Research that explores the experiences of college students consistently finds that the first year is the most daunting to navigate. While a well-established but far from exhaustive list of factors has been found to impact a student's transition to and retention in college, very little research has focused on frontline faculty and student services…

This qualitative study was designed to explore the experiences of students and student services staff involved in the direct exchange program between University of Central Missouri (UCM) and Orebro University. The researcher explored the impact of student services staff assistance on students participating in this direct exchange. The conceptual…

This study explores the integration of career development into performing arts curriculum and its relevance to job satisfaction in the labor market for African American Music degree graduates. Through a phenomenological analysis utilizing interpretative analysis and snowball sampling, 11 interviews were conducted across two Historically Black…

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were created to educate Black Americans. While these institutions are often diverse, they predominantly serve Black students and provide an educational experience that is steeped in Black history and rich in Black culture. This study explored how a public, medium-sized, primarily residential…

This qualitative study explores the experiences of mid-level higher education professionals navigating workplace changes post-Coronavirus-19 Pandemic and during the subsequent Great Resignation. The study, framed by the theory of ambiguous loss to interpret the impacts of unresolved losses, underscores the importance of equipping higher education…

Higher education practitioners are a wide-ranging group of professionals often responsible for implementing programs and services that support student success. In this qualitative study, we examine the nature of student-practitioner relationships among a multiracial sample of 39 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) college…

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…

Although research has been conducted to understand the specificities and nuances of how student affairs operates within various institution types (e.g., community colleges, liberal arts colleges, research institutions) to support student success, the role that student affairs professionals have supporting student success in U.S. unincorporated…

In this study, we examined the association between resilience, academic self-concept, and first-year student adjustment to college using data collected from 514 first-year undergraduate students enrolled at a medium-size, Hispanic-serving university in the southern United States. Utilizing a simultaneous multiple regression analysis, we found…

Little is known about student affairs professionals' well-being. A hierarchical regression analysis of responses from 2,414 participants revealed a robust relationship between work quality variables and these professionals' well-being score. Work-life balance was not a significant predictor of well-being for these respondents. Recommendations for…

Narratives of isolation and marginalization are consistent elements of the experiences of Black people in higher education, regardless of positions and roles (Anthym & Tuitt, 2019; Chesler & Crowfoot, 1989; Stewart, 2018-2019). The purpose of this narrative study is to explore how participation in Black affinity groups influenced Black…

The division of student affairs within higher education institutions faces continuous change as the demand to respond to college student mental health increases. The research literature describes the progression of student affairs and the increase of severe student issues as mental health becomes a more prominent challenge on college campuses. The…

Significant world events such as the COVID-19 pandemic have shifted the way that people of all ages view their careers and the meaning of work in their lives. While campus career services hold a mandate to facilitate student career readiness and success, it cannot accomplish this ambitious goal alone. "Career influencers" are student…

This qualitative study explored international student affairs professionals' (SA Pros) job search journey in the United States. By employing self-efficacy as a theoretical framework, nine SA Pros who were born and raised in foreign countries and pursued student affairs graduate degrees in the United States revealed five themes in their job search:…

Historians of education have argued that the field of vocational guidance was founded by men in Boston in 1909, and that these guidance practices were not used in a college setting until the mid-1940s after the close of World War II. This article illustrates the history of early female student affairs practitioners developing and implementing…