I  wonder from time to time what student affairs would be like a few years from now. I have never really put too much time into it, but I think to myself, wouldn’t it be nice to have discussions about the future of student affairs with others who are just as curious as I am? I’m hoping there’s enough interest by those who happen to read this blog post to have continuing discussions about this topic.  Here are some questions I’ve been thinking about:

  • What factors are shaping the future of student affairs?
  • Who are the scholars, researchers, practitioners already having these discussions?
  • As  a profession, how is student affairs evolving as a whole? How about the different functional areas?
  • Given the technological advancements, budgetary constraints, and other factors, how does a student affairs workplace look like in the near future?
  • What skill sets will be required for future student affairs professionals?
  • What are the educational requirements to be in the field?
  • What identity theories will emerge and/or how will existing identity theories evolve to reflect this digital age?
  • How will management/leadership evolve?
  • What issues will student affairs need to address? For example, there seems to be this movement towards online education and so how do we provide student services for students who may never physically step foot on campus? How about the changing demographics (international students, veterans)?
  • As we accumulate data given our move towards paperless business processes, how do we make sense of these data we collect?
  • How will the relationship between student affairs and academic affairs evolve?
  • Are there generational issues in the workplace? If so, how do we address them?

If you have some thoughts/answers to the questions above, I’d love to hear them. What else can you add?  Would you be interested in having discussions around the #futureofsa?