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…

One heavily discussed and researched group throughout the literature on student engagement is Men of Color. Co-curricular efforts supporting this population are highlighted in the literature about Men of Color achievement (Brooms,2018); however, little is known about the impact of student affairs-led curricular experiences designed to center the…

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…

Student persistence to graduation remains a critical measure of institutional success. Degree attainment is not only essential to the personal achievement of students arriving on campus each fall but has become a high-stakes measure for performance-based funding. It is telling, that even now, the pursuit of a college degree is characterized as…

Seventy-five years after the publication of Abraham Maslow's seminal theory on the importance of basic needs (Maslow, 1943), it is now understood that food, housing, and security also matter for college students' learning and success. Sara Goldrick-Rab's (2016) "Paying the Price" cast a spotlight on basic needs insecurity in college,…

In this article, the authors consider whether the noncognitive skills typically associated with college and career success are equally valued by university officials and employers. Using a taxonomy that represents the range of noncognitive skills that appear in both higher education and employment scholarship, they present research funded by the…

The Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISSC) is unique in that there must be participation in athletic and co-curricular competitions each year. Established in 1969 as an athletic conference, ISSC states in the bylaws (2016) that there is a commitment to fostering the development of students' specialized talents through intercollegiate…

People hate the feeling of uncertainty; if not managed or addressed properly, it can lead to confusion, frustration, or worse--and that is a bad thing. Equally bad, however, is running from ambiguity, leaping to solution based on assumption, and failing to take the time to explore what is unknown and learning to be comfortable in, and taking the…

For several years now, the Old Dominion University community college leadership research team has been examining academic affairs and student affairs outcomes on community college student success. College student professionals on two-year campuses most typically provide a wide variety of supports and interventions across campus, in settings that…

Many of us recognize that it is important for black male students to have safe spaces to share their experiences, such as overt racism, microaggressions, and isolation, and connect with other students sharing the same experiences. However, Steven Thurston Oliver points out that, often, when attempts to provide community are just starting to take…

Wilson Kwamogi Okello and David Pérez II highlight Christian's story from their study of 100 Latino undergraduate men at 20 selective universities. Christian's experiences as an apparently successful student exemplify the double-edged nature of Latino men's challenges in higher education. Okello and Pérez apply the concept of public and hidden…

Society can be obsessed with the concept of intelligence, according to the author. Parents want to know if their children are smart. Schools try to detect the intelligence of children so that they can separate them into "gifted and talented" programs on one end of the spectrum and remedial programs on the other. Employers want to know if…

In a response to an article in the March 2017 issue of "About Campus" (see EJ1166502, "Shifting to Curricular Approaches to Learning beyond the Classroom"), John Hannah and Tesni Ellis challenge a rigid curricular approach to student affairs. They recognize the appeal and benefits of such an approach but are wary that any…

Part I, "Searching for the Right Way to Begin Class," described the various iterations of beginning class rituals the author used over the years. Those rituals began with a prayer to the Holy Spirit as was required at the Catholic women's college Marymount in Tarrytown, New York, where he first taught out of graduate school in 1965. That…

While there are hypotheses and theories about which portions of the brain appear to regulate which types of thinking and emotion, people aren't sure how to "change" those parts of the brain to improve critical thinking. Furthermore, while recent studies point to something called neuroplasticity, which hypothesizes that what one does, what one…