MAPPING
THE FUTURE
OF STUDENT AFFAIRS
Task Force Highlights
Opportunities and Challenges
BY NANCY GRUND
What will student affairs work look like in the next decade? What new responsibilities will senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) assume? How can SSAOs prepare to meet the volving needs of students and higher education institutions?
To answer those questions and more, leaders from NASPA
and ACPA–College Student Educators International formed
the Task Force on the Future of Student Affairs. Task force
members analyzed current trends that could dramatically
affect higher education in the United States, and outlined the
implications of those trends for student affairs.
The task force was charged with helping to ensure the
long-term credibility and viability of the student affairs field
and the fulfillment of its responsibility to serve future gen-
erations of college students and colleagues in higher educa-
tion. During the last two years, task force members reviewed
foundational documents and the history of the profession to
guide their analysis and discussion. A summary of the final
report, “Envisioning the Future of Student Affairs,” which was
presented at the 2010 NASPA Annual Conference, follows
along with comments from leading SSAOs.
Environmental Challenges Facing
Student Affairs
The world is characterized by increasingly integrated economies, connected through an international knowledge network
and linked through communication and information technologies. Although globalization affects institutions differently, all
colleges and universities experience the effects of an intercon-nected global society, the task force reports. To meet the needs
