Special Section on Opportunities to Contribute

Abstract

We are excited to announce a host of opportunities for readers and members of higher education professional communities to contribute to About Campus. Please read below for specifics, including a series of special issues focusing on institutional perspectives in higher education, student affairs, and student learning, as well as an Associate Editor position on the About Campus Editorial Board and open seats on the About Campus Board of Contributors.

Special Issues Initiative

Over the next two years, About Campus plans to publish a series of six special issues focused on significant institutional developments in U.S. higher education. We hope these special issues will share innovative and underrepresented knowledges about minority-serving institutions, access-oriented institutions, and one of the most perennial yet pressing institutional concerns: gender equality. Specifically (in alphabetical order):

Asian American, Native Alaskan, Pacific Islander Serving Institutions

Community Colleges

Hispanic Serving Institutions

Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Title IX in U.S. Higher Education

Tribal Colleges and Universities and Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions

These institutional themes were chosen strategically to meet and enhance broader goals of ACPA Research and Publications. We hope to expand the coverage of institutional concerns explicitly highlighting what all institutions can learn from those serving some of our most diverse student bodies. We hope to amplify more diverse and critical voices in the dialogue about supporting student learning in higher education. We hope to include college educators that previously have not been recognized as essential to student development and learning in higher education.

Below we include specific calls for submissions for five of our six planned special issues.

Special Issue on Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Institutions (AANAPISIs)

In this special issue of About Campus, we seek articles and stories that highlight the critical role that AANAPISI institutions play in the persistence and thriving of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students. AANAPISIs are colleges and universities where at least 10 percent of undergraduate students enrolled are Asian American and Pacific Islander and at least 50 percent of students overall are beneficiaries of federal financial aid programs.

The AANAPISI program is one of eight federal Minority-Serving Institution designations and was established in 2007. The AANAPISI program is intended to enhance the capacity for postsecondary institutions to serve the diverse and complex needs of AAPI college students. Currently, 296 colleges and universities are designated as AANAPISI.

However, designation does not guarantee eligibility for the AANAPISI grants, which can be used for instructional facilities, curricular development, student support services, and educational materials intended to address AAPI student needs. In fact, only 37 institutions have been granted AANAPISI funding within the last 10 years. AANAPISI grantees have been able to establish innovative and AAPI-centered academic programming and student services across the United States and U.S. Territories. Yet while such projects have proven beneficial, they face structural limitations that shape their ability to provide AAPI students with sustainable educational support.

For this special issue focused on AANAPISIs, we are especially interested in AAPI groups from underrepresented and underserved backgrounds, including indigenous, refugee, undocumented, and/or impoverished communities. We are interested in pieces that are able to highlight the structural factors that shape the ability for AANAPISIs to serve AAPI students in higher education. Furthermore, we especially encourage submissions that highlight strategies for sustainability beyond federal support, including but not limited to those informed by Ethnic Studies praxis and community-based partnerships.

The Associate Editor leading our Special Issue on AANAPISI is Dr. Tracy Lachica Buenavista, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies at California State University at Northridge.

Special Issue on Community Colleges

About Campus is currently seeking manuscripts for a special issue on community colleges. Community colleges are credited with the democratization of higher education and are instrumental in providing the mass access to postsecondary education in the United States. In the 21st century, community colleges have become focused on completion and student success implemented at scale. This goal centers the community college conversation on creating equitable outcomes for all students. Therefore, we are seeking articles focused on student success, equity, and social justice from many perspectives, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, and immigration status to name a few. Articles may include scholarly essays or research reports on topics such as, but not limited to:

Reviews of scholarship on student success outcomes in the community college, which define taking student success to scale in community colleges.

Articles directly related to closing equity gaps for students who have been historically underrepresented in higher education.

A set of values common to community colleges that have developed an equity mindset.

How community college leaders can, should, and have modeled equity and inclusive excellence even in the face of challenges to the work.

Building faculty processes for student success and equity.

Funding community colleges for equity, efficiency, and student success.

Supporting promising students who might not otherwise pursue a college education.

Validating the notion that student’s lives can be transformed through education and the community college’s role in sustaining such value.

Promising institutional practices and principles of institutional practice that respond to the characteristics of underrepresented students.

The Associate Editor leading our special issue on Community Colleges is Dr. Elena Sandoval-Lucero, Vice-President of Front Range Community College in Boulder, Colorado.

Special Issue on Hispanic-Serving Institutions

This special issue of About Campus invites submissions that illustrate the significance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in educating an increasingly diverse nation. HSIs are federally designated nonprofit postsecondary institutions with enrollment of at least 25 percent full-time equivalent undergraduate Hispanic students and where at least 50 percent of the total student population requires federal financial aid. Under the umbrella of the Minority-Serving Institutions Program, HSIs are eligible to apply and receive federal funds to create and manage academic support services for Latinx students.

Almost 500 colleges and universities meet federal requirements for HSI designation, enrolling over 60 percent of all Hispanic students. HSIs are the fastest growing strata of U.S. higher education. Submissions for this special issue should highlight how HSIs can provide leadership across U.S. higher education for addressing diverse interests and supporting student success. Articles should address what all postsecondary educators can learn from HSIs as well as document and illustrate the unique qualities of HSIs.

We are especially, although not exclusively, interested in articles that address the following topics:

HSI organizational structures that advance student success

Sustainability strategies of HSI initiatives beyond grant funding

Experiential accounts of working in emerging HSIs

Assessment regimes of student support in HSIs

Provocative discussions about the significance of HSIs in U.S. higher education

Roles and relationships of HSIs and their local communities

Faculty and institutional leadership development in HSIs

Institutional challenges, including funding and financing, for HSIs

The Associate Editor leading our special issue on HSIs is Dr. Ignacio Hernández, Associate Professor and EdD Program Director at California State University, Fresno.

Special Issue on Title IX in U.S. Higher Education

About Campus is currently seeking manuscripts for a special issue on institutional responses and responsibilities related to Title IX in U.S. Higher Education. Title IX refers to a section of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 requiring equal treatment for all, regardless of gender, by any educational institution receiving federal funding. Since its authorization, Title IX has been invoked to address myriad concerns in higher education, including women’s representation in NCAA athletics and sexual assault on college campuses.

The authority to oversee and enforce Title IX lies with the Executive Branch of the U.S. Federal Government. As such, institutions can sometimes struggle to make sense and keep up with the changing political climate, yet must remain committed to the ethos of Title IX in serving all students equally regardless of gender. Currently, the Trump Administration has dramatically altered the tenor of Title IX enforcement from the preceding Obama Administration.

This special issue seeks to highlight how Title IX concerns can be institutionally addressed and how institutions can organize student services and other administrative offices in order to dynamically respond to changing political climates around Title IX while remaining committed to serving and supporting student learning. Priority consideration will be given to articles and essays that use critical frameworks to examine, illustrate, and describe institutional and organizational responses to Title IX concerns. Some questions for consideration include the following:

How can institutions incorporate tenants of inclusion and equity into trainings across all student service professionals?

How does current political and social discourse affect different campus constituents, and what effects can be seen, foreseen, or remain unforeseen in student learning?

What role does institutional response play in how changes are perceived by campus communities?

What are promising institutional practices and principles of institutional practice in Title IX–related issues and concerns?

This is an excellent opportunity for practitioners and early scholars to work through ideas and develop frameworks that strengthen equity and address the organizational needs for efficiency in handling issues related to Title IX under changing political and social climates. Submissions should clearly articulate the purpose(s) of the paper, address the critical need for dissemination of this information, and be clear of the frameworks used.

The Associate Editor for our special issue on Title IX is Clark Dawood, Associate Director of Housing and Residence Life at the University of Michigan at Flint.

Special Issue on Tribal Colleges and Universities & Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions

Guw’aadzii! Y’áát’ééh! In honoring the monumental legislative passage of the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act (TCCCAA) in October of 1978 and the annual recognition of Native American Heritage Month in November, this special issue of About Campus will focus on topics related to Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) and Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTIs). Both TCUs and NASNTIs have been and continue to be instrumental in enacting Indigenizing practices and policies that best serve Indigenous students and their communities. This special issue invites faculty, administrators, student affairs practitioners, tribal educators, and community members to contribute to the collective wisdom needed for supporting Native and Indigenous learning in college and university environments.

The theme of this issue is, “Enacting Sovereignty: Indigenizing Spaces to Redefine Higher Education.” Papers submitted for consideration should broadly speak to how TCUs or NASNTIs influence student learning and community empowerment. While manuscripts should conform to one of the typical essay styles published in About Campus, we invite manuscripts that do so by sharing knowledge from a variety of sources, including, but not limited to, research studies (qualitative, quantitative, and/or mixed-methods), theoretical contributions, historical implications on contemporary higher education issues, policy analyses that explore tribal sovereignty at the intersection of higher education, literature reviews, critical reflection essays, or Op-Eds.

Manuscripts from authors currently working at TCUs/NASNTIs are highly encouraged.

Ahéhee’! Da’wa’e!

The Associate Editors leading this special issue are Dr. Chris Nelson (Laguna Pueblo/Diné), Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Denver, and Dr. Natalie Youngbull (Cheyenne & Arapaho/Assiniboine & Sioux) from the American Indian College Fund.

Submissions

If interested in contributing to one of our upcoming special issues, please visit the About Campus website—http://aboutcampus.myacpa.org/. Be certain to mark your interest in being considered for the special issue when submitting your manuscript. Questions about our upcoming special issues can be addressed to the About Campus Editorial Team at aboutcampus@du.edu.

Call for Nominations: Associate Editor for Special Issue on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

As part of our new editorial team structure, each Associate Editor is responsible for leading one special issue in addition to contributing to ongoing solicitations, reviews, and other editorial responsibilities. The Editorial Team for About Campus is eager to receive nominations for a new Associate Editor who will lead our special issue focused on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Qualifications require prior experience writing for publication, familiarity with practitioner/scholar audiences in higher education, and expertise in HBCUs. We are especially eager to receive nominations of senior-level (i.e., Director or above) administrators or policy analysts who currently work directly with one or more HBCU campuses. The Associate Editor will join the About Campus Editorial Team, including five other Associate Editors, one Senior Associate Editor, and the Executive Editor, as well as six Graduate Student Editorial Assistants. Responsibilities include monthly editorial team meetings (via Zoom), regular reviews of submitted manuscripts, and leading efforts for the special issue on HBCUs. Nominations should be no more than one page, address the nominee’s qualifications, and can be addressed to Ryan Evely Gildersleeve, Executive Editor, About Campus, at aboutcampus.editor@du.edu. Self-nominations are welcome. Nominations will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. PST on April 30, 2019.

Call for Nominations: Board of Contributors for About Campus

The About Campus Board of Contributors is a group of practitioner/scholars dedicated to the success of About Campus and its role in supporting substantive dialogue about student learning and development in higher education. The Board of Contributors participates in the life of About Campus in three primary ways. First, it provides advice to the Editorial Team during a special meeting with the Executive Editor at the annual ACPA Convention, as well as during one to three special meetings held via Zoom or Skype throughout the year as needed. Second, it supports the editorial team in soliciting manuscripts for review, drawing on board members’ extensive professional networks. Third, board members commit to submitting at least one article for consideration over a three-year period, based on their areas of expertise. While the Board of Contributors does not hold any oversight of the editorial activities of the journal, it is an essential advisory group that participates substantively in the sustainability of the publication.

We are seeking nominations for members of the About Campus Board of Contributors to replace board members whose terms will be ending or have recently ended. Board members serve two- to three-year terms in rotation so that no more than half the Board is ever brand new. Board members should be leaders in the field and represent a broad range of experiences and diversity overall. We are looking to fill up to five vacancies. Nominations should be no more than one page, address the nominee’s qualifications, and can be addressed to Ryan Evely Gildersleeve, Executive Editor, About Campus, at aboutcampus.editor@du.edu. Self-nominations are welcome. Nominations of leaders from historically marginalized groups in higher education are especially appreciated. Nominations of leaders from minority-serving institutions, access-oriented institutions, and intermediary organizations also are especially appreciated. We will accept nominations until 11:59 p.m. PST on April 30, 2019.