Continuing Your Learning After Leaving the Classroom

A Resource for Staying Engaged with the Student Affairs Literature

It’s hard to believe, but this May I will be graduating from the SAAHE program at Texas A&M University. During my first year, faculty members provided me numerous articles from different scholarly sources. They covered a variety of topics, but all of them discussed current trends, insights, and research in the field. As a current graduate student, I am fortunate to enjoy the luxury of having an instructor share current research in the field. However, as I get close to the end of the year, I begin to wonder how I can stay up to date on changes and developments in the field when I transition into a full-time role. The question I asked myself was “as a self-directed learner, what can I do to make sure I stay up to date on current scholarship in our field?”

What appeared to be a partial answer to that question came about as a meeting with my program director. In addition to classroom discussions and textbooks, a significant source of learning for me was a result of the articles we read in the higher education journals. As my program director and I delved deeper into our conversation, I realized two things. The first being had the faculty not exposed me to them, I would have had no idea that these journals existed. The other being, there is probably a lot more out there; but where do I look?

The community of graduate students and new professionals in the field is substantial, and something I believed would be helpful to address the “where to look” question was a database that contained a thorough listing of the various journals available in the field. Utilizing Nathaniel J. Bray and Claire H. Majoran’s article titled “Status of Journals in the Field of Higher Education” as an initial starting point, I worked on compiling a list of the various publications available and having them in one easy to access place.

The product is this Google Sheet,  which reflects my attempt at compiling these resources in one place. However, I by no means am suggesting it is perfect or exhaustive. One thing I do know though is the power of community and working together. Therefore, I made this an editable document which professionals can contribute to by adding publications that they believe would benefit the greater student affairs community. As a current graduate student, I hope this provides a starting point for my fellow students to work on their assignments. As a future new professional, I hope this serves as a resource to aid me in staying educated when I no longer am a student.

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At the time of publication, the author was a second year graduate student in the Student Affairs Administration and Higher Education program at Texas A&M University. He holds a graduate assistantship within the Department of Residence Life and a practicum with the Department of Student Activities.