This article examines the psychological theoretical foundations of college student development theory and the theoretical assumptions of this framework. A complimentary, sociological perspective and the theoretical assumptions of this approach are offered. The potential limitations of the overuse of each perspective are considered. The conclusion…

Institutional data were used to examine the grades and retention of first-year students in 2 types of living learning communities--Academic Theme Floors (ATFs) and Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs)--and a First-Year Experience (FYE) course. Multiple regression revealed students in FIGs earned nominally higher GPAs (standardized [beta] = 0.02, p less…

Staffing practices in student affairs administration are important functions that impact the success of the organization and students served. This study used the Integrated Model of Staffing Practices (IMSP) as a framework to examine the type and frequency of conference programs related to the IMSP offered by 2 national student affairs…

The imminent philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (1905). The protests that occurred on American campuses in the 1960s may lend support for that statement. This article will describe major events of the protest movement during this period, describe the societal and institutional…

Rather than anticipating an issue or proactively addressing it, college and university administrators often find themselves in the position of reacting to recent laws or court decisions. This paper examines an issue ripe for proactive thought; an issue not yet directly considered in court cases: free speech and the student employee. In the…

The author examined the impact on resident assistants of a social change approach to sexual assault prevention. The interactive multi-media program focused on engaging men on sexual assault prevention, accurately defining rape for college men and women, identifying aspects of the rape culture in society and on-campus, and empowering college…

Prior research on student affairs professionals has focused largely on the nature of student affairs work with most attention given to mid- and senior-level administrators. Thus, relatively little is known about new professionals and their socialization to the student affairs profession. Based on a multivariate analysis of survey data from a…

This article examines the relationship between online social networking (OSN) and perceptions of academic and social integration for first-year residential students at a rural regional comprehensive university. Students spent an average of 2.5 hours on OSN websites per day, primarily interacting with campus peers, friends and family. There was…

This article presents a case study at Oakmont University where a presidential debate will be held on campus. Oakmont University is a large public research institution located in the Southeastern United States. This Carnegie Doctoral/Research I institution enrolls more than 35,000, 75% undergraduate and 25% graduate students. Located in somewhat of…

This article reviews findings from a related study of 15 White racial justice allies, which highlighted the importance of re-articulating a sense of Whiteness. The author explores how the rearticulated sense of Whiteness demonstrated by these students may assist others to mitigate some of the defense mechanism discussed in the Watt (2007)…

In this article, four doctoral students--two White females, one African American female, a White male--an African American female assistant professor, and an African American male student affairs administrator reflect on the difficult dialogues that took place during a seminar on whiteness. Watt's (2007) Privilege Identity Model (PIE) was integral…

This article describes a student affairs practitioner's experience with co-instructing a course entitled, "Queer(y)ing Religion and Spirituality". The ways practitioners can facilitate difficult dialogues with students about the intersection of spirituality and GLBT issues are explored.

This article comments on the utility of the Privileged Identity Exploration (PIE) model in student affairs theory and practice and draws upon examples from the preceding articles.

Preparing the workforce for an increasingly global economy is among the leading concerns in higher education, and retention of students is vital to successfully managing this economic shift. Study abroad programming consistently yields positive outcomes that span these three levels and may very well be a retention strategy that has been previously…

Using a campus climate assessment instrument developed by Rankin (1998), we surveyed students (N = 7,347) from 10 campuses to explore the different experiences with harassment and campus climates reported by men and women. Both men and women reported experiencing harassment, although women experienced harassment at statistically significantly…