Course Overview:
Have you ever felt that your student affairs philosophy was out of sync with the institution where you worked?
Have you ever felt that the mission of your institution didn’t match up with the values of the student affairs division?
Though the student affairs field has been in place since the writing of the1937 and 1949 Student Personnel Point of View documents, little has been written about different models of student affairs practice. Despite institutional diversity by location, size, type, and mission, our literature discusses all student affairs practice as if it is the same from institution to institution. The literature has mainly focused on functions and positions, rarely describing differences necessary because of different missions, institutional types, regions, or student needs. This course, based on a book by Manning, Kinzie, and Schuh to be published this spring, departs from that approach to explore 11 possible models of student affairs practice. Traditional models of student affairs to be discussed include:
- Extra-curricular Model
- Functional Silos Model
- Student Services Model
- Co-curricular
- Seamless Learning
- Competitive and Adversarial
Innovative models of student affairs include
- Student Centered Ethic of Care
- Student Driven
- Student Agency
- Academic-Student Affairs Collaborative Model
- Academic Centered
These models emerged from data and information collected through the Documenting Effective Educational Practices Project (DEEP). This research project involved site visits to 20 institutions with higher than predicted engagement scores (as measured by the National Survey of Student Engagement) and graduation rates. In other words, these institutions did “something right” when it came to student success and learning.
Guiding Questions for the course:
- What model of student affairs practice is employed at your institution?
- How do the traditional student affairs models compare with the innovative models?
- What are the learning implications for the innovative and traditional models of student affairs practice?
Course Outline:
Topics to be covered:
- Learning movements in student affairs (e.g., Student Learning Imperative, Learning Reconsidered).
- How the organization of a division of student affairs can help and/or hinder the learning goals of an institution.
- What affects the philosophy upon which a division of student affairs is built and how this relates to institutional mission?
- Ways to transform a division of student affairs from a teaching or administrative centered division to a learning focused one.
Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, active participants will be able to:
- Better assess organizational implications of different approaches to student affairs.
- Maximize their efforts toward the goal of student learning.
- Consider the implications of leadership styles upon the organizational structure of a division of student affairs.
- Make career and job choices informed by knowledge of different approaches to student affairs.
Individuals registering for CEUs will receive 1.0 CEU upon successful
completion of the course.
Instructor Bio:
Dr. Kathleen Manning has experienced student affairs from the perspectives of an administrator and a faculty member. Prior to 1989, she worked in residence life, student union management, campus activities, orientation, and judicial affairs. Since 1989 she has served as a professor in the Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration program. From 1999 to 2003, she served as the HESA Program Coordinator.
In the spring 2003, Dr. Manning received a Fulbright Fellowship to teach higher education classes at Beijing Normal University in Beijing, China. In 2004, she was accepted into the Fulbright Senior Specialist Program and has been funded through that program for a summer 2004 teaching trip to Beijing and 2005 consultation trip to Hong Kong.
Dr. Manning's research and writing interests include campus cultures, qualitative research methodology, and cultural pluralism. She published Research in the College Context: Approaches and Methods (2003) (co-edited with Frances Stage); Rituals, Ceremonies, and Cultural Meaning in Higher Education (2000); Enhancing the Multicultural Campus Environment: A Cultural Brokering Approach (1992) (co-authored with Frances Stage); and Giving Voice to Critical Campus Issues (1999). She has published numerous articles in the NASPA Journal, Journal of College Student Development, and Review of Higher Education as well as chapters in various publications. Recent research projects include work with George Kuh of Indiana University and a team of national recognized researchers on the Documenting Effective Educational Practices.
Dr. Manning was recognized for her teaching with University of Vermont’s Kroepsch-Maurice Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Manning has a doctorate in Higher Education and Student Affairs with a minor in anthropology from Indiana University and a masters degree in Counseling and Student Personnel from the State University of New York at Albany. During the 1994-95 academic year, she served in an administrative assignment as the Chair of the Commission on Racial Equality and Multicultural Education. She served as the Program Chair for the 2002 NASPA National Conference in Boston.
