The purpose of this paper is to consider a different point of view as to why historically underrepresented minority students ultimately succeed in school, but do so at a cost (Goward, 2020). The authors argue that considering John Henryism, i.e., high-effort coping as a response to environmental stressors, as a source of motivation for…

Often, experiences of trauma challenge a person's ability to cope. Although many students on college campuses carry around trauma, the COVID-19 pandemic placed a magnifying glass on student mental health that made it clear universities cannot be passive when it comes to supporting students through their trauma. In this article, the authors argue…

Issues of race and racism in U.S. higher education often neglect the experiences of international students (Yao et al., 2019). In this article, the author advocates for more intentional institutional attention to and support for international students' development of critical consciousness and agency regarding issues of race and racism, as they…

Scholars such as Howard Zinn (1998) and James Loewen (2008) note that educators have too often failed to realize the potential power of history. They assert that US history classes often focus on the memorization of historical facts, figures, and events while creating few opportunities for students to learn how to leverage history to critically…

To improve student success outcomes and close equity gaps, Boise State University has been testing a variety of ways to embed design thinking methodologies into the rhythm of student affairs work and serves as a case study for other university leaders looking to accelerate innovation on behalf of students. Design thinking can be effective in…

Promoted by initiatives such as Shared Futures by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) or by the American Council on Education's Internationalization Collaborative, global learning has become an important feature of undergraduate higher education as colleges and universities have sought to enhance and align their…

Student affairs professionals have often relied on the professional development of staff rather than innovative design approaches to fulfill the challenge of creating programs, services, and activities that serve today's global and multicultural students. In this article, Jordan Harper and Adrianna Kezar introduce Liberatory Design Thinking (LDT)…

College students in the 21st century face unprecedented levels of stress, which has led to a global and deleterious impact on their mental health. The mental health of college students is widely considered to be a public health crisis according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and universities are challenged to provide adequate resources…

Canonical research and identity-evasive best practices have pushed Student Affairs Professionals (SAP) to limit the applicability and effectiveness of involvement for a swath of the student body. By examining the push for involvement on college campuses, it is imperative to critically examine the impact traditional forms of student engagement have…

As the need to provide advocacy and support for marginalized college student populations increases and campus challenges related to college men persist, educators and scholars are increasingly finding themselves in need of more nuanced frameworks for engaging and understanding college men. One such model, the "Intersectional Model of College…

In a hermeneutic phenomenological study on the lived experiences of openly gay undergraduate men in elected student government (see Goodman, 2021, 2022), one major theme emerged: the men were elected and selected. This study contained multiple conversations with eight openly gay undergraduate men who were elected to their institution's student…

Far too often researchers see social identities as discrete categories as opposed to understanding how they intersect to form students' unique collegiate experiences. With this in mind, the authors sought to understand how individuals with multiple minoritized identities explore who they are during their time in college. In particular, using data…

For students with a significant amount of student loan debt, the excitement of graduating from college can be overshadowed by feelings of anxiety and fear. Debt perception is about more than the cost of a college degree, the amount of financial aid received, or the value families place on education. In this article, the author tells a story about…

Native Americans are a critically underserved and under researched population in the United States (US) higher education system. Not only do American Indians (AIs) and Alaska Natives (ANs) enroll in vastly lower percentages than their nonnative peers, but they are also far less likely to persist to graduation and attend graduate school than other…

In this article, the authors share how they facilitated remote work-study options during COVID-19 as a united university community following anti-oppressive practice (AOP). Work-study is a Title IV campus-based program that had been somewhat static since its inception in 1964 but now has been challenged to reignite its role in addressing social…