The College Student Personnel (CSP) degree program at Bowling Green State University was initiated in 1964 under the direction of the late Frank C. Arnold, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Counseling Center. A committee consisting of faculty members from the departments of Psychology and Sociology assisted in giving this program leadership for the first five years. The typical size of the class from 1964 to 1969 was six to eight students. These first students usually worked in the residence halls in an administrative capacity.

In the fall of 1968, the late Dr. Gerald L. Saddlemire was employed as the first Departmental Chair effective June 1, 1969. Dr. Saddlemire expanded the curriculum and arranged for a number of internships for CSP graduate students. The size of the class increased to 17 in the 1970-71 academic year. Opportunities for salaried internships for the graduate students increased both on the Bowling Green campus and at other local colleges. Dr. Saddlemire served in the role of Department Chair until 1985 and continued teaching and advising students until his death at the age of 70 in 1991.

Dr. Harold Marquardt joined the staff in September, 1970. He contributed significantly to the growth of the program until his untimely death in April of 1978. Dr. Audrey Rentz, who completed her doctoral degree at Michigan State University, came to campus in 1974 with a joint appointment in the Division of Student Affairs and the College Student Personnel Department. In September, 1978 she became a full-time faculty member. In December, 1996, Dr. Rentz retired from BGSU after 24 years of service. She continued to teach on a part-time basis in 1997.

Dr. Carney Strange completed his doctoral work at the University of Iowa and also joined the Department in 1978. He served as Department Chair from 1985 until 1993. Dr. Patricia King, who completed her doctoral degree at the University of Minnesota, was appointed to the faculty first as Visiting Assistant Professor in 1982 and was tenured in 1986. She served as Acting Chair during the 1993-94 academic year and was named Chair in 1994. Dr. King left the faculty after 19 years to join the faculty of the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan. Dr. Leila Moore served on the faculty as a Visiting Associate Professor during the 1985-87 academic years. Dr. Michael Coomes completed his doctoral work at Indiana University and joined the CSP Department in 1986; he was awarded tenure in 1993. He assumed the position of Chair in 1999. Dr. Carolyn Palmer joined the Department in August of 1990 from her position as Assistant Director of Housing for Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she also completed her doctoral work. Dr. Palmer was awarded tenure in 1996 and currently oversees the Adult Learner Focus program. Dr. Robert DeBard, who completed his doctorate at Indiana University, began teaching courses for the Department in 1990 while serving as Dean of Firelands College. Dr. DeBard became a full-time faculty member in the Department in 1996.

Dr. Vivian Rogers, as a Visiting Professor during the 1984-85 academic year, provided leadership for developing a new emphasis on the adult learner. In 1986, Dr. Barbara Bauer came from Teachers College at Columbia University and built upon Dr. Roger’s work. Dr. Fiona MacKinnon, who completed her doctoral work at Ohio State University, was appointed to the faculty as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 1988. She was awarded tenure in 1993.

Several administrators have served as adjunct faculty in the department. Dr. Suzanne Crawford, Dean of Continuing Education, International, and Summer Programs, first joined the University Staff in 1974 and retired in 2001. Dr. Edward Whipple, Vice President of Student Affairs at BGSU, completed his doctorate at Oregon State University, and began teaching in the department in 1996. Dr. John Saddlemire served as a Visiting Associate Professor from 1997-2001. He left the CSP program in 2001 when he became the Dean of Students at the University of Connecticut. He is the son of Dr. Gerald Saddlemire.

In January of 1991, the name of the Department was changed from College Student Personnel to Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) to reflect the incorporation of the Higher Education Administration doctoral program. In the fall of 1991, Dr. Donald D. Gehring joined the Department faculty as Professor and Director of the Higher Education Doctoral Program. The Department of Higher Education and Student Affairs then housed two distinct programs: a) a two year master’s degree program in College Student Personnel and b) a 60-hour post-master’s doctoral program in Higher Education Administration. Dr. Gehring retired in December 2000 and now resides in Georgia.

From the fall of 1996 through the summer of 1997, Dr. Mary Howard-Hamilton took a leave from the University of Florida to join the CSP faculty as a Visiting Associate Professor.

In the fall of 1998, Dr. Fred A. Bonner II joined the CSP faculty as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Bonner completed his doctoral work at the University of Arkansas, and had previously taught at Centenary College, in Shreveport, Louisiana. Dr. Bonner left the faculty in August 2000 to join the faculty of the University of Texas at San Antonio.

In 1998, the College of Education and Human Development restructured into five schools. The College Student Personnel and Higher Education Administration programs were combined with the Educational Foundations and Inquiry, Educational Administration and Supervision, and Leadership Studies programs to form the School of Leadership and Policy Studies. Dr. Patricia King served as the School's first Director, and Drs. Gehring and Coomes have similarly served in that capacity.

Fall 2001 saw the largest influx of new faculty in the program's history. Dr. Michael Dannells (Ph.D., University of Iowa) joined the faculty after teaching for 15 years at Kansas State University. Dr. Ellen Broido, who earned her doctorate at Pennsylvania State University, joined the faculty after teaching at Portland State University. Dr. Maureen Wilson (Ph.D., Ohio State University) taught from 1998-2001 at Mississippi State University before joining the faculty at Bowling Green.

Dr. Dafina Stewart joined the HESA program in the fall of 2005. She completed her doctoral work in 2001 from The Ohio State University and served as an assistant professor of college student personnel and higher education at Ohio University from 2002-2005.

In the Fall of 2006, Higher Education and Student Affairs was granted the approval by the College of Education and Human Development and the BGSU Board of Trustees to act as a free-standing department.

These faculty serve about 75 full-time students in the CSP program and 50 full and part-time students in the HIED program. In 1995, a departmental convocation was initiated to welcome new students and affirm the CSP and HIED programs' academic values. This event has been held annually since that time.

To learn more about their current professional activities of CSP and HIED faculty, please visit the HESA Faculty page.