My name is Rosie Perez, I use she her pronouns and I was
fortunate to be one of the co-authors of the College Student Development Theory in
Action book.
I'm here to talk with you today about my hopes for the future of student
development theory.
But before we look ahead, I want us to look back and to really
think through what are some of the limitations or qualms we might have about
using theory and practice.
The reality is, like many of you, I've had concerns about student
development theory throughout my career.
I found theory to be a helpful tool or heuristic for understanding what might
happen for students.
And at the same time, I found it difficult to put into practice
because it's been too linear.
It hasn't captured the complex realities of students environments and their lives,
and often it's been identity and power evasive.
And when that happens, it's really ignored the realities of
students who are minoritized.
In this regard, student development theory has been used
as a tool of epistemic injustice.
It's really at times centered ways of knowing, operating,
and being that reflect dominant identities and dominant ideologies.
But it doesn't have to be this way.
Rather than using student development theory as a tool for social reproduction,
we can use student development theory as a way to advance equity and justice.
Now, how might we do that together, you ask?
Our student development Theory in Action framework provides some ways for us to
think through that together.
First, our model really holds students
identities and thinks about them intersectionally as core to how we think
about who students are and how they experience college.
Our model also really attends to the complexity of campus environments and our
sociopolitical world.
Rather than thinking about systems of oppression as kind of secondary or an
afterthought to theory, it really holds that it's ever present,
pervasive, and that how we think about theory,
use theory, and operationalize our work and practice
can be used to either maintain or really challenge and dismantle inequitable
systems.
Finally, our framework really offers possibilities
for us to expand how we think about who builds theory.
Historically, really only certain people, and often faculty or researchers,
have been seen as theory builders.
The reality is, we're all constructors of knowledge.
Our model really asks us to leverage what we know and experience and practice,
and to use it in ways that we might build better, more complex,
more holistic and more equitable ways in thinking about who students are,
how they develop, and what outcomes and futures might we
want for them.
And more importantly, how do we move towards those outcomes
together.
So in this regard, our model is really an opportunity for us
to think through what do we want higher education to be in the future,
what role might development play in that and how do we move towards kind of new
possibilities for higher education and students development in the future.
I hope you join us in really exploring new futures and new opportunities to
think about development.