Beginning Your Journey: A Guide for New Professionals in Student Affairs (Fourth Edition)

The transition from graduate school to a full-time position in student affairs can be filled with both opportunities and challenges. In order to be successful, new professionals must understand the organizational and political realities of working on college and university campuses.

Beginning Your Journey: A Guide for New Professionals in Student Affairs addresses the most critical and current issues for those entering the field. In this comprehensive guide, seasoned student affairs leaders and new professionals share practical advice and offer broad perspectives on:

• Managing the first job search and networking professionally
• Seeking opportunities for career advancement
• Supervising student affairs staff Achieving work–life balance
• Defining professional and personal ethics Collaborating with faculty colleagues
• Handling critical incidents and larger crises
• Assessing student learning outcomes
• Using technology and social media effectively

Whether you are moving into student affairs from a graduate preparation program or making a career change, this book shows you how to navigate and negotiate within the higher education landscape.

Praise for Beginning Your Journey

“Graduate school and early-career socialization helps new professionals transition to their careers. Through the voices of seasoned professionals and those early on their path, Beginning Your Journey provides a good launching pad for discussion in a capstone seminar by helping students anticipate and prepare for inevitable challenges.” —MAUREEN E. WILSON, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Higher Education and Student Affairs, Bowling Green State University

“Beginning Your Journey should be required reading in all preparation programs to ensure new professionals are equipped with the enhanced soft skills so necessary to succeed in the field. The textmaterial is very accessible to new professionals entering the work force, with chapters covering key issues, skills, and concepts encountered in the first position.” —DIANE L. COOPER, Professor of College Student Affairs Administration, University of Georgia

“Not only will this book prove valuable to new professionals, but in a rapidly changing higher education environment surrounded by political and financial realities, supervisors will benefit from reviewing the current state of these issues as well.” —CHERYL M. CALLAHAN, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

“This book is a must-read for emerging and new professionals in the field of student affairs. In this latest edition, Amey and Reesor continue offering an accessible and meaningful compilation of both practical and theoretically grounded concepts to socialize readers into the field.” —JEFFREY C. SUN,Professor and Assistant Department Chair, Department of Educational Leadership, Evaluation, andOrganizational Development, University of Louisville

“This book should be handed to every new professional as they begin their work in student affairs. It contains a wealth of practical information and advice from outstanding leaders in our field, and it covers all of the bases in an easy-to-read manner.” —PEG L. BLAKE, Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, Humboldt State University

Paperback | 2015 | 320 pages

ISBN: 978-0-931654-79-4