Student Affairs NOW

The editors of this book join to discuss contemplative practices for transformation. The volume shares stories that offer life experience, powerful examples, and concrete practices to help bring being, embodiment, and inner work to becoming and social change. They discuss the power of creativity and imagination in these times and point to the power of the dualities of anger and compassion, pain and joy, being and community, and more.

Dr. Jessica Riddell discusses mindsets and 10 tools to rethink, reimagine, and rebuild institutions of higher education from her research and book Hope Circuits. She offers a critique of the status quo and a call to "challenge the actual in the name of the possible."

Heather Shea shares how working in a women's center and bringing feminist icon Gloria Steinem to campus shaped her personal, political, and professional journey. She reflects on the enduring need for activism and advocacy in women and gender equity centers.

Dr. Carter-Atkins shares a powerful message of self-care and leadership through the magic of burpees!

Drs. Shannon Leddy and Lorrie Miller, co-authors of Teaching Where You Are: Weaving Indigenous and Slow Principles and Pedagogies, discuss indigenous approaches to teaching and learning. They integrate perspectives, histories, and values from many different Indigenous cultures across North America to offer insights to guide different ways of approaching teaching, learning, education, and being.

In this episode (recorded on May 1), Dr. OiYan Poon and Dr. Crystal Garcia join Dr. Heather Shea to reflect on the first 100 days of the current administration and what they reveal about its priorities and governing approach. They unpack the sweeping changes reshaping higher education—from executive orders and agency overhauls to attacks on DEI, student protections, and institutional autonomy. As the final episode in this limited series, the conversation also turns toward what’s next, exploring grassroots and coordinated coalition-building efforts as essential strategies for responding to the challenges ahead.

Assessment experts and student affairs leaders discuss the multi-level assessment process and how to utilize it as a leadership practice. This conversation helps explain this approach, what it offers, examples of how it is being done, and tips. They discuss assessment beyond measurement, leading learning and operations, as strategic planning, and through relationships.

In this episode, host Heather Shea is joined by Dr. Brendan Cantwell and Dr. Demetri Morgan to break down a wave of federal actions reshaping higher education. From the NIH’s ultimatum on DEI to a new executive order on accreditation—and threats to university tax-exempt status—they explore what these moves mean for institutional governance, research integrity, and academic freedom. Plus, they discuss signs of resistance, including a landmark federal court ruling and a powerful joint statement from over 220 higher ed leaders. Don't miss this urgent and insightful conversation on the future of equity in higher ed.

Dr. Paul Dosal reflects on his 15 years as an innovator, champion, and leader of student success and well-being. He shares lessons from creating institutional transformations for student persistence and retention through deliberative and intentional approaches, breaking down silos, predictive analytics, and creating cultures of care. He highlights blending technological tools and personal connections and relationships for holistic and systematic approaches to student success and well-being.

In this episode, Dr. OiYan Poon and Dr. Demetri Morgan join Heather Shea to unpack three pressing developments shaping the current landscape of higher education. Together, they discuss the quiet but consequential elimination of the federal team that defines the poverty line—and what it means for Pell Grants and student access; Harvard’s public rejection of Trump's demands, signaling a potential turning point for institutional autonomy; and the ongoing fight to reassert the public good of higher education in a time of deep skepticism. Recorded on April 17, this conversation connects the dots between policy, power, and purpose—and asks: how do we respond?