The mission of the College Student Personnel Administration (CSPA) program is to develop a strong academic community of critical scholar-practitioners to advance social justice in their practice of higher education and student affairs. We seek to develop socially just scholar-practitioners who are highly engaged in the field of higher education and student affairs. Diversity and critical social justice concepts are addressed across the curriculum, specifically in the College Student Development and Diversity in Higher Education courses. The CSPA program is dedicated to addressing the intersectionality of identity, gender expression, gender preference, socioeconomic class, privilege and culture.
Students develop an individualized capstone project to connect theory to practice under the supervision of faculty members. Students will also complete a comprehensive portfolio, driven by their professional growth and development throughout the program.
Evening classes are offered for both part-time and full-time students. A mix of hybrid and online courses are offered. However, many classes are on-campus classes.
The CSPA program features a distinctive graduate experience, which requires core coursework, a professional portfolio and a final capstone project integrated. The CSPA curriculum is distributed across the four competencies adapted from ACPA/NASPA Professional Competencies: student development; social justice and inclusion; advising and support; and assessment, evaluation, and research with an emphasis on critical social justice.
Students develop an individualized final capstone project focused on contemporary or historical issues in higher education. The final capstone project is supervised by a full-time faculty member.
Jobs included in this category are entry-level professionals and other positions in multiple areas in colleges and universities, such as financial aid, housing, career services, intercollegiate athletics, advising, fraternity and sorority life, service learning, international programs, and others. Recent graduates have found employment as academic advisors, residence hall directors, first-year experience coordinators and in student activities at both private and public postsecondary institutions.
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