Conflict can shut down communication, the key to social justice advocacy. In this article, the author shares his insights on how some communication strategies can help manage conflict and sustain open conversation with students about contentious issues. Recently, the author participated in an extremely heated discussion session for student affairs…

Belonging to a personally meaningful community of learners is a powerful predictor of a student's retention and academic success. Being part of a community that is intentionally built on recognizing, valuing, and learning from the diversity within that community can further deepen students' understanding of self, others, and the global community…

Without question, sustainability efforts and initiatives are on the rise on college campuses. In a 2007 American College Personnel Association (ACPA) presentation, Debra Rowe reported that across the country there were 250 sustainability coordinators/offices/committees, 300 LEED (green) buildings, 275 campus sustainability assessments that had…

The President of the United States promises to return servicemen and servicewomen back home from the war in the Middle East by 2011. This raises important questions about how the people in higher education will view and serve those who have worn the military uniform. As they watch the veterans who are making the transition from the battlefield to…

In the last issue of "About Campus," the author outlined the research studies that she presented with Eric J. McIntosh, Denise Nelson, and Shannon Pothovenin in 2009, which led to the creation of the Thriving Quotient, a reliable and valid 35-item instrument that measures the changeable psychological qualities in students that affect their ability…

In this article, the author examines the challenges of highly mobile students and what educators can do to retain and support them. The findings and recommendations presented here are based on two complementary research projects conducted with homeless students transitioning from high school to college. The author focuses on the residential…

In this article, the author shares his own learning on the challenges and the responsibilities as a student and as an instructor in the process of engaged learning. The author shares that his hope of telling his experience is to prompt educators to think about teaching and learning in ways that challenge some traditional assumptions about students…

This article discusses how Purdue University is changing the academic behavior of struggling students. At Purdue, they've developed Signals as a means of helping students better understand where they stand gradewise early enough so that they can seek help and raise their grade or drop the course without the penalty of a failing grade. They knew…

Even as educators understand how their millennial students learn in such different ways than previous generations (watching how-to videos downloaded from YouTube or engaging in experiential learning adventures), colleges still rely heavily on in-the-classroom learning. The author can't offer an alternative to this classroom format, but she…

Across the broad spectrum of disciplines and departments within higher education, it sometimes feels like there is little that unites them. They talk about silos, they bemoan divergent and fragmented efforts, and they refer frequently to "them" and "they," regardless of where they are on the organizational chart. However, there is one topic that…

Understanding allyhood as a developmental process will allow educators and program directors to reach a broader number of students with more powerful outcomes in line with student learning and development goals. Designing programs that promote ally development as a component of social justice education will allow programs to tailor ally…

Like many of the author's colleagues in higher education, he has long maintained that their work is primarily about forging personal connections within their campus communities by engaging students in a variety of learning activities. He fervently believes that learning must be broadly conceived to include an array of cognitive, social, and…

Many people feel overwhelmed by the seemingly never-ending demands of their professional and personal lives. Thinking of one's life as an ongoing journey promotes flexibility and allows one to focus on a current task, while knowing there will be time in the future to complete other tasks or meet other goals later. Research has also shown that…

Going green? For many, this phrase has a definitive ending, such as an "!" or a strong "." For the authors, the journey began with the questions: (1) What should students be "learning" about sustainability?; and (2) How do we know that they "are" learning? Their journey to understand the relationship between student learning and sustainability…

When the author accepted his first college teaching position, he never really gave much thought to how a class should begin. In this article, the author reflects on his teaching experiences and recognizes now that how his classes begin is important. The students' comments suggest that the ritual of silence and time for reflection does make a…