Student
Development:
Past, Present
and Future
Oregon Student Services Summer Institute
Linda Reisser, Ed. D.
Dean of Student Development
Portland Community College. Cascade Campus
Veronica Garcia
Dean of Enrollment Services
Portland Community College
Questions
• What does it mean to belong to a profession called
“student development?”
• How did the profession evolve?
• What is “student development?”
• How can we be more intentional about
fostering learning and student development?
• How will student services need to change in order
to serve future students?
Why are these questions relevant?
1. Many Student Services professionals have not
taken coursework in higher education or
student development.
2. It puts our daily work in a larger context
(promoting learning and personal growth).
3. It’s part of the mission of CSSA.
CSSA (Council of Student Services
Administrators) – Current Mission
A. to promote practices and strategies that maximize access
and success for all students
B. to promote the effectiveness of student services
professionals
C. to promote student development theory, data, and research
as a context for service delivery
D. to promote student-centered decision-making at state and
local levels
E. to promote an institutional commitment to diversity and
multiculturalism
What’s a “Professional?”
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
high level of competence, knowledge
commitment to ongoing learning
history
basis in theory and research
body of knowledge; literature; foundation
documents
core values; recognized set of ethics
principles of good practice
standards for assessment
professional organizations
common language
Principles of Good Practice in Student Affairs
(National ACPA/NASPA Study Group, 1997)
Good practice in student affairs:
1. Engages students in active learning.
2. Helps students develop coherent values and ethical standards.
3. Sets and communicates high expectations for student learning.
4. Uses systematic inquiry to improve student and institutional performance.
5. Uses resources effectively to achieve institutional missions and goals.
6. Forges educational partnerships that advance student learning.
7. Builds supportive and inclusive communities.
Looking Back - 200 Years at a Time
820
Charlemagne realized that the empire needed
educated leaders and has ordered cathedrals and
monasteries to provide free schools to “every boy
who had the intelligence and the perseverance to
follow a demanding course of study.”
1020 Monastic schools were expanding throughout
Europe.
1220 Two universities had been established:
University of Paris and University of Bologna.
Some English scholars had left Paris, and
moved to Oxford and Cambridge.
Religious orders opened houses for students.
By 1300, there were 20 universities in Europe.
The Latin
word for
“union” =
universitas.
English Model Imported to the
American Colonies
1620 Pilgrims land in
America. Puritans valued
literacy.
Colonial colleges followed
English models:
Harvard - 1636
William and Mary - 1693
Yale - 1701
1720 - Robert’s story
Robert lived in a small
village-- Portland,
Connecticut.
His older brothers
worked in the
brownstone quarries,
carving gravestones.
Everyone helped with
the farm.
Robert’s ancestor came
over on the Mayflower,
and the family is hardworking and devout.
Robert was less
inclined to work in
the quarries or on
the family farm.
Like many boys,
he was taught to
read the Bible,
and he enjoyed
preaching to his
little sister.
In 1720. . .
Very few students went to college.
All the crafts and trades, as well as farming and business, could be
learned through imitation or apprenticeships. This was also true for
the new professions--law and medicine.
Only theology demanded further schooling.
Education was not compulsory, except in New England.
Robert’s parents thought he would
make a good minister, and had him
tutored in Latin and Greek, which
were required for admission to
colleges.
Robert studied hard for his
examination by the President
and tutors at Yale. He knew
he would have to:
-”read, construe, and parce
Tully, Virgil, and the
Greek Testament”
- write Latin prose
- understand Arithmetic, and
- “bring sufficient testimony
of his Blameless and
Inoffensive Life.”
Yale College was named after
Welsh merchant Elihu Yale, who
had donated the proceeds from the
sale of nine bales of goods, plus
417 books and a portrait of King
George I.
Colonial colleges were founded by
clergy to train ministers and
Christian gentlemen, raise the
youth “in good Letters and
Manners,” and “propagate
Christianity among the Western
Indians.”
Like the English colleges. . .
• “Staff” lived with the students and
enforced the rules.
• Bachelors were taught by masters.
• Colleges were small communities, in
pastoral, semi-monastic settings.
• Tutors served “in loco parentis.”
• There was one curriculum:
The Seven Liberal Arts: Grammar, Logic,
Rhetoric, Music, Arithmetic, Geometry, and
Astronomy
The Three Philosophies: Moral,
Metaphysical, and Natural
The Two Tongues: Greek and Hebrew
Robert was admitted to Yale.
At the age of 15, he moved to
New Haven.
His chambers were
shared by 32 Scholars, the
President, and two
Tutors, who taught all the
classes, and enforce a lengthy
set of rules.
Yale’s Rules
Students were directed to:
• “live Religious, Godly, and
Blameless Lives”
• publicly repeat sermons
whenever called upon
• pray after breakfast and
dinner
• be in their chambers by 9:00
pm, studying
Prohibited:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Blasphemy, cursing, quarreling
Fornication, robbery, forgery
Turbulent words or behavior
Lascivious words or actions
Wearing women’s apparel
Playing cards or dice
Bringing rum, wine, brandy or other strong liquor into
his Chambers
• Going to a tavern within two miles of the college
• Singing or talking during study time
• Going out without a coat or gown
Robert’s Student Development
- intellectual competence
(reading the classics,
disputation, rhetoric)
- managing emotions
(controlling adolescent
impulses)
- autonomy from parents
- purpose and identity
(Congregational minister)
Changes since 1820
1825 - Thomas
Jefferson founded the
University of Virginia
 shift toward statesupported
 secular and
nondenominational
 more advanced
instruction
 choice of majors
Between 1825 and 1862
• more support for public funding
of education
• public high schools
• Oberlin admitted AfricanAmericans in 1835 and women
in 1838
• Western frontier movement
• labor movement
• movements toward reform,
egalitarianism
• more pluralistic society
• more kinds of colleges
Conflicting Priorities
• small and elitist vs. large and
egalitarian
• liberal arts/classical curriculum vs.
many options
• faculty focus on character
formation vs. teaching in their
discipline
• holistic approach vs. focus on
intellectual (and vocational)
competence
1862 - Morrill Land Grant Act
• growing demand for
education beyond high
school
• federal funding for large
state universities
• many states established
big universities
• agricultural and
mechanical courses as
well as liberal arts
Faculty roles changing
 academic disciplines developing
 scholarship becoming more objective
 more graduate work at German
research universities
 faculty wanted to do research
 faculty did not want to:
• live with the students
• deal with conduct problems
• Influence what students did
outside of classes
 First dean at Harvard in 1870
Students developed their own
social and intellectual activities
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Greek societies
athletics
drama and music groups
publications
debating teams
literary societies
1920 - Bobbie’s Story
Roberta (“Bobbie”) was
born in 1900 in Salem,
Connecticut
(formerly known as
“Paugwonk”).
At that time, 4% of the 18
year olds were going to
college.
Of the 250,000 enrolled,
two in five were women.
Bobbie was not an avid scholar,
but she loved learning to make
her own clothes. Her mother told her
that college was a way to improve
social status, and a good way to
find a husband.
She did well enough in high
school to be admitted to
Connecticut Agricultural College.
The college was founded in 1880 on the former campus of
the Orphans of Veterans home, through a land grant and
bequest by Charles and Augustus Storrs.
It had “the radical intent” of educating the sons and
daughters of farmers about new technology and farming
techniques in order to revitalize the state’s farms.
Until the first graduating classes proved the practicality
of their education, many critics challenged the wisdom
and necessity of educating farmers.
The College began with classes in farming methods,
farm management and nursing, and eventually evolved
into the University of Connecticut.
Bobbie majored in Home Economics, but enjoyed taking
a Botany class.
Bobbie learned through
involvement
She learned
interpersonal skills and
physical and manual
competence on the
Basketball team.
She gained selfesteem, and a clearer
sense of who she was.
She became a leader
She learned
that she had
the talent and
organizational
skills to
produce a
rousing
“Flapper”
number at the
Freshman
Banquet.
Relationship issues
Bobbie’s roommate, Lucille, actually
became a flapper--bobbing her hair,
listening to jazz, and wearing make-up.
She even talked about smoking,
drinking, and driving an automobile.
One weekend, she invited Bobbie to go
with her to a speakeasy in Hartford.
She received guidance
Bobbie met the Dean of
Women at the Freshman
Cozy, and talked with her
about Lucille.
The Dean helped her
clarify her values, and
make a decision to attend
church instead of going to
a speakeasy.
Bobbie found meaning and lifelong friends
She joined the Home Economics
Club, and formed new
relationships.
Even after 30 years, they could
still recite the Home Economics
Club Creed:
“I believe in the eternal
greatness of quiet service for the
home restful and the body
beautiful."
20th Century Developments
• 1901- First public junior college in Joliet, Illinois
 High schools added two more years, broadened mission, added
vocational programs, adult basic skills, continuing education, and
community service
• 1937 - “The Student Personnel Point of View” published by the
American Council on Education
 identified 23 student services roles
 asked colleges to foster not only students’ intellectual achievement,
but also their
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emotional make-up
physical condition
social relationships
vocational aptitudes and skills
moral and religious values
economic resources
aesthetic appreciations
After World War II
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GI Bill
rapid growth of community colleges
more specialists in student services
skills and knowledge defined for each function
graduate programs
professional associations
social scientists studied college student behavior
research and theory on student development
What is student development?
• higher level of competence and knowledge
• greater effectiveness
• more complexity
• more integration of experience
• transformation of consciousness
• more self-awareness and self-acceptance
• actualizing potential
• cycles of differentiation and integration
• change fostered by balancing challenge and support
Theory and Research
• Cognitive Theories
 William Perry - intellectual development
 Lawrence Kohlberg - ethical development.
 Carol Gilligan challenged Kohlberg’s model with research on
women’s moral development (1982)
 Mary Belenky et al. - Women’s Ways of Knowing (1987)
• Typology theories
 Myers-Briggs Typology Indicator
 Holland’s work on career aptitudes
• Psychosocial Theories
 Chickering’s seven vectors
1969 - Education and Identity
published
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•
•
•
By Arthur Chickering
influenced by Erik Eriksen
assessed students in 13 liberal arts colleges
used the Omnibus Personality Inventory, faculty
evaluations, student self-assessments, and
observation
• identified 7 vectors—directions in which students
tended to move while in college
• encouraged colleges to be intentional about
fostering development
1993 - Revision
Chickering’s Seven Vectors
1. Developing competence
2. Managing emotions
3. Moving through autonomy toward
interdependence
4. Developing mature interpersonal
relationships
5. Establishing identity
6. Developing purpose
7. Developing integrity
Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes for Student Leaders
(Adapted from James Kouzes and Barry Posner – The Leadership
Challenge and Student Leadership Practices Inventory)
Student Leaders will:
1. Develop self-awareness as individuals; explore their potential and
develop a vision for themselves as leaders.
2. Identify and practice the skills used by leaders to design and build a
process for change.
3. Explore the meaning of community and its importance to the role of
student life; develop skills needed to foster a healthy community
through student life; understand and feel that they are part of
something larger than their individual groups and campus.
Learning Outcomes, continued
4. Explore personal values and how their values relate to the values
of their organization; act and lead with purpose and integrity.
5.
Increase skills used by exemplary leaders, such as:
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search for opportunities to improve campus life
inspire a shared vision for the future and enlist the support of others.
foster collaboration and enable and strengthen others to act.
recognize contributions and celebrate accomplishments.
6. Practice leadership skills in providing programs and activities, and
supporting student success. Skills include: planning, program
implementation, resource management, problem-solving,
communication skills, critical thinking, motivation, creativity, conflict
resolution, and teamwork.
Small Groups
1.
Think of an example of
student development--in
students you have worked
with, or in your own
experience as a student.
What changed?
1.
What helped the change
happen?
Questions
• How do we intentionally promote student learning and
development while delivering services?
• How do we assess what students are learning as a
result of our efforts?
• How do we use data to improve practice and improve
completion rates?
• What trends are emerging now?
• How do we adapt to tomorrow’s students?
The Future
“Any sufficiently
advanced
technology is
indistinguishable
from magic.”
- Arthur C. Clark