Prepare to Make a Difference in Students’ Lives
The MA in Student Affairs in Higher Education program represents what a well-rounded academic program is all about—academic excellence, plus geographical, cultural, and ethnic diversity. Coursework and assistantships—held by about 90 percent of our students—blend academic achievement with real-world responsibilities so that you are fully prepared for entry-level and mid-management jobs, depending on your past experience.
Learn more about the Student Affairs in Higher Education, MA
Students from a Variety of Professional and Academic Backgrounds
A typical SAHE entering class includes graduates of private and public institutions, from very small to very large, and from all sections of the country. Many students are returning to graduate school after having worked for a few years.
Your Cohort Becomes Part of Your Professional Network
All students join a fall cohort and begin classes either in the summer or fall. With the cohort model, you surround yourself with like-minded learners who will become members of your professional network. You progress through a prescribed sequence of courses as a group, and together, you'll discover the history of your profession while mastering the theories and techniques that have proven effective when working with diverse campus populations.
The MA in Student Affairs in Higher Education
This program introduces you to the key principles and responsibilities of this area of study. Practical experiences provided by your assistantship and practicums help transition you from the classroom to your first job in the field.
A minimum of 42 credits (33 required and nine credits of elective or thesis), a portfolio requirement, and the equivalent of two academic years of full-time study are required to earn the master of arts degree.
Student Affairs is an applied science field and, as such, you will:
- Understand theories of personality and human development.
- Learn elements of research.
- Acquire specific skills and techniques for helping others learn, grow, and develop.
- Comprehend organizational management theory and practice.
- Complete a variety of practice-oriented courses.
You will also demonstrate professional competence by writing either a thesis or completing nine hours of approved electives along with a learning portfolio completed during the second year.
Sharing Assistantship Experiences in Class Deepens Understanding
“I have an assistantship in the Department for Disability Access and Advising working as the graduate assistant for orientation programming and as a disability support services advisor. Our individual assistantships offer new experiences every day, and sharing all of these viewpoints in class helps us to gain a deeper understanding of students, colleges, and universities.”
Program Objectives
The SAHE Program objectives are drawn from the professional competencies developed by ACPA and NASPA (2015).
The Profession
These competencies address the essential knowledge, skills, and perspectives of our profession:
Values, Philosophy, and History (VPH)
Involves knowledge, skills, and dispositions that connect the history, philosophy, and values of the student affairs profession to one's current professional practice. This competency area embodies the foundations of the profession from which current and future research, scholarship, and practice will change and grow. The commitment to demonstrating this competency area ensures that our present and future practices are informed by an understanding of the profession's history, philosophy, and values.
Leadership (LEAD)
Addresses the knowledge, skills, and dispositions required of a leader, with or without positional authority. Leadership involves both the individual role of a leader and the leadership process of individuals working together to envision, plan, and affect change in organizations and respond to broad-based constituencies and issues. This can include working with students, student affairs colleagues, faculty, and community members.
Technology (TECH)
Focuses on the use of digital tools, resources, and technologies for the advancement of student learning, development, and success as well as the improved performance of student affairs professionals. Included within this area are knowledge, skills, and dispositions that lead to the generation of digital literacy and digital citizenship within communities of students, student affairs professionals, faculty members, and colleges and universities as a whole.
Students
These competencies address the significant role we play in advancing the growth of all students:
Advising and Supporting (A/S)
Addresses the knowledge, skills, and dispositions related to providing advising and support to individuals and groups through direction, feedback, critique, referral, and guidance. Through developing advising and supporting strategies that take into account self-knowledge and the needs of others, we play critical roles in advancing the holistic wellness of ourselves, our students, and our colleagues.
Social Justice and Inclusion (SJI)
While there are many conceptions of social justice and inclusion in various contexts, for the purposes of this competency area, it is defined here as both a process and a goal which includes the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to create learning environments that foster equitable participation of all groups while seeking to address and acknowledge issues of oppression, privilege, and power. This competency involves student affairs educators who have a sense of their own agency and social responsibility that includes others, their community, and the larger global context. Student affairs educators may incorporate social justice and inclusion competencies into their practice through seeking to meet the needs of all groups, equitably distributing resources, raising social consciousness, and repairing past and current harms on campus communities.
Student Learning and Development (SLD)
Addresses the concepts and principles of student development and learning theory. This includes the ability to apply theory to improve and inform student affairs and teaching practice.
Institutions
These competencies address our key responsibility in understanding and managing aspects of higher education institutions.
Assessment, Evaluation, and Research (AER)
Focuses on the ability to design, conduct, critique, and use various AER methodologies and the results obtained from them; to utilize AER processes and their results to inform practice; and to shape the political and ethical climate surrounding AER processes and uses in higher education.
Organizational and Human Resources (OHR)
Includes knowledge, skills, and dispositions used in the management of institutional human capital, financial, and physical resources. This competency area recognizes that student affairs professionals bring personal strengths and grow as managers through challenging themselves to build new skills in the selection, supervision, motivation, and formal evaluation of staff; resolution of conflict; management of the politics of organizational discourse; and the effective application of strategies and techniques associated with financial resources, facilities management, fundraising, technology, crisis management, risk management and sustainable resources.
Law, Policy, and Governance (LPG)
Includes the knowledge, skills, and dispositions relating to policy development processes used in various contexts, the application of legal constructs, compliance/policy issues, and the understanding of governance structures and their impact on one's professional practice.
Personal Foundations
The Personal Foundations competency area involves the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to maintain emotional, physical, social, environmental, relational, spiritual, and intellectual wellness; be self-directed and self-reflective; maintain excellence and integrity in work; be comfortable with ambiguity; be aware of one's own areas of strength and growth; have a passion for work; and remain curious.
ACPA and NASPA (2015). Professional competency areas for student affairs practitioners. Washington, DC: Authors