Despite their significant influence on the experiences of disabled college students, disability resource professionals are provided limited guidance on how to carry out the functions of their role. As a result, during the accommodations process, disability resource professionals generally rely on their instincts and "gut" reactions when…

This article discusses the nature of the student affairs professionalization project, by analyzing the discourses evident in and legitimized through the "Journal of Student Affairs in Africa" ("JSAA"). The analysis is driven by three research questions: What is the extent of the journal's engagement with the terms profession,…

This online content analysis was designed to better understand the landscape of leadership courses offered in student affairs preparatory programs. Specifically, we wanted to explore if graduates are inherently prepared to serve in the leadership educator capacity. Our data indicates the field has significant work to do. Approximately 40% of these…

Career opportunities for U.S.-educated student affairs professionals to work outside of the U.S. in student affairs have become increasingly available over the past two decades. The purpose of this study was to determine demographics of U.S.-educated expatriate student affairs professionals and their motivations to work abroad, which remains a…

The purpose of this census-style quantitative research was to investigate what relationship existed between demographic and institutional factors and women's career advancement aspirations in student affairs in the state of Wisconsin. A Qualtrics survey that included Gregor and O'Brien's (2015) Career Aspirations Scale-Revised and Drasgow's (2001)…

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of student affairs staff members, with no formal counseling background, in their work to support student care, defined at the site of this research as the spectrum through low-level well-being to high-level mental health concerns. Additionally, focus was given to the actions that could be…

The culture of the student affairs profession supports a commitment to the holistic development of students, often requiring staff to be available around the clock. A Senior Student Affairs Officer (SSAO) must be prepared to address the evolving demands of student life and such attentiveness can make it difficult to disconnect from work in order…

Student affairs professionals play an integral role in supporting college students' mental health and well-being. Yet the current literature lacks research that specifically documents these phenomena within this set of professionals. The COVID-19 pandemic created additional mental health and well-being concerns that are worth empirically…

This empirical work is driven by a study on the experiences and motivation of a group of college-aged student activists. Using a cohort of 14 millennial-aged activists who organized their work in response to a rise of right-wing authoritarianism in national and state politics, this paper presents recommendations for how student affairs…

The PreK-12 and higher education systems operate as separate and distinct entities (Kirst & Venezia, 2004). States organize them as separate units and the administrators in the systems are formally trained separately and operate separately with few exceptions. While studies have been conducted from the PreK-12 and higher education perspectives…

The purpose of this study was to provide more insight into the skills and support systems needed to encourage scholarship among student affairs practitioners. We used topical life history to examine the scholarly lives of eight student affairs practitioners. To guide our examination, we used the questions posed by Jablonski et al. (2006) as our…

A student body president's work involves addressing emerging crises and challenging institutional decision-makers to respond to the cost of higher education, campus sexual assault, mental health, free speech, and student safety (Student Voice Index, 2018). This phenomenological study unearths the experiences of individuals who previously served as…

New student affairs professionals are critical for higher education and yet institutions continue to suffer attrition rates as high as 60%. Using cross-sectional survey, this study measured relationships between wellness and intent to leave the profession. Results showed wellness levels were considerably lower than the general population and, as…

Assessment is a core competency in student affairs, but scholars in the field of higher education and student affairs know little about how practitioners perceive and approach learning about assessment. In this study with 20 students in a student affairs master's program, I found they perceived assessment as the "wild card" and had…

This study examines how Chief Student Affairs Officers (CSAO) make sense of their role engaging with fundraising at small, private, liberal arts institutions with endowments below the median endowment size of $140.2 million. Specifically examining how they make sense of engaging with fundraising and how they have gained knowledge or experience in…