This study seeks to capture the professional ideology of student affairs administration through an examination of national policy statements published between 1937 and 1987. Both professionalization and deconstruction analytical frameworks are employed to identify the assumptions that underlie that ideology and the powerful social structures those assumptions represent. To explore how the student affairs ideology has been reflected in public expression of professional practice, national conference programs of the American College Personnel Association and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators are examined. The conference texts from years immediately succeeding and, in one case, preceding publication of the policy statements serve as the foundation for investigating the linkages between professional ideology and professional practice in student affairs. By defining the professional ideology of student affairs administration and demonstrating how the assumptions that underlie that philosophy have been manifested in practice, I reveal how the profession has been shaped and constrained by serving and protecting certain powerful social interests.

After almost two semesters as a graduate student at the University of Vermont, I decided that I wanted to do more in my second year of graduate school. It was through conversations with my colleagues that I determined that stepping out of my comfort zone of student affairs and looking into academic affairs would help develop me as not only a student affairs professional but as an educator as well. During the fall semester of 2016, I participated in an independent study where I served as a Teaching Assistant for a university diversity requirement course titled “The Political Economy of Race”. For this course I worked directly with a faculty member in the Department of Economics to cultivate a holistic classroom experience for the students in the course. Throughout the course of the semester, I was able to witness many different dynamics that were helpful to not only the students but to the professionals in the room as well. Upon completing the semester, I determined that I wanted to do more research and explore the benefits of collaborative partnerships between faculty and staff on college campuses; my focus for this research was to be around partnerships between professionals in student affairs and academic affairs. Although there has not been a lot of research around this particular topic in Higher Education, it is beginning to be studied as colleges and universities are expected to produce more valuable experiences for students. Through both research and experiential learning, I have found that there are benefits to collaborative partnerships between academic and student affairs in Higher Education as well as drawbacks to these partnerships. I have also made recommendations for future collaborative projects between faculty and staff as well as recommendations for future research in this area. Overall, there is value in the collaboration of student and academic affairs; however, it is the duty of Higher Education professionals to understand that value and work more collaboratively to ensure that students are served holistically.

Master of Science / Department of Counseling and Student Development / Christy Moran Craft / Graduate assistants in residence life face many different challenges that are unique to their positions, and their wellness is critical to ensuring their place as competent professionals ready to serve students on university campuses. For the continued success and relevance of graduate assistantship positions in housing departments, it is critical that an effort be made to understand these student employees’ experiences as they complete graduate study and are employed under various expectations that may be directly impactful to the manner in which they work with students. This report serves to understand the experiences of residence life graduate assistants to better prepare full-time professionals in supervising and supporting these individuals.

Thesis advisor: Ana M. Martínez Alemán / The contemporary American women's college boasts an illustrious history of providing superior education for women, one that leads to significantly more positive educational outcomes for women than a coeducation college experience (including graduate degree attainment, persistence in science and mathematics, and achievement of high-level positions in many career fields). Recently, a small but vocal group of students who identify as transgender and who are living as male, genderqueer, or transitioning to live as male have emerged as a visible sub-population in many highly selective women's colleges. In this qualitative, phenomenological study of the perceptions of student affairs administrators (n=31) regarding their perceptions of and experiences working with transgender students, these key facilitators of student growth and development expressed beliefs and actions that characterized them almost uniformly as supporters of transgender students. A smaller subset of participants (advocates) took decisive and change-oriented action on their campuses, resulting in a shift of policy and practice. The data indicated that there appeared to be coherence between these two identities and adherence to a philosophy of feminist and/or womanist identity and practices. By effectively navigating what one participant named `discourses of discomfort' about transgender students on campus, participants demonstrated professional identities typified by an ethics of care and social justice in their work, as well as demonstrating practices that were defined by normalizing belonging for transgender students. Implications for practice include continued attention to advancing social justice at women's colleges, enhancement of learning and teaching about transgender lives and identities at women's colleges, and increased commitment to trans-formation of coeducational college environments. Further research about transgender students' experiences at women's colleges, as alumni of women's colleges, and the effects of policy implementation regarding transgender students at women's colleges is warranted. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

No description available.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe and communicate a student-constructed model of student services for electronic distance education (EDE). This study seeks to answer the following questions: Do students enrolled in EDE perceive a need for student services? If not, why not? Which services do students want/need? How do students want the services delivered? If students constructed a model of student services for EDE, what would it look like? A phenomenological approach was used. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with ten students, a document review, a survey of computer competency, and follow-up e-mail. Data were analyzed and systematically compared through constant comparative analysis and an inductive grounded theory approach was taken. One predominant finding that emerged from the conversations with the co-researchers was that of access for all students, particularly accommodations for those with special needs. Participants identified a number of services as basic to the EDE experience. They categorized services into three levels, expressing the expectation that services would evolve over time and technology. At each level a theme emerged that characterized the co-researchers' expectations and perceptions of student support services for EDE: access, interaction, and independence. The intent of level one was to provide entry to the college services and curriculum; access was used to define this level. The second level expressed the concern that students have the opportunity to interact with and be engaged by the services and the technology: interaction. The third level emphasized the need for information and services to promote independence, exploration, and autonomy in using electronic student services as well as to have available an "expert" for specific questions that are not easily or quickly answered by the services online. This level emphasized the use of real time transactions. The study concluded that students participating in EDE perceive a need for student services via distance. Participants further suggested that services provided to EDE must be equal and of the same quality as those traditionally delivered. Using the three levels that emerged from conversations with co-researchers - access, interaction, and independence - the researcher further classified the services into a model of student services using categories put forth by Namm and Holly (2000). / Graduation date: 2002

The study is concerned with the ISO/IWA2 international education quality management and the application in the student affairs & guidance in friendly campus in Kaohsiung. With the views of installing the ISO/IWA2, and combining the present situation of the student affairs & guidance in friendly campus, I construct Kaohsiung municipal Ying-Ming junior high school student affairs & guidance quality management system. And then through analyzing the suitability and feasible assessment, in order to understand if it is applicable with the student affairs & guidance in junior high schools in Kaohsiung. Thus, the strategy used in this research is via combining the subjects concerned qualitative research and quantitative approaches. The process of such study includes: subject analysis, process design, make prove, questionnaire investigation and statistical analysis. Digest the conclusion of this research and state as follows now: 1. The progress of student affairs & guidance links the era of thought closely, grows with each passing hour. 2. The standard and the application of the ISO/IWA2 international education quality management can be in accordance with the rules in use. 3. Kaohsiung municipal Ying-Ming junior high school student affairs & guidance quality management system is constructed by way of PDCA. It is three sub operating systems altogether, includes ten items of the procedure. 4. The staffs of counseling section in junior high schools in Kaohsiung view Kaohsiung municipal Ying-Ming junior high school student affairs & guidance quality management system as suitable and feasible. According to the result of the study, I propose with two suggestions, and expect to be able to let the execution of the friendly campus have benefits even more through the leader and push of the educational administrative organ. 1. Strengthen the systems thinking of the administrative personnel in the campus comprehensively. 2. Encourage the schools to develop each suitable systematic management style actively. Key Word¡GFriendly campus¡C The student affairs & guidance¡CISO/IWA2¡G2003¡C Customers¡C

Senior Student Affairs Officers (SSAOs) play an important role in post-secondary institutions ensuring their institutions’ policies, goals and strategic plans are respected while simultaneously supporting students’ academic and campus life needs. Their work is complex, challenging and constantly changing; the decisions they make can impact reputations, academic careers and the integrity of programs and institutions. It would be assumed, then, that the literature is replete with first-hand accounts of how SSAOs do their jobs, what skills they need, and what tools they use. Surprisingly, this is not the case. While the literature is not lacking research about the profession generally, it has limited personal accounts by practitioners describing the work they do, and how they make their complex decisions. This dissertation addresses this issue by presenting a first hand account of my work as a SSAO. In addition to a commitment to add to the student affairs literature base, the purpose of this study was to develop a decision-making model that would provide a structure to my practice and guide a process to develop consistent and fair courses of action. I began the task by reviewing existing decision-making models and making a series of adaptations that would create a framework that would be useful in my decision-making efforts. I then constructed four vignettes, exemplifying the types of issues I encounter in my role as a SSAO. Each vignette was used sequentially to test and critique the decision-making framework thereby indicating places where refinements were needed. The first three vignettes were instrumental in illustrating and exposing the shortcomings of the framework. The fourth vignette provided a scenario that challenged the model and suggested where limitations lie not just in the framework, but also in the work of SSAOs. The end result of this iterative process is a refined two-stage decision-making framework. This work has added to the literature of the student affairs profession; it provides a much needed tool, a decision-making framework that can assist practitioners in their role of providing consistent and fair decisions in an environment fraught with change and uncertainties.

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived leadership practices of chief student affairs officers in the United States in order to establish an understanding of current leadership practices and to assist chief student affairs officers in empowering their organizations to higher levels of excellence and in achieving greater influence in their institutions. Additionally, the researcher examined the relationship between the leadership practices of chief student affairs officers and the leaders in Kouzes and Posner‘s database in order to offer a comparison with a cross-section of this leadership population. Information on the chief student affairs officers‘ leadership practices was obtained from the self-assessments of 338 chief student affairs officers (using the Leadership Practices Inventory-Self) and from the assessments of 168 observers of the chief student affairs officers (using the Leadership Practices Inventory-Observer) in five key areas: (1) Challenging the Process; (2) Inspiring a Shared Vision; (3) Enabling Others to Act; (4) Modeling the Way; and (5) Encouraging the Heart. Participants rated each of the 30 statements on the Leadership Practices Inventory from one through ten to indicate how frequently the chief student affairs officers engaged in the described behavior. By using the Leadership Practices Inventory, the researcher provides empirical data concerning the perceived leadership behavior of chief student affairs officers in the United States. An analysis of the data revealed that chief student affairs officers perceive themselves as strong and effective leaders. The observers of the chief student affairs officers confirm this finding. A statistical analysis of the data demonstrated the existence of significant predictors related to level of education and type of institution for each of the five leadership practices as identified by Kouzes and Posner and confirmed in this study. However, the practical significance was found to be minimal. Additionally, the constructs for leadership practice differed somewhat from those of Kouzes and Posner. Also, the chief student affairs officers‘ self-described leadership ratings, when compared to those in the Leadership Practices Inventory database, tended to be in the high range (ranging from the 63rd percentile to the 77th percentile).

The purpose of this study was to identify important educational goals and valid and feasible outcome measures that could be used in the design and development of campus based service-learning programs. The study was designed to utilize the consensus of a panel of experts responsible for the administration notable college or university campus-based service-learning programs. In addition to responding to questionnaires that indicated the perceived importance of the identified goals, followed by the validity and feasibility of the identified outcome measures, the selected panelists were asked to identify potential problems associated with using the outcome measures. The findings may be useful in understanding which goals and outcome measures would be most valuable in the design and development of a campus based service-learning program. Utilizing the Delphi method, three structured questionnaires designed by the researcher were used to collect responses by the identified experts. The first questionnaire included important core goals and related outcome measures for campus-based service-learning centers as identified through an extensive review of the literature and constructed based on sequential reasoning. After each set of outcome measures, respondents were asked to evaluate each goal according to their perceived importance, and each outcome measure according to their perceived validity and feasibility using Likert-type scales. The panelists were then asked to identify potential problems associated with using the outcome measures and suggest additional outcome measures. A second and third questionnaire was distributed to the panel members, with a summary of responses from the previous round. Panel members were asked to review their individual response in comparison to the group mean score and reevaluate their response if it fell outside the interquartile range (IQR) of the combined response ratings. Responses stabilized following round three and the process ended. Statistical analysis of inter-rater agreement and agreement between rounds was done to determine if the Delphi process was successful in promoting consensus on ratings. A final review of ratings of goals and outcome measures was used to identify the important goals and the outcome measures identified with the highest validity and feasibility ratings. In addition, panelist comments were used to interpret final ratings.