Dr. John Hoffman, CSUF Educational Leadership

1. The Development of
Competencies in the
Student Affairs Profession:
The Process of Inquiry
JOHN L. HOFFMAN
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION COLLOQUIUM
OCTOBER 7, 2015

2. Historical Context
 1987 – Chickering & Gameson propose Seven Principles of Good
Practice in Undergraduate Education
 1990 – NASPA adopts Standards of Professional Practice
 1994 – ACPA publishes The Student Learning Imperative
 1998 – ACPA & NASPA publish Principles of Good Practice for
Student Affairs
 2010 – ACPA & NASPA publish Professional Competency Areas
for Student Affairs Practitioners
 2015 – ACPA & NASPA publish Professional Competency Areas
for Student Affairs Educators

3. 2015 TASK FORCE MEMBERS
 Berenecea Johnson Eanes,
California State-Fullerton (co-
chair)
 Tricia Fechter, ACPA
 Stephanie Gordon, NASPA
 Shaun Harper, University of
Pennsylvania*
 Pamela Havice, Clemson
University
 John L. Hoffman, California
State-Fullerton
 Bridget Turner Kelly, Loyola
University-Chicago
 Patty Perillo, Virginia Tech (co-
chair)
 Quincy Martin, Triton College
 Laura Osteen, Florida State
University
 Jason Pina, Bridgewater State
University
 Will Simpkins, John Jay College,
CUNY
 Vu Tran, Ohio State University
 Case Willoughby, Butler
Community College
*had to withdraw from task force work

4. Guiding Questions
 What competencies must we keep and why?
 What competencies should we consider modifying
and/or eliminating? Why?
 What competencies must we consider adding? Why?
 What should we do with the “threads”? Why?

5. Changes Based in the Literature

6. Social Justice and Inclusion
 Empirical Competency Studies Since 2010
 “Dedication to social justice” (Hickmott & Bresciani, 2010)
 “Incorporating diversity” (Weiner et al., 2011)
 “Diversity and social justice” (Hoffman & Bresciani, 2012)
 Theoretical Social Justice Literature
 Social justice is “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).

7. Technology
 Empirical Competency Literature
 Burkard et al. (2005)
 Hickmott & Bresciani (2010)
 Hoffman & Bresciani (2012)
 Professional Practice Literature
 Ahlquist (2014)
 Brown (2013)
 Junco (2015)
 Sabado (2015)

8. Inquiry-Based Changes

9. Inquiry Process
 391 discrete outcomes entered into a database
 Each outcome was coded by the following:
 Knowledge, skill, and/or disposition
 Potential “thread” or “emphasis” areas (globalism,
sustainability, communication, and collaboration)
 Competency area intersections
 Foundational, intermediate, or advanced
 Coded data analyzed with frequencies and crosstabs

10. Frequencies
 Levels
 138 Foundational
 137 Intermediate
 116 Advanced
 Types
 91 Knowledge
 278 Skill
 93 Disposition
 Emphasis
 72 Collaboration
 92 Communication
 11 Globalism
 7 Sustainability

11. Intersecting Competencies
 Leadership (45)
 Social Justice (39)
 Personal and Ethical
Foundations (38)
 Assessment, Evaluation,
and Research (31)
 Law, Policy, and
Governance (25)
 Organizational and Human
Resources (22)
 Technology (15)
 Values, Philosophy, and
History (7)
 Student Learning and
Development (5)
 Advising and Supporting (4)

12. Intersections by Outcome Level
 Foundational – 1.70
 Intermediate – 1.82
 Advanced – 1.98

13. Next Steps
 Implications for Practice
 New Publication Format
 NASPA’s Professional Standards Division – Examples of
Good Practice with the Competencies
 Globalism as a Future Competency?
 Implications for Research
 Studies Examining Competency Intersections
 Qualitative Studies