Episodes (List) - Student Affairs NOW

Here's The Story, New Episode, Podcast

Here’s the Story: “Belonging”

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This episode features a vice president for student affairs who came of age under legal segregation and invites us into a reflective journey shaped by classrooms divided by law, doors opened—or closed—by race, and a quiet resilience that learned how to endure, adapt, and lead. She carries those early lessons forward into the present moment, where the vocabulary has shifted and the statutes look different, but the terrain is still familiar. The names have changed. The debates sound new. Yet the enduring questions remain: who belongs?

Keith Edwards, Leadership, New Episode, Podcast

The Hottest Seat on Campus: A Roadmap for Mastering Leadership in College Admissions

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Dr. Angel Pérez’s The Hottest Seat on Campus is both a leadership manual and a call to action for higher education professionals navigating the volatile worlds of admissions and enrollment. In this conversation, we discuss the challenges and pressure as well as the rewards and joys of this role. He focuses on leadership capacities in politics, crisis, storytelling, and self-management, applicable to admissions leadership and beyond.

Keith Edwards, New Episode, Podcast, Social Justice and Inclusion

Healing from the Wounds of Racism

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:50 — 37.0MB)

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Dr. Stacey Pearson-Wharton discusses not only the harms of racism but also the ways those who experience racism can heal from the interpersonal, organizational, and systemic experiences. Dr. Stacey offers suggestions for finding stability and safety, soothing, mourning the loss, cultivating counternarratives, and finding power and control toward thriving.

Current Campus Context, Heather Shea, New Episode, Podcast

Current Campus Context: One Year In—What Changed, What Didn’t

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One year into a new federal administration, the January 2026 installment of Current Campus Context examines what has actually changed for colleges and universities—and what has quietly reshaped campus life beneath the headlines. Heather Shea is joined by Dr. Brendan Cantwell and Dr. Crystal Garcia to explore federal power and institutional response, heightened ICE presence and campus climate, and how bluster, austerity, and silence are redefining institutional priorities. Together, they reflect on what these shifts mean for student affairs professionals navigating uncertainty, care, and purpose in 2026.

Keith Edwards, New Episode, Podcast, Student Learning and Development

Radical Reimagining for Student Success in Higher Education

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:22 — 36.7MB)

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Radical Reimagining for Student Success in Higher Education argues that the time for incremental reform in higher education has passed and that colleges must transform their cultures, structures, and leadership models to truly center student success. They center the question, “What would our institution look like if students really mattered?” Join the editors as they discuss reframing cultures, practical steps, scalability, and how to be “hard on problems, but easy on people.”

Heather Shea, Leadership, New Episode, Podcast

Rethinking Mentoring: From Personal Care to Collective Change

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In this episode of Student Affairs NOW, host Heather Shea is joined by a powerful group of scholar-practitioners to explore mentoring and community-driven solutions in higher education. Recorded as an extension of a compelling panel from the ACPA–ASHE Presidential Symposium, the conversation examines mentoring as both a deeply personal act of care and a collective strategy for sustaining individuals, strengthening communities, and driving institutional change. Together, the panel reflects on how identity and positionality shape mentoring relationships, how culturally responsive practices foster more inclusive and affirming connections, and how community partnerships and collective approaches can expand the impact of mentorship beyond one-to-one models. This episode invites listeners to consider how mentoring rooted in care, justice, and joy can be transformative—for people, programs, and the field of student affairs.

Keith Edwards, Leadership, New Episode, Podcast

Transformative Coaching for Faculty and Staff in Higher Education

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Transformative Coaching for Faculty and Staff in Higher Education argues that a coaching approach can be a deeply human, ethical, and relational practice that can re-energize the people who make higher education work. In this conversation, we discuss what coaching is and isn’t, what this approach can look like across higher education, and especially within student affairs work in these times.

Here's The Story, New Episode, Podcast

Here’s the Story: “Holding on to Possibility”

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From Monday through Friday, 9–5, we see the forward-facing journey of leaders—the wins, the awards, the praise. What we don’t often talk about is the journey beneath the surface: the real life, the day-to-day internal dialogue, and the quiet battles no one applauds. This is a conversation about resilience without romanticizing it—about strength alongside exhaustion, and the gap between how leadership looks and how it actually feels. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re the only one holding it together while carrying so much, this episode is for you.

Heather Shea, New Episode, Podcast, Values, Philosophy, and History

Students’ Perspectives on the Purpose of Higher Education

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:21:50 — 56.2MB)

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In this episode, we explore students’ perspectives on the purpose of higher education at a moment shaped by rising costs, political tension, debates about belonging and DEI, and growing mental health concerns. Rather than talking about students, we center their voices—alongside the faculty member guiding these conversations in the classroom. Co-hosted by Dr. Michael Stebleton, Professor of Higher Education at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, the episode draws from his honors seminar on student development, career pathways, and the transition from college to work. Together with students enrolled in his fall 2025 course, What Is College For? Examining the Purpose and Value of U.S. Higher Education, we unpack what college is supposed to do—and who it is meant to serve.

Glenn DeGuzman, New Episode, Podcast

Hanging up the Cape (for now)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:00 — 33.0MB)

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Late nights, second phones, and responding to crisis after crisis can add up over time, even for the greatest heroes. Much like Captain America and Rupert Giles, higher education professionals are rethinking their career paths, roles on campus, and pivoting to focus on self-care while still finding ways to impact students. Moderated by Dr. Glenn DeGuzman (UC Berkeley), and featuring Dr. Martha Enciso (University of Redlands), Dr. Sofia B. Pertuz (Mainstream Insight, LLC), Dr. Emily Sandoval (University of Southern California), and Brian MacDonald (UCLA).