Department of Higher Education and Student Affairs

The master's program in College Student Personnel is designed to prepare practitioners for positions in student affairs through an integration of theory-based course work emphasizing student development that is complemented by professional internships in college or university settings. Both aspects of this program enable students to become reflective practitioners who are able to combine knowledge and skill with their personal and professional values as they serve their profession.

The explicit goal of the College Student Personnel program is to focus the concerns of its graduates on enhancing learning environments for students during their collegiate experiences.

Graduates will be challenged by professional responsibilities in their internship and they will be exposed to several theoretical frameworks that provide a foundation for understanding many facets of the undergraduate learning experience.

Program Mission & Purpose
Since 1964, the BGSU College Student Personnel Program has prepared student affairs professionals. An emphasis is placed on mastering the concepts of human development and examining the implications of this knowledge base for the design of educational practice in general and the implementation of student services in particular. As a result of participating in the academic and experiential coursework, graduates are expected to demonstrate learning outcomes such as those listed below:

• Define the historical roots and philosophical assumptions underlying the formation of the student affairs profession.
• Describe the various student affairs functions and discuss current issues of significance to select functional areas.
• Identify and demonstrate application of the basic tools of inquiry (e.g., statistics, research design, evaluation models) to student affairs issues, problems, and programs.
• Explain some of the basic patterns and processes of human growth and development (e.g., psychosocial, life-span, cognitive-developmental, personal style).
• Explain the dynamics of basic environmental dimensions (i.e., human aggregate, physical, organizational, and perceptual) associated with various campus environments.
• Within the person-environment interaction paradigm, identify some of the key documented outcomes of college attendance and their relationship to various institutional characteristics.
• Demonstrate an appreciation for students of diverse backgrounds by characterizing the special needs of a variety of student subgroups (e.g., racial/ethnic, adult, women, international students).
• Offer an informed assessment of your competencies that characterize your strengths as an emerging professional in student affairs.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between theory and practice by designing student development interventions that draw from the contribution of several theories.
• List and explain several issues facing higher education and the potential role student affairs might play in their resolution.