Autistic & Neurodivergent College Students

This episode features a panel of scholars and practitioners as well as the executive director of the College Autism Network discussing how colleges and universities can better meet the needs of autistic and neurodivergent students on college campuses.

Square Pegs and Round Holes: Alternative Approaches to Diverse College Student Development Theory

Student development theories and frameworks are foundational to the student affairs professions; however, there have often been concerns about their applicability to and effectiveness with marginalized college students.

Multiple Perspectives on College Students: Needs, Challenges, and Opportunities

Who are today’s college students, what do they need, and how can institutions rise to meet these needs? Today’s new episode brings together four panelists who contributed to a new book Multiple Perspectives on College Students: Needs, Challenges, and Opportunities.

Identity Interconnections: Pursuing Poststructural Possibility in Student Affairs Praxis

This conversation features the two editors of the new book, Identity Interconnections. Lisa Delacruz Combs and Dr. Aeriel A. Ashlee discuss concepts and connections from their book, including compassionate cautions, liminality, threshold theory, healing and transformation, paradox and nuance, aspiring allyship, and even a Rihanna quote.

Becoming a Diversity Leader

While diversity leaders exist at all administrative ranks and levels across both academic and student affairs. Today’s episode focuses on the senior diversity officer role. Often a senior administrator or vice president or chancellor, the senior diversity officer often wears a number of significant hats.

The Impact of a Sense of Belonging in College: Implications for Student Persistence, Retention, and Success

Student persistence, retention, and success are the central roles of higher education. Many campuses are centering belonging in their efforts. This conversation brings together Drs. Erin M. Bentrim, Terrell Lamont Strayhorn, and Vasti Torres discuss insights from the new book, The Impact of the Sense of Belonging in College: Implications for Student Persistence, Retention, and Success. They clarify definitions, untangle related concepts, and explore individual and institutional responsibilities for creating belonging.

Restorative Justice in Higher Education

The guests on this episode move beyond restorative justice in campus conduct processes to talk about the proactive and responsive ways higher education can utilize restorative philosophy, practices, principles, and justice processes. Special co-host Jessi Benveniste joins Keith Edwards in conversation with Drs. Léna Crain, Desirée Anderson, Patience Bryant, and Valerie Glassman. They discuss restorative approaches to community development, the critical roles of both accountability and grace, and the complexities of restorative justice’s history and implementation.

Identity-Based Student Activism

As we launch the fall semester, student activists will once again—as they have for decades—resume their work to address climate on campus as related to racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and other forms of oppression. In this episode, co-authors of the book, Identity-Based Student Activism: Power and Oppression on College Campuses, discuss ways that campus administrators can reflect upon our work with student activists and consider new ways to improve relationships, resulting in more hospitable campus climates for all students across identities.

New Hiring Practices for Student Affairs

So many candidates and so many hiring authorities share that traditional approaches are no longer working, and the issues they always elicited are worse than ever. We need new approaches to hiring processes. Today’s guests were all recommended as folks who are doing hiring radically differently. They discuss people-centered processes that honor the humanness of all involved, retaining current employees as the best hiring practice, taking a recruitment mindset rather than running candidates through an obstacle course or gauntlet, and making the processes reciprocal for the mutual benefit of candidates and organizations.

Voting & Democratic Engagement on Campus

Today’s new episode is all about promoting voting and democracy on college and university campuses. Many states have recently held primaries and midterm elections are right around the corner in the U.S.. This episode’s panelists are engaged—both inside higher education institutions as well as beyond—in exploring voting initiatives and increasing democratic engagement among college students. Joining host Heather Shea are Renee Brown, Adam Gismondi, Stephanie King, and Suchitra Webster.