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Journal of College Student Development 44.5 (2003) 704-707



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Foundations of Student Affairs Practice: How Philosophy, Theory, and Research Strengthen Educational Outcomes Florence A. Hamrick, Nancy J. Evans, and John H. Schuh San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002, 384 pages, $35.00 (hardcover)

This new integrative text, written by three of the most prominent scholars in student affairs, makes a unique contribution to the literature of the field. The task these authors set out to accomplish is on the one hand [End Page 704] refreshingly simple, and on the other, dauntingly complex. As the authors state:

This book is designed to weave together philosophical foundations of higher education and student affairs practice, various developmental theories that have come to frame student affairs practice, and specific interventions—grounded in research—that are designed to enrich the experience of students while they are enrolled at college. (p. xi)

By weaving together various bodies of research and literature that have largely been treated in a more compartmentalized fashion, the authors present a more intellectually coherent structure for the relationships between theory, research, philosophical foundations of the field, and practice. It is also an enormous undertaking that runs the risk of compromising depth of understanding for breadth of materials covered.

Foundations of Student Affairs Practice is organized into three parts. Part 1 provides the organizing framework for the remainder of the book and focuses broadly on the historical, theoretical, and philosophical foundations of the field of student affairs. Part 2 focuses on what the authors refer to as "student-level outcomes." Each chapter addresses one of the outcomes by presenting

an overview to briefly define the outcome and provide philosophical or historical warrants for that outcome. Discussions of relevant student development theories and summaries of in-class and out-of-class interventions associated with the outcome follow. . . . Guiding principles and implications for practice conclude each chapter. (pp. xiii-xiv)

Finally, in Part 3 the authors provide recommendations for practice and research that reinforce the integrated view of student learning and development that is consistent throughout the book.

Part 1 consists of four chapters addressing the history of higher education and institutional diversity; an overview of student development theories (e.g., psychosocial development and cognitive structural theories); an explication of campus environment theories and the impact of environment on student learning and development; and a discussion of the literature and emphasis on student learning in the student affairs field. The scope of these four chapters is indeed enormous—complete texts have been written about subjects that Hamrick, Evans, and Schuh treat in a paragraph. This phenomenon is an ongoing tension throughout the book as large bodies of research and theory are summarized briefly. That said, these chapters provide the reader with an accessible overview of much of the seminal literature of the field. I particularly appreciated the analysis found in chapter 4 of the role of student affairs in the learning process. Because there has been so much discussion of late on "student learning" this chapter provided a very useful look backward at the foundational documents of the field (e.g., The Student Personnel Point of View) as well as more contemporary documents that focus on student learning; and then places these into a dialogue about implications for practice.

Part 2 is comprised of five chapters, each focusing on a student-level outcome. These outcomes include: (a) a self-aware and interpersonally sensitive individual, (b) democratic citizen, (c) educated person, (d) skilled worker, and (e) life skills manager. Although the authors are not explicit about where these choices of outcomes come from, it is presumed that their choice reflects desirable outcomes for students related to higher [End Page 705] education. Each chapter generally describes the particular outcome and then connects to this outcome the historical roots as well as the student development theories that inform an understanding of this outcome. For example, for the outcome identified as "self-aware and interpersonally sensitive individual," the authors first link this outcome to an historical emphasis on individual development, as...

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