UConn HESA at ACPA21

March 5, 2021

UConn at ACPA21 | A virtual conference 1-17 March 2021 | Support UConn scholar-practitioner during the ACPA 2021 Virtual Convention The UConn HESA program is pleased to be participating in ACPA's Virtual Convention as a whole program this year. Between March 1-17, ACPA 21 will offer a wide variety of educational, scholarly, and networking programs. ACPA21 aims to center attendees’ experience, focusing on building community, dedicated to a strong curriculum, and embracing the future of ACPA’s Strategic Imperative for Racial Justice and Decolonization. ACPA-College Student Educators International is the leading comprehensive student affairs association that advances student affairs and engages students for a lifetime of learning and discovery. A key focus of ACPA's work is the Strategic Imperative for Racial Justice and Decolonization, through which the association directs resources, energy, and time toward addressing racial justice in student affairs and higher education around the world. Many of our HESA program faculty have been actively involved in ACPA, including in  commissions and communities of practice. Since we signed up for whole-program registration in the fall, our students have also had memberships to ACPA and been able to participate in year-round programming.  Although we are excited for everything that ACPA 21 has to offer, we are particularly enthusiastic about the five programs that were accepted from faculty and students in the HESA program. We have provided a full list of these sessions below. Convention registrants can access all of them, and the other great convention content by logging in with your ACPA account information to the virtual convention platform. 
Session Type Date & Time Title Presenter(s)
Research-in-Process Monday, March 8, 2021, 2:30-3:30pm The Personal is Professional: Exploring Emerging Student Affairs Professionals’ Intimacies Ashley N. Robinson, Sade Erinfolami, Tania Flores, & Trevor Madore
Research-in-Process Monday, March 15, 2021; 1:15-2:15pm Anti-Blackness and the Monolith Construction of Higher Education Latinidad Luz Burgos-López
Convention Program Monday, March 15, 2021; 3:45-4:45pm An Institutional Transformation Approach to Recruiting Racially Minoritized Faculty Milagro Castillo-Montoya, Ashley N. Robinson, Luz Burgos-López, & Jillian Ives
Research-in-Process Tuesday, March 16, 2021; 2:30-3:30pm Finding Our Voice: Combating Anti-Blackness and COVID-19 in Higher Education. Saran Stewart, Milagros Castillo-Montoya, Jasmine Sindico, Irvine Peck’s-Agaya, Nicole Hyman, Alquan Higgs, Rachel Wada, & Kiara Ruesta
Research & Practice Poster Supporting Undocumented Immigrants in the Current COVID-19 Era Kenny Nienhusser, Omar Romandia-Diaz, Kiara Ruesta

Interview Preparation: A Reflection on Mind, Body, and Soul

March 3, 2021

By Jillian Ives Interviewing season is upon us, although it might look a bit different this year. I’ve had a fair amount of virtual and in-person interviews over the years, both as an interviewee and interviewer. There is a wealth of information out there, so I do not plan to summarize it all here. However, I would like to offer my fellow HESAs a different perspective on interviewing as they prepare to search for summer internships or full-time positions. When facing the daunting job search, taking the time for reflection is essential. Interviewing is just like any other learning experience—it is a developmental process for the mind, body, and soul, not an obstacle to overcome for a final result. I like to reframe interviewing, to see it as an opportunity to check in with myself and further refine my values, my goals, and my experiences. 
When facing the daunting job search, taking the time for reflection is essential. Interviewing is just like any other learning experience—it is a developmental process for the mind, body, and soul, not an obstacle to overcome for a final result. I like to reframe interviewing, to see it as an opportunity to check in with myself and further refine my values, my goals, and my experiences. 
The Mind First, reflect on how your mind functions under the stress. When you are nervous, do you talk fast, slow, or stumble over your words? Do you get easily distracted? Try to think through these things and be proactive where you can. For example, if you are virtually interviewing and know you get easily thrown off by distractions, close out of your email, silence your phone, and try to find a quiet and minimally decorated space. I know that I tend to not talk much when I’m nervous, so I purposefully post bullet lists of key experiences I want to highlight near my computer screen so that I can remind myself to expand on my answer by adding an example. For the things you can’t control, just be honest about them. If you get nervous and you forget what you were saying or can’t get the right word out, just reset by saying something like, “I’m sorry, I’m so excited to be interviewing for this position that I think my brain was moving faster than my mouth!” Reframing your nerves as excitement can make them less intimidating. Admitting your nerves can also go a long way with a search committee. We are all human after all, and they are probably nervous and stressed too! The Body Also know how your body functions under stress. Reflect on your nervous habits in an interview—do you tap your foot or pen? If you aren’t sure, run a mock interview with a friend or at the Center for Career Development and have them look for those habits. I know I tend to play with my jewelry when nervous, so I make sure to wear smaller earrings and no necklace when I interview to mitigate that habit. Although sometimes these small habits help us relieve stress, so if you are interviewing virtually you can take advantage of the format by squeezing a stress ball under the table. Also know how your body reacts to prolonged stress if you have an all-day interview on campus or are doing multiple virtual interviews in a row, like at The Placement Exchange. Pace yourself, and do what re-energizes you during breaks. Listen to a song, meditate, eat a snack, or whatever helps de-stress you. The Soul Lastly, reflect on your soul. By this, I mean whatever soul means to you—whether that is spiritual, religious, or just what centers and nourishes you. One of the best ways to feed your soul is to not compare yourself to your peers during job season. Everyone will get jobs at different times, and it is not a reflection of your worth. Plan ahead of time what you are willing to accept and not accept in a job offer so that you do not question whether you are settling or not when you start to feel peer pressure. You do not need to find the perfect job because this will be the first among many. However, you do want to find a position that you can be happy in for at least a few years. Your soul impacts your mental and physical wellbeing—they are all connected. This is proven in research on how racially minoritized people end up facing physical and mental health conditions when working in a racist workplace—it is damaging to the soul, body, and mind. During the interview, pay attention to the diversity of the office space and gauge whether they value and prioritize equity. Ask questions about whether they have the resources that will feed your soul, whether that be affinity groups for faculty and staff, churches nearby of your religion, or beauty salons or barber shops that cater to your hair type. Make sure to reflect on what you personally need to be happy, healthy, and positive. For me, family nourishes my soul. I made finding a position near family a priority, so I didn’t feel pressured by the normative idea of conducting a national search. A Few Other Tips and Tricks Staying organized is perhaps the best advice I have for tending to your mind, body, and soul during interview preparation. Start by creating a spreadsheet to track every position you are planning to apply to. List the positions in rows, and the different information about the job and application in columns. For example, in the columns note the application materials required to apply, due dates, basic information about the institution, office, and position. Color code or mark off each as you submit the application. This will help you stay on top of due dates, but it will also help you remember what you’ve applied to and where, as your mind starts to muddle the applications over time. Then create a folder for each position, and save the final versions of the application materials you submitted and any research notes you collected about the position. If you get an interview, this will be very helpful for you to refer back to. Not only will it help you not duplicate your research efforts, but it will also help you remember what experiences you mentioned in your materials.  There are many resources out there on how to research a position and prepare for interview questions, so I won’t expand on that much here. However, one tip I have to save you some time—and thus save you effort in mind, body, and soul—is to have an interview question cheat sheet that can apply to all positions. Write out the most common interview questions in higher education (you can find many online), and the ones that are common to your functional area (experience advising, supervising, organizing programs, etc.). Write out your general philosophy for each question—what is your advising or supervision style for example. However, the key here is to think about all your experiences over time and map them onto these questions. You can actually create a table with the questions in rows and the experience examples in columns. This is important because a good interview answer moves from the hypothetical or theoretical, to include a specific example to illustrate your answer. This is often called the STAR method—the example should briefly explain the Situation, Task at hand, Action you took, and Result. So the table will help you think through the different experiences you have, what questions they might apply to, and if you have any gaps to consider. This really helped me in my interviewing experiences. When they asked a question about advising a student who was facing personal challenges, I knew I had 2-3 stories in my pocket to use. Maybe I had already used one that overlapped with another question they asked about advising students with minoritized identities, so I had 1-2 back up stories planned.  Additional Resources There are so many resources out there about interviewing. I’ve listed a few below as a start.  UConn Center for Career Development has many great interviewing resources, from videos on how to answer common questions, mock interviews, negotiating job offers, and more. They also have resources specifically for graduate students, and the common materials required for job applications. The Student Affairs Collective has many blog posts written by student affairs professionals going through the job search process, and their tips and tricks. For example, see this post on the TPE experience. Also, don’t forget that your network is a resource. Lean on HESA and UConn alumni. Check LinkedIn or HESA alumni groups to see if you know anyone working at the institution you are applying to. Email or call them to see if they can give you some insight into the institutional culture—what do they like or dislike about working there, what are the students like, etc. This will help in your preparation, but also give you better insight into whether you would want to work there.   Jillian Ives is a 2014 graduate of the HESA Program and a current PhD candidate in the Neag School of Education’s Learning, Leadership, and Education Policy program. Jillian also represents the Department of Educational Leadership as a representative on the Center for Career Development’s Graduate Student Career Council. 

Celebrating Black History & Black Futures in Student Affairs Practice

February 16, 2021

During this Black History Month, we in the HESA program find that there are countless examples of Black scholars, Black student affairs professionals, Black thought, and Black history that should be explored, uplifted, and celebrated. However, as we reflect on Black history, we recognize the importance of Black futures, specifically the futures and possibilities of Black student affairs professionals and Black students.  To focus on Black futures, we first highlight some of the professional communities for Black student affairs professionals. These organizations and groups work tirelessly to create and sustain connection, support, and community for Black student affairs professionals. We encourage Black student affairs professionals to engage with these communities, and we encourage everyone to support and uplift their work.  Secondly, we want to highlight and uplift research that has been published in the past year (2020-present) about the developmental, social, and academic experiences of Black college and university students. This list, while by no means exhaustive, illuminates the breadth and depth of scholarly work centering the experiences of Black students in just the past year. This list of scholarly resources calls all of us to engage with new and emerging research and ideas about Black students’ experiences--ideas that often necessarily challenge long-accepted ideas and practices about college student development. We encourage members of our community to engage with these and other works that center Black students’ experiences, and to create spaces for Black student development, Black student possibilities, and Black student futures.  All of the below articles are available as full-text through the UConn Library.

    Celebrating Native and Indigenous Higher Education Scholarship

    November 24, 2020

    November is Native American Heritage Month (NAHM), and as we in the HESA program pause during UConn’s fall break, we reflect on the critical importance of recognizing and honoring the role of Native American and Indigenous scholars, practices, and thought in our field. UConn’s campuses are located on land that is the territory of the Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Nipmuc, and Lenape Peoples, who have stewarded this land throughout the generations. We thank them for their strength and resilience in protecting this land, and aspire to uphold our responsibilities according to their example. Native and Indigenous people bring rich knowledge and experiences to our educational spaces, including the field of higher education and student affairs. Indigenous methodologies, pedagogies, and existence in higher education are acts of resistance against an oppressive educational system that has expropriated native lands and attempted to erase native knowledge and ways of living.  In celebration of NAHM, we highlight some of those Native and Indigenous methodologies, pedagogies, and practices in higher education and student affairs. We offer a very brief selection of resources below, which may serve as a starting point for further engagement. We encourage members of our HESA community to engage with these and other resources to deepen your learning about Native and Indigenous communities, educational experiences, and ways of knowing. 

    Professional and Scholarly Communities

    Indigenous Student Affairs Network (ISAN) ACPA Native, Aboriginal, and Indigenous Coalition (NAIC) NASPA Indigenous Peoples Knowledge Community (IPKC)

    Edited Volumes

    Beyond Access: Indigenizing Programs for Native American Student Success (2018), edited by Heather J. Shotton, Shelly C. Lowe and Stephanie J. Waterman Reclaiming Indigenous Research in Higher Education (2018), edited by Robin Starr Minthorn and Heather J. Shotton Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education (2013) edited by Heather J. Shotton, Shelly C. Lowe, Stephanie J. Waterman

    Journal Articles

    “New Research Perspectives on Native American Students in Higher Education”  (2019), Stephanie J. Waterman “I Thought You'd Call Her White Feather”: Native Women and Racial Microaggressions in Doctoral Education (2017) Heather J. Shotton “Home Away From Home: Native American Students’ Sense of Belonging During Their First Year in College” (2016) Amanda R. Tachine, Nolan L. Cabrera & Eliza Yellow Bird “Toward a Tribal Critical Race Theory in Education” (2006) Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy

    UConn at ASHE Highlights

    November 17, 2020

    UConn faculty, students, and post-docs from the Department of Educational Leadership, the HESA program, and Office of Diversity & Inclusion will be involved as presenters and volunteers during this year’s annual ASHE (Association for the Study of Higher Education) virtual conference on November 18-21 and pre-conference for the Council for Ethnic Participation (CEP) on November 13. Ten of our faculty, recent graduates, and graduate students from UConn will present 12 papers and interactive symposia and serve as discussant or chair on five paper sessions and interactive symposia. You can see a full overview of UConn participation in the ASHE Conference here.  Our faculty and students will be presenting on a wide variety of research and scholarship that enhances the study of higher education within the theme of Advancing Full Participation. We asked some of our faculty and students three quick questions about the work that they will be presenting during the conference.

    “Making Space for Community, Support and Healing in Racial Equity Higher Education Work”

    Dr. Milagros Castillo-Montoya, Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs.

    Why did you undertake this work?

    As a community of racially minoritized faculty, it is important to create space for community, support and healing. I experienced this in a profound way during a trip to the Netherlands with amazing higher education scholars who exemplified what this means and feels like. I want to share about how powerful that experience can be.

    What are the important takeaways?

    With a strong sense of community, racially minoritized faculty can thrive. As such, having space for this community to develop is critical to our well-being in the academy.

    What do you hope practitioners can learn from this work?

    I hope practitioners will learn that creating space for racially minoritized folx to connect and create community has to be more of an institutional priority.

    "How Does Whiteness “Show Up” in Student Affairs Work? A Literature Analysis and Framework for Practice"

    Ashley N. Robinson, PhD Candidate, Leadership and Education Policy

    Why did you undertake this work?

    Research shows that efforts for racial equity in higher education consistently fail because racism and white supremacy pervade higher education, a social institution built on exclusionary and racist foundations. I wanted to explore how exactly racism and white supremacy are being made real, institutionally, on a day-to-day basis? What is happening with actual texts—written policies, forms, visuals, media representations—as they land in people’s real, everyday work, that continually creates situations in which educators who really want to enact antiracist responses to racist harms end up doing things that uphold institutional racism instead?

    What are the important takeaways?

    I offer a framework to interrogate the tensions of responding to racist harms toward the aim of uncovering how the discourse of whiteness might show up in textually mediated ways in response work. The framework consists of nine concepts that are characteristic of the discourse of whiteness in student affairs work, offers a literature-informed description of each concept, and analytical questions that foreground the materiality of the concept related to responding to racist harms.

    What do you hope practitioners can learn from this work?

    In practice, I recommend using this framework to analyze texts like incident reports, incident reporting forms, protocols, procedures, policies, training materials, investigation reports, meeting notes, budget documents, and public statements. The purpose of such textual analysis is two-fold: firstly, to name and uncover the specific ways that attempts to respond to racist harms may, in fact, uphold white supremacy and institutional racism, and secondly, to empower student affairs educators at all levels to transform their approaches to responding to racist harms.

    "Decolonizing Academic Spaces: Advancing Full Participation Globally to Promote Racial Equity in Postsecondary Education"

    Dr. Saran Stewart, Associate Professor & Program Director of Higher Education and Student Affairs

    Dr. Frank Tuitt, Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs & Chief Diversity Officer

    Saran Steward, headshot

    Why did you undertake this work?

    Central to our work is developing critical consciousness and to do that, we argue you must confront and disrupt the colonizers' gaze and epistemologies.

    What are the important takeaways?

    • Decolonising the mind through ways of knowing and knowledge construction;
    • Decolonising pedagogy;
    • Decolonising structures, policies and practices; and
    • Reimagining the academy from a decolonised lens. 

    What do you hope practitioners can learn from this work?

    We hope that the presentation will provide concrete examples to create decolonised spaces both in and out of the classroom where minoritised students can engage in learning that suggest their lives and lived experiences really matter. 

    "Masculinities as Barriers to Full Participation: A Longitudinal Study on Fraternity Masculine Norms and Hazing Motivations"

    Dr. Adam McCready, Assistant Professor In-Residence, Higher Education & Student Affairs

    Why did you undertake this work?

    Surprisingly little is known about how men are socialized to perform gender during their undergraduate experiences. Looking specifically at fraternities, fraternity leaders often claim that these organizations "make better men", but these groups are associated with troubling outcomes like hazing.

    What are the important takeaways?

    While fraternity men reported statistically significantly lower conformity to misogyny after three years of fraternity membership, their conformity to eight other masculine norms and their hazing attitudes did not change significantly over this time period. Increased adherence to misogyny and risk-taking over three years predicted increased endorsement of hazing.

    What do you hope practitioners can learn from this work?

    Because fraternities may recruit men who share similar attitudes toward hazing and adhere to similar gender performances, practitioners may want to focus their interventions on membership recruitment efforts. In addition, interventions designed to address misogyny and risk-taking among fraternity men may also mitigate hazing attitudes.

    UConn Higher Education Scholars & Practitioners at 2020 ASHE Conference

    November 4, 2020

    UConn at ASHE | Support UConn Scholar-practitioners during the ASHE 2020 Virtual Conference UConn faculty, students, and post-docs from the Department of Educational Leadership, the HESA program, and Office of Diversity & Inclusion will be involved as presenters and volunteers during this year's annual ASHE (Association for the Study of Higher Education) virtual conference on November 18-21 and pre-conference for the Council for Ethnic Participation (CEP) on November 13. Ten of our faculty, recent graduates, and graduate students from UConn will present 12 papers and interactive symposia and serve as discussant or chair on five paper sessions and interactive symposia. For those interested in participating in the conference, registration is still available.  The theme for the 2020 Conference is Advancing Full Participation. The association noted that:
    Advancing full participation requires dismantling racism, classism, sexism, and other forms of oppression that systematically disadvantage different individuals and groups. It requires that we construct and study “architecture of inclusion” (Sturm, 2006) at various decision points, across sectors, and between siloes. We need to understand the mechanisms most likely to foster inclusion and full participation across public, private, national and international contexts. 
    Indeed, the scholarship and research that our UConn scholars are sharing during the conference is aimed at advancing full participation, incorporating qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches, and addressing wide-ranging topics from pedagogy and learning, to policy, to student development, to global education. If you are planning to participate in the annual ASHE conference, we hope that you will take time in your schedule to support and learn from the excellent work of our UConn scholars. You can refer to the compiled selection of sessions with UConn presenters, chairs, or discussants below. Of course, we recommend using the official conference schedule for the most accurate and up-to-date information.
    Session Name Date Time (EST) Location Session Type UConn Scholar Role Paper Title Link
    Making Space for Community, Support and Healing in Racial Equity Higher Education Work Fri, November 13 12:45 to 2:00pm EST Council for Ethnic Participation Virtual Pre-Conference, Bulbancha Room Interactive Symposium Frank A. Tuitt Co-Chair http://tinyurl.com/y6fdfx3s
    Making Space for Community, Support and Healing in Racial Equity Higher Education Work Fri, November 13 12:45 to 2:00pm EST Council for Ethnic Participation Virtual Pre-Conference, Bulbancha Room Interactive Symposium Milagros Castillo-Montoya Presenter http://tinyurl.com/y6fdfx3s
    Learning Through Engaging: Colleges Developing Activistas, Global Citizens, and Worldviews Wed, November 18 4:30 to 5:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Ida B. Wells Room Paper Session Adam M. McCready Discussant http://tinyurl.com/yx8z4hlc
    Difference in Opinion: Making Sense of Student Encounters Wed, November 18 2:45 to 4:00pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Natchez Room Paper Session Ashley N. Robinson Chair
    New Perspectives on Faculty Workload Inequities Thu, November 19 12:00 to 12:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Natchez Room Roundtable Milagros Castillo-Montoya Presenter Braids and Bridges: A Collaborative Postcolonial AutoEthnography of Racially Minoritized Women Teaching Intergroup Dialogue http://tinyurl.com/y2o2nyxs
    Examining Race, Culture, and Fit in Higher Education Thu, November 19 12:00 to 12:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Houma Room Roundtable Luz Burgos-López Presenter The erasure of Blackness and role of Antiblackness in the Construction of Higher Education Latinidad http://tinyurl.com/yyflojxx
    Multicultural and Critical Teaching and Learning Perspectives Thu, November 19 12:00 to 12:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Michigan State Room Roundtable Joshua Abreu Presenter Learning to Teach Through Experimentation: A Multi-Case Study on Three Professors Teaching Historically-Marginalized Students http://tinyurl.com/y4bbf7t3
    Critical Perspectives on Service Learning Fri, November 20 1:00 to 2:15pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Equitable Engagement Room Paper Session Milagros Castillo-Montoya Presenter Developing Latinx students’ critical consciousness in a sport-based critical service learning http://tinyurl.com/y5jds384
    Critical Perspectives on Service Learning Fri, November 20 1:00 to 2:15pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Equitable Engagement Room Paper Session Ajhanai Channel Inez Newton Developing Latinx students’ critical consciousness in a sport-based critical service learning http://tinyurl.com/y5jds384
    The Influence of Policies on Graduate Education and Workforce Development Fri, November 20 4:30 to 5:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Michigan State Room Paper Session H. Kenny Nienhusser Presenter If You Fund Them, Will They Come?: Findings from a Graduate Student Fellowship Program http://tinyurl.com/y62dy47f
    The Influence of Policies on Graduate Education and Workforce Development Fri, November 20 4:30 to 5:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Michigan State Room Paper Session Milagros Castillo-Montoya Presenter If You Fund Them, Will They Come?: Findings from a Graduate Student Fellowship Program http://tinyurl.com/y62dy47f
    Racism Off-Campus and Online: Quantitative Investigations Fri, November 20 2:45 to 4:00pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Chitimacha Room Paper Session Adam M. McCready Presenter Does Experiencing Racialized Aggressions on Social Media Predict Mental Health Outcomes http://tinyurl.com/y42hjwjj
    Attitudinal Inquires: Mixed-Methods Approaches to Student Safety Fri, November 20 4:30 to 5:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Houma Room Paper Session Adam M. McCready Presenter Masculinities as Barriers to Full Participation: A Longitudinal Study on Fraternity Masculine Norms and Hazing Motivations http://tinyurl.com/y6oydyap
    Teaching and Learning in Global Contexts Fri, November 20 4:30 to 5:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Utah Room Paper Session Saran Stewart Presenter Decolonizing Academic Spaces: Advancing Full Participation Globally to Promote Racial Equity in Postsecondary Education http://tinyurl.com/yyfnpr4h
    Teaching and Learning in Global Contexts Fri, November 20 4:30 to 5:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Utah Room Paper Session Frank A. Tuitt Presenter Decolonizing Academic Spaces: Advancing Full Participation Globally to Promote Racial Equity in Postsecondary Education http://tinyurl.com/yyfnpr4h
    Institutions' Role in Perpetuating or Disrupting Inequity Fri, November 20 2:45 to 4:00pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Caddo Room Paper Session H. Kenny Nienhusser Discussant http://tinyurl.com/yyg87sg4
    Facilitating College Pathways through College Access Programs Fri, November 20 1:00 to 2:15pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Caddo Room Paper Session Leslie Allen Williams Presenter Filling the Potholes: How College Access Programs Aid Participants’ Journeys to, through and Beyond College http://tinyurl.com/y3kkx37r
    (Im)Possible Strategy? Globalizing Efforts for Racial Equity in Higher Education Sat, November 21 1:00 to 2:15pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Houma Room Interactive Symposium Frank A. Tuitt Chair
    (Im)Possible Strategy? Globalizing Efforts for Racial Equity in Higher Education Sat, November 21 1:00 to 2:15pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Houma Room Interactive Symposium Milagros Castillo-Montoya Presenter http://tinyurl.com/y4ty8j8b
    Student Affairs on the Front Lines: Addressing Hazing, White Supremacy, and Success for Students of Color Sat, November 21 2:30 to 3:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Chitimacha Room Paper Session Ashley N. Robinson Presenter How Does Whiteness “Show Up” in Student Affairs Work? An Institutional Ethnographic Literature Analysis http://tinyurl.com/y6skb2dw
    Taking a Stand: ASHE’s Position Taking Committee Year in Review Sat, November 21 2:30 to 3:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Bulbancha Room Invited Session H. Kenny Nienhusser Presenter http://tinyurl.com/y3cft87u

    Celebrating Latinx Scholarship and Activism in HESA

    October 15, 2020

    As we reach the end of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), we want to highlight and celebrate some of our HESA faculty and educational leadership doctoral students’ recent contributions to scholarship, practice, and activism in higher education. Our faculty and students are uplifting Latinx voices and experiences, contributing to the policy and public discourses,  and centering, celebrating, and pushing the boundaries of Latinidad in student affairs and higher education.  In this post, we highlight program faculty Dr. Milagros Castillo-Montoya and Dr. Kenny Nienhusser, recent graduate Dr. Joshua Abreu (‘20G), and current Ph.D. student Luz Burgos-López. Though all of their work integrates and spans research, public engagement, service, and activism, we have put specific publications and projects into those categories below. We hope that you will learn more about and engage with their work as we end this month of celebration and uplift, and well beyond.  Research Articles Castillo-Montoya, M. & Verduzco Reyes, D. (2020) Learning Latinidad: The role of a Latino cultural center service-learning course in Latino identity inquiry and sociopolitical capacity, Journal of Latinos and Education, 19:2, 132-147, DOI: 10.1080/15348431.2018.1480374 Nienhusser, H. K., & Oshio, T. (2020). Postsecondary education access (im)possibilities for undocu/DACAmented youth living with the potential elimination of DACA. Educational Studies, 56(4), 366–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2020.1757448 Nienhusser, H. K., & Oshio, T. (2019). Awakened hatred and heightened fears: “The Trump Effect” on the everyday lives of mixed-status families. Cultural Studies « Critical Methodologies, 19(3), 173–183. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708618817872 While Dr. Nienhusser’s scholarship does focus on undocumented students and about 80% of undocumented immigrants are Latinx, he does not hold this as synonymous to Latinx. In other words, the undocumented community comprises a diverse membership of individuals from a wide array of racial/ethnic identities. Public Scholarship Dr. Nienhusser on the Hablemos de Política podcast. The podcast episode, which is in Spanish, though it did not focus on the U.S. Latinx population, provided an overview of the U.S. higher education system and current issues, including cost of college, international students in US higher education, and undocumented students. The podcast audience is for Spanish-speaking audiences in the US and abroad. Dr. Joshua Abreu’s article in La Galería magazine, “Gaining Political Power and Losing Bodegas: A Dominican-American Paradox” reflects on community voter engagement in Dominican-American communities, engaging with the tension of increasing voter participation at the same time of increasing gentrification in communities like Washington Heights.  In a recent article in The Crime Report, which was informed by his dissertation research, Dr. Abreu critiques and provides recommendations for criminal justice education. Dr. Abreu highlights the importance of examining instructional equity in Criminal Justice education, “given that about 40 percent of criminal justice degree recipients are either Latinx or Black college students.”  Service and Activism  At UConn, Dr. Nienhusser serves as the faculty director for La Comunidad Intelectual, which is a learning community with a residential community component focused on supporting students who are a member of or have a strong appreciation for the Latinx diaspora.  Ph.D. student Luz Burgos-López is actively involved in activism and community engagement, including founding the online community Non-Black Latinx in Higher Ed: Addressing Antiblackness in Comunidad, the purpose of which is “for non-Black Latinx folx to engage in unpacking our antiblackness in ourselves, our familia, our community, and within our field of higher education.” Luz’s research interests focus on antiblackness in constructions of Latinidad in higher education, and she will also be presenting a scholarly paper titled “The erasure of Blackness and role of Antiblackness in the Construction of Higher Education Latinidad” at the upcoming Association for the Study of Higher Education annual conference.  Luz has also recently co-founded Colectivo Bámbula, a coalition of anti-racist Eduvists cultivating Puerto Rican liberation politics, artistry and scholarship with the intent to re-imagine and honor ancestral knowledge and work towards the decolonization of the past, present and future.

    Fall 2020 HESA Director’s Welcome

    October 2, 2020

    Dear HESA Family, As the season changes and we enter into the crisper and cooler months, I want to send a warm and heartfelt welcome to our HESA community. This Fall semester is different from any other we have experienced before given the wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and surge of anti-Blackness racism in the US. More than ever, the student affairs professional is being asked to redefine their role and re-conceptualize programming and activities to both combat anti-Blackness, simultaneously contend with the spread of a pandemic and traverse virtual and racial battle fatigue. Throughout it all, the HESA faculty continues to excel, lead and set an example in the field of higher education and student affairs with their scholarship, leadership and activism. I invite you to visit our HESA website to see all they have been engaged with and accomplished. They work tirelessly to prepare for a virtual Fall semester and like many of us, have had to pivot, become more agile and adapt to our “new” normal. I would like to welcome both Drs. Frank Tuitt and Adam McCready to the team as well as our graduate assistant Ashley Robinson. We are excited to have this stellar compliment of scholar-practitioners within the HESA program. This year, we hosted our first virtual academic welcome and welcome back retreat for both cohorts of students. Our admissions cycle went live in September and we are actively preparing for our upcoming informational webinars. Our first HESA Prospective Student Webinar will be held on October 13 from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. The HESA program continues to engage in curriculum renewal and we will announce some exciting changes to our program in the near future. As we strive to engage our students in transforming theory to practice, the program faculty decided to sign up for a program-wide registration for this year's ACPA21 Virtual Convention. This means that all students and faculty in our program will be able to participate in the convention, which will take place from March 1-17, 2021. The registration also includes a complimentary 1-year membership for master-students who are not currently not members. Lastly, I want to thank our graduate assistantship and practicum site supervisors, who continue to provide invaluable on-site training and professional development for our students. Without you, our program would not be complete. As we all continue to pivot and adjust to a constantly changing climate, I ask that we show grace, support and care for each member of our community. I wish for you and your loved ones continued good health, safety and wellness. Saran Stewart, Ph.D. Director HESA Program Saran Steward, headshot