Administratively Adrift
Overcoming Institutional Barriers for College Student Success

An innovative analysis of the residential university's structure, culture, and functions, and their impact on student well-being and success.

Scott A. Bass (Author)

9781316514917, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 June 2022

290 pages
23 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.6 kg

'Scott Bass reminds us that student well-being is at the heart of the academic mission, and that our administrative structures and processes must align with this goal. Academic leaders at every level should pay attention.' Geoffrey Cox, Senior Associate Dean for Finance and Administration, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University

The multiple crises of 2020–21 have presented both challenges and opportunities for change in four-year residential colleges and universities. Evidence indicates that the historic structure of administrative and student services is increasingly mismatched to the needs of a diverse and stressed student body born in a digital age. Inspired by his leadership in a university-wide initiative that focused on how students' interactions with both academic and professional staff affect their success and well-being, Scott A. Bass presents fresh insights on the inner workings of traditional nonprofit four-year degree residential institutions. The book describes the influences of history, tradition, and internal and external pressures on the American university, highlighting its evolution to its staid and fragmented structure; it distills voices of students, faculty, and staff; and it explores how successful organizations outside of higher education deliver services, with potential applicability for the academy's ability to meet students where they are.

1. The gap between the student experience and university operations
2. Generation Z and the traditional university
3. University tradition and conformity: insights and persistence
4. Faculty influence and influences on the faculty
5. The evolution of the student affairs profession and the ethos of specialization
6. On decision-making, governance, and the distribution of power: implications for the student experience
7. Lost among the silos: students and information systems
8. Pinch points and more: insights from the student's perspective
9. Reinventing the student experience: a case study
10. Administratively aligned: a blueprint for a more supportive and holistic learning experience.

Subject Areas: Educational strategies & policy [JNF], Educational psychology [JNC]