This article is part of a longitudinal study on academic sense of belonging (SB) in engineering, which uses narrative analysis to examine development of meaning-making systems (MMS). Featuring narratives of three students of color, findings show that over time, some students experienced subject-object shifts in their perceptions of SB, as well as…

Black men's experiences in education are often marked by isolation, imposter syndrome, and racial microaggressions. This qualitative case study, guided by the five enactments of Cross and Fhagen Smith's (2001) model of Black identity development, explored the experiences of 20 Black men doctoral students as they navigated and continually redefined…

The number of college athletes in the US has gradually increased, and in the 2020-2021 academic year, a record high of approximately 480,000 athletes participated in NCAA sports (NCAA Research, 2024). Along with this growth, scholars have highlighted various factors influencing college athletes' career development (e.g., career maturity, athletic…

Despite its presence on many colleges and universities and substantial financial investment in higher education, very little research has explored whether and how participation in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) shapes college students' experiences and development. Using data from interviews with 20 cadets in one U.S. Army ROTC…

Early college high schools (ECHSs), which combine high school with the first two years of college, have grown in popularity nationwide. Research suggests ECHS participation has positive impacts on college enrollment and completion, but little is known about how ECHS graduates experience university life. Using a framework of college belonging and…

We describe relationships among epistemological, interpersonal, and intrapersonal development in Chinese college students from the perspective of self-authorship theory. The themes that emerged from interviews with 13 junior or senior students offer insights into unique aspects of self-authorship development in the Chinese higher education context…

The study of student development has long been considered a cornerstone of the higher education and student affairs (HESA) profession. However, perspectives on what constitutes student development have evolved as scholars continuously embrace more critical frameworks to implicate systems of power and oppression--what scholars have termed the third…

Following Jones and Stewart's (2016) organization of student development scholarship into three waves, researchers have advanced understandings of learning and development using critical and poststructural frameworks. Though many scholars understand what scholarship fits under this third wave, less guidance is available to shape studies of…

Collegiate environments that aim to support equitable learning are rarely conceptualized and studied in a manner that is explicitly relational and structural, leaving room for theorizing about how social constructions of meaning and power operate on campus. We apply social network theory and methods to campus ecological frameworks to develop a…

In this qualitative study, the spiritual experiences and leadership of 15 Black collegiate men enrolled at higher education institutions were examined. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how Black men student leaders make meaning of spirituality. The first finding described how Black men students make meaning of…

When white students get stuck in emotional turmoil, they often spend much energy trying to prove they are not racist, instead of learning, growing, or fighting racism. This article explores how white students in college develop as people committed to racial justice. A critical qualitative approach uses constructivist grounded theory methodology.…

This descriptive qualitative study used longitudinal data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education to examine patterns in the development of self-authorship among the 175 undergraduate college students who participated in both the first and fourth years of the study. We found that the meaning making of 81% of the participants…

Commitment of higher education to the public good through research, teaching, and civic engagement is essential to advancing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We conducted a global online survey with Student Affairs practitioners in more than 50 countries and found that over half of our respondents have made SDGs a priority…

The purpose of this paper is to explore tertiary student development in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), with an emphasis on the intersections of two dimensions likely to be particularly relevant in a collectivist context like that of T&T: interpersonal and intrapersonal development. A multiple case study approach was used to emphasize the…

Students who face life's challenges with a clear focus on agency and who feel that they are in control should also be making more progress in exploring and committing to aspects of their identity (see Schwartz et al., 2005) and have greater well-being (e.g., McLean et al., 2019). Agency is a fundamental motivational drive that is reflected in the…