Volume 15, Issue 3

At the heart of commitments to student success is a progressive concept of the relationship between students and institutions of higher education that embraces shared responsibility for the quality and outcomes of learning-and, therefore, for students’ ability, capacity, and readiness to learn. Since learning is a complex activity of the whole person, and well-being-broadly defined-is a major determinant of students’ readiness to learn, advancing student success requires attention to students as whole people, and to their individual and collective well-being. Attention to students as whole people, a shared responsibility for learning, and responsiveness to students’ well being, taken together, reflect the existence and influence of an underlying ethic of care.

Using data from the 2009 Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, this article examines the personal characteristics and environmental experiences that contribute to college students’ involvement in social change. Results indicate that collegiate environmental characteristics (i.e., student group membership, leadership training, discussions about social issues) were the most powerful predictors of students engaging in social change behaviors followed by students’ involvement in social change behaviors in high school. Demographic characteristics were significant, but less predictive than collegiate experiences. Descriptive statistics show students engage in service and work to protect the common good more frequently than any other social change behaviors

This phenomenological study examined how student affairs professionals learn advocacy skills and what they learn in their education on this topic. Findings based on 22 interviews show participants felt underprepared by their graduate programs for the myriad challenges involved with advocating for students. Findings indicate participants found other sources of knowledge on this topic and identified core competencies they believe helped them become successful advocates. The author presents implications for professionals and graduate educators

As part of a broad initiative to create a portfolio of robust living learning communities at Virginia Tech, the SERVE LLC was established in 2009 to offer students meaningful community-engaged learning experiences. The program connects students with a commitment to social justice in an environment that promotes critical dialogue and reflection. This article describes efforts to establish the program and highlights some of its most effective practices.

This essay is an account of student civic engagement in action. It stresses the vital role of environments in which students learn to be civic actors. The student experiences recorded in this account point toward a form of campus politics that places students in a role of coworker and cocreator, where they must negotiate differences and complexities in the problem-solving process. This account suggests a re-imagining of civic learning, not just in a programmatic sense, but in terms of processes and environments that prepare students to be confident public problem solvers and co-owners of the democracy we all build together.

On campuses across the country, students and professional staff are considering student interfaith leadership as one way that students act on their core values to make a positive difference in the world. This kind of student leadership can be framed through student leadership models like the social change model of leadership development. Better Together, a national campaign for student interfaith action, draws heavily on this leadership model to offer a framework specific to student interfaith leadership. The authors of this article describe interfaith leadership using a leadership development model with which many higher education professionals are familiar.

This essay reviews Chris Stedman’s Faithiest, an account of a young man’s journey to discover himself and, by extension, his worldview that theists and atheists are stubbornly at odds with one another. Through charming and disarming storytelling, Stedman offers compelling insights on how to create a better world that does not involve converting others’ beliefs or eradicating religious belief altogether. Higher education professionals will find in this book a powerful narrative of an emerging adult who is exploring his multiple and intersecting identities.

The increased diversity of students enrolling in courses on college campuses today brings increased expectations regarding the capabilities of faculty and staff to address the many different needs of students. If colleges and universities are to promote greater staff effectiveness, they will need to create open environments that encourage campus professionals to seek help in the areas in which they need additional knowledge and skills.