This article introduces the concept of a scholarship of practice and its potential for improving student affairs research and practice. Student affairs graduate preparation faculty members and student affairs scholar-practitioners can engage in a scholarship of practice by using research to inform their practice and using the findings of their…

This qualitative inquiry examined the supervisory practices of 12 student-affairs professionals who were identified by their supervisees as modeling the tenets of inclusive supervision. Through a deductive research design and pattern-matching analysis, this study sought to test the consistency of the inclusive supervision model through the…