Theory Within Higher Education

Megan Marshall

Higher Education Student Affairs, Western Carolina University

HESA 684: Internship II

Needham Yancy Gulley, Ph. D

 Written Assignment 3

Theories are a very interesting aspect of higher education and student affairs graduate

programs specifically. Occasionally when talking with my cohort or with various professionals I

have met here and there, someone will mention a theory. Rarely, however, do I ever see this

conversation as something that is constructive or very helpful, usually just people talking about

facts. This here lies the issues with theories. Theory and practice are very important, but I

critique this model to be more “practice to theory, to better practice.” I believe that theory

should inform practice, but assuming that the order is “theory to practice” to me, seems to

assume that there is not an intuitive or trainable aspect of student affairs work. This is very

clearly not true, given the assistantship work that my cohort as well as myself engaged in for an

entire semester before they were even introduced to developmental theories.

In my work I rarely cite theories, and honestly, hardly remember them most of the time,

but occasionally in my work I do recall that there is a theory for something I am experiencing or

helping a student through. This summer, with parents getting ready for their children to head

to college, I noticed “transition theory” by Schlossberg. This theory essentially notes how

students experience transitions or changes, and that support and strategies are very important

in helping a student through this (Patton et, al., 2016). This is very applicable to the work I did

this summer, especially with my interactions with parental figures. Over the summer, during

my internship at The University of South Carolina Upstate (USCU) I was responsible for giving

tours of the residence halls. During this, I would often times have parents come up to me and

ask me what seemed like a million questions about both the hall and the school. A notable

interaction was with several groups of parents where they asked me if the buildings were coed
and if they have curfews. I explained that in fact the floors are coed, so the person across the

hall or right next to their daughters could be a different gender than them, and that the

students are considered adults and therefor no curfew is required by the university. This was

something that was very startling to these parents. I explained to them that parents have

different rules for their children, and that if that is an issue for them then they need to have a

conversation with their child about their expectations for their behaviors. This is a very

common question among parents, and also relates to a common transition for students. Living

in a communal space is a different experience for students and it inspires independence and

stress among the students. Living alone for the first time is one of the biggest transitions I have

recognized working in housing. Especially last year when I ran a first-year residence hall. I saw

students learn a myriad of different things through this transition.

Living on campus is a huge transition, as identified, but what I do not see a lot of despite

this transition are strategies to mitigate this or to address the issues that arise. From research I

did this summer, some schools use a residential learning model to help address some of these

identified challenges. They use educational programs to teach them about things that might

aid in their transition process. At Western Carolina University, in the department of Residential

Living, we utilize our residential learning model in a similar way, although the programming is

not an effective tool since there is little oversight into its implementation. Something that does

happen is that students are required to attend a first-floor meeting when they move in. These

floor meetings act as a way to address questions that the student may have upon arriving to

their residence hall. Things like laundry, communal bathrooms, mail, safety procedures and

policies are all covered in this meeting. Along with information (which helps with confusion
from not knowing certain things) floor meetings also act as a way for students to make friends.

Another aspect of the transition to college can be not knowing anyone and needing to build a

local support network from scratch.

During my internship at USCU I heard a lot of conversation by professionals surrounding

the developmental stages of our student workers. Professional staff wondered if certain

aspects of a student’s job were appropriate or if they as students could do them. In these

conversations we mostly discussed whether or not students would have the perspective to

understand the department as a larger team and see themselves of members of this team. In

these conversations we rarely spoke theories directly, but the development and growth of the

students were the main focus of the conversation.

Along with “Transition Theory,” a common one that I utilize in my practice is “Validation

Theory.” Validation Theory (Rendón) says that validating someone’s experience helps to build

their confidence which helps in their learning (Patton et, al., 2016). This theory is most often

applied during my 1:1 meeting with students. When I first started in my role as a Graduate

Community Coordinator, I was told that showing up is the most important part for a student.

Showing that you care that you believe in them, that their experience is a valid one is what I

have found to be one of the most helpful tools. In meetings I have never told a student that

their current situation relates to a stage in a theory I know. Knowing the theories does help me

to know that what they are experiencing is normal, and developmentally on track with their

current position as an undergraduate student. Overall, I think that’s what theories do, they

inform us, so we can help students. They’re not meant to be prescriptive ways to solve the
problems of students, they are meant for professionals to understand so that they can use

helping skills, or departmental procedures to assist the students.

 References

Patton, L. D., Renn, K. A., Guido, & F. M., Quaye, S. J. (2016). Student development in college:

Theory, research, and practice. Jossey-Bass.