Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

Professional Competency

Areas for Student Affairs

Educators

Professional Competencies Task Force

Dr. Berenecea Johnson Eanes (Co-chair)

Vice President for Student Affairs

California State University-Fullerton

Dr. Patricia A. Perillo (Co-chair)

Vice President for Student Affairs and

Assistant Professor of Higher Education

Virginia Tech

Dr. Tricia Fechter

Deputy Executive Director

ACPA-College Student Educators

International

Stephanie A. Gordon

Vice President for Professional Development

NASPA- Student Affairs Administrators in

Higher Education

Dr. Shaun Harper

Executive Director

University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Pamela Havice

Professor

Clemson University

Dr. John L. Hoffman

Chair, Department of Educational

Leadership

California State University, Fullerton

Dr. Quincy Martin, III

Associate Vice President, Student Affairs

Triton College

Dr. Laura Osteen

Director, Center for Leadership and Social

Change

Florida State University

Dr. Jason B. Pina

Vice President for Student Affairs

Bridgewater State University

Will Simpkins

Director, Center for Career & Professional

Development

CUNY John Jay College Criminal Justice

Vu T. Tran

Graduate Research Associate

Ohio State University-Columbus

Dr. Bridget Turner Kelly

Associate Professor

Loyola University-Chicago

Dr. Case Willoughby

Vice President for Student Services &

Enrollment Management

Butler County Community College

Dr. Harper had to withdraw from the task force after participating in preliminary meetings.

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

Table of Contents

Background Information and Changes 4

The Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators 7

Intersection of Competencies 9

Implications and Applications 10

Overview of the Competency Areas 12

Comprehensive Presentation of the Competency Areas 16

Personal and Ethical Foundations (PPF) 16

Values, Philosophy, and History (VPH) 18

Assessment, Evaluation, and Research (AER) 20

Law, Policy, and Governance (LPG) 22

Organizational and Human Resource (OHR) 24

Leadership (LEAD) 27

Social Justice and Inclusion (SJI) 30

Student Learning and Development (SLD) 32

Technology (TECH) 33

Advising and Supporting (A/S) 36

References 38

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

Background Information and Changes

In 2009,

ACPA—College Student Educators

International and NASPA—Student Affairs

Administrators in Higher Education

collaborated

to establish a common set of professional

competency areas for student affairs educators.

The

Joint Task Force on Professional

Competencies and Standards

, which consisted of

representatives from both associations, analyzed

19 core documents produced by ACPA, NASPA,

and the Council for the Advancement of Standards

in Higher Education (CAS), and then proposed a

framework that included 10 competency areas.

The memberships of the two associations were

invited to comment on preliminary drafts of the

proposed document in spring 2010, and then

the boards of ACPA and NASPA adopted the

competency document in a joint meeting in July

2010. Among the recommendations included in

the nal document was a call for periodic review

and updates to the professional competencies.

In August 2014, ACPA and NASPA formed the

Professional Competencies Task Force

to review

the professional competencies and recommend

changes as needed. Beginning in October 2014,

we—the members of this task force—began

to study the original document and to review

scholarly works published over the previous 10

years that aimed to identify areas of professional

competence in student affairs (Burkard, Cole,

Ott, & Stoet, 2005; Hickmott & Bresciani, 2010;

Hoffman & Bresciani, 2012; Weiner, Bresciani,

Oyler, & Felix, 2011). Central to this work was

consideration of applications of the competencies

to practice, professional development, and

the preparation of new professionals through

graduate study. Additionally, we considered

recommendations from ACPA’s Digital Task Force

and a formal proposal from NASPA’s Technology

Knowledge Community (Valliere, Endersby, &

Brinton, 2013) to add a competency addressing

the use of technology in student affairs work.

Through several months of bi-weekly, web-

based meetings and a single in-person meeting,

we generated a preliminary draft of proposed

changes. We presented these changes for

consideration and feedback to ACPA and NASPA

at their annual meetings in March 2015. Later

in April 2015, we reached out to several specic

constituency groups and utilized ACPA’s and

NASPA’s websites and membership rosters

to distribute the proposed changes to the full

membership of the two associations for review

and feedback. We compiled and analyzed this

feedback in May 2015, made nal revisions to our

proposed changes, and presented them to the

boards of ACPA and NASPA for formal adoption in

July 2015.

Summary of Changes

Whereas we made several signicant

changes, we intentionally preserved most

of the work of the 2010

Joint Task Force on

Professional Competencies and Standards

this document. We did not eliminate any of

the original 10 competency areas, though we

renamed two competency areas, introduced one

new competency areas, and combined two areas.

What follows is a summary of the most signicant

changes.

Social justice and inclusion. Our

most substantial change was in relation to the

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

competency

from the 2010 document, which we renamed

Social Justice and Inclusion

. When reviewing

the literature, we found studies published since

2010 referred to similar knowledge and skill sets

as “incorporating diversity into curricular and

co-curricular experiences” (Weiner et al., 2011,

p. 88), “diversity and social justice” (Hoffman &

Bresciani, 2012, p. 31), or “dedication to social

justice” (Hickmott & Bresciani, 2010, p. 10) and

“understanding diversity” (p. 8). Each of these

suggests a shift from awareness of diversity, as

implicit in prior competency literature (e.g. Lovell

& Kosten, 2000) to a more active orientation.

In changing the name to ‘

Social Justice and

Inclusion

,’ we aimed to align this competency

with research, practice, and a commonly utilized

denition of social justice as “a process and a

goal” where the goal is “full and equal participation

of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped

to meet their needs” (Bell, 2013, p. 21). Though

an important concept, diversity can imply a

static, non-participatory orientation where the

term diverse is associated with members of

non-dominant groups. In contrast, we aimed to

frame inclusiveness in a manner that does not

norm dominant cultures but that recognizes all

groups and populations are diverse as related to

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

all other groups and populations. Bell’s (2013)

denition of social justice further necessitates that

social justice include “a vision of society in which

the distribution of resources is equitable and all

members are physically and psychologically safe

and secure” (p. 21). This denition subsumes

the construct of equity as more than a goal, but a

precondition of a larger good. In sum, our intent

was to integrate the concepts of equity, diversity,

and inclusion within the active framework of social

justice.

Technology. In 2010, technology was

included as a “thread” or “an essential element of

each competency area” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010,

p. 5). However, an unintended consequence was

that technology was often omitted from practical

applications of the competencies. Responding

to similar observations, ACPA’s Digital Task

Force and NASPA’s Technology Knowledge

Community each submitted recommendations to

add technology as a distinct competency area.

We also observed that technology emerged

as a distinct competency in three of the four

empirical studies published within the past 10

years that have aimed to identify professional

competencies (Burkard, et al., 2005; Hickmott

& Bresciani, 2010; Hoffman & Bresciani, 2012).

The only study that did not identify technology

as a separate competency (Wiener et al., 2011)

was based more narrowly on an analysis of

professional association documents. Additionally,

several recent professional works have noted

the importance of integrating technology into the

educational work of student affairs educators

(e.g. Ahlquist, 2014; Brown, 2013; Junco, 2015;

Sabado, 2015).

When gathering feedback on a proposed

technology competency, two themes became

apparent. First, in order for technology to

be a student affairs competency area, we

needed to keep its focus on applications to the

holistic, developmental work of student affairs

educators. Student learning and success spans

environments that are both physical and virtual;

thus, student affairs educators must proactively

engage students within these settings. Second,

common connotations of ‘technology’ construe it

largely in terms of hardware, software, and other

digital tools. Our focus is broader and inclusive

of innovation, meaning that student affairs work is

dynamic and must use a variety of tools to engage

students in learning.

Personal and ethical foundations.

The 2010 ACPA and NASPA Professional

Competencies document included

Ethical

Professional Practice and Personal Foundations

as separate competency areas. In our review

of scholarly literature, personal foundations

only emerged as a distinct competency area

in Hickmott and Bresciani’s (2010) analysis

of graduate preparation program outcomes.

Further, Sriram (2014) questioned the validity of

Personal Foundations

as its own competency

area. Perhaps of greater importance to us

was the conceptual convergence and apparent

interdependence of these two areas. Believing

that these two areas are stronger together, we

combined them into a single competency area,

Personal and Ethical Foundations

Advising and supporting. In

changing the name of this competency area from

Advising and Helping

Advising and Supporting

a primary objective was to use language that

emphasizes the agency of college students in

their development of self-authorship. The new

name distances student affairs educators from

roles that are directive or service-oriented in a

narrow sense, and it underscores the importance

of the relational and facilitative nature of student

affairs advising work. We also intended to better

distinguish the role of student affairs educators

from those of counselors, psychologists, nurse

practitioners, among others. We acknowledge

this line is not easy to draw as many student

affairs educators earn master’s degrees in

counseling or have titles that include the word

“counselor.” Yet, even in student affairs roles

that require a degree in counseling (e.g. many

community college educational counseling

positions), individuals within those roles do not

provide therapeutic or formal helping services.

For this reason, we believe the new name better

claries the competency as it applies “regardless

of area of specialization or professional role within

the eld” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 3).

Language. We introduced three

noteworthy changes in language related to the

competency areas. In 2010, ACPA and NASPA

referred to competencies as encompassing

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

“knowledge, skills, and in some cases, attitudes

expected of student affairs professions” (p.

3). We chose to replace the term

attitudes

with

dispositions

because the latter term (a)

is consistent with the language used in the

education discipline and by multiple accrediting

agencies, (b) is more consistent with the language

used in recent empirical studies (e.g. Hickmott

& Bresciani, 2010; Hoffman & Bresciani, 2012),

and (c) is a broader and more inclusive term.

Regarding this nal point, NCATE (2008) referred

to dispositions as encompassing “attitudes,

values, and beliefs” (p. 80), and Thornton (2006)

further dened dispositions as “habits of the

minds. . . that lter one’s knowledge, skills,

and beliefs and impact the action one takes in

professional settings” (p. 62).

Second, the authors of the original ACPA

and NASPA competency document introduced

the concept of “threads” and dened them as

components that are “woven into most of the

competency areas” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p.

5). We extended this concept suggesting there

is signicant overlap of most of the competency

areas that are also woven into other competency

areas. For example, there are signicant aspects

of leadership embedded within each of the other

nine competency areas. We elected to shift

from the language of threads to intersections

in order to stress the integrative character of all

10 competency areas as well as connections to

multiple points of emphasis (formerly threads) that

include globalism, sustainability, and collaboration.

The addition of collaboration as a point of

emphasis was informed by recent competency-

related research (Cho & Sriram, in press; Sriram,

2014) and the prevalence of collaboration-

related outcomes spanning the majority of the

competency areas.

Lastly, when referring to the three levels within

each competency area, we replaced the term

basic

with

foundational

. Our primary rationale

was to emphasize the idea from the original

document that “all student affairs professionals

should be able to demonstrate their ability to meet

the basic [foundational] list of outcomes under

each competency area regardless of how they

entered the profession” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010,

p. 3). Additionally, we received feedback that

the term “basic” carries connotations of being

underdeveloped or lacking in sophistication.

The lists of foundational outcomes for each

competency area represent reasonable

expectations for professionals entering the eld

of student affairs and provide groundwork for

future development to intermediate and advanced

levels of prociency. Conceptually, no matter the

professional level of an individual, the foundational

competency outcomes allow for a starting point

within a competency area from which to build and

progress in a particular area of student affairs.

Audience. The intended audience for this

document reects the voices that contributed to

its content and development. These voices reect

the signicant diversity of ACPA and NASPA in

terms of age, gender identity and expression,

ethnicity, sexual orientation, years of experience in

the eld, functional areas of expertise, institutional

type (e.g. public, private, and faith-based; two-

year and four-year), and geographic region.

Additionally, the task force consisted of student

affairs educators serving a range of students

including those in noncredit courses, career and

technical programs, and transfer programs as

well as those pursuing associate, bachelor’s, and

graduate degrees in various disciplines.

In 2010, ACPA and NASPA identied their

primary audience as student affairs professionals

in the United States while inviting international

colleagues to apply the competencies as

applicable. Though we largely continued with this

approach, we recognize that it reects a form of

privilege held by U.S. institutions within a broader

global context, and that failure to consider student

affairs work from an international perspective is a

liability that we can no longer afford. We aimed

to broaden our audience as much as possible,

while acknowledging that all the members of our

task force are from the United States and work

at U.S. colleges and universities. We recognize

that this effort reects the very orientation toward

inclusivity that we intended to deconstruct in

our revision of the social justice and inclusion

competency area. We recommend that future

reviews and revisions of the competency areas

be conducted in a manner that does not norm the

work of student affairs in the U.S., but considers

student affairs work from an international

perspective.

Higher education is a dynamic enterprise

facing unprecedented change. Among

the associated opportunities are increased

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

Higher education is a dynamic enterprise

facing unprecedented change. Among

the associated opportunities are increased

demand for access to higher education, greater

demographic diversity, technological innovations

leading to new educational pedagogies and

delivery systems, and a growing number of

global interactions, exchanges, and educational

experiences for students. Among the most

signicant challenges are the mounting costs

of higher education, increased expectations by

employers, and heightened calls for accountability

from a range of constituencies. Within this

context, there is a danger of exchanging holistic

educational practices for narrowly crafted

content outcomes in order to simplify metrics

and minimally comply with regulations. Further,

student affairs work, which is heavily dependent

upon human resources, will remain a target

for budget cuts aimed at reducing the cost

of education. This document is intended to

set out the scope and content of professional

competencies required of student affairs

educators in order for them to succeed within the

current higher educational environment as well

as projected future environments. The full range

of these competencies is especially important as

student affairs educators cannot afford to engage

in advocacy efforts without an understanding of

how students learn and develop or to demonstrate

business savvy while failing to understand the

core educational values of the profession.

The 10 professional competency areas

presented in this document lay out essential

knowledge, skills, and dispositions expected

of all student affairs educators, regardless of

functional area or specialization within the eld.

Whereas effective student affairs practice requires

The Professional Competency Areas for

Student Affairs Educators

demand for access to higher education, greater

demographic diversity, technological innovations

leading to new educational pedagogies and

delivery systems, and a growing number of

global interactions, exchanges, and educational

experiences for students. Among the most

signicant challenges are the mounting costs

of higher education, increased expectations by

employers, and heightened calls for accountability

from a range of constituencies. Within this

context, there is a danger of exchanging holistic

educational practices for narrowly crafted

content outcomes in order to simplify metrics

and minimally comply with regulations. Further,

student affairs work, which is heavily dependent

upon human resources, will remain a target

for budget cuts aimed at reducing the cost

of education. This document is intended to

set out the scope and content of professional

competencies required of student affairs

educators in order for them to succeed within the

current higher educational environment as well

as projected future environments. The full range

of these competencies is especially important as

student affairs educators cannot afford to engage

in advocacy efforts without an understanding of

how students learn and develop or to demonstrate

business savvy while failing to understand the

core educational values of the profession.

The 10 professional competency areas

presented in this document lay out essential

knowledge, skills, and dispositions expected

of all student affairs educators, regardless of

functional area or specialization within the eld.

Whereas effective student affairs practice requires

prociency in many areas such as critical thinking,

creativity, and oral and written communication, the

competency areas presented here are intended to

dene students affairs work and lay out directions

for the future development of student affairs

educators both individually and as a profession.

For example, student affairs educators must be

able think critically in order to be successful, but

the nature of their critical thinking skills are in

effect the same as those required of faculty and

other educators. In contrast, whereas both faculty

and counselors (among others) engage in a range

of advising and supporting activities, the nature of

student affairs advising and supporting is distinct

and that distinctiveness helps to dene the nature

of the student affairs profession. What follows is

an elaboration on several important characteristics

of the competency areas presented in this

document.

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

prociency in many areas such as critical thinking,

creativity, and oral and written communication, the

competency areas presented here are intended to

dene students affairs work and lay out directions

for the future development of student affairs

educators both individually and as a profession.

For example, student affairs educators must be

able think critically in order to be successful, but

the nature of their critical thinking skills are in

effect the same as those required of faculty and

other educators. In contrast, whereas both faculty

and counselors (among others) engage in a range

of advising and supporting activities, the nature of

student affairs advising and supporting is distinct

and that distinctiveness helps to dene the nature

of the student affairs profession. What follows is

an elaboration on several important characteristics

of the competency areas presented in this

document.

systems of oppression, privilege, and power” (a

foundational-level outcome) in terms of race or

gender identity or sexual orientation and attraction.

To further complicate the process of assessing

one’s prociency within a competency area, one

must recognized that most outcomes are dynamic

and expected to evolve over time. Thus, ongoing

professional development is necessary to maintain

prociency within a competency area as well as to

advance within it.

Understanding the nature of the three levels

of outcomes is vital to their application in practice.

Foundational outcomes are intended to be

precisely what their name implies—a requisite

foundation upon which intermediate and advanced

prociencies in a competency area are built.

Whereas it is reasonable to assume that some

student affairs educators may enter the eld prior

to demonstrating foundational level prociency in

each of the 10 competency areas, mastering the

foundational outcomes for all of the competency

areas should be a professional development

priority. Further, whereas some student affairs

educators who are still developing foundational

prociency in a competency area may meet

some intermediate or even advanced outcomes

within that area, this should not be confused with

intermediate or advanced-level capability. The

outcomes should not be viewed as checklists, but

as sets of indicators mapping development in and

around each of the competency areas. Viewed

this way, progressive development builds on the

work of prior levels and moves from foundational

knowledge to increased capacity for critique and

synthesis, from introductory skills to application

and leadership within larger venues and multiple

arenas, and from attitudes to values and habits of

the mind.

Competency development that draws on the

three levels of outcomes introduces an important

paradox. On the one hand, advancement from

foundational to intermediate and then advanced

prociency within a competency area should

not be equated with either years of experience

or positional role or title. It is feasible that some

entry-level student affairs educators may approach

advanced prociency in one or two competency

areas relatively early in their careers, while some

highly experienced senior-level administrators may

have largely foundational prociency in one or two

competency areas. Advancement in rank is not

a guarantee of higher-order prociency. On the

Competency Levels and Profes-

sional Development

For each of the 10 competency areas,

descriptions are provided along with a set

of discrete outcome statements categorized

as foundational, intermediate, or advanced.

Assessing one’s level of prociency for a given

competency area using these three levels is a

complex process. To begin with, the outcome

statements are intended to be representative of

the scope of the competency area, but they are

not exhaustive. Individuals who have met the

full breadth of outcomes within a level for a given

competency area should be reasonably condent

that this demonstrates prociency at that level.

For each outcome, however, it is important to

distinguish between meeting the outcome in a

singular setting and mastering that outcome in

multiple contexts and situations. Furthermore, it is

likely that an individual may begin work on several

intermediate or advance-level outcomes before

demonstrating full foundational-level prociency

for that competency area. For example, a student

affairs educator may develop the capacity to

“assess the effectiveness of the institution in

removing barriers to addressing issues of social

justice and inclusion” (an advanced-level social

justice and inclusion outcome) especially as

related to socioeconomic issues. This same

educator may not yet fully “understand how one

is affected by and participates in maintaining

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

other hand, some aspects of mastering outcomes

are associated with human as well as professional

development. Other aspects are difcult to learn

without direct experience. In other words, some

elements of the progression from foundational to

advanced prociency require human development

that is associated with age-dependent aspects

of maturation, and some outcomes are difcult to

master without certain experiences associated with

positions of leadership and responsibility.

For each of the 10 competency areas, there

is a distinct central idea that differentiates it from

the other nine areas. That said, there is also

signicant overlap or intersection among the

outcomes associated with the various competency

areas. Though each outcome is aligned primarily

with just one competency, well over half of the

outcomes also intersect with other areas. This

suggests that professional development work in

any one competency area is related to work in

multiple other areas. Further, as one moves from

foundational to advanced, each subsequent level

includes an increased number of outcomes that

intersect with other competency areas, reecting

higher order synthesis and complexity. (See

Figure 1)

Intersection of Competencies

Figure 1. Visual Representation of the Intersection of the 10 Competency Areas

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

In addition to intersections with other

competencies, most outcomes intersect, whether

directly or indirectly, with three points of emphasis

identied for the competencies: globalism,

sustainability, and collaboration. None of these

three points of emphasis stands on its own as a

distinct competency area because development

in these areas does not necessarily serve to

dene the distinctive nature of student affairs

work. However, each of the points of emphasis

does inform student affairs work in signicant

ways. Essentially, they contribute to a mindset

or disposition that permeates each of the

competency areas and informs various knowledge

and skill outcomes. Higher education is becoming

an increasingly global enterprise. Not only

are a growing number of students from many

countries engaging in study abroad experiences

and completing degrees in international settings,

recent growth in distance education provides

access to global experiences for all students.

The implications of this trend extend beyond the

classroom and present noteworthy challenges

and opportunities for student affairs work.

Environmental sustainability efforts are also

changing student affairs. Many sustainability

efforts begin as student-initiated activities,

and all have implications for ongoing resource

allocations. This is especially pertinent to student

affairs given its vulnerability in periods of budget

reallocations and cutbacks. Thus, student affairs

educators must consider the sustainability of

their practices both in terms of the impact on

institutional resources and the environments

in which students learn. Lastly, student affairs

work is largely a collaborative endeavor. In the

absence of student affairs educators, classroom

learning suffers in substantial ways. However, in

the absence of faculty and classroom learning,

student affairs ceases to exist. For this reason,

student affairs educators should serve as leaders

in forging mutual partnerships with faculty to

co-create seamless learning experiences for

students. Further, among best practices of the

student affairs profession are partnerships that

engage communities and constituencies that

extend beyond and blur campus boundaries.

Of central importance to any discussion of the

competencies are implications for policy, practice,

and the scholarship of student affairs. That being

said, applications must be mindful of the unique

missions, contexts, and needs of various colleges,

universities, and professional associations. Thus,

the work of applying the competencies in practice

will likely consist more of varied best practices

than of standardized approaches, and these

practices will likely evolve over time reecting

the dynamic nature of the competencies. The

following are examples of areas where the

competencies may have particular utility to

practice:

• Individual student affairs educators are

encouraged to use the competency areas

and their associated outcomes for self-

assessing their current levels of prociency

and for setting goals and tracking professional

development work toward the attainment of

those goals.

• Working in partnership with human resource

professionals, the competencies should aid

student affairs administrators when creating

job postings and position descriptions

as well as frameworks for performance

evaluations. To ensure success and

continuous improvement, divisions of student

affairs should utilize the competencies

when designing orientation and onboarding

experiences for newly hired professionals

and planning ongoing, cross-departmental

professional development experiences. The

competencies may also have utility when

conducting divisional performance reviews or

when justifying resources for ongoing talent

development efforts.

• Graduate preparation programs at the

certicate, master’s, and doctoral level should

utilize the competencies as a means of

reviewing program- and course-level learning

outcomes as well as setting expectations

for cocurricular learning experiences. In

particular, the lists of foundational outcomes

should inform minimum expectations for

master’s level graduates. Faculty members

may also wish to use the competencies to

inform the content of research agendas as well

as their ongoing professional development

work.

Implications and Applications

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

• Student affairs professional associations

should utilize the competency areas as an

educational framework for local, regional,

international, and virtual conferences

along with certicate offerings and member

portfolios. Examples of such applications

might include the content of conference

themes, the review and selection of

educational and research proposals, and the

assessment and evaluation of educational

sessions.

• Lastly, the competencies should prove

valuable in supporting the work of all student

affairs educators to promote and advocate

for the profession. Among the examples of

this are outreach, recruitment, and career

development efforts aimed at individuals

interested in careers in student affairs;

educating institutional constituencies regarding

the purpose and function of student affairs

work; and advocacy for the importance of

holistic student learning, development, and

success within larger policy arenas.

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

Overview of the Competency Areas

Competency Area Description Professional Development

Personal and Ethical

Foundations

(PEF)

Involves the knowledge, skills,

and dispositions to develop

and maintain integrity in one’s

life and work; this includes

thoughtful development, critique,

and adherence to a holistic and

comprehensive standard of ethics

and commitment to one’s own

wellness and growth. Personal

and ethical foundations are aligned

because integrity has an internal

locus informed by a combination

of external ethical guidelines, an

internal voice of care, and our own

lived experiences. Our personal

and ethical foundations grow

through a process of curiosity,

reection, and self-authorship.

Foundational outcomes emphasize

awareness and understanding of

one’s values and beliefs, especially

as related to professional codes

of ethics and principles for

personal wellness. Professional

development to advanced-level

prociency involves higher order

critique and self-awareness,

applications to healthy living

and professional practice,

and modeling, mentoring, and

facilitating the same among others.

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.

Progression from foundational

to advanced level prociency

for this competency area largely

involves movement from basic

understanding of VPH to a more

critical understanding of VPH as

applied in practice and then to the

use and critical application of VPH

in practice.

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.

Professional growth in this

competency area is broadly

marked by shifts from

understanding to application,

and then from smaller scale

applications focused on singular

programs or studies to larger

scale applications that cut across

departments or divisions. Many

advanced level outcomes involve

the leadership of AER efforts.

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA−Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

Overview of the Competency Areas

Competency Area Description Professional Development

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.

Progression from foundational to

advanced level prociency reects

shifts from understanding to critical

applications enacted primarily

at the departmental level to

institutional level applications that

are mindful of regional, national,

and international contexts.

Organizational and

Human Resources

(OHR)

Includes knowledge, skills,

and dispositions used in the

management of institutional human

capital, nancial, 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 conict; management of the

politics of organizational discourse;

and the effective application

of strategies and techniques

associated with nancial resources,

facilities management, fundraising,

technology, crisis management,

risk management and sustainable

resources.

In addition to the shift from

understanding to application,

professional development within

this competency reects shifts in

the scale, scope, and interactivity

of the human and organizational

resources with which one works.

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.

Professional growth within

this competency area reects

shifts from knowledge to critical

application and then to fostering

the development of leadership

within and among others.

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

Overview of the Competency Areas

Competency Area Description Professional Development

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 dened 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.

Professional development within

this competency areas assumed

that student affairs educators

need to understand oppression,

privilege, and power before they

can understand social justice.

Intermediate and advanced level

outcomes reect social justice

oriented applications in practice

and then interconnections between

leadership and advocacy.

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.

At the foundational level, SLD

involves a critical understanding of

learning and development theories

and their use in constructing

learning outcomes. Intermediate

and advanced prociency involves

greater application in utilizing

various forms of programs and

applications within increasingly

large and complex venues.

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA−Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

Overview of the Competency Areas

Competency Area Description Professional Development

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.

Professional growth in this

competency area is marked

by shifts from understanding

to application as well as from

application to facilitation and

leadership. Intermediate and

advanced level outcomes also

involve a higher degree of

innovativeness in the use of

technology to engage students and

others in learning processes.

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.

Progression from foundational to

advanced level prociency involves

the development of higher order

capacities for listening, addressing

group dynamics, managing

conict and crisis situations, and

partnering with other professionals,

departments, and agencies.

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

This nal section consists of comprehensive

presentations of descriptions for each

competency area followed by lists of outcomes

for student affairs educators organized at the

foundational, intermediate, and advanced

level. The competencies are presented in a

• Utilize institutional and professional resources

to assist with ethical issues (e.g., consultation

with appropriate mentors, supervisors and/or

colleagues, consultation with an association’s

ethics committee).

• Articulate awareness and understanding of one’s

attitudes, values, beliefs, assumptions, biases,

and identity how they affect one’s integrity and

work with others.

• Take responsibility to broaden perspectives by

participating in activities that challenge one’s

beliefs.

• Identify the challenges associated with balancing

personal and professional responsibilities, and

recognize the intersection of one’s personal and

professional life.

• Identify one’s primary work responsibilities

and, with appropriate, ongoing feedback, craft

a realistic, summative self-appraisal of one’s

strengths and limitations.

• Articulate an understanding that wellness is a

broad concept comprised of emotional, physical,

social, environmental, relational, spiritual, moral,

and intellectual elements.

• Recognize and articulate healthy habits for

better living.

• Identify positive and negative impacts on

wellness and, as appropriate, seek assistance

from available resources.

• Identify and describe personal and professional

responsibilities inherent to excellence in practice.

• Recognize the importance of reection in

personal, professional, and ethical development.

Comprehensive Presentation of the Com-

petency Areas

Personal and Ethical Foundations (PPF)

The

Personal and Ethical Foundations

competency area involves the knowledge, skills,

and dispositions to develop and maintain integrity

in one’s life and work; this includes thoughtful

development, critique, and adherence to a

holistic and comprehensive standard of ethics

and commitment to one’s own wellness and

growth. Personal and ethical foundations are

aligned because integrity has an internal locus

informed by a combination of external ethical

guidelines, an internal voice of care, and our

own lived experiences. Our personal and ethical

foundations grow through a process of curiosity,

reection, and self-authorship.

manner that reects both a theoretical alignment

and observed intersections of competency

outcomes. The sequence does not imply either

the importance of the various competency

areas or any form of an intended developmental

progression.

Foundational Outcomes

• Articulate key elements of one’s set of personal

beliefs and commitments (e.g., values, morals,

goals, desires, self-denitions), as well as the

source of each (e.g., self, peers, family, or one or

more larger communities).

• Articulate one’s personal code of ethics for

student affairs practice, informed by the ethical

statements of professional student affairs

associations and their foundational ethical

principles.

• Describe the ethical statements and their

foundational principles of any professional

associations directly relevant to one’s working

context.

• Identify ethical issues in the course of one’s job.

• Explain how one’s behavior reects the ethical

statements of the profession and address lapses

in one’s own ethical behavior.

• Appropriately question institutional actions which

are not consistent with ethical standards.

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

• Identify the present and future meaningfulness

of key elements in one’s set of personal beliefs

and commitments.

• Articulate and implement a personal protocol

for ethical decision-making.

• Explain how one’s professional practice aligns

with both one’s personal code of ethics and

ethical statements of professional student

affairs associations.

• Identify and manage areas of incongruence

between personal, institutional, and

professional ethical standards.

• Distinguish the legal and moral inuences on

varying codes of ethics.

• Identify and articulate the inuence of culture in

the interpretation of ethical standards.

• Identify and address lapses in ethical behavior

among self, colleagues, and students.

• Seek environments and collaborations that

provide adequate challenge such that personal

development is promoted, and provide

sufcient support such that development is

possible.

• Identify sources of dissonance and fulllment

in one’s life and take appropriate steps in

response.

• Develop and implement plans to manage

competing priorities between one’s professional

and personal lives.

• Bolster one’s resiliency, including participating

in stress-management activities, engaging in

personal or spiritual exploration, and building

healthier relationships inside and outside of the

workplace.

• Explain the process for executing

responsibilities dutifully and deliberatively.

• Analyze the impact one’s health and wellness

has on others, as well as our collective roles in

creating mutual, positive relationships.

• Dene excellence for one’s self and evaluate

how one’s sense of excellence impacts self and

others.

• Analyze personal experiences for potential

deeper learning and growth, and engage with

others in reective discussions.

Intermediate Outcomes

• Evolve personal beliefs and commitments in

a way that is true to one’s internal voice while

recognizing the contributions of important

others (e.g., self, peers, family, or one or more

larger communities).

• Engage in effective consultation and

provide advice regarding ethical issues with

colleagues and students.

• Model for colleagues and others adherence

to identied ethical guidelines and serve as

mediator to resolve disparities.

• Actively engage in dialogue with others

concerning the ethical statements of

professional associations.

• Actively support the ethical development

of other professionals by developing and

supporting an ethical organizational culture

within the workplace.

• Serve as a role model for integrity through

sharing personal experiences and nurturing

others’ competency in this area.

• Attend to areas of growth relating to one’s

anticipated career trajectory.

• Exercise mutuality within relationships and

interconnectedness in work/life presence.

• Create and implement an individualized plan

for healthy living.

• Demonstrate awareness of the wellness of

others in the workplace, and seek to engage

with colleagues in a way that supports such

wellness.

• Serve as model and mentor for others in their

search for excellence, taking measures to

encourage and inspire exceptional work in self

and others.

• Design naturally occurring reection processes

within one’s everyday work.

• Transfer thoughtful reection into positive

future action.

Advanced Outcomes

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

• Explain the role and responsibilities of student

affairs professional associations.

• Explain the purpose and use of publications

that incorporate the philosophy and values of

the profession.

• Explain the public role and societal benets

of students affairs in particular and of higher

education in general.

• Articulate an understanding of the ongoing

nature of the history of higher education and

one’s role in shaping it.

• Be able to model the principles of the

profession and expect the same from

colleagues and supervisees.

• Explain how the values of the profession

contribute to sustainable practices.

• Articulate the changing nature of the

global student affairs profession and

communicate the need to provide a contextual

understanding of higher education.

Values, Philosophy, and History (VPH)

The

Values, Philosophy, and History

competency area 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.

Foundational Outcomes

• Describe the foundational philosophies,

disciplines, and values of the profession.

• Articulate the historical contexts of institutional

types and functional areas within higher

education and student affairs.

• Describe the various research, philosophies,

and scholars that dened the profession.

• Demonstrate responsible campus citizenship

and participation in the campus community .

• Describe the roles of faculty, academic affairs,

and student affairs educators in the institution.

• Explain the importance of service to the

institution and to student affairs professional

associations.

• Learn and articulate the principles of

professional practice.

• Articulate the history of the inclusion and

exclusion of people with a variety of identities

in higher education.

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

• Through critical examination, explain how

today’s practice is informed by historical

context.

• Explore new philosophical contexts and

approaches.

• Participate in opportunities to identify and

incorporate emerging values of the profession

into one’s professional practice.

• Engage in service to the profession and to

student affairs professional associations.

• Articulate the similarities and differences of

varying and emerging global student affairs

philosophies.

• Teach the principles of the student affairs

profession to staff while incorporating the

equity, diversity, and inclusion of varying

identities and global perspectives.

• Be able to explain to staff the public

responsibilities of a student affairs professional

and the resulting benets to society.

• Identify enduring questions, issues, and

trends from the history of higher education

and discuss their relevance to current and

emergent professional practice.

• Acknowledge, critically question, and bring

together diverging philosophies of student

affairs practice.

Intermediate Outcomes

• Participate in developing new philosophical

approaches and responsive values of the

profession.

• Partner with faculty for teaching, research, and

scholarship regarding the profession.

• Expand personal and professional

opportunities for civic and global engagement.

• Actively engage and lead in service and

leadership within the profession and in student

affairs professional associations.

• Model, encourage, and promote community

by reinforcing the long-standing values of the

profession.

• Contribute to the research, scholarship, and

expansion of knowledge within the profession.

• Draw upon one’s knowledge of history to

inform analysis of trends in order to anticipate

and plan for the future.

• Engage staff in critically examining history for

contemporary meaning.

• Demonstrate visionary- and forward-thinking in

the work of the student affairs profession.

• Identify other countries’ history and

development of student affairs practice.

Advanced Outcomes

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

• Design program and learning outcomes

that are appropriately clear, specic, and

measureable, that are informed by theoretical

frameworks and that align with organizational

outcomes, goals, and values.

• Explain to students and colleagues the

relationship of AER processes to learning

outcomes and goals.

Assessment, Evaluation, and Research (AER)

The

Assessment, Evaluation, and Research

competency area 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.

Foundational Outcomes

• Differentiate among assessment, program

review, evaluation, planning, and research as

well as the methods appropriate to each.

• Select AER methods, methodologies, designs,

and tools that t with research and evaluation

questions and with assessment and review

purposes.

• Facilitate appropriate data collection for

system/department-wide assessment and

evaluation efforts using current technology and

methods.

• Effectively articulate, interpret, and apply

results of AER reports and studies, including

professional literature.

• Assess the legitimacy, trustworthiness, and/

or validity of studies of various methods and

methodological designs (e.g. qualitative

vs. quantitative, theoretical perspective,

epistemological approach).

• Consider rudimentary strengths and limitations

of various methodological AER approaches in

the application of ndings to practice in diverse

institutional settings and with diverse student

populations.

• Explain the necessity to follow institutional

and divisional procedures and policies (e.g.,

IRB approval, informed consent) with regard

to ethical assessment, evaluation, and other

research activities.

• Ensure all communications of AER results are

accurate, responsible, and effective.

• Identify the political and educational sensitivity

of raw and partially processed data and

AER results, handling them with appropriate

condentiality and deference to organizational

hierarchies.

Intermediate Outcomes

• Design ongoing and periodic data collection

efforts such that they are sustainable,

rigorous, as unobtrusive as possible, and

technologically current.

• Effectively manage, align, and guide the

utilization of AER reports and studies.

• Educate stakeholders in the institution

about the relationship of departmental AER

processes to learning outcomes and goals

at the student, department, division, and

institutional level.

• Discern and discuss the appropriate design(s)

to use in AER efforts based on critical

questions, necessary data, and intended

audience(s).

• Use culturally relevant and culturally

appropriate terminology and methods to

conduct and report AER ndings.

• Actively contribute to the development of

a culture of evidence at the department

level wherein assessment, program review,

evaluation, and research are central to the

department’s work and ensure that training

and skill development in these areas is valued,

budgeted for, and fully embedded in day-to-

day procedures.

• Apply the concepts and procedures of

qualitative research, evaluation, and

assessment including creating appropriate

sampling designs and interview protocols with

consultation, participating in analysis teams,

contributing to audit trails, participating in peer

debrief, and using other techniques to ensure

trustworthiness of qualitative designs.

• Participate in the design and analysis

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

of quantitative AER studies including

understanding statistical reporting that may

include complex statistical methods such

as multivariate techniques, and articulating

the limitations of ndings imposed by

the differences in practical and statistical

signicance, validity, and reliability.

• Demonstrate a working knowledge of

additional methodological approaches to AER

(e.g. mixed methods, historical or literary

analysis, or comparative study) including

elements of design, data collection, analysis,

and reporting as well as strategies for ensuring

the quality.

• Communicate and display data through

a variety of means (publications, reports,

presentations, social media, etc.) in a manner

that is accurate; transparent regarding the

strengths, limitations, and context of the data;

and sensitive to political coalitions and realities

associated with data as a scarce resource.

• Manage and/or adhere to the implementation

of institutional and professional standards for

ethical AER activities.

• Utilize formal student learning and

development theories as well as scholarly

literature to inform the content and design of

individual and program level outcomes as well

as assessment tools such as rubrics.

• Prioritize program and learning outcomes with

organization goals and values.

Intermediate Outcomes (cont.)

learning outcomes and goals at the student,

department, division, and institution level.

• Lead the design and writing of varied and

diverse communications (e.g. reports,

publications, presentations, social media, etc.)

of assessment, program review, evaluation,

and other research activities that include

translation of data analyses into goals and

action.

• Lead the strategic use and prioritization of

budgetary and personnel resources to support

high-quality program evaluation, assessment

efforts, research, and planning.

• Lead, supervise, and/or collaborate with others

to design and analyze assessment, program

review, evaluation, and research activities

that span multiple methodological approaches

(qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods,

among others) including writing and

disseminating results in a manner that critically

considers the strengths and limitations of

implications for practice, policy, theory, and/or

future study in a sophisticated way.

• Anticipate and proactively address challenges

related to individual and institutional politics,

competing constituencies and interests, and

divergent values especially as related to

communications, reporting, and utilization of

data to inform practice. Create a culture of

evidence in which the institution, division, or

unit expects AER to be central to professional

practice and ensures that training/skill

development happens across the organization.

• Ensure institutional, divisional, or unit

compliance with professional standards

concerning ethical AER activities.

• Facilitate the prioritization of decisions and

resources to implement those decisions that

are informed by AER activities.

Advanced Outcomes

• Effectively lead the conceptualization and

design of ongoing, systematic, high-quality,

data-based strategies at the institutional,

divisional, and/or unit-wide level to evaluate

and assess learning, programs, services, and

personnel.

• Effectively use assessment and evaluation

results in determining the institution’s, the

division’s, or the unit’s accomplishment of its

missions/goals, re-allocation of resources, and

advocacy for more resources.

• Lead a comprehensive communication

process to the campus community of the

relationship of institutional AER processes to

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

and students.

• Describe how policy is developed and

implemented in one’s department and

institution, as well as the local, state/province,

and national levels of government.

• Know when and how to consult with one’s

immediate supervisor and institutional legal

counsel regarding matters that may have legal

ramications.

• Explain concepts of risk management,

reasonable accommodation, and enact liability

reduction strategies .

• Demonstrate awareness of inequitable and

oppressive ways that laws and policies are

enacted on vulnerable student populations

at national, state/provincial, local, and

institutional levels.

• Describe the student conduct process at the

institutional level and demonstrate concern

for the legal, social, moral, educational, and

ethical expectations of the community.

• Encourage and advocate participation

in national, state/provincial, local, and

institutional electoral processes as applicable.

Law, Policy, and Governance (LPG)

The

Law, Policy, and Governance

competency area 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.

Foundational Outcomes

• Describe the systems used to govern public,

private, and for-prot institutions of all types

(two-year, four-year, graduate, professional,

vocational, etc.) in one’s state/province and

nation.

• Explain the differences between public,

private, and for-prot higher education with

respect to the legal system and what they may

mean for respective students, faculty, and

student affairs professionals.

• Describe how national and state/provincial

constitutions and laws inuence the rights

of students, faculty, and staff on all types of

college campuses.

• Describe evolving laws, policies, and judicial

rulings that inuence the student-institutional

relationship and how they affect professional

practice.

• Act in accordance with national, state/

provincial, and local laws and with institutional

policies regarding non-discrimination.

• Identify major internal and external

stakeholders, policymakers, and special

interest groups who inuence policy at

the national, state/provincial, local, and

institutional levels.

• Describe the governance systems at one’s

institution including the governance structures

for faculty, student affairs professionals, staff,

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

• Identify emerging law and policy trends

and discuss how they affect current case

precedent.

• Explain parameters established by relevant

external and internal governing systems as

related to one’s professional practice.

• Explain legal theories related to tort liability,

negligence, the exercise and limits of free

speech, discrimination, and contract law

and how these theories affect professional

practice.

• Implement policies developed by one’s

department and institution, as well as the

local, state/provincial, and national levels of

government.

• Critically examine laws and policies to ensure

their equitable and fair use on campus.

• Implement best practices of the profession

to advance one’s institution with respect

to access, affordability, accountability, and

quality.

• Incorporate best practices of the profession

when managing institutional and personal tort

liability.

• Appropriately consult with students and/or

represent the student voice in departmental,

divisional, and institutional policy development

efforts.

• Develop, implement, and assess the rules,

procedures, and standards for student conduct

processes and ensure that policies and

procedures meet the legal, compliance, and

policy mandates for the institution.

• Ensure departmental programs, services, and

facilities are compliant with any applicable

legal, compliance, environmental policies and/

or mandates from governing bodies.

• Use data appropriately to guide the analysis

and creation of policy.

Intermediate Outcomes

• Develop institutional policies and practices

consistent with national, state/province, and

local laws related to institutional and personal

tort liability; contracts; the exercise and limits

of free speech by faculty, student affairs

professionals, and students; and civil rights,

desegregation, and afrmative action.

• Provide appropriate and ethical inuence with

the governing bodies to which one’s institution

reports. Challenge biased laws and policies

and advocate for the design and advocate for

their equitable use on campuses.

• Participate effectively in the governance

system of one’s institution when appropriate.

• Inuence policy making at the local, state/

province and federal levels of government

when appropriate.

• Critically examine policy compliance and

development efforts related to programs,

practices, and services to ensure that they are

socially justice, equitable, and inclusive.

Advanced Outcomes

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

• Explain the application of introductory

motivational techniques with students, staff,

and others.

• Describe the basic premises that underlie

conict in and the constructs utilized for

facilitating conict resolution.

• Develop and utilize appropriate meeting

materials (e.g. facilitation skills, agenda, notes/

minutes).

• Communicate with others using effective

verbal and non-verbal strategies appropriate

to the situation in ways that the person(s) with

whom you are engaged prefers.

• Recognize how networks in organizations play

a role in how work gets accomplished.

• Understand the relational roles partners, allies,

and adversaries play in the completion of

goals and work assignments.

• Explain the basic tenets of personal or

organizational risk and liability as they relate to

one’s work.

• Provide constructive feedback in a timely

manner.

• Advocate for equitable hiring practices.

• Articulate basic institutional accounting

techniques for budgeting as well as monitoring

and processing revenue and expenditures.

• Effectively and appropriately use facilities

management procedures as related to

operating a facility or program in a facility.

• Demonstrate an understanding of how

physical space impacts the institution’s

educational mission.

• Understand the basic concepts of facilities

management and institutional policies

related to energy usage and environmental

sustainability.

Organizational and Human Resources (OHR)

The

Organizational and Human Resources

competency area includes knowledge, skills, and

dispositions used in the management of institutional

human capital, nancial, 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 conict; management of the

politics of organizational discourse; and the effective

application of strategies and techniques associated

with nancial resources, facilities management,

fundraising, technology, crisis management, risk

management and sustainable resources.

Foundational Outcomes

• Demonstrate effective stewardship/use of

resources (i.e., nancial, human, material)

• Describe campus protocols for responding to

signicant incidents and campus crises.

• Describe environmentally sensitive issues

and explain how one’s work can incorporate

elements of sustainability.

• Use technological resources with respect to

maximizing the efciency and effectiveness of

one’s work.

• Describe ethical hiring techniques and

institutional hiring policies, procedures, and

processes.

• Demonstrate familiarity in basic tenets of

supervision and possible application of these

supervision techniques.

• Explain how job descriptions are designed and

support overall stafng patterns in one’s work

setting.

• Design a professional development plan

that assesses one’s current strengths and

weaknesses, and establishes action items for

fostering an appropriate pace of growth.

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

• Effectively develop and manage human

resources, facilities, policies, procedures,

processes, and materials.

• Construct unit’s operation to function in a

sustainable fashion.

• Explain the interaction and integration of

campus crisis intervention systems (e.g.

National Incident Management System,

behavioral intervention teams, critical incident

response teams).

• Engage in policy and procedure development,

implementation and decision-making

that minimize risk to self, students, other

constituents, and the institution.

• Identify and allocate the technological needs

of the unit; maintain a level of technical

knowledge that allows one to effectively use

existing technologies as well as to incorporate

new emerging technologies as they may

benet one’s work.

• Implement strategies, interview protocols

and decisions regarding staff selection that

adheres to institutional policy and meets

organizational goals.

• Develop recruitment and hiring strategies that

increase individuals from under-represented

groups to apply for positions.

• Demonstrate applications of appropriate

techniques (e.g. coaching, performance

accountability) for supervising a range of staff

performance levels.

• Identify the pros and cons of various stafng

patterns, supporting job descriptions and work

process congurations related to one’s work

setting.

• Assist and/or direct individuals to create

professional development plans that are

appropriate for individual growth while also

serving the current and future needs of the unit

where they are employed.

• Apply a range of strategies available for

motivating others.

• Effectively resolve conict within the unit and

among unit members and others in a timely

manner.

Intermediate Outcomes

• Effectively manage and lead meetings through

the use of agenda management strategies.

• Adapt to situation-appropriate communication

strategies that effectively communicate with

various groups.

• Communicate with others using effective

verbal and non-verbal strategies appropriate

to the situation.

• Determine if messages (verbal and written)

communicated are congruent with the desired

outcome with the intended recipient or

audience.

• Create and present materials for formal

presentations in the work setting and for

professional associations.

• Develop appropriate alliances with others

as a means to efciently and effectively

complete work assignments; recognize how

the formation of alliances can either enhance

or detract from one’s professional credibility or

the use of teams.

• Advocate for advancement opportunities for

staff.

• Implement advanced accounting techniques

that include forecasting, efcient use of scal

resources, and interpretation of nancial

reports.

• Describe how various fundraising strategies

should be facilitated by student affairs

professionals.

• Assess the usage of various spaces to guide

space-planning processes.

• Advocate for the needs of diverse populations

through and regarding space management.

• Implement and coordinate sustainability efforts

in a range of types of spaces.

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

• Assess resources (e.g. people, space,

nancial, materials) in regard to institutional

or divisional long-range planning and budget

processes.

• Teach resource stewardship to others.

• Champion sustainability efforts within

unit and across the organization, and

facilitate institutional support for broadening

sustainability efforts.

• Participate in developing, implementing, and

assessing the effectiveness of the campus

crisis management program.

• Effectively assess the level of individual and

institutional risk and liability associated with

programs and services offered; ensure that

professionals are trained to deliver programs

and services at the lowest level of risk

possible.

• Ensure multiple identities are represented

on every level of staff at the institution,

especially those who are marginalized or

underrepresented.

• Effectively intervene with employees in regard

to morale, behavioral expectations, conict,

and performance issues.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of current stafng

patterns and supporting job descriptions in

regard to a unit’s ability to effectively meet

institutional, divisional, and unit mission and

goals.

• Anticipate how future needs of students, the

unit, or the division may affect stafng levels or

structures and make proactive adjustments to

meet those needs.

• Develop or lead professional development

initiatives that regularly assess the strength

and weakness of professionals and provide

them with purposeful opportunities to advance

their skills and knowledge.

• Implement strategies for motivating individuals

and groups who are challenged with elements

of campus life disengagement, apathy, or

Advanced Outcomes

Organizational and Human Resources (OHR)

(cont.)

aspects of decline of morale.

• Manage and facilitate conict at a level of

complexity where multiple entities are often in

disagreement with each other and lead groups

to effective and fair resolutions.

• Discern the pace in which technological

advances should appropriately be

incorporated into organizational life (with

students, staff and other constituents).

• Assess the relationship between agenda

management and the group dynamics that

occur in meetings and how this relationship

inuences the realization of goals, the

accomplishments of tasks, and any impacts on

participants.

• Effectively speak on behalf of the institution

with internal and external stakeholders (e.g.,

parents, prospective students, external

organizations).

• Assess the level of complexity of networks

established and use this information to

determine the strengths of these networks and

how these networks may benet or detract

from the mission and goals of the institution or

the division.

• Assess the costs and benets of current

established political alliances, in particular,

their relationships to fostering collaboration

and organizational transparency.

• Develop long-range budgets that creatively

and ethically apply scal resources to the

needs and priorities of the unit, division, or

organization.

• Effectively implement fundraising initiatives

that support divisional and institutional goals.

• Align evidence-based decision making

strategies and planning with resource

allocation and re-allocation.

• Lead cross-divisional teams engaged in

facilities master planning processes spanning

design, construction, and management of

various types of spaces.

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

• Identify basic fundamentals of teamwork

and teambuilding in one’s work setting and

communities of practice.

• Describe and apply the basic principles of

community building.

Development.

• Describe how one’s personal values, beliefs,

histories, and perspectives inform one’s view

of oneself as an effective leader with and

without roles of authority.

• Build mutually supportive relationships with

colleagues and students across similarities

and differences

Engagement.

• Understand campus cultures (e.g. academic,

student, professorial, administrative) and apply

that understanding to one’s work.

• Use appropriate technology to support

leadership processes (e.g. seeking input or

feedback, sharing decisions, posting data that

supports decisions, use group support website

tools).

• Think critically, creatively, and imagine

possibilities for solutions that do not currently

exist or are not apparent.

• Identify and consult with key stakeholders and

individuals with differing perspectives to make

informed decisions.

• Articulate the logic and impact of decisions on

groups of people, institutional structures (e.g.

divisions, departments), and implications for

practice.

• Exhibit informed condence in the capacity

of individuals to organize and take action to

transform their communities and world.

• Within the scope of one’s position and

expertise, lead others to contribute toward the

effectiveness and success of the organization.

Leadership (LEAD)

The

Leadership

competency area 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.

This section is organized by the leadership

learning concepts of Education, construct

knowledge and articulation; Training, skill

identication and enhancement; Development,

personal reection and growth; and Engagement,

active participation and application.

Foundational Outcomes

Education.

• Articulate the vision and mission of the primary

work unit, the division, and the institution.

• Identify and understand individual-level

constructs of “leader” and “leadership.”

• Explain the values and processes that lead to

organizational improvement.

• Explain the advantages and disadvantages of

different types of decision-making processes

(e.g. consensus, majority vote, and decision

by authority).

• Identify institutional traditions, mores, and

organizational structures (e.g., hierarchy,

networks, governing groups, technological

resources, nature of power, policies, goals,

agendas and resource allocation processes)

and how they inuence others to act in the

organization.

Training.

• Identify one’s own strengths and challenges

as a leader and seek opportunities to develop

leadership skills.

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

Engagement.

• Advocate for change that would remove

barriers to student and staff success.

• Share data used to inform key decisions in

transparent and accessible ways while using

appropriate technology.

• Seek entrepreneurial and innovative

perspectives when planning for change.

• Facilitate consensus processes where wide

support is needed.

• Ensure that decision making processes

include the perspectives of various groups

on campus, particularly those who are

underrepresented or marginalized, or who

may experience an unintended negative

consequence of the proposed change.

• Convene appropriate personnel to identify and

act on solutions to potential issues.

• Inform other units about issues that may

impact/inuence their work.

• Willingly engage in campus governance in a

manner that exemplies responsible campus

citizenry.

• Within one’s department and areas of

interest, lead others to contribute toward the

effectiveness and success of the organization.

Intermediate Outcomes

Education.

• Identify and understand systemic and

organizational constructs of “leader” and

“leadership.”

• Compare and contrast appropriate leadership

models to create organizational improvement.

• Identify potential obstacles or points of

resistance when designing a change process.

Training.

• Seek out training and feedback opportunities

to enhance one’s leader and leadership

knowledge and skill.

• Encourage colleagues and students to engage

in team and community building activities.

• Create environments that encourage others

to view themselves as having the potential

to make meaningful contributions to their

communities and be civically engaged in their

communities.

• Give appropriate feedback to colleagues and

students on skills they may seek to become

more effective leaders.

• Serve as a mentor or role model for others.

Development.

• Use reection to constantly evolve and

incorporate one’s authentic self into one’s

identity as a leader.

• Recognize the interdependence of members

within organizational units and throughout the

institution.

Leadership (LEAD) (cont.)

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

Advanced Outcomes

Education.

• Seek out and develop new and emerging

constructs of “leader” and “leadership.”

Training.

• Establish systems to provide opportunities

for staff to engage in leadership development

such as committees, task forces, internships,

and cross-functional teams.

• Create a culture that advocates the

appropriate and effective use of feedback

systems (e.g., 360 feedback processes)

for improving individual leader and team

leadership performance.

• Establish and sustain systems of mentoring

to ensure individuals receive the training and

support needed.

Development.

• Display congruence between one’s identity as

a leader and one’s professional actions.

• Facilitate reective learning and relationship

building across campus, community, and the

profession.

Engagement.

• Develop and promote a shared vision that

drives unit, divisional, and institutional short-

term and long-term planning and the ongoing

organizing of work.

• Implement divisional strategies that account

for ongoing changes in the cultural landscape,

political landscape, global perspectives,

technology, and sustainability issues.

• Promote, facilitate, and assess the

effectiveness of collaborative initiatives and

team building efforts, using technology as

appropriate to support such work.

• Embrace responsibility for unit and divisional

decisions.

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

inclusion, oppression, privilege, and power into

one’s practice.

• Connect and build meaningful relationships

with others while recognizing the multiple,

intersecting identities, perspectives, and

developmental differences people hold.

• Articulate a foundational understanding of

social justice and inclusion within the context

of higher education.

• Advocate on issues of social justice,

oppression, privilege, and power that impact

people based on local, national, and global

interconnections.

Social Justice and Inclusion (SJI)

For the purpose of the

Social Justice and

Inclusion

competency area, social justice is

dened as both a process and a goal that

includes the knowledge, skills, and dispositions

needed to create learning environments that

foster equitable participation of all groups

and seeks to address 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.

Foundational Outcomes

• Identify systems of socialization that inuence

one’s multiple identities and sociopolitical

perspectives and how they impact one’s lived

experiences.

• Understand how one is affected by and

participates in maintaining systems of

oppression, privilege, and power.

• Engage in critical reection in order to identify

one’s own prejudices and biases.

• Participate in activities that assess and

complicate one’s understanding of inclusion,

oppression, privilege, and power.

• Integrate knowledge of social justice,

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

• Ensure institutional policies, practices,

facilities, structures, systems, and

technologies respect and represent the needs

of all people.

• Assess the effectiveness of the institution in

removing barriers to addressing issues of

social justice and inclusion.

• Take responsibility for the institution’s role in

perpetuating discrimination or oppression.

• Advocate for social justice values in

institutional mission, goals, and programs.

• Create ongoing strategic plans for the

continued development of inclusive initiatives

and practices throughout the institution.

• Link individual and departmental performance

indicators with demonstrated commitment to

social justice and inclusion.

• Provide consultation to other units, divisions,

or institutions on strategies to dismantle

systems of oppression, privilege, and power

on campus.

• Foster and promote an institutional culture

that supports the free and open expression

of ideas, identities, and beliefs, and where

individuals have the capacity to negotiate

different standpoints.

• Demonstrate institutional effectiveness in

addressing critical incidents of discrimination

that impact the institution.

• Ensure campus resources are distributed

equitably and adequately meet the needs of all

campus communities.

Advanced OutcomesIntermediate Outcomes

• Design programs and events that are

inclusive, promote social consciousness and

challenge current institutional, national, global,

and sociopolitical systems of oppression.

• Effectively facilitate dialogue about issues of

social justice, inclusion, power, privilege, and

oppression in one’s practice.

• Engage in hiring and promotion practices

that are non-discriminatory and work toward

building inclusive teams.

• Identify systemic barriers to social justice and

inclusion and assess one’s own department’s

role in addressing such barriers.

• Advocate for the development of a more

inclusive and socially conscious department,

institution, and profession.

• Provide opportunities to reect and

evaluate on one’s participation in systems

of oppression, privilege, and power without

shaming others.

• Provide opportunities for inclusive and social

justice educational professional development.

• Effectively address bias incidents impacting

campus communities.

• Implement appropriate measures to assess

the campus climate for students, staff, and

faculty.

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

Student Learning and Development (SLD)

The Student Learning and Development

competency area 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.

Foundational Outcomes

• Articulate theories and models that describe

the development of college students and the

conditions and practices that facilitate holistic

development (e.g. learning, psychosocial and

identity development, cognitive-structural,

typological, environmental, and moral).

• Articulate how race, ethnicity, nationality, class,

gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity,

dis/ability, and religious belief can inuence

development during the college years.

• Identify the strengths and limitations in applying

existing theories and models to varying student

demographic groups.

• Articulate one’s own developmental journey in

relation to formal theories.

• Identify one’s own informal theories of student

development (‘theories in use’) and how they

can be informed by formal theories to enhance

work with students.

• Identify dominant perspectives present in some

models of student learning and development.

• Construct learning outcomes for both daily

practice as well as teaching and training

activities.

• Assess teaching, learning, and training and

incorporate the results into practice.

• Assess learning outcomes from programs and

services and use theory to improve practice.

Advanced Outcomes

Intermediate Outcomes

• Identify and take advantage of opportunities

for curriculum and program development to

encourage continual learning and developmental

growth.

• Construct effective programs, lesson plans, and

syllabi.

• Create and assess learning outcomes to

evaluate progress toward fullling the mission of

the department, the division, and the institution.

• Teach, train, and practice in such a way that

utilizes the assessment of learning outcomes to

inform future practice.

• Critique the dominant group perspective

present in some models of student learning and

development and modify for use in practice.

• Utilize theory to inform divisional and institutional

policy and practice.

• Translate theory to diverse audiences (e.g.,

colleagues, faculty, students, parents, policy-

makers) and use it effectively to enhance

understanding of the work of student affairs.

• Analyze and critique prevailing theory for

improved unit, division, or campus practice.

• Contribute to the development of theories.

• Identify staff members’ level of competency

regarding the ability to apply learning and

development theory to practice, and create

professional development opportunities utilizing

various learning concepts.

• Evaluate and assess the effectiveness of learning

and teaching opportunities at the divisional level

and communicate their effectiveness to the

larger campus community as well as explain

opportunities for collaboration and integrated

learning opportunities.

• Build and support inclusive, socially-just, and

welcoming campus communities that promote

deep learning and foster student success.

• Communicate the learning orientation of student

affairs to the campus community.

• Provide alternative models that explore student

learning and development from an inclusive

paradigm.

• Design programs and services to promote

student learning and development that are

based on current research on student learning

and development theories.

• Utilize theory-to-practice models to inform

individual or unit practice.

• Justify using learning theory to create learning

opportunities.

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

The

Technology

competency area 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.

• Model and promote equitable and inclusive

practices by ensuring all participants in

educational endeavors can access and utilize

the necessary tools for success.

• Appropriately utilize social media and other

digital communication and collaboration tools

to market and promote advising, programming,

and other learning-focused interventions and

to engage students in these activities.

• Engage in personal and professional digital

learning communities and personal learning

networks at the local, national, and/or global

level.

• Design, implement, and assess

technologically-rich learning experiences for

students and other stakeholders that model

effective use of visual and interactive media.

• Ensure that one’s educational work with and

service to students is inclusive of students

participating in online and hybrid format

courses and programs.

• Incorporate commonly utilized technological

tools and platforms including social medial and

other digital communication and collaboration

tools into one’s work.

Technology (TECH)

Foundational Outcomes

• Demonstrate adaptability in the face of fast-

paced technological change.

• Remain current on student and educator

adoption patterns of new technologies and

familiarize oneself with the purpose and

functionality of those technologies.

• Troubleshoot basic software, hardware, and

connectivity problems and refer more complex

problems to an appropriate information

technology administrator.

• Draw upon research, trend data, and

environmental scanning to assess the

technological readiness and needs of

students, colleagues, and other educational

stakeholders when infusing technology into

educational programs and interventions.

• Critically assess the accuracy and quality

of information gathered via technology

and accurately cite electronic sources of

information respecting copyright law and fair

use.

• Model and promote the legal, ethical, and

transparent collection, use, and securing of

electronic data.

• Ensure compliance with accessible technology

laws and policies.

• Demonstrate awareness of one’s digital

identity and engage students in learning

activities related to responsible digital

communications and virtual community

engagement as related to their digital

reputation and identity.

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

• Proactively cultivate a digital identity, presence,

and reputation for one’s self and by students

that models appropriate online behavior and

positive engagement with others in virtual

communities.

• Demonstrate a willingness and capacity to

generate, critically examine, and change

technology-related policies and practices that

privilege one group of students or educational

stakeholders over another.

• Design and assess outcomes that utilize social

media and other digital communication and

collaboration tools for promoting learning-

focused interventions and engaging students in

these activities.

• Utilize local, national, and global digital

professional learning communities and personal

learning networks to enhance intra- and

inter-institutional collaboration and ongoing

professional development in educational,

customer service, marketing, and community

engagement efforts that reect the mission and

values of the organization.

• Generate a wide and varied array of digital

strategies for enhancing educational

interventions with multimedia, interactive tools,

and creativity-enhancing technologies.

• Initiate the development of holistic educational

interventions designed for students participating

in courses and other educational experiences

delivered via hybrid and online formats.

Intermediate Outcomes

• Model and promote adaptability among

students, colleagues, and educational

stakeholders in the face of fast-paced

technological change and demonstrate

openness to the introduction of new digital tools

by others.

• Anticipate potential problems with software,

hardware, and connectivity and prepare

multiple strategies to troubleshoot these

problems and/or prepare alternative means of

achieving learning and productivity outcomes.

• Facilitate educational interventions that are

based upon research, trend data, and needs

assessments of participants and that increase

the technological competencies and digital

literacy of those participants.

• Utilize multiple strategies for accessing and

assessing information, critically considering the

sources of information as well as the purposes

or agendas that led to the dissemination of the

data as presented.

• Teach and facilitate the legal and ethical use

of digital information in a manner that complies

with law and policy and that addresses the

larger values and principles underlying these

laws and policies.

• Draw upon universal design principles to model

and promote compliance with accessibility laws

and policies among students, colleagues, and

educational partners.

Technology (TECH) (cont.)

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

• Engage in systematic practices aimed at

ensuring students and professionals across all

demographics have access to technological

resources and are educated in their intelligent

use and implementation for solving problems

and enhancing learning.

• Provide leadership for the seamless

integration of social media and other digital

communications with broader educational,

customer service, marketing, and community

engagement efforts that communicate and

develop dialogue and community around

shared common institutional values.

• Contribute to, partner with, and/or provide

leadership for local, state/provincial, national,

and global digital professional learning

communities and personal learning networks in

promoting the use of technology for educational

purposes.

• Provide training and instruction for the use,

adoption, and evaluation of digital strategies

for enhancing educational interventions with

multimedia, interactive tools, and creativity-

enhancing technologies by students,

colleagues, and other educational stakeholders.

• Collaborate with and support faculty by

developing holistic educational and co-

curricular opportunities for students in online

and hybrid programs promoting the relevance

and vision of what student affairs practice in

new educational delivery formats.

• Provide leadership in the development of new

means of leveraging technology for assessing,

certifying, and credentialing the holistic learning

and development of students through co-

curricular learning endeavors.

Advanced Outcomes

• Anticipate technological change and allocate

personal, departmental, and/or institutional

resources to foster in others dispositions

of adaptability, exibility, and openness to

technological innovation.

• Provide leadership for the proactive creation,

use, and empirical evaluation of technological

tools and digital spaces for students including

those drawing on social medial and other digital

communication and collaboration tools.

• Develop contingency plans for the continual

operation of basic college and university

functions in the event of software, hardware, or

connectivity failures as a result of routine issues

or in response to crises and emergencies.

• Contribute to the generation of research, trend

analyses, and needs assessments related

to digital technologies that inform efforts to

meet the technological needs of students,

colleagues, and educational stakeholders.

• Support, promote, and/or lead efforts to create

a culture in which information is both valued

and systematically scrutinized prior to its use to

inform educational practice.

• Provide leadership that demands digital

information and technologies be used in a

manner that is ethical and in full compliance

with national and state/province laws as well as

with institutional policies.

• Lead and demonstrate a commitment to

universal design principles in technological

implementations that ensures the frictionless

use and application of technology by all.

• Provide leadership and ongoing training to

colleagues and students for the cultivation

of a genuine digital identity, presence, and

reputation that models appropriate online

behavior and enables open access and

engagement with virtual communities as

appropriate.

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

The

Advising and Supporting

competency area

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.

and exhibit referral skills in seeking expert

assistance.

• Identify when and with whom to implement

appropriate crisis management and

intervention responses.

• Maintain an appropriate degree of

condentiality that follows applicable legal

and licensing requirements, facilitates the

development of trusting relationships, and

recognizes when condentiality should be

broken to protect the student or others.

• Seek opportunities to expand one’s own

knowledge and skills in helping students

with specic concerns (e.g., relationship

issues, navigating systems of oppression,

or suicidality) as well as interfacing with

specic populations within the college student

environment (e.g., student veterans, low-

income students, etc.).

• Utilize virtual resources and technology to

meet the advising and supporting needs of

students.

• Know and follow applicable laws, policies,

and professional ethical guidelines relevant

to advising and supporting students’

development.

Advising and Supporting (A/S)

Foundational Outcomes

• Exhibit culturally inclusive active listening skills

(e.g., appropriately establishing interpersonal

contact, paraphrasing, perception checking,

summarizing, questioning, encouraging, avoid

interrupting, clarifying).

• Establish rapport with students, groups,

colleagues, and others that acknowledges

differences in lived experiences.

• Recognize the strengths and limitations of

one’s own worldview on communication with

others (e.g., how terminology could either

liberate or constrain others with different

gender identities, sexual orientations, abilities,

cultural backgrounds, etc.).

• Facilitate reection to make meaning from

experiences with students, groups, colleagues,

and others.

• Conscientiously use appropriate nonverbal

communication.

• Facilitate problem-solving.

• Facilitate individual decision-making and goal-

setting.

• Appropriately challenge and support students

and colleagues.

• Know and use referral sources (e.g., other

ofces, outside agencies, knowledge sources),

ACPA—College Student Educators International & NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETENCY AREAS

• Consult with mental health professionals as

appropriate.

• Provide and arrange for the necessary training

and development for staff to enhance their

advising and helping skills.

• Develop virtual programs and initiatives to

meet the needs of students with limited access

to campus services (i.e. commuter, graduate,

evening, distance, online, among others).

Intermediate Outcomes

• Perceive and analyze unspoken dynamics in a

group setting.

• Facilitate or coach group decision-making, goal-

setting, and process.

• Assess the developmental needs of students

and organizational needs of student groups.

• Strategically and simultaneously pursue multiple

objectives in conversations with students.

• Identify patterns of behavior that may signal

mental health or other wellness concerns.

• Manage interpersonal conict between/among

individuals and groups.

• Mediate differences between/among individuals

or groups.

• Mentor students and staff.

• Demonstrate culturally-inclusive advising,

supporting, coaching, and counseling strategies.

• Initiate and exercise appropriate institutional

crisis intervention responses and processes.

• Develop and implement successful prevention/

outreach programs on campus, including

effective mental health publicity/marketing.

• Utilize communication and learning technology

(e.g., websites, social networking, video clips,

podcasts) to address students’ holistic wellness

issues.

• Provide advocacy services to survivors of

violence.

• Develop and distribute accurate and helpful

mental health information for students, faculty,

and staff.

• Develop avenues for student involvement in

mental health promotion and de-stigmatization

of mental illness (e.g., creating student advisory

councils, peer education programs, advising

student mental health organizations).

Advanced Outcomes

• Engage in research and publication of holistic

student wellness issues.

• Assess responses to advising and supporting

interventions, including traditional campus-

based as well as virtual interventions.

• Coordinate and lead response processes as

they relate to crisis interventions.

• Collaborate with other campus departments

and organizations as well as surrounding

community agencies and other institutions

of higher education to address students’

holistic wellness needs in a comprehensive,

collaborative way.

• Provide mental health consultation to faculty,

staff, and campus behavioral assessment

teams.

• Provide effective post-traumatic response to

campus events/situations, collaborating with

other appropriate campus departments.

• Develop liaisons with community providers

and support systems to ensure seamless

and coordinated holistic care (e.g., with

hospitalizations, transfer of care, public

benets, support groups, family/parent/

guardians, etc.).

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

References

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ACPA/NASPA professional competency areas for student affairs practitioners.

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York, NY: Routledge.

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Unpublished manuscript, Department of Postsecondary Educational Leadership, San Diego

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Sabado, J. (2015). The CSAO as information technology manager: Channeling the power of information

technology.

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competencies in student affairs.

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Weiner, L., Bresciani, M. J., Oyler, J., & Felix, E. (2011). Developing and implementing learning goals for

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Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators

August, 2015

ACPA—College Student

Educators International

One Dupont Circle, NW Suite 300

Washington, DC, 20036

Phone: 202-835-2272

Email: [email protected]

www.myacpa.org

NASPA—Student Affairs

Administrators in Higher Education

111 K Street NE, 10th Floor

Washington, D.C. 20002

Phone: 202-265-7500

Email: of[email protected]