Faculty Council

The NASPA Graduate Case Study Competition is an opportunity for graduate students to showcase skills and knowledge of the field of Student Affairs. Graduate students may form a team to participate on-site at the Annual Conference.  Participants will review and analyze a case study a week prior to attending and present their findings at the Annual Conference on Monday, March 30th. Case presentations should include a review of ethical, moral, and legal considerations that influenced their decision making in crafting their response to the case study. Teams should be comprised of 2 to 3 current graduate students and must include a faculty sponsor. Up to 12 teams comprised of first- and second-year students (or beyond) will be selected to compete. The first 12 teams to register will be assigned to a presentation time slot, and any additional registrants will be placed on a waiting list. Each team will analyze, evaluate, and provide solutions to a thought-provoking case relevant to the field of Student Affairs to a panel of judges that is representative of student affairs practitioners, faculty, and past case competition winners. 

Applications Now Open for 2022 Case Study Competition!

Are you attending NASPA this year? Would you like to demonstrate what you have been learning in your program?  Are you seeking a way to enhance your skills and receive professional feedback? Do you have a competitive and creative spirit? If so, you are encouraged to register to compete in NASPA's Annual Graduate Student Case Study Competition. Winners will be provided the opportunity to share their case study presentation in an educational session at the 2020 Annual NASPA Conference and be presented with a $100 gift card. 

Registration closes at midnight on Tuesday, February 1, 2020! Register your team now!

If you have any questions throughout the process, please contact Shanna Smith. 

The NASPA Faculty Council is pleased to share its mentoring program for faculty. The program will pair a more seasoned mentor (tenure track or non-tenure track) with a new faculty member. The purpose of the program is to provide support for mentoring relationships whereby new faculty can glean advice and guidance about scholarship, teaching, service, and career plans from seasoned scholars. Mentors and mentees will meet regularly between the period between the 2023 annual conference and the 2024 annual conference (pairs meet once per month with the schedule agreed upon by both individuals). At minimum, the pair should plan to review/discuss the mentee's CV, co-create a short and long-term professional goal and plan to achieve established goals. Pairs will also be asked to attend one Faculty Council On-Demand Professional Development webinar. 

Applications for this program are due January 20, 2023.

Involvement Criteria

Participants must be active NASPA members. Mentees must be within their first 1 - 4 years of appointment as an assistant professor (tenure track or non-tenure track), adjunct, or lecturer. Mentors must have a minimum of five years teaching experience.

Apply now!

Faculty Mentor Sign-Up Form

Faculty Mentee Registration Form

Questions? Email Tiffany Cresswell-Yeager, [email protected] or Jackie Clark, [email protected], for more information.

For a comprehensive overview of the program, including background, ideal applicant profile, expectations, and benefits of the program, please view this overview document. 

The NASPA Emerging Faculty Leader Academy is a one-year program for emerging faculty leaders who want to gain knowledge, techniques and experience in order to develop and sustain a fulfilling faculty career. Seven participants will participate in on-line and in-person professional development and educational sessions in order to gain additional knowledge and skills about being a leader as a faculty member.  Potential topics may include: teaching strategies and curriculum development, resources to deal with issues of tenure, merit and performance, and serving within professional associations such as NASPA. 

The cohort who completes the NASPA Emerging Faculty Leaders Academy will be able to:

•        Define leadership in a faculty role for themselves
•        Identify individual plans to excel in a faculty career
•        Target at least one "take away" from the individual plan to actuate 
•        Expand network of colleagues to collaborate within faculty work
•        Explore ways to be involved in NASPA as a faculty member

Application Process

The application process for the each cohort of the Emerging Faculty Leader Academy opens each fall! Check here for dates for the next cohort.

Current and Previous Academy Members

Please join us in congratulating the incoming cohort for the Emerging Faculty Leader Academy!

2023-2024 Emerging Faculty Leader Academy cohort

See previous EFLA cohort members here:

2022-2023 Cohort

2021-2022 Cohort

2020-2021 Cohort

2019-2020 Cohort

2018-2019 Cohort

2017-2018 Cohort

2016-2017 Cohort

In an effort to increase opportunities for higher education and student affairs program faculty to engage with colleagues on program coordination and curriculum related issues, the NASPA Faculty Council is initiates a monthly web conference effort entitled Online Faculty Forums.

Online Faculty Forums are informal, topical discussions using a web conference platform.   A faculty colleague with particular interest in, or experience with, the topic of the month will serve as the host and discussion moderator.   

As the name implies, these are meant to be forums, exchanges of ideas, not webinars.  The intent is to support collaboration, knowledge sharing, and problem solving.  In addition, we anticipate these sessions will influence the Faculty Council agenda and support conference program development addressing needs and interests of program faculty.

Please see the Online Faculty Forums page for current information, and please see below for a sample of previous recordings.

Dynamic Tensions in Student Affairs Preparation Programs:  Curricular Developments - February 16, 2016 - Moderated by Susan Longerbeam, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, Northern Arizona University

We invite all faculty and student affairs administrators to consider serving as discussants for the Scholarly Paper Sessions at the 2022 NASPA Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, March 19-23.

Discussants add value to the scholarly paper presenters and enhance their presentations. Expectations for discussants include editing three scholarly papers prior to the conference and offering written and verbal feedback to authors during the conference session. Discussant comments following the presentations generally summarize the constructive feedback.

Scholarly papers are due to discussants no later than February 1, 2022. Discussants occasionally prompt authors in completing their papers prior to the deadline.  If the presenter does not provide the paper by February 7, 2022 the presentation may be pulled from the 2022 NASPA Conference. 

Discussants should have a research and publication agenda with general methodological expertise and higher education content knowledge. Applicants who are assigned as discussants will be notified via email of their assigned session, paper titles, and author contact information.

Please fill out the following form by October 15, 2021: http://apps.naspa.org/cfp/evt_frm_user.cfm?event_id=2635.

Interested discussants should have a terminal degree.If you have any questions, please contact Jill Dunlap at [email protected]. 

Join us for a Virtual Doctoral Seminar experience at the 2021 NASPA Virtual  Conference.  The doctoral seminar was created to provide support and information for higher education and student affairs doctoral students to help them successfully navigate the process. Faculty, administrators, and doctoral students will facilitate conversations and structured time to reflect about how to be successful in the doctoral experience. In addition to including time for networking with a variety of groups, this seminar will also expose attendees to different pathways that one can take after acquiring their doctorate.

Date: Sunday, March 21st

Time: 12 p.m. - 4 p.m. ET

Registration is due March 1, 2021. You can register at this link. If you have any questions, please email Dr. Jill Dunlap, Senior Director for Research, Policy, and Civic Engagement at [email protected].

The Doctoral Seminar is sponsored by Heartful Editor. As part of your registration for the 2021 Doctoral Seminar, Heartful Editor will provide a $90 gift to each participant to use for 2 hours of academic writing coaching and editing support at any time during their doctoral journey.

The NASPA Faculty Council is launching a social media initiative to highlight graduate students and faculty in our programs! Please nominate someone or self-nominate today!

Graduate student form

Faculty form

Spotlights will begin continue throughout the academic year. Questions? Email [email protected]

The NASPA Faculty Council is pleased to announce its newly created Annual Awards. These awards are intended to recognize the extraordinary efforts and contributions to the profession through teaching, scholarship, and service made by full- and part-time faculty members. As you consider your nominations (including self-nominations), please note the general nomination criteria as well as the specific nomination critera for each award. Award winners will be recognized during the annual NASPA conference.

Nominate yourself or a colleague using this link. Application deadline for all awards is Friday, October 6th.

Faculty Service Award

The Faculty Council Service Award is presented to recognize an individual who has been committed to advancing the Faculty Council or Faculty/scholarly initiatives within NASPA.

Award Criteria:

• Any number of years of service to the profession or field (serving NASPA faculty and initiatives – beyond campus involvement; for example, leadership of and service on NASPA committees, mentoring sessions at conferences, service in NASPA regions, etc.)
• Service to the higher education/student affairs community (e.g., NASPA Knowledge Communities, outreach, other professional associations)
• Preference will be given toward nominees who have been involved in service related to the development of faculty and graduate preparation programs

Faculty Council Early Career Award

This award is given to a full-time faculty member (non-tenure/tenured/tenure-track) within the first 6 years of becoming a full-time faculty member that has distinguished themselves in research, teaching, and service. In particular, the award is reserved for an emergent scholar, who has produced evidence of published scholarly works in the student affairs profession/field, has established themselves as excellent teachers to their students, and who has contributed to the field through their service.

Award Criteria:

• Evidence of some scholarly work to the profession or field (for example, publications in student affairs journals, books or book chapters related to student affairs, scholarly presentations about student affairs at conferences or via webinars)
• Evidence of excellent and/or innovative teaching explained in nominating materials (for example, peer evaluations, formal and informal student course evaluations, institutional recognition, teaching philosophy statements, professional development related to teaching)
• Evidence of academic and professional mentoring of students; culminating project, thesis, or dissertation advising
• Evidence of participation in institutional, national, and/or community-engaged service  

Faculty Council Mid-Career Award

This award is given to a full-time faculty member (non-tenure/tenured/tenure-track) within the mid-faculty career stage (7 to 15 years since beginning as a full-time faculty member) that has distinguished themselves in research and teaching. In particular, the award is reserved for a scholar who has produced evidence of published scholarly works to the student affairs profession/field, has established themselves as excellent teachers to their students, and who has contributed to the field through their service.

Award Criteria:

• Evidence of significant scholarly work to the profession or field (for example, publications in student affairs journals, books or book chapters related to student affairs, scholarly presentations about student affairs at conferences or via webinars)
• Evidence of excellent and/or innovative teaching explained in nominating materials  (for example, peer evaluations, formal and informal student course evaluations, institutional recognition, teaching philosophy statements, professional development related to teaching)
• Evidence of academic and professional mentoring of students; culminating project, thesis, or dissertation advising
• Evidence of participation and leadership in institutional, national, and/or community-engaged service  
• Evidence of developing and mentoring early-career faculty members

Faculty Council Award for Outstanding Contributions by a Scholar-Practitioner

This award is given to a full-time professional in higher education/student affairs who has brought a wealth of current and relevant real-world experience into the classroom that has uniquely benefited the educational experience. This award also highlights the contributions that adjunct/part-time faculty members make to graduate preparation programs. 

Award Criteria:

• Evidence of sustained excellent and/or innovative teaching explained in nominating materials  (for example, peer evaluations, formal and informal student course evaluations, institutional recognition, teaching philosophy statements, professional development related to teaching)
• Evidence of contributions to graduate preparation programs (for example, student mentorship/advising, creating professional development opportunities, service on dissertation/project committees, assistantship/practicum supervision, other academic committees)

Faculty Council Excellence in Teaching Award

This award is given to a full-time faculty member at any rank who has demonstrated excellence, enthusiasm, and innovation in teaching, in any modality (e.g., face-to-face, hybrid, online).

Award Criteria:

• Evidence of sustained excellent and/or innovative teaching explained in nominating materials (for example, peer evaluations, formal and informal student course evaluations, institutional recognition, teaching philosophy statements, professional development related to teaching)
• Evidence of advancements in course curricula and/or course (re)design
• Evidence of use of equitable and inclusive pedagogy in the classroom 

Faculty Council Distinguished Support for Graduate Students Award

This award is given to a full-time faculty member at any rank who has demonstrated excellence in advising and exceptional support in fostering the personal, academic, and professional development of graduate students.

Award Criteria:

• Evidence of bolstering the holistic development of graduate students both during and after their time in a graduate preparation program, attending to their emotional and/or personal needs 
• Evidence of contributing to graduate students’ academic and professional success (for example, innovative and sustained advising, dissertations/theses chaired, presentations or publications co-authored with students, one-on-one and/or group mentorship on writing, job market preparation)

Faculty Council Outstanding Publication Award

This award recognizes publications released within the last 2 years that have the potential to advance the student affairs profession or graduate preparation programs. For this award, public scholarship (e.g., practice briefs, blog posts, editorials) and/or traditional academic scholarship (e.g., articles, books, book chapters) will be considered.

NOTE: This award may be awarded to multiple individuals involved in a single creative activity.

Award Criteria:

• Evidence of scholarly contributions that advance the field of student affairs and the student affairs profession.