Running head: THEORIES PAPER

J.Valerie Lamarre Laurent

COUN Student Services Higher Education
Georgia Southern University
Theories Paper

THEORIES PAPER

Theory Paper
As student affairs professionals it is important to know what theories do. Theories set up a
framework to explain the different complexities of life. Theories do not inform us about what
exactly to do, but they do provide us with ways to make decisions and to think about how to
interpret individuals, environments and organizations (John H.Schuh, 2011) Throughout this
paper I will provide the major concepts of Chickerings Seven Vectors, Challenge and Support
Theory and African American Mens Identity Theory and describe the implications for said
theories for the functional areas of Orientation, Student Activities and Multicultural Students
Centers within the student affairs profession.
The first theory is Chickerings Seven Vectors of Development, which is a psychosocial
development theory. Psychosocial development theories are a theory family that focus on
individuals (students) interaction with his or her social world. As students mature they go
through different issues and psychosocial development theories explain the dissonance that the
students go through. Ultimately, the goal of the family theory psychosocial development is for
students to be the best person that they can be.
Chickerings vectors explain the different stages of development that contribute to students
in post-secondary institutions formation of their identity. The university setting is the first time
that most individuals are on their own, prior to this point most students are in the sheltered
environment of their parents household. This new educational environment helps students
through these seven vectors. From my understanding the students are in a trajectory motion they
must complete one vector to move into the next I see it as a spiral motion. As stated in `Student

THEORIES PAPER

Services: a Handbook for the profession the vectors start by the student developing competence,
moving toward managing emotions, moving through autonomy toward independence,
establishing identity, developing a purpose and developing integrity (John H.Schuh, 2011).
Within the functional area of New Student Programs and Orientation it is evident that they
may use Chickerings vectors in the implementations of their programs. Orientation can be
defined as a collaborative institutional effort to enhance student success by assisting student and
their families in the transition to the new college environment (Wanda I Overland, 2011).
Because students attend orientation over the summer prior to entering the university this is the
first step of students entering the first vector, developing competence. The first vector covers
intellectual competence and at orientation students are given information on how to be successful
in a university setting, offices within all realms of student and academic affairs present
information to the students so that they can begin to prepare for the rigor of the university and
ways that they can make connections. Another way Chickerings vectors are evident is the idea
of the freshman course model, the course provides first year students an introduction to different
fields of study as well as helps them cope with concerns associated with their freshman status
(Wanda I Overland, 2011). By assisting the students cope with the concerns of being a first year
student students are moving into the next vector of managing their emotions.
Challenge and Support is another theory that falls under the psychosocial family. Sanfords
theory of challenge and support is said to be one of the most fundamental theories of student
development (John H.Schuh, 2011). According to Sanford students need a perfect balance of
challenge and support for development to happen, if students have too much support they will
remain stagnant and if there is too much of a challenge they will be in a state of panic. Different

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populations of students have different needs as far as how much challenge and support they need
in order to be successful.
Student Activities is a functional area of student affairs that encompasses almost all cocurricular activities ranging from fraternity and sorority life to student government and
programming boards. When we talk about community in higher education, we are referring to a
broad vision for campus life that allows students to learn, grow and develop to their best
potential in a challenging yet safe environment (O'Neill, 2011). With my experience with
student activities, student organizations must have an advisor in order to organize on campus.
With student programming board students may be charge of planning large scale events; students
have large budgets to work with as well. As an advisor for this group one would mostly have
students run a large scale event such as homecoming and allow the students to function for the
most part on their own, however always in the background therefore you can support them if
they need it.
The Last theory is social identity theory of Mens Identity Theory particularly that of African
American men. Social identity theory is who students are, how they see themselves and how they
relate to others. aspects of identity include race, social class, gender, sexual orientation,
religion, language, abilities and age (John H.Schuh, 2011). Mostly when discussing social
identities we are talking about the oppression of certain groups. In general mens identity theory
discusses masculinity and what it means to be a man, African American men have to deal with
negative group stereotypes in academic settings.
Multicultural student centers provide African American men with programs targeted directly
toward them to assist them. They may have mentorship programs to pair a rising senior with a
freshman to assist them.

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Student affairs professionals must be knowledgeable of student needs and levels of

development to offer meaningful programming. The many different theories are here to support
students in their many areas of life. The ultimate goal of the theories is to understand where a
student is coming from when you have discussions with them. While I only touched on three
different theories a student affairs educator must be knowledgeable of all theories to assist in the
development of students. Being aware of social identity theories you can understand the
behaviors and struggles of college students.

THEORIES PAPER

Bibliography
John H.Schuh, S. R. (2011). Student Services : A Handbook for the Profession. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
O'Neill, E. G. (2011). Student Activites . In N. Z. Associates, Rentz's Student Affairs : Practice in
Higher Education (pp. 359-395). Springfield : Charles C Thomas Publisher .
Wanda I Overland, A. L. (2011). Orientation. In N. Z. Associates, Rentz's Student Affairs
:Practice in Higher Education (pp. 281-314). Springfiel: Charles C Thomas Publisher .