As resident and student staff needs have expanded, many housing and residence life leaders are rethinking the traditional resident assistant (RA) role. Drs. Paul Gordon Brown, Heather Kropf, and Glenn DeGuzman discuss shifting needs, explore possibilities, and share promising approaches and concerns. Join these three leaders, innovators, and changemakers for this exciting conversation.

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Thanks to ACPA, we are able share our own Heather Shea’s presidential address as she assumed leadership of ACPA: College Student Educators International. Heather focuses on fostering critical hope for ourselves as student affairs educators and for students. You’ll also get to hear Kathy Adams Riester and Keith Edwards introducing Heather to the association membership.

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Labor acknowledgments are similar and different from land acknowledgments. In this conversation, three scholar-practitioners discuss the purpose, history, practice, and complexities around labor acknowledgments, including moving beyond just acknowledgments to commitments. They discuss anti-Blacknewss, capitalism, ascendants, history and contemporary labor, and the diaspora of Blackness. Guests offer tangible commitments that could be made around labor related to recognition, ethical leadership, and resources.

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Small colleges offer a unique experience for students and for student affairs professionals. Editors of the book Small and Mighty, discuss the unique opportunities and challenges of student affairs at small colleges. They discuss direct student engagement, relationship and community building, resource challenges paired with increasing student needs, and the importance of place.

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Three college presidents discuss their journeys through student affairs, transitioning to the presidency, and lessons learned. Join Drs. Lori White, Frank Shushok, and Rob Kelly as they share their journeys. They discuss their student affairs capacities, the critical role of mentorship and guides, authenticity as leadership, and finding the joys in leadership in service of others.

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Critical hope helps educators navigate the both/and of criticality and possibility while avoiding the harms of deficit mindsets, toxic positivity, and cynicism. In this episode, leading scholars of critical hope, Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade and Kari Grain, discuss the what, why, and how of critical hope.

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Three student body presidents discuss their experiences and learnings. Jermaine Turner, Jael Kerandi, and Akheem Mitchell share the issues facing students, the critical role of making campuses inclusive for the success of all students, and understanding broader systems to navigate them as leaders effectively. They offer suggestions for student affairs professionals and current students considering pursuing this leadership role.

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With increases in the legalization of gambling, particularly in sports, we see partnerships and endorsement deals between universities and gambling entities emerging. Today's guests bring expertise on gambling, the influence of money on athletics, and addiction and well-being. They discuss legalization, increased access to money and technology to gamble, and ethical institutional responses. The guests emphasize centering care for students, our role as educators and public health approaches to well-being.

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Former ACPA President, leadership scholar, senior leader, and senior scholar Dr. Denny Roberts joins us to discuss his career and life journey. Themes of connection, innovation, and learning emerge as Denny discusses those who influenced him and his paths, his experimentation throughout his career, and the learning he has done, has led, and is still doing today.

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The Social Justice Education program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently had its 30th anniversary. In this conversation, a founding faculty member, Dr. Barbara Love, and two graduates, Michael Vidal and Dr. Tanya Williams, discuss this one-of-a-kind program and its role in elevating scholarship, teaching, and practice around social justice in many contexts, including student affairs. The guests explore content, process, pedagogy, self-awareness, being, skills, and liberatory consciousness.

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