Research Driven Practice In Student Affairs Implications From The Wabash National Study Of Liberal Arts Education

As student affairs units face increasing pressure to use data and evidence to inform planning and decisions, the research related to higher education has become more complex and, in some cases, less accessible. This issue aims to bridge this gap by drawing implications for student affairs programs and practices from the results of the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, an investigation that followed thousands of college students at more than 50 colleges and universities. The authors identify research-based ways that student affairs practitioners can facilitate educational outcomes, including critical thinking, moral reasoning, and intercultural competence, while being sensitive to the needs of specific populations of students. This is the 147th volume of this Jossey-Bass higher education quarterly series. An indispensable resource for vice presidents of student affairs, deans of students, student counselors, and other student services professionals, New Directions for Student Services offers guidelines and programs for aiding students in their total development: emotional, social, physical, and intellectual.

As student affairs units face increasing pressure to use data and evidence to inform planning and decisions, the research related to higher education has become more complex and, in some cases, less accessible. This issue aims to bridge this gap by drawing implications for student affairs programs and practices from the results of the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, an investigation that followed thousands of college students at more than 50 colleges and universities. The authors identify research-based ways that student affairs practitioners can facilitate educational outcomes, including critical thinking, moral reasoning, and intercultural competence, while being sensitive to the needs of specific populations of students. This is the 147th volume of this Jossey-Bass higher education quarterly series. An indispensable resource for vice presidents of student affairs, deans of students, student counselors, and other student services professionals, New Directions for Student Services offers guidelines and programs for aiding students in their total development: emotional, social, physical, and intellectual.

A COMPREHENSIVE RESOURCE FOR UNDERSTANDING AND APPLYING RESEARCH METHODS Research Methods and Applications for Student Affairs offers students and professionals in the field an authoritative and accessible guide to help navigate research in student affairs. This comprehensive resource on research methods instruction clearly shows how to interpret the various forms of research, how to be critical as a research consumer, and how to use research to inform practice. Author J. Patrick Biddix—a noted scholar and expert in the field—presents a detailed overview of three qualitative-focused and four quantitative-focused research methods. The text reviews the basics of these qualitative and quantitative approaches and explores how to differentiate the major types of research as well as how to understand, read, evaluate, and apply results. Biddix also includes important information on using mixed methods approaches. The user-friendly text includes insights on key issues, as well as descriptions of the individual sections that comprise research studies. Also included is an overview of ethical considerations that apply specifically to student affairs. Research Methods and Applications for Student Affairs is an essential guide for enhancing research methods' skills, and offers direction for applying those skills in actual work situations.

Is the data available on your college campus fully utilized? Analyzing data does not have to be a complex process, but there can be obstacles to putting data to good use: overworked staff or understaffed departments; silos that prevent crossing institutional boundaries; lack of research training; or simply being overwhelmed by the possibilities. Addressing these obstacles, this volume presents pragmatic ideas for implementing data-informed decision making to improve student affairs practice. It first illustrates how to easily analyze quantitative data and read assessment reportsdemonstrating that advanced research knowledge is not necessary to make meaning of survey findings. It then provides suggestions for utilizing findings from large data sets typically available on campus and gives practical guidance for making sense of and using quantitative data to inform practice. Also included is how to use data to understand the experiences of non-dominant populations on campus, which is especially relevant given the diversity of todays college students. Several chapters speak directly to using data to understand marginalized groups based on race, religion, and sexual orientation, while others focus on using data to understand campus diversity experiences. This is the 159th volume of this Jossey-Bass higher education quarterly series. An indispensable resource for vice presidents of student affairs, deans of students, student counselors, and other student services professionals, New Directions for Student Services offers guidelines and programs for aiding students in their total development: emotional, social, physical, and intellectual.

While the phrase “learning communities” has various definitions, at the heart of all programs is the goal of enhancing the student learning experience in the community of others. This volume provides valuable information about learning communities--from start to finish--including: • historical and theoretical foundations that guide these programs, • structures of learning communities that provide varied opportunities for student participation, with a focus on specific student populations who may benefit from learning community experiences, and • elements of staffing and assessment, as well as an annotated bibliography of recent learning community literature. The authors consider critical elements of learning community programs and offer recommendations and options for faculty and staff who work with, or hope to work with, this particular curricular and cocurricular learning structure. This the 149th volume of this Jossey-Bass higher education quarterly series. An indispensable resource for vice presidents of student affairs, deans of students, student counselors, and other student services professionals, New Directions for Student Services offers guidelines and programs for aiding students in their total development: emotional, social, physical, and intellectual.

Foundations, Research, and Assessment of Fraternities and Sororities is inspired by continuing conversations about the enduring challenges facing fraternities and sororities on campuses across the country. The co-editors curate contributions from scholars and noteworthy practitioners from across higher education to examine a variety of issues relating to the past and future construct of these institutions. The text begins with a historical section that provides a perspective on the origins of fraternities and sororities. Other sections look at such critical areas as values, legal issues, and research. Values are described regarding the values congruence movement and acknowledging emerging areas of the individual fraternity and sorority experience. Legal issues include freedom of speech, hazing law, and risk management. Additional profiles of large, national benchmark surveys are included, and the book concludes with a final overview of the state of fraternity/sorority scholarship. This volume will appeal to a broad readership made up of faculty, administrations and alumni/ae. Perfect for courses such as: Fraternity and Sorority Leadership | Undergraduate Student Issues | Professional Development Circles | Discussion Groups | Graduate Seminars | Individual Reading Reflection | Introduction to Student Affairs | Contemporary Issues in Higher Education

With the goal of building more inclusive working, learning, and living environments in higher education, this book seeks to reframe understandings of forms of everyday exclusion that affect members of nondominant groups on predominantly white college campuses. The book contextualizes the need for a more robust analysis of persistent patterns of campus inequality by addressing key trends that have reshaped the landscape for diversity, including rapid demographic change, reduced public spending on higher education, and a polarized political climate. Specifically, it offers a critique of contemporary analytical ideas such as micro-aggressions and implicit and unconscious bias and underscores the impact of consequential discriminatory events (or macro-aggressions) and racial and gender-based inequalities (macro-inequities) on members of nondominant groups. The authors draw extensively upon interview studies and qualitative research findings to illustrate the reproduction of social inequality through behavioral and process-based outcomes in the higher education environment. They identify a more powerful systemic framework and conceptual vocabulary that can be used for meaningful change. In addition, the book highlights coping and resistance strategies that have regularly enabled members of nondominant groups to address, deflect, and counteract everyday forms of exclusion. The book offers concrete approaches, concepts, and tools that will enable higher education leaders to identify, address, and counteract persistent structural and behavioral barriers to inclusion. As such, it shares a series of practical recommendations that will assist presidents, provosts, executive officers, boards of trustees, faculty, administrators, diversity officers, human resource leaders, diversity taskforces, and researchers as they seek to implement comprehensive strategies that result in sustained diversity change.

Take a holistic look at an intentional educational ecosystem that builds cultural competence, a critical skill college graduates need for careers and citizenship in a diverse global society. This monograph unpacks the multilayered meanings of cultural competence and offers a term, “diversity competence,” that is more consistent with the broad spectrum of diversity learning outcomes that occur on campus. Drawing on the findings of a survey of recent college graduates now working as professionals, the monograph offers: leading-edge, integrative models that bring together the multidimensional components of the learning environment including curricular, co-curricular, and service learning, research-based factors contributing to a campus environment that encourages cultural competence, in-depth assessment and analysis of best practices, and concrete recommendations that offer a transformative pathway to the attainment of diversity competence in the undergraduate experience. This is the fourth issue of the 42nd volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report. Each monograph is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education issue, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.