From the Editor

This issue of The Journal of College Student Development represents the inaugural issue of a new leadership team, following the exceptional direction of John Braxton and his Associate Editors Susan Jones, Kristen Renn, and Vasti Torres. The higher education profession is grateful for their careful stewardship of our profession’s scholarship and of JCSD over the past 7 years. For the next several issues, we will continue to benefit from their editorial decisions as we process the queue of manuscripts accepted under their direction. I am deeply humbled and privileged to accept the invitation to edit this journal.

With this transition I am pleased to introduce readers to our new leadership team. As Editor, I come with a background in the scholarship of student development—more specifically, moral development of young adults. My teaching and research have been informed by both qualitative and quantitative inquiry. A secondary line of research for me has been the development of student affairs professionals—how they are trained, socialized, and cultivated professionally throughout their careers. The connections between research, teaching and practice run deep for me. I have spent my entire postdoctoral career at the University of Iowa, teaching in and leading the Higher Education and Student Affairs graduate program. It is here I have had the deep privilege of working with committed colleagues, inquisitive students, and supportive elders.

My first decision as Editor was to expand the leadership team and to add a new position, Senior Associate Editor, to assist with the management of the Journal and facilitate the time to publication. Following a national search for Associate Editors, I am pleased to introduce readers to our leadership team. They represent exceptional scholarship, an unwavering commitment to social justice in the academy, and a deep connection to the work of ACPA—College Student Educators International. The entire team has served as JCSD reviewers.

As Senior Associate Editor, Dafina-Lazarus Stewart (uses ze, zim, zir/hir pronouns) also serves as Associate Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs at Bowling Green State University. Hir research agenda focuses on issues of diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice in US higher education, particularly around race, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender, as well as religion, faith, and spirituality. Dr. Stewart engages the issues of individual experiences, identity, and outcomes as well as community and institutional structures and systems presented by these social constructions and constrictions predominantly through critical and deconstructivist paradigms and attendant qualitative methodologies.

Two colleagues will share the work of Associate Editor for Research-in-Brief and On Campus. Jan L. Arminio is Professor and Director of the Higher Education Program at George Mason University. Her scholarship focuses on multicultural issues, qualitative research, assessment, and campus programs. From 2004–2008, Dr. Arminio served as President of CAS, Council for the Advancement of Standards. She also was appointed to and later chaired the NASPA Faculty Fellows and the ACPA Senior Scholars. Her recent scholarly books included contributions on student veterans in higher education, inclusivity on campus, and qualitative research. Robert Reason, Professor of Student Affairs and Higher Education at Iowa State University, studies how college affects students. His recent work focuses on assessing and improving civic learning for personal and social responsibility in college. He has completed several studies of first-year student outcomes and is a noted expert on issues of student persistence in college. Before returning to his doctoral alma mater, Dr. Reason was at Penn State University’s Center for the Study of Higher Education.

As Associate Editor for International Research and Scholarship, Tricia Seifert is a faculty member in the Adult and Higher Education program at Montana State University and maintains an appointment in the Leadership, Higher and Adult Education Department at the University of Toronto. Using a mixed methodological approach, her scholarship examines organizational cultures and conditions as well as student experiences associated with postsecondary learning and success. She has served as Faculty in Residence for ACPA’s Commission for Global Dimensions on Student Development.

Leading the Journal’s commitment to introducing readers to new literature in the field, Maureen E. Wilson will serve as Associate Editor of Book Reviews. She is Associate Professor...