Progressing Leadership Educator Preparation and Development for New Student Affairs Professionals

• In Event: Examining Leadership Training Programs Through Various Perspectives

Short Description

An ignored issue limits the progress of leadership development in higher education: Student affairs professionals need leadership education. Little focus on the relevance of leadership educator preparation means practitioners are often expected to facilitate the leadership education and development of college students without formal preparation or access to leadership educator curriculum and training in student affairs graduate programs. Through a qualitative case study, this presentation will explore the experiences of a cohort of master’s students in a student affairs graduate program to examine their access to leadership education and their subsequent development of a leadership educator professional identity.

Detailed Abstract

Leadership development has become an intended and expected outcome of the college experience (Boatman, 2000; Cress et al., 2001; Dugan, 2006; Zimmerman-Oster & Burkhardt, 2000). Succinctly, Chunoo and Osteen (2016) assert: “across the diverse range of universities and colleges, the development of students’ capacities to lead in their professional, personal, and communal lives is a higher education imperative” (p. 9).
Scholars note leadership development occurs within the college experience (Astin & Astin, 2000; Dugan, 2006) and involvement influences this leadership development (Astin, 1993). Because co-curricular engagement represents a significant portion of this involvement (Astin, 1993), student affairs professionals are one important, primary resource for students to assist in this educational development process (Campbell, Smith, Dugan, & Komives, 2012; Haber-Curran & Owen, 2013; Jenkins & Owen, 2016).
Student affairs professionals stand at the junction of facilitating student growth as educators – aligned with key principles of leadership development – within the higher education context. Creamer et al. (2001) noted, “it is vital that student affairs administrators understand that education, not matter its form or host, is concerned with individual and community development” (p. 7). These visionary goals align with empirically validated models of leadership education focused on individual growth and self-mastery (i.e. emotionally intelligent leadership; Shankman, Allen, & Haber-Curran, 2015) and active engagement in the community to facilitate democratic citizenship (i.e. the social change model; Higher Education Research Institute, 1996). Roberts (2001) synthesized the imperative roles of leader and educator for student affairs professionals in facilitating these ideals of student growth: “By definition, everyone charged with facilitating learning among students is engaged in forms of leading. To empower democratic participation among students is to engage them in life-changing experiences to lead them in discovering their full potential” (p. 379).
The weighty task of supporting students to reach this “full potential” falls to student affairs professionals in part through the role of leadership educator. Leadership educators are “individuals in higher education instructional and/or programmatic roles who teach leadership in credit or non-credit based programs” (Seemiller & Priest, 2015, p. 133). The teaching of leadership includes facilitation of leadership learning informed by theory and practice (Andendero et al., 2013).
History supports engagement in students’ leadership development to be a function and focus of student affairs professionals implicitly since the founding of the profession and explicitly since the late 1970’s (American Council on Education, 1949; S. Watkins, personal communication, October 27, 2017). Building on this past, actively engaging as a leadership educator has been an implied and increasingly overt expectation within student affairs (Council on Academic Standards; CAS, 2015). Leadership education literature on leadership development for college students provides extensive foundations and resources for the field of student affairs (Komives et al., 2011). However, there exists a dearth of formal education regarding the leadership educator preparation; tacitly expecting student affairs professionals to glean knowledge of how to be a leadership educator from spaces not directly included in the graduate preparatory program curriculum. There is not a clear path for student affairs professionals to gain exposure to leadership education materials, or receive training and development as leadership educators.
Leadership educators offer the space, resources, and support for students to explore and grow in their leadership capacity and efficacy (Andenoro et al., 2013) – and student affairs professionals are expected to employ these critical tools for student development (Haber-Curran & Owen, 2013). Unfortunately, the preparation and training given to student affairs professionals in their graduate preparatory programs lacks the connection between leadership education resources and training and the very real expectation that these professionals engage in the work of leadership educators (Komives, 2011).
This presentation examines the challenge of this oversight and possible progressive solutions by sharing research from a qualitative case study exploring the experiences of a cohort of student affairs master’s students in their preparation and development as leadership educators. The participants were the first cohort to take a newly implemented, required course in leadership theory and education in their graduate program. The program will extend participants insights to the students’ experiences of vulnerability, efficacy, and growth in the process of trying on their leadership educator identities (Seemiller & Priest, 2017) as new student affairs professionals. By exploring in depth the experiences of a small group of graduate student affairs professionals, burgeoning into their leadership educator identities, we may identify possible direction for the student affairs profession to correct this oversight in tutelage and engender a movement for positive change in leadership education within the field, a shift which could positively impact the progress of leadership education and development for college students across higher education.

Participant

• Trisha Teig, University of Denver