Evolving Ecological Models and Their Use in Research on College Students

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Since Renn and Arnold (2003) introduced Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model to higher education studies, it has become a mainstay of research on college student development and has gained some traction in studies of organizations and policy. The emphasis on understanding persons and processes in layered contexts offers a holistic perspective for understanding a host of individual and system-level factors. Yet for all of their possibilities, most uses of these models have failed to incorporate essential aspects of the social context, specifically power systems including racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia (see Cabrera et al., 2016). In this session we elaborate ecology theory to include critical models that address the seemingly “value-less” nature of existing scholarship that inherently privileges Whiteness, masculinity, and cisheteronormativity.

Sub Unit

• Division J - Postsecondary Education / Division J - Section 1: College Student Learning and Development in College and Beyond

Chair

• Brandon R. G. Smith, Michigan State University

Papers

• Synthesis of Higher Education Scholarship Using Ecological Systems Theories - Kristen A. Renn, Michigan State University

• Theoretical Considerations Regarding the Ecological Systems of Mentorship - Jose H. Vargas, California State University - Northridge

• Ecological Validation Model of Student Success - Joseph Kitchen, University of Southern California; Rosemary J. Perez, University of Michigan; Ronald Hallett, University of Southern California; Robert D. Reason, Iowa State University

• Introducing a Critical Campus Ecology Model - Chelsea Noble, Michigan State University