Student affairs professionals have often relied on the professional development of staff rather than innovative design approaches to fulfill the challenge of creating programs, services, and activities that serve today's global and multicultural students. In this article, Jordan Harper and Adrianna Kezar introduce Liberatory Design Thinking (LDT)…

Designing first-year experiences for first-time in college students (FTICs) is challenging and the COVID-19 pandemic created additional issues for university professionals striving to support them. This article describes a unique interdisciplinary response that one Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) engaged in for creating an intervention plan to…

This essay is a discussion of the lived experiences of first-generation college students each August when they arrive on a college campus for the first time. The author's approach offers a reflective component for institutions of higher education to consider when creating support or programs for first-generation students as they navigate an…

Educational leaders face immense challenges each day. Currently, such challenges include, but are not limited to, reckoning with the United States' ongoing legacy of persistent and pervasive racism, supporting students' health and wellness in the aftermath of a global pandemic, and facilitating difficult intercultural dialogs during a time of deep…

Peer mentoring programs have repeatedly shown that peer-to-peer support is a vital part of the transition process for new college students. Sometimes, what a student needs most in those imperative years is someone who can identify with them and provide the advice needed to get them to the finish line. In August 2019, the University of Nevada, Las…

In this article, the author discusses how relationships are central in enacting an Ethnic Studies pedagogy in the role of a student affairs administrator charged with the development and implementation of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AA&PI) Student Services-Asian American and Pacific Islander Retention and Education (ASPIRE), the first…

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in pivotal changes in higher education as universities across the country closed campuses to slow the spread of disease. The global shift to online forums resulted in the need to rapidly rethink and reimagine the delivery of traditional in-person events. At Old Dominion University, the authors transitioned their…