Student Affairs Administration students, professor win awards at state conference

Graduate students and a professor in the Student Affairs Administration (SAA) program recently took home state recognitions linked to their work in the field as part of the College Student Personnel Association of New York State (CSPA-NYS) annual conference in downtown Binghamton.

Binghamton University student affairs administration faculty also presented various research projects during the event, which ran Oct. 16-18 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel. CSPA-NYS is the state organization representing student affairs professionals.

The following awards were handed out during a ceremony Oct. 17:

• Emily Ziemba, an SAA graduate student, received the Outstanding Graduate Student award.
  
• Deborah Taub, SAA chair and professor, received a Distinguished Service to the Profession award.
  

Ziemba said receiving the award was a “game-changer” for her, since she tends to be her own worst critic, even though she always strives to do her best work.

“Receiving such a title reminds me that I should be proud of myself and all the hard work I have put forth,” she said. “This award truly serves as reassurance that a career path in student affairs is exactly what I should be pursuing.”

“I’m honored to be recognized for my contributions to the student affairs profession through my publications, mentoring, teaching and editorial work on journal editorial boards and as editor-in-chief of the New Directions for Student Services series,” Taub said. “I love the field of student affairs and the contributions I can make to student affairs professionals and future professionals.”

In addition, SAA graduate student Alexandra Yeager won the Esther Lloyd Jones Annual Case Study Competition during the conference. The competition, open to graduate students and new student affairs professionals, offered participants a prompt or a scenario and required them to identify any issues or concerns, identify stakeholders involved and any student development theories that could apply. Then, they had to outline potential solutions.

“This experience was very outside of my comfort zone and it was great for a new graduate student who doesn’t really know everything there is to know about student affairs yet,” Yeager said.

The conference provided SAA faculty and staff the opportunity to share information about what Binghamton’s program offers with other student affairs professionals. Binghamton faculty also gave presentations to student affairs practitioners highlighting recent research projects and how the explored topics affect communities or higher education institutions.

“One aspect that makes our program unique is that we have many opportunities for master’s students to be involved at a meaningful level in faculty research, to present with faculty and publish with faculty,” Taub said. “That’s traditionally done by doctoral students, so for master’s students, it’s a great experience.”

Taub, along with Assistant Professor Melvin Whitehead and Associate Professor John Zilvinskis, delivered the following research presentations during the conference:

Taub: Gender-inclusive housing

The presentation showed highlights of a recent national study on gender-inclusive housing, and highlighted prevalence, location and housing style as well as policies, barriers and lessons learned. It discussed ways in which higher education institutions attempt to respond to the needs of LGBTQ+ students by implementing gender-inclusive housing.

Whitehead: White students’ conversations about race outside the classroom

The presentation discussed findings from a recent research study that explored white college students’ conversations about race with white peers and family members. The research focused on students’ conversations regarding social identity, particularly race, that happen outside classroom settings.

Zilvinskis: New findings on high-impact practices; Engagement of students with disabilities

The presentation highlighted stories from Zilvinskis’ recent book about how various college campuses have utilized high-impact practices, which involve students taking their learning experiences beyond the classroom through internships or other means such as applying it to their personal or work lives. A separate presentation discussed how Zilvinskis and a team of higher education professionals worked to update a survey related to students with disabilities. Those updates were added to the 2021 National Survey of Student Engagement.