Sandra M. Estanek - Böcker

To be effective managers, student affairs professionals must understand the structures and processes that form the organizational context in which they work, and must be able to work within them. These structures are often characterized by a rigid division of labor and an expectation that good managers can predict the outcomes of their efforts and can and should exercise control over the inputs. However, to be effective leaders, they must be able to perceive new possibilities beyond those structures and expectations. How can they do both? Rethinking Student Affairs Practice offers an answer to that question. Love and Estanek challenge their readers to perceive their responsibilities, institutions, and relationships through multiple lenses. They have developed a model for change based in four concepts that will help their readers do this. The four concepts are valuing dualisms, transcending paradigms, recognizing connectedness, and embracing paradox.

In response to the growing concern over nurturing Catholic identity at Catholic colleges and universities and an outcome of the Lilly-funded Institute for Student Affairs at Catholic Colleges and Universities (ISACC), this book is the first of its kind to focus not only on student affairs in Catholic higher education but on lay men and women who received training at secular institutions. An essential book for administrators, staff, and faculty at Catholic institutions of higher learning.

The purpose of this book is to provide student affairs professionals who work at Catholic colleges and universities a tool for reflection and dialogue on difficult issues they face in their campuses. It is intended to be used in staff development sessions, in training sessions with student leaders and resident assistants, and in master’s level student affairs preparation programs at Catholic colleges and universities. This book is the next step in a series of projects that began in the early 1990s after the publication by the Vatican of the apostolic constitution. This book is a collection of case studies that focus on particular issues related to Catholic identity that are faced by student affairs professionals who work at Catholic colleges and universities. By its very nature, the focus on the difficult issues we face is a limitation. The editors in no way wish to imply that Catholic identity is only about problems. Previous research and experience clearly indicates those who work at Catholic institutions understand and embrace the opportunities that this environment provides for them. But as Schaller and Boyle (2006) indicated,there is a need for dialogue around the difficult issues that we face. The editors believe that a book of case studies is particularly helpful because it allows a staff to discuss problems at fictionalized universities and then ask themselves, “What would we do here?” The editors solicited cases using a mailing list provided by the ASACCU; thus, the cases included in this book represent the real concerns of those practicing in the field. Some of the cases that are included are true stories of situations that actually happened, some are fictional, and some are hybrid stories based on actual events but changed to illustrate an issue. To protect the privacy of those who were kind enough to share their difficult issues with their colleagues, the names of case contributors are listed at the beginning of the book in alphabetical order, rather than being listed with the cases they contributed.