1st Edition
Multiple Perspectives on College Students Needs, Challenges, and Opportunities
This edited collection explores diverse perspectives about today’s college students from a variety of higher education stakeholders – including faculty, researchers, policymakers, administrators, parents, and students themselves. All too often, those concerned with higher education make assumptions based on outdated information; the voices in this volume provide a grounded and real understanding of college students and explore how we might better support them in our colleges and universities. Each section includes a series of essays, with a culminating chapter written by scholars who analyze, contextualize, and ground these perspectives in theory. Multiple Perspectives on College Students brings current data and experience to light in a way that helps readers understand the needs and opportunities for supporting all college students for success.
Foreword
Kristen A. Renn
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction
Needham Yancey Gulley
Chapter 2: Today’s U.S. College Students by the Numbers
J. Patrick Biddix, Kriss Gabourel, and Frank Cuevas
Chapter 3: Diversity Amongst Today’s College Students
Mark Anthony Torrez
Chapter 4: Who Has a Stake in Today’s College Students?
Tiffany J. Davis and Yolanda Barnes
Question 1: Who are Today’s College Students?
Chapter 5: Who are Today’s College Students?: Stakeholder Essays
Chuck Ambrose, President and CEO, Knowledgeworks
Chris Copes, College Student
Spencer Frye, Georgia House of Representatives, House District 118
Ellen Neufedlt, President, California State University, San Marcos
Chapter 6: Analysis – Who are Today’s College Students?
Laura A. Dean and Jason Wallace
Question 2: What are the Needs of Today’s College Students?
Chapter 7: What Are the Needs of Today’s College Students: Stakeholder Essays
Sarah Ali, College Student
Jason Cottrell, Research Analyst, U.S. Department of Education
Mac Mayfield, High School Student
Jawaan Wallace, Dean of College Counseling, Marlborough School
Chapter 8: Analysis – What are the Needs of Today’s College Students?
Michelle M. Espino
Question 3: What are the Most Significant Challenges for Today’s College Students?
Chapter 9: What are the Most Significant Challenges for Today’s College Students?: Stakeholder Essays
Willie Banks, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, University of California, Irvine
Shawn Curtis, Social Studies Teacher
Rasul Mowatt, Professor and Department Head, North Carolina State University
Sebastian Sanchez, College Student
Chapter 10: Analysis - What are the Most Significant Challenges for Today’s College Students?
Shannon R. Dean
Question 4: What are the Most Significant Opportunities for Today’s College Students?
Chapter 11: What are the Most Significant Opportunities for Today’s College Students?: Stakeholder Essays
Caroline Angelo, Executive Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, Atlanta Technical College
Jemelleh Coes, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Georgia
Roslyn Gowens, Fraternity and Sorority Advisor, George Washington University
Ximena Silva-Avila, College Student
Chapter 12: Analysis - What are the Most Significant Opportunities for Today’s College Students?
Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas and Terrence Hanlon
Question 5: What Can You Do to Support Today’s College Students?
Chapter 13: What can you do to Support Today’s College Students?: Stakeholder Essays
Anonymous Couple, Parents of 4 College Graduates
Talia Bailey, College Student
Pressley Rankin, Program Director and Associate Professor, City University of Seattle
Vernon Wall, Past-President, ACPA: College Student Educators International
Chapter 14: Analysis - What Can You Do to Support Today’s College Students?
Julie Owen
Conclusion
Chapter 15: Conclusion
Needham Yancey Gulley
Biography
Needham Yancey Gulley (he/him/his) is an associate professor of Higher Education Student Affairs at Western Carolina University, USA. He has a long history of advocating for social justice within the educational context through his scholarship, teaching, publications, presentations, trainings, and volunteer endeavors. His first book was a co-edited text published in 2017; an edited volume entitled Using the CAS Professional Standards: Diverse Examples of Practice; the first book ever jointly published by NASPA, ACPA, & CAS. In 2019 he was honored as a Diamond Honoree by ACPA College Student Educators International.
"This book is an invitation to take seriously the multi-dimensional perspective of stakeholders, to honor the reality of college students’ lives, and to evolve higher education to meet their needs. It challenges readers to take a 360-degree perspective on college students, their needs and challenges, and opportunities to serve them better."
- Kristen A. Renn, Professor, Higher, Adult, & Lifelong Education, & Mildred B. Erickson Distinguished Chair, Michigan State University
"In Multiple Perspectives on College Students: Needs, Challenges, and Opportunities, Gulley and his incredibly large and diverse team of authors model what it looks like to include an array of perspectives to understand or address a complex problem. I especially appreciated the opportunity to learn from students, parents, and legislators' views about college students. When we listen to a variety of perspectives, as outlined in this text, we will both better serve students on our campuses and the public good mission of institutions of higher education."
- Chris Linder, Associate Professor, Higher Education, & Director, McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention. Co-Author, Identity-Based Student Activism: Power and Oppression on College Campuses
"If you have ever wondered 'what are they thinking (or doing)?!' when it comes to various groups in and adjacent to higher education, you need to read Gulley's edited text. Inviting the perspectives of multiple, and sometimes seemingly opposing, stakeholders - including students, families, PK-12 teachers, higher education faculty and administrators, legislators, and institutional partners, Gulley creates a volume that provides readers with insight on where and how various constituents' perspectives diverge and align around college students' needs and opportunities. The book provides an example of how stakeholders can reach 'across the isles' to broach key questions, engage in difficult dialogue, and identify ways to center and support the needs and opportunities of students across identities. Gulley calls us to do something we are struggling with right now - listening to and understanding one another so we can move forward."
- Sonja Ardoin, Program Director & Associate Professor of Student Affairs Administration, Appalachian State University
"As an educator, I cannot wait to use this book in my higher education and student affairs master’s classes and in workshops for campus leaders. The first-person essays feel like you are "inviting" presidents, policy-makers, legislators, students, and higher education thought leaders to your classroom discussion to challenge assumptions about our students and to catalyze the interrogation and improvement of our practices. As such, this book offers rich and interesting perspectives on the demography, needs, challenges, and opportunities for students and how they interact with the larger systems of higher education and various stakeholders."
- Jennifer R. Keup, Executive Director, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition; Affiliated Faculty Member, Education Leadership and Policies, University of South Carolina College of Education
