The bestselling student affairs text, updated for today's evolving campus Student Services is the classic comprehensive text for graduate students in student affairs, written by top scholars and practitioners in the field. Accessible and theoretically grounded, this book reflects the realities of contemporary practice in student affairs. This new sixth edition has been updated throughout to align with current scholarship, and expanded with four new chapters on student development, crisis management, programming, and applications. Twenty new authors join the roster of expert contributors, bringing new perspective on critical issues such as ethical standards, campus culture, psychosocial development, student retention, assessment and evaluation, and much more. End-of-chapter questions help reinforce the material presented, and unique coverage of critical theoretical perspectives, counseling and helping skills, advising, leadership, environmental theories, and other useful topics make this book a foundational resource for those preparing for a student affairs career. The student affairs staff has the responsibility for a vast array of services and support roles for students on every type of campus. This book provides a thorough overview of the field's many facets, with invaluable real-world insight from leading practitioners. As colleges and universities offer more and more services to an increasingly diverse student population, the responsibility for these programs falls to student affairs educators. The role requires a broad skill set, and conceptual grounding in a number of disciplines. Student Services provides the most complete overview of the foundations, philosophies, ethics, and theories that guide today's student affairs professional.
I read this for class and let me just say... it is written completely for student services and student affairs professionals. I found the historical sections to be interesting, but then it went into complaints that student affairs is not seen as a real profession by others in higher education. As someone who does not work in a student facing office and has not worked in a student facing office, I rolled my eyes at that complaint so hard they almost fell out of my head. The fact that there are handbooks, multiple large professional organizations, professional guidance, etc. on the student facing positions discussed proves that is untrue. I believe student affairs professionals are extremely important in the community and cultural development of our students, but some of the ideas stated in this handbook were inflated.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This book was fine, as textbooks go. Better than most! Some chapters were better than others, but I appreciated that. The variety of authors kept it interesting and prevented large chunks of reading from being too dry. Also, my academic crush on Shaun Harper still stands, so I may be biased. SPOT ON ALL THE TIME.