Student affairs work--like higher education--is fundamentally about change. Principally, the change work performed by student affairs practitioners is about supporting the growth and development of individual students and student groups. Increasingly, that work has called for practitioners to become more active in working to change higher education so that it lives up to its radically democratic, inclusive ideals. This means adopting new strategies to transform student affairs staff, students, and institutions, and drawing on insights from critical, liberatory theories. This text represents an effort to describe and document these practices of intentionally centering critical theories. The first section of this text examines the ways that critically-minded practitioners lead through equitable, liberatory frameworks, offering important models for reimagining the future of higher education. In the second section, the editors take up thinking and acting to support the development of critical consciousness in students, providing examples of programs, initiatives, and student support offices that center social justice in their work, and foster a critical lens through their interactions with students. In their conclusion, the editors provide a model for critical praxis, offering enduring strategies for practitioners seeking to incorporate critical, socially just praxis into their everyday work, and defining areas for future research and praxis, including identifying strategies for effective assessment of critical praxis, and modalities for "scaling up" the work for maximal impact.

"This text represents an effort to describe and document these practices of intentionally centering critical theories"--

This guidebook aims to stimulate student affairs professionals and higher education faculty alike to adopt new approaches when discussing sensitive or controversial topics with their students. It provides teachers and professionals with a critical social understanding of social justice, social agency, reflection, and actionable knowledge to develop new and effective skills, practice them in safe spaces, and apply them in the field. It offers tools that are equally applicable in a classroom or cocurricular setting.The exceptional teachers, scholars, and professionals contributing to this volume provide a diverse and alternative lens through which to examine the intersection of social justice education and professional practice. The text is organized in three overarching themes: Part One, “Existing Theories, Examining Claims, and Proposing New Understandings”; Part Two, “Concrete Tools and Safe Spaces for Practicing Difficult Dialogues in Professional Practice”; and Part Three, “Professional Development, Action Research, and Social Agency.” In Part Four, “Moving Forward,” the book concludes with a chapter on implications for daily life and practice.The action-oriented research model provides strategies and frameworks for using social science research to engage in critical social and educational problem solving. The emphasis is on moving colleges and universities to widen their moral and ethical lenses, beyond understanding diversity, to developing multicultural competence and enriching their campus communities.Written for faculty in higher education and student affairs professionals, along with master’s and doctoral students in these fields, this book provides a framework that is grounded in research and sound pedagogies and theories.

The curricular approach aligns the mission, goals, outcomes, and practices of a student affairs division, unit, or other unit that works to educate students beyond the classroom with those of the institution, and organizes intentional and developmentally sequenced strategies to facilitate student learning. In this book, the authors explain how to implement a curricular approach for educating students beyond the classroom. The book is based on more than a decade of implementing curricular approaches on multiple campuses, contributing to the scholarship on the curricular approach, and helping many campuses design, implement, and assess their student learning efforts. The curricular approach is rooted in scholarship and the connections between what we know about learning, assessment, pedagogy, and student success. For many who have been socialized in a more traditional programming approach, it may feel revolutionary. Yet, it is also obvious because it is straightforward and simple.

The foremost scholars in student affairs discuss issues facing the field today, approaches to those issues, and skills necessary to enact the approaches Professionals in student affairs administration need practical, timely, and applied information on the myriad issues they encounter in supporting the success of the students and the institutions they serve. In the Handbook of Student Affairs Administration, the top scholars in the field share the latest information, methods, and advice on addressing these issues. The book is sponsored by NASPA, the leading professional organization for student affairs in higher education. This fifth edition has been updated to reflect current and effective techniques in student affairs administration including new chapters on anti-oppressive frameworks and equity in praxis, access for students with disabilities, men and masculinities, support for students’ mental health and well-being, and student employment as learning-integrated work. There is also an emphasis throughout on adult learners, online learners, part-time students, and transfer students. Chapter authors of diverse gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, experiential background, and type of institution offer broader perspectives. Learn about the dominant organization and administration models in student affairs Stay up to date on core competencies and professional development models Discover research-based strategies for addressing both emerging and lasting issues in student affairs Instructor resources available The Handbook of Student Affairs Administration is a comprehensive and thoughtful resource, with expert insight on the issues facing student affairs. This is one handbook students and professionals in the field won’t want to go without.

Student affairs work—like higher education—is fundamentally about change. Principally, the change work performed by student affairs practitioners is about supporting the growth and development of individual students and student groups. Increasingly, that work has called for practitioners to become more active in working to change higher education so that it lives up to its radically democratic, inclusive ideals. This means adopting new strategies to transform student affairs staff, students, and institutions, and drawing on insights from critical, liberatory theories. This text represents an effort to describe and document these practices of intentionally centering critical theories.The first section of this text examines the ways that critically-minded practitioners lead through equitable, liberatory frameworks, offering important models for reimagining the future of higher education. In the second section, the editors take up thinking and acting to support the development of critical consciousness in students, providing examples of programs, initiatives, and student support offices that center social justice in their work, and foster a critical lens through their interactions with students. In their conclusion, the editors provide a model for critical praxis, offering enduring strategies for practitioners seeking to incorporate critical, socially just praxis into their everyday work, and defining areas for future research and praxis, including identifying strategies for effective assessment of critical praxis, and modalities for “scaling up” the work for maximal impact.

Student affairs is now part of the management and administrative structure of almost every college and university in the United States. Professional staff working under the banner of student affairs are engaged in a wide variety of educational, support, and service functions. Measured by almost any standard, today’s student affairs profession has never been stronger. There are still, however, a number of critical issues that must be debated and discussed if the student affairs profession is to move forward in the years ahead. Critical Issues for Student Affairs identifies the most vital issues currently confronting the student affairs profession. Each chapter in this important volume focuses on a specific issue and presents a background, a summary of related research and writing, an examination of the issue, related references, and a list of suggestions for further discussion.

Effectively address the challenges of equity and inclusion on campus The long-awaited second edition, Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs: Advancing Social Justice and Inclusion, introduces an updated model of student affairs competence that reflects the professional competencies identified by ACPA and NASPA (2015) and offers a valuable approach to dealing effectively with increasingly complex multicultural issues on campus. To reflect the significance of social justice, the updated model of multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills now includes multicultural action and advocacy and speaks directly to the need for enhanced perspectives, tools, and strategies to create inclusive and equitable campuses. This book offers a fresh approach and new strategies for student affairs professionals to enhance their practice; useful guidelines and revised core competencies provide a framework for everyday challenges, best practices that advance the ability of student affairs professionals to create multicultural change on their campuses, and case studies that allow readers to consider and apply essential awareness, knowledge, skills, and action applied to common student affairs situations. Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs: Advancing Social Justice and Inclusion will allow professionals to: Examine the updated and revised dynamic model of student affairs competence Learn how multicultural competence translates into effective and efficacious practice Understand the inextricable connections between multicultural competence and social justice Examine the latest research and practical implications Explore the impacts of practices on assessment, advising, ethics, teaching, administration, technology, and more Learn tools and strategies for creating multicultural change, equity, and inclusion on campus Understanding the changes taking place on campus today and developing the competencies to make individual and systems change is essential to the role of student affairs professional. What is needed are new ways of thinking and innovative strategies and approaches to how student affairs professionals interact with students, train campus faculty and staff, and structure their campuses. Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs: Advancing Social Justice and Inclusion provides guidance for the evolving realities of higher education.

In this study, I explored critical approaches to social justice in student affairs. I sought to understand how student affairs administrators understand and communicate about social justice. Furthermore, I studied how a critical paradigm informs the work of student affairs practitioners in their everyday lives, and what we might learn from the experiences of professionals who ground their work in such paradigms. This was a qualitative study, in which I used snowball sampling as the method for recruiting participants. I conducted semi structured interviews with 14 full time student affairs administrators, who I refer to as critically-oriented student affairs administrators. Consistent with critical theory, I employ a language of critique and a language of possibility in this dissertation. The findings in this study suggest that there is much work to be done in more productively addressing social justice in student affairs. The lived experiences the participants in this study shared provide insight into living out critical commitments to social justice in the student affairs field. Furthermore, there is space in the student affairs field for more in-depth analysis and consideration for what it means to be "critical" in the student affairs profession.