DEVELOPING HESA GRADUATE STUDENT CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN A DIVERSITY IN HIED COURSE

Oct 15, 2026

A critical consciousness framework examines how higher education and student affairs (HESA) graduate students experience an elective Diversity in HIED course. Using narrative inquiry, the study analyzes student coursework from online discussion board conversations and journal entries. Findings show students building engagement foundations through emotional themes, reconceptualizing “diversity,” and applying course learning to HESA practice. Results indicate HESA graduate programs can support personal and professional development by preparing students for active critical consciousness engagement in practice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Literature Review

Social Justice and Inclusion in HESA Curriculum

Preparing HESA Professionals

Social Identities in the Classroom

DEVELOPING HESA GRADUATE STUDENT CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN A DIVERSITY IN HIED COURSE Elsa Camargo The University of Texas at Arlington Leslie Jo Shelton University of Arkansas Charles J Thompson University of South Carolina Abstract This study uses a critical consciousness framework to understand the experiences of higher education and student affairs (HESA) graduate students in an elective Diversity in HIED course. We drew from narrative inquiry to analyze data from selected student coursework in online discussion board conversations and journal entries. Students demonstrated building a foundation for engagement with critical consciousness, particularly through themes of interest in the emotions that surfaced during the course, reconceptualizing “diversity,” and how to apply their learning to HESA practice. Participant learning reflected that HESA graduate programs can foster an important foundation for personal and professional development in this area. This knowledge can help faculty and supervisors support HESA graduate students’learning and preparation for active engagement regarding critical consciousness in HESA practice. Keywords: critical consciousness, diversity course, HESA graduate preparation Please direct inquires about this manuscript to: Elsa Camargo, [elsa.camargo@uta.edu](elsa.camargo@uta.edu) College Student Affairs Journal, Volume 41(2), pp. 52-67 ISSN 2381-2338 Copyright 2023 Southern Association for College Student Affairs All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 53 College Student Affairs Journal Vol. 41, No. 2, 2023 2018; Shelton & Yao, 2019) . Given these complexities, HESA graduate preparation programs have a responsibility to develop scholar-practitioners prepared to engage critical consciousness in their HESA work. This preparation should be infused throughout HESA graduate programs, as well as in courses focused specifically on deep engagement with diversity in HIED topics (Shelton & Yao, 2019) . Literature Review The importance of social justice in student affairs work has long been acknowledged by HESA professional organizations. The 2015 ACPA/NASPA Professional Competencies explicitly recognized Social Justice and Inclusion (SJI) as a core competency of higher education professionals. The SJI competency calls for educators who can“advocate on issues of social justice, oppression, privilege, and power” and “design programs and events that are inclusive, promote social consciousness, and challenge current institutional, national, global, and sociopolitical systems of oppression”(p. 31) . However, how SJI has been enacted throughout HESA curriculum continues tobe incongruous with these calls from professional organizations (Harris & Linder, 2018; Shelton & Yao, 2019). According to Crandall et al. (2022) while social justice is an espoused value of the field,“little is known about how graduate programs prepare early-career professionals … to be effective in this work”(p. 134) . In this literature review, we highlight the need for facilitating students’ critical consciousness in HESA curriculum and how social identity influences these student experiences. Social Justice and Inclusion in HESA Curriculum For future HESA educators, graduate coursework provides “a time for individuals to learn the norms of the profession” (Lombardi & Mather, 2016, p. 86) . Though SJI is an adopted value of the field, not all HESA graduate preparation pro- Preparing HESA Professionals grams have a required diversity course where such topics are discussed (Flowers, 2003) . Few studies have explicitly examined how SJI is incorporated into HESA curriculum. And, as Crandall et al.(2022) argued, most of the published research focused on “multicultural competence or diversity, which do not fully capture ACPA/NASPA’s (2015) framing of SJI”(p. 134) . Recent literature has examined how specific tenets of SJI have been built into HESA curriculum. For example, Shelton and Yao (2019) e

FAQs

What framework guides the study of HESA graduate students in the diversity course?

The study uses a critical consciousness framework to understand graduate student experiences in higher education and student affairs (HESA).

How is student learning data collected and analyzed?

Data come from selected student coursework, including online discussion board conversations and journal entries, analyzed through narrative inquiry.

What learning themes do students demonstrate during the course?

Students develop a foundation for critical consciousness engagement, particularly through emotions that surfaced, reconceptualizing “diversity,” and applying learning to HESA practice.

Oct 15, 2026

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