The study uses the Wabash National Study on Liberal Arts Education to test how arts attendance in college facilitates growth in socially responsible leadership, diversity orientation, and the importance of political and social involvement. The study uses the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS) and the Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity…

Purpose, a long-term commitment to goals that are meaningful to the self and contribute beyond the self, is associated with academic and vocational success, resilience, and psychological and physical well-being throughout life. Supporting college students' purpose development requires understanding that purpose is a driving life commitment not…

To cultivate humanity is to invest in, enrich, or elevate all that it is to be human. But cultivating humanity has become a pressing challenge in higher education because learning about what it means to be human depends on significant and ongoing personal engagement of students with faculty and staff who serve as mentors, advisors, and guides.…

Some student affairs professionals who are employed at public colleges and universities feel conflicted about the degree to which they should or should not discuss their religious and/or spiritual beliefs at work. The purpose of this article is to present an overview of legal, developmental, and ethical considerations that should be factored into…

This narrative study examines how student affairs administrators in eight institutions in the southern United States became change agents in higher education for LGBTQ students. Participants shared stories of their identity development, turning points about needs of LGBTQ students, and their choice to advocate in higher education. Implications for…

The literature on civic engagement in higher education is rich with examples of courses and programs that promote the development of students as engaged citizens in our democracy. However, few of them involve the arts. This fact is unfortunate because all forms of engagement with the arts is an important and effective means of achieving our civic…

The majority of voters in South Africa still do not take democratic elections for granted, but the decline in voting participation is a cause for concern in South Africa, as in other parts of the world. In addition, widespread student protests at higher education institutions during 2015 and 2016, including those at African and South African…

A reinvigorated commitment to the study of religion, spirituality, faith, secularism, meaning-making, purpose, and interfaith dialogue in higher education is evidenced through the production of various scholarly texts. The pendulum among higher education scholars seems to swing toward finding ways to explicitly engage with what has been described…

Despite renewed efforts to engage religious diversity in higher education over the last two decades, interfaith engagement remains a relatively fringe interest on many campuses. The reason could be that these renewed interfaith efforts are running up against a powerful current of White religiosity that maintains a historical legacy of privilege in…

Skin color, one of the most conspicuous physical traits, encompasses complex social and cultural meanings and value judgments that can influence individuals' lived experiences and social wellbeing in a profound way. In this article, the authors provide a brief overview of how skin color diversity evolved, its corresponding biological and…

The purpose of this special issue is to share the best research, theory, practice, and perspectives from presenters at the 2017 Religious, Secular, and Spiritual Identities Convergence conference, alongside the new writing of scholars and practitioners who were inspired by the themes of the conference. Readers will have access both to the best of…

There is a need to identify and create spaces for professionals in higher education to engage religion, secularism, and spirituality in meaningful ways. #DigitalFaith resources are the digital platforms and communities supporting religious, secular, and spiritual development, and they offer potential avenues for professional development. This…

Current literature about religion in higher education typically emphasizes belief as a central component of religious identity. Through framing this discourse with a critical social justice lens, I argue that there needs to be a purposeful distinction between religious/spiritual belief and religious identity/culture in order to acknowledge the…

The author provides a personal and professional reflection on her 40-plus-year career in higher education and student affairs within the perspective of current national events. She outlines the new challenges and responsibilities that the 2016 election and the ongoing aftermath create for the profession and proposes three guideposts for scholars…

Higher education faces heightened scrutiny regarding student misconduct, but collegiate disciplinary processes often have minimal impact on students. Their ineffectiveness is partially attributable to the absence of a conceptual framework that guides conduct administration by linking theory, practice, and outcomes. This article presents a…