Program & Events

Explore the Program

With over 700 educational sessions this year, you will find ample opportunities to increase your knowledge and explore new ideas from across the country. Be sure to make time for our revamped exhibit hall programs, Tuesday night talent show, communities fair and more!

2019 Core programming

The 2019 Conference Leadership Committee selected programs focusing on the three core content areas, Belonging & Student Success, Community & Democratic Engagement, and Leaning into the next 100 Years.

Belonging & Student Success

As student affairs professionals committed to student success, we must transform our institutions into nimble environments where we are student-ready. We must explore the necessary conditions required to develop imaginative, responsible, future-oriented, risk-taking solutions to seemingly intractable problems.

• How do we prepare students for disciplinary excellence, a successful career, and a meaningful life?
• What is the student affairs profession’s responsibility and role in ensuring students are prepared for living as civically engaged citizens?
• How do we best help students develop their sense of responsibility for others?
• What programs and practices – on our campuses and beyond – are proving to be effective in helping students grow in their sense of self?

Community and Democratic Engagement

Higher education is under scrutiny for its role in the democratic process. On one hand, universities are seen as echo chambers that reinforce liberal biases and marginalizes conservative students. On the other hand, student affairs educators struggle to engage students across difference in meaningful ways. We must create an environment where we assist students in navigating the complex world of activism and democratic engagement.

• What are emerging practices in advising, challenging, and supporting student activist?
• How do we help students understand their role as change agents and involved members of a democratic society?
• How do we create pathways to purposeful engagement in the community?
• How do we facilitate and sustain dialogue around polarizing viewpoints?
• What opportunities exist for academic partnerships focusing on civic engagement and student activism?
• How do student affairs educators construct a professional identity that is congruent with personal core values? Or what do we do when it’s not?

Leaning into the next 100 Years

In 2019, we will begin our next 100 years as an Association. Student affairs has evolved from our early beginnings of student support to a remarkably diverse profession that has multiple layers and varied perspectives. Within higher education, it has often been said that we stand upon the shoulders of those who have come before us.  The founders of the student affairs profession are individuals whose actions have inspired and transformed individual lives, institutions, communities, and the world.  Their legacy will continue to be felt for generations to come and we have a responsibility to leave a new legacy for our future professionals. 

• How does the profession develop new, mid-level and senior leaders to build upon the legacy of the profession? How do current student affairs educators prepare the next generation of colleagues to effectively serve in the profession? 

• In what ways have students, organizations and institutions been transformed by social justice movements and continue to be challenged in a truly global society?

• What are strategies for ensuring equal access in admission, student participation, graduate education, faculty and administration for diverse populations?

• What is student affairs’ role in leading movements or managing responses to them, particularly in times of crises, economic challenges, rapid change in the environment, and increasing demands from stakeholders?