Resident assistant hiring decisions are critical to the residential student experience and ultimately to the success of housing and residence life departments. The purpose of this study is to explore the influences existing in the hiring decision-making process for housing and residence life staff. We also compare the influences of hiring…

For decades, the student affairs field has viewed supervision as a vital function of many professional roles for which staff rarely receive intentional training. While there is limited scholarship outlining what effective supervision should entail, the frameworks available to intentionally guide supervisory skill development is sparse. The…

The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to understand how institutions of higher education implemented a gender-inclusive housing option for students from the perspective of student affairs administrators. Of particular interest was how housing administrators perceived a gender-inclusive housing option impacted students and the campus community.…

Students with minoritized identities (SMI) are increasingly engaged on college campuses as activists and often feel unsupported by faculty and student affairs professionals (SAP). This phenomenological study examined how eight SMI activists described their experiences partnering with faculty or SAPs. Data analysis from semi-structured interviews…

This study examined the phenomenon of being geographically bound as a student affairs professional. Participants described challenges in career advancement, tension between personal and professional aspirations, and self-doubt about their professional identity due to pervasive messaging that "you need to move out to move up." Results…

Mattering is the subjective perception that others are aware of us, care about us, and depend on us at the interpersonal (e.g., friends) and societal levels (e.g., workplace, school). Interpersonal and university mattering explain important variances in college students' well-being and academic performance; therefore, shorter, more tailored…

Student affairs staff members experience stress and burnout as a result of frequent transformation within the higher education landscape. Although change affects all employees in the field of higher education, staff members in student affairs are faced with unique challenges that lead to the adoption of healthy or unhealthy coping behaviors. The…

The purpose of this study was to understand how student affairs educators make meaning of the concept of career readiness among undergraduate students they directly advise or supervise at a public, research institution in Texas. This study was driven by the increased pressure of higher education as a whole to highlight college graduates'…

The purpose of this study was to examine how student affairs professionals self-label their political ideology and to explore the relationships among their political ideology, person-environment fit, and demographic information. The researcher utilized a quantitative methodology to survey members of NASPA. This study included responses from 2,045…

The purpose of this explanatory case study was to learn how a designated veteran services office on a university campus supports student veterans preparing to transition into the civilian workforce after their college graduation. This study provided an in-depth understanding of the operations of a nationally recognized veteran services office by…

The purpose of this study was to identify and understand the attributes--knowledge, skills, and competencies--that presidents expected in the Senior Student Affairs Officers (SSAO) at Catholic colleges in the Midwest. This qualitative study used in-depth interviews with presidents and senior student affairs officers to explore the knowledge,…

This article highlights several examples of student affairs practitioners and graduate preparation faculty engaging in the scholarship of practice. In doing so, these individuals merit a designation as scholars of practice because they are conducting research using their disciplinary knowledge and skill to address an institutional problem or…

During the 2020-2021 school year, more than 60% of college students met the criteria for at least one mental health problem, according to the Healthy Minds Study, which collects data from 373 campuses nationwide. Since then, many colleges have developed mission statements that seek to ensure and preserve access to higher education and success for…

Framed by family engagement frameworks, this study presents four types of interactions college access professionals (CAPs) have with the families of underrepresented college-going students - inconsistent communication, transactional exchanges, student-family mediation, and trusting relationships - to explore the nature of family-educator…

The field of student affairs has seen an exodus of staff members over the past few years. Employee attrition, however, is not a new problem in student affairs. This grounded theory study aimed to understand why student affairs professionals leave the field. Based on interviews with student affairs professionals who left the field between March…