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“Why Student Affairs . . . ?”

Elizabeth J. Whitt

The University of Iowa

Wisconsin College Personnel

AssociationOctober 23, 2009

Why Student Affairs . . .

As a profession/field of practice/ institutional entity.

As a career choice

Agenda“Why Student Affairs (as a field of

practice)?”The PastThe Present

Context for Higher Education/Student Affairs Practice

Student Success in College Implications for Student Affairs

The Future Joint Task Force

Why Student Affairs as a Career Path?Advice about Student Affairs as a Career

PathDiscussion

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Leftover Questions

Questions from this morning?

Why Student Affairs

About me and my perspectives Background and Past Experiences

Current Context and Experiences

Why Student Affairs: Foundations of the Field

Why Student Affairs . . .

As a profession/field of practice/ institutional entity.

Student affairs provides essential support to achieving the educational mission of postsecondary institutions by working with academic affairs, including faculty, to facilitate student learning and success.

Why Student Affairs: PastStudent affairs work resulted from

changes in higher education after the Civil War: Expansion of access and institutional

types▪ Numbers of students and institutions▪ Coeducation▪ Specialization

Changes in faculty roles and interests: German model of education – graduate education, research

Why Student Affairs: Past The Student Personnel Point of View, 1937 and 1949

One of the basic purposes of higher education is the preservation, transmission, and enrichment of the important elements of culture: the product of scholarship, research, creative imagination, and human experience. It is the task of colleges and universities to assist the student in developing to the limits of his potentialities and in making his contribution to the betterment of society.

This philosophy imposes upon educational institutions the obligation to consider the student as a whole . . .

Why Student Affairs: PastStudent Services (post WWII)

Student Development (1970s)

Student Learning Imperative (1994)

Why Student Affairs: PastStudent Development (1970s)

Application of theories of human development in college settings.

Interaction between the person and the environment.

Cognitive, moral, and psychosocial development.

Why Student Affairs: (Recent)PastStudent Learning Imperative

(ACPA, 1994)Student affairs professionals are educators who share responsibility with faculty, academic administrators, other staff, and students themselves for creating the conditions under which students are likely to expend time and energy in educationally-purposeful activities . . . Thus, student affairs programs and services must be designed and managed with specific student learning and personal development outcomes in mind.

Why Student Affairs: (Recent)Past

Defining Student Learning:

Acquisition of knowledge and skillsCognitive competence Intrapersonal competence Interpersonal competencePractical competence

Why Student Affairs: (Recent)PastAs we understand the term, learning is not something reserved for classrooms or degree programs. It is available to every member of the academic community . . . Learning is available to all . . . and all serve learning (NASULGC, 1997).

Why Student Affairs: (Recent)PastStudent Learning Imperative

(ACPA, 1994)

Key elements:o Institutional Missiono Allocation of resources to focus on

student learningo Collaborationo Research, data, assessment;

accountability for facilitating learning

Why Student Affairs?

What questions so far?

What Matters for Student SuccessHow have you changed in

college? What do you know and what can you do as a result of your college experiences?

How did those changes occur? What specific experiences contributed to those changes?

Why Student Affairs: PresentPresident Barack Obama

asserted “this country needs and values the talents of every American.  That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal:  by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.”  (Speech to the Joint Houses of Congress, February 24, 2009)

Why Student Affairs: Present“[The list of] fissures between

higher education’s rhetoric and its performance is long, and it is growing . . . All this has led to a significant gap between the needs of society that should be met by universities and colleges and the actual performance of these institutions.” (Newman, Couturier, & Scurry, 2004, p. 67).

Why Student Affairs: Present “Colleges and universities, for all the

benefits they bring, accomplish far less for their students than they should.”

“Has the quality of teaching improved? More important, are students learning more than they did in 1950?....The honest answer to these questions is that we do not know.”

“The moment has surely come for America’s colleges to take a more candid look at their weaknesses and think more boldly about setting higher educational standards for themselves.”Bok, D. (2006). Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at

How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More.

What Matters Most for Student Success: Student Engagement

The greatest impact appears to stem from students’ total level of campus engagement, particularly when academic, interpersonal, and extracurricular involvements are mutually reinforcing…

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Pascarella & Terenzini, How College Affects Students, 2005, p. 647

What Matters for Student Success

1. What students do -- time and energy devoted to educationally purposeful activities

2. What institutions do -- using effective educational practices to induce students to do the right things

What Matters for Student Success

Effective Educational Practices

Academic Challenge Active and Collaborative

Learning Student-Faculty

Interaction Enriching Educational

Experiences Supportive Campus

Environments(c.f., Chickering & Gamson, 1987; Kuh et al.,

2005; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005)

What Matters for Student Success What makes the ‘high impact

activities’ high impact activities: Active engagement and learning With peers and faculty members On a regular basis In and out of class On matters of educational substance About which students get regular feedback And the outcomes of which are assessed

regularly

What Matters for Student SuccessHow have you changed in

college? What do you know and what can you do as a result of your college experiences?

How did those changes occur? What specific experiences contributed to those changes?

Why Student Affairs: PresentWhat are the implications, then,

for student affairs professionals and entities of what we know about educationally-effective practices – practices that foster student success?

Principles of Good Practice in Student Affairs

Why Student Affairs: PresentPrinciples of Good Practice in

Student Affairs (Blimling, Whitt, and Associates, 1999)

Why Student Affairs: PresentPrinciples of Good Practice in

Student Affairs

A challenge for you: What does this have to do with you?▪ As a current undergraduate student?▪ As a future student affairs professional?

Good Practice in Student AffairsEngages students in active learning.

Good Practice in Student AffairsActive learning: Helps students move from current ways of thinking and acting to integrating new ways. Experiencing Processing Applying

Good Practice in Student AffairsFor example:

Generating community standards

Engaging in environmental assessment

Good Practice in Student AffairsFocus on student learning.

The academic mission of the institution is the mission of student affairs.

Support it, facilitate it, don’t compete w/ it.

Via educationally-purposeful activities, programs, initiatives, practices within seamless learning environments.

Good Practice in Student AffairsHelps students develop coherent values and ethical standards.

Good Practice in Student AffairsBuilding character: the habits of heart, mind and conduct that help students know and do what is ethical.

Integrating thinking, feeling, and acting.

Good Practice in Student AffairsFor example:

Orient students to standards of academic integrity and civility.

Help students learn to live with others.

Prepare students for lives of civic responsibility.

Good Practice in Student AffairsSets and communicates high expectations for student learning.

Good Practice in Student AffairsInstitutional conditions for student success (Kuh et al, 2005): High expectations for academic excellence.

Clear, high standards appropriate to students.

Clear and frequent feedback. Appropriate levels of support for challenge.

Good Practice in Student AffairsFor example:

Consider the gaps between what you want to expect and what you ask from students. How do you get from here to there?

‘Expect more and you’ll get more.’

Good Practice in Student AffairsForges educational partnerships that advance student learning.

Good Practice in Student AffairsForges educational partnerships that advance student learning: Create seamless learning environments. Create shared vision of what matters in

undergraduate education. Shared responsibility for student success:

academic affairs, student affairs, student affairs staff, faculty, students.

Good Practice in Student AffairsCreate and sustain

partnerships for student learning. Cocurricular activities and programs support the academic mission.

Credit doesn’t matter . . . Cross-cultural communication and outreach.

Good Practice in Student AffairsUses resources effectively to achieve institutional missions and goals.

Good Practice in Student AffairsUses resources effectively:

Responsible stewardship in a climate of accountability (external and internal); shrinking resources, competing priorities (external and internal).

“Put your money where your mind is.”

Good Practice in Student AffairsIf student learning is the primary

measure of institutional productivity by which the quality of undergraduate education is determined, what and how much students learn also must be the criteria by which the value of student affairs is judged (as contrasted with numbers of programs offered or clients served). (Student Learning Imperative, 1994)

Invest in programs and people that demonstrate contributions to student learning. “We do a lot with a little, but where

you put your money speaks volumes.”

Do more of what matters and less of what doesn’t.

And make those decisions based on good data.

Good Practice in Student Affairs

Good Practice in Student AffairsUses systematic inquiry to improve student and institutional performance.

Good Practice in Student AffairsSystematic inquiry: An intentional, organized, and ongoing search for valid, reliable, and believable information – information that is used to inform and support decisions, programs, practices, and policies.

Good Practice in Student AffairsSystematic inquiry:

Research – use it, do it. Outcomes-based assessment

Evaluation of programs, practices, policies, and people.

Good Practice in Student AffairsWhy systematic inquiry? Organizational effectiveness Survival (accountability, demonstrate contributions to desired learning outcomes/institutional mission)

Ethical responsibility.

Good Practice in Student AffairsFor example:

Read. One-minute papers. Cell-phone surveys. Longitudinal studies of student outcomes and experiences.

Good Practice in Student AffairsBuilds supportive and inclusive communities.

Good Practice in Student AffairsBuilds supportive and inclusive communities: Value and support diversity of all types. Promote social justice and responsibility. Encourage debate and facilitate difficult

dialogues. Foster a sense of belonging and community for

all students. Encourage connections and meaningful

interactions among all students. Ensure engagement in high-impact activities by

all students.

Good Practice in Student AffairsWhy build supportive and inclusive communities? Organizational effectiveness: students

learn from difference, not sameness. Respond to challenges and demands of

access, opportunity, equality of benefits. Support and foster success of all

students. Prepare students for effective,

successful lives after college.

Good Practice in Student AffairsFor example:

Good Practice in Student AffairsWhat questions do you have about these principles?

Why Student Affairs: Future

Joint Task Force on the Future of Student Affairs (2008 – Present)

As current societal trends and priorities focus increasing attention on higher education, the profession of student affairs is compelled to take responsibility for its future. We recognize that our work demands accountability, effective use of resources, collaboration and a stronger knowledge base. As the two comprehensive student affairs associations, ACPA and NASPA recognize the importance of our role in crafting a vision for our profession that is responsive to the needs of our students, institutions and colleagues for the next ten years and beyond.

Why Student Affairs: Future Joint Task Force on the Future of

Student Affairs

Vision Statement: The Student Affairs Profession enhances student learning and development by creating healthy and engaging campus environments that promote student success.

Why Student Affairs: Future

Student affairs professionals: Facilitate and support student learning Build partnerships to create learning-

centered environments Ground programs, practices, policies

in the mission and goals of their institution

Ground programs, practices, policies in theories (e.g., student development, organizational development) and local and external research.

Why Student Affairs: Future

Student affairs professionals: Create and measure learning

outcomes; assess program effectiveness based on outcomes data.

Promote diversity and social justice Strengthen access and persistence Conform to standards of ethical

professional practice Contribute to the body of knowledge

and research about students

Reflective Moment

What is the main point I’m taking from this information? Why?

Why Student Affairs: As a Career Path

Why Student Affairs: Career Path

QuestionsAdvice

Why Student Affairs: Career Path

Student affairs professionals: Facilitate and support student learning Build partnerships to create learning-centered

environments Ground programs, practices, policies in the

institutional mission and goals Ground programs, practices, policies in theories (e.g.,

student development, organizational development) and local and external research.

Create and measure learning outcomes Promote diversity and social justice Strengthen access and persistence Conform to standards of ethical professional practice Contribute to the body of knowledge and research

about students

Why Student Affairs: Career PathWhy am I interested in a career in

student affairs? A career in student affairs is a

professional commitment: to rigorous graduate education; to student affairs practice based on theory, research, and data; to fostering student learning; to collaboration with faculty and other staff members; to professional involvement on and off the campus; to professional standards of ethical practice.

Why Student Affairs: Career Path What types of work do I find most

satisfying?

What working conditions do I prefer? Lots of interaction ? Time alone? Control of my environment? A little chaos (or a lot)?

What principles, values, goals motivate me to do my best?

Why Student Affairs: Career Path Do I enjoy working with people – of

all ages, in all aspects of a college or university environment?

Am I interested in student learning, in and out of the classroom? Am I committed to my own lifelong learning and professional and personal development?

To what extent am I able to set and maintain professional boundaries? How do I feel about holding people – including students – accountable?

Why Student Affairs: Career PathHow important is it that I hold

an “8 to 5” job and/or work 40 hours a week?

How important is it that I make a lot of money?

How do I feel about constant change and unpredictability in my work setting? How do I feel about ambiguity and uncertainty in my work setting?

What else?:

Why Student Affairs: Career Path

What are your reactions to these questions?

Why Student Affairs: Career Path Advice:

Seek professional mentors. Ask for their advice, but know yourself. ▪ Consider finding mentors and opportunities

outside your current experience. Seek professional development: WCPA,

ACPA’s Next Generation Conference, NASPA IV-E “Bring a Student Challenge.”

Expect/plan to go to graduate school. Find a rigorous program/curriculum and make the most of it.

Why Student Affairs: Career Path Graduate Programs in Student Affairs -

Key Admissions Criteria: potential to be a successful graduate

student: academic background (courses, gpa), graduate admissions examination (GRE), writing sample, references, interviews (e.g., goals, activities and experiences, personal qualities, ability to contribute to and benefit from the program).

potential to be a successful student affairs professional: writing sample, references, interviews.

Why Student Affairs: Career Path Graduate Programs in Student Affairs:

How Can You Prepare Yourself for Grad School?

Make the Most of Your Time in College (and after):

▪ Seek academic challenges, engage in curricular and co-curricular programs, make the most of your opportunities to get broad experiences in and out of the classroom, work with a faculty member.

▪ Push yourself to learn about yourself, push yourself outside your comfort zone.

▪ Demonstrate effective time management and commitment to academic priorities.

▪ Develop essential skills: effective written and oral communication; critical thinking; research; synthesis, integration, application.

Why Student Affairs: Career PathGraduate Programs in Student Affairs

- Typical Application Process ( Check with each program: processes and deadlines differ).• Application form(s)• Transcripts: all previous coursework• Writing sample: goal statement or similar

activity• GRE scores (verbal, quantitative)• Letters of reference: speak to your potential for

success as a graduate student, a student affairs professional, leadership, research.

Why Student Affairs: Career PathGraduate Programs in Student

Affairs:How Can You Strengthen Your Application?

Follow the directions. Demonstrate careful attention to

detail. Address potential problem areas

up front. Select the right references.

Why Student Affairs: Career Path Graduate Programs in Student Affairs: What

to Expect?“MORE” and -- probably – higher expectations: for reading (class preparation and optional

work), writing, discussing. for depth of analysis, critical thinking,

reflection and inquiry -- about the professional implications of what you read, write, do.

for developing a theoretical and research-oriented foundation for your work.

for becoming a reflective practitioner and a learning-oriented professional.

for taking risks as a learner and as a professional.

for behaving as a professional, even as a student.

Why Student Affairs: Career Path

“One-Minute Paper” What’s the most important thing I’ve learned from this material and why is it ‘most important’?

What questions still need to be addressed? How will I get answers to them?

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Questions & Discussion