The number and acuity of crises experienced by college students is increasing, and for those campuses with on-campus housing, entry-level Residence Directors (RDs) often oversee and implement institutions' initial crisis response. RDs conduct this crisis response work while being faced with competing institutional pressures and stress on their…

Many Student Affairs Professionals leave the profession within the first 5 years. A common position for new Student Affairs Professions is the Residence Hall Director position. This study aimed to determine the level of job satisfaction and what factors contribute to job satisfaction for Residence Hall Directors in the California State University…

The minoritized identities of many resident assistants are rarely a topic of studies that evaluate their campus experiences, yet these identities are crucial in making these experiences positive. This qualitative research study helps fill this gap in the literature by reporting the experiences of 21 resident assistants with minoritized identities…

The multidimensional role of entry-level, live-in residence life and housing staff has grown even more complex in recent years. These staff members, often referred to as resident directors, are frequently asked to go beyond the role of RA supervisor, community builder, and policy enforcer. Now they also serve to support students with significant…

Live-in staff and students have never, even under the most stifling corporatized conditions, "stopped" developing their intimate and personal lives. The act of living, both with oneself and with others, is the primary condition for the exploration of how to live a personal life. However, this article reflects on the many ways that the…

The Resident Assistant (RA) position is the foundational role in the student affairs staffing structure. RA job description has expanded exponentially since the earliest iterations (Boone et al., 2016). The selection of RAs presents unique challenges because it is costly, requires a lot of staff, typically draws a large candidate pool, and…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study is twofold: to examine the professional development and supervision of live-in and live-on housing and residence life professionals for crises response and management on colleges and universities. The literature review consisted of empirical research for crises, professional development and supervision. The…

Religious, secular, and spiritual identities (RSSIs) are an important aspect of the complex experiences of students in higher education. Often dismissed or forgotten by higher education professionals, RSSIs have shifted drastically over the 20+ years since Love and Talbot first wrote about them in 1999. While scholarship on RSSIs has steadily…

Promoting staff well-being has been a challenge for many residence life departments long before the COVID-19 pandemic led to a decrease in the mental well-being of the general population as well as in residence life staff. The stressful work environment and demanding work hours in residence life have been linked to burnout and intentions to leave…

Hiring the most capable students to serve in the RA role should be a top priority for housing departments due to their critical role as front-line student success employees. The effort to identify and hire RAs typically includes a substantial investment of personnel resources in hiring processes, where candidates are typically evaluated across…

Research evidence suggests that approaches to promote student success in higher education are becoming more holistic and integrated in nature. This implies that not only classrooms and laboratories, but also residences, as informal out-of-class learning environments, can potentially contribute significantly to promoting student success. The…

International students experience cross-cultural difficulties as they seek to adapt to U.S. campuses. Past research has indicated that residence halls can have both positive and negative impacts on students' educational experiences. Employing a qualitative phenomenological approach, this study explored the lived experiences of 13 international…

With the increasing cost of attendance and concerns regarding incoming student preparedness (Jackson & Kurlaender, 2013), administrators of U.S. colleges and universities are seeking ways to help more students be successful and persist to graduation. Although research has demonstrated the contribution of psychosocial factors to student success…

The separation of work and life creates unique challenges for residence life professionals, given that they often live in their place of work. The culture of this work pushes such employees to integrate their work and personal lives in ways that are not always healthy or fulfilling and that frequently lead to burnout. This study sought to explore…

The current study investigated the relationship between supervision, job satisfaction, and burnout among "live-in" and "live-on" Housing and Residence Life professionals. The literature review consists of empirical research for each construct presented (supervision, job satisfaction, and burnout). The study sample consisted of…