This qualitative study grounded in feminist theory uses narrative inquiry to explore the stories of 26 senior women student affairs leaders. We tell the collective story we heard participants bring forward by describing plotlines that reverberated across their accounts. We call these plotlines: "Experiencing Communication through Gendered…

Student affairs practitioners and researchers are well positioned to contribute holistically to student success and as such could play a strategic role in the transformation of higher education. The aim of this article is to illustrate that a key strategic objective of student affairs is to contribute significantly towards student success. This…

Since its emergence in December 2019, SARSCoV-2 and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic have had a significant impact worldwide (CDC, 2022a). Researchers have noted that students with disabilities are less likely to enroll in, persist within, and graduate from postsecondary education (Kutscher & Tuckwiller, 2018; Pingry O'Neill et al., 2012).…

For people with severe or profound intellectual disability (ID), support staff are important interaction partners. The quality of their interactions, a multidimensional construct, is well documented, but the staff perspective remains underexposed. This study aims to capture the behaviors, thoughts, and emotions of staff when interacting with their…

Kent State University (KSU) has been associated with campus activism history since May 4, 1970. Using a case study approach, we interrogated if and how KSU student affairs administrators' approach to activism has changed in the intervening decades and how the legacy of the shootings informed their practice during the Black Lives Matters protests…

This study examines how first-generation (FG) college students make meaning of their social class during their first-year of college. As a method, photovoice allowed for the creation of a rich set of data using student photos and accompanying narratives, through which three key themes were derived: (a) broken American dream, (b) honoring family…

Learning centers and tutoring programs serve a unique function as they are situated between academic and student affairs. Despite their importance, little research has focused on the key knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies required for success as learning center directors. This qualitative study addressed this gap by exploring critical…

International educators have continually served on the front lines supporting international students, ensuring university compliance with changing federal policies, and assessing risks related to travel and global engagement. As a result, international educators often have to navigate multiple conflicting roles within their jobs on college…

The COVID-19 global pandemic caught the United States and the rest of the world ill-prepared, and many institutions of higher education continue to wrestle with unprecedented challenges to provide effective support services to their students. This paper examines how a mid-sized university in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States reimagined…

Student affairs scholarship has highlighted the importance of supervision, which is often an underdeveloped function of many professional positions. This study focused on 11 residential life mid- and senior-level supervisors to understand how restorative practices (RP) may be used to supervise staff. Major themes included conceptualizations of RP,…

As a growing number of colleges and universities establish inclusive postsecondary education (ISPE) programs for students with intellectual disability, new questions arise about how to best to support their full participation all aspects of campus life. One issue that has received limited attention in the literature is alcohol use among young…

The need for universities to effectively support students identifying as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Colour (BIPoC) remains a pressing element of strategies to close awarding gaps. Within overall support packages, the contribution of Learning Developers merits investigation, since these staff are often responsible for nurturing growth in…

Although graduate preparation programs are a key entry point for the higher education and student affairs (HESA) profession, many programs fail Black women practitioners who later serve in predominantly white work environments (PWWEs). While a dominant narrative suggests Black women perform well as learners in higher education, there is limited…

This study examined lived experiences of foreign-born student affairs professionals (SAPs) in the United States and Canadian higher education. We sought to understand foreign-born SAPs' impacts on higher education internationalization and what their professional experiences inferred about the level of international engagement in the field of…

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…