Earlier this year, MCLA Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Jeannette Smith completed
a project she had been working on since June 2021. Smith co-authored “Student Affairs
Professional Preparation: A
Scholar-Practitioner Guide to Contemporary Topics.”
The book, co-authored with Dr. Jackie Clark, a professor at Saint Martin’s University, includes 38 authors with each chapter written by the pairing of two professionals who are sometimes distanced from one another while working in the same space. The guide examines critical issues pertinent to today’s work of serving college students and the professionals who support them. Throughout the literature, distinguished scholars and practitioners offer unique insights into a diverse range of topics facing higher education and student affairs (HESA).
“Of the many reasons I got involved, a top priority was providing space for faculty and staff to come together as scholar-practitioners in support of student success,” Smith said. “This project provided an opportunity not often offered in this particular discipline for the coming together of these micro-cultures in higher education to see each other and each other's work as two parts of the same coin.”
The book was launched in March at the National Association for Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) annual conference. The content can be directly used in practice or to generate critical, lively conversations in the classroom. The authors have also included resources for further reading and classroom activity.
Another reason Smith was interested in working on this project stems from her lived experiences as a higher education professional.
“Too often, we hire people into entry-level staff roles, or maybe their first time working on a campus, and set unreasonable expectations of performance levels with little to no support,” she said. “From residence life to student government, staff are often expected to successfully navigate strong intrapersonal conflicts, student crisis situations, and high-risk events having never been exposed: it is a learn-by-doing model that can result in high burnout and fatigue.”
In order to mitigate burnout and fatigue, Smith said the guide can help better educate graduate students entering the field with the goal of employee retention and stronger student support.
Since the book's release in March, Smith said she has completed two in-person presentations, one online presentation, and a webinar, and she presented on Student Activism: Purpose, Policies, and the Role of Student Affairs for the MA NASPA Committee on Public Policy in May.
Javaune Adams-Gaston, president of Norfolk State University shared praise for the book. “A well-executed and comprehensive overview of professional preparation in higher education and student affairs, highlighting emerging areas and new approaches to practice. The inclusion of a focus on diverse higher education institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities and tribal colleges and universities among others, provides the opportunity for contextualizing HESA programs in the modern higher education landscape.”
In the second part of the book, Smith and Clark co-wrote a chapter titled “Navigating the Ecology of a Small College,” as MCLA is the third small college Smith has worked at.
“The small college experience encourages curiosity about balancing how work is attributed to individual people versus specific positions, what it means to build community when entering a space occupied by those with longer tenure, and what inclusive mentorship can look like in the acculturation process,” she said.
Learn more about the new publication at naspa.org.
