If you are a student affairs professional in higher education, then you already know the industry is full of rich resources. To be the most informed you can be, you only have to look online to find loads of links and research that will support your work.
Where do you look, though?
When I came into the field I found it really challenging to locate appropriate resources. As a graduate assistant in 2000, the social media tools were sparse and the online resources were unreliable, however, I could count on conferences and workshops to network and find information. When I joined the profession again as a director of student activities in 2008, there were plenty of resources available, but no formal training plan in place to guide me through them.
That year, I joined a small regional group called the Granite State Campus Activities Professionals. Many of us would attend the regional and national conferences and stay informed via Facebook and Twitter. These conferences utilized Guidebook, which would allow us to plan our conference, view maps and Tweet updates using the conference hashtag. During my time on the conference planning committee, we relied heavily on Wiggio for group management, conference calls and document sharing.
After struggling through some of this self-on-boarding, I took time to develop tools that I thought could help our professional staff of ten. I scoured the web for online resources and attempted to put them into one location. Below are a list of resources which include student affairs professional association websites, their social media links as well as a short list of social networking groups, lists and apps. This was presented during a summer staff retreat and I have tried to keep this list updated since that time.
In addition to these, which resources do you depend on to keep you informed of your work in student affairs and higher education? It would be great to keep growing this list over time!
Professional Associations
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
http://www.aauw.org/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/aauw
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AAUW.National
Tumblr – http://aauw.tumblr.com/
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/user/AAUWinfo
American Student Government Association (ASGA)
http://www.asgaonline.com/ME2/Default.asp
Facebook – http://www.asgaonline.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=5029D6B3B93745B8AA22C4EC6983C250&type=gen&mod=Core+Pages&gid=5F5036A9CC7A47B2BBFED5575371B2CE
Twitter – http://twitter.com/asgaonline
Blogger – http://asgaonline.blogspot.com/
WordPress – http://studentleader.wordpress.com/
LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=60425
American College Personnel Association (ACPA)
http://www.myacpa.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/myACPA
Twitter – https://twitter.com/acpa/
Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/myacpa/
Google+ – https://plus.google.com/117437283312691474187/about
LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/company/american-college-personnel-association
Instagram – http://instagram.com/myacpa
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/myACPA
Association of College and University Housing Officers – International (ACUHO-I)
http://www.acuho-i.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/acuhoi
Twitter – https://twitter.com/acuhoi
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/acuhoi
Blog – http://www.acuho-i.org/blog
Association of College Unions International (ACUI)
http://www.acui.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/acui.org
Twitter – https://twitter.com/@ACUITweets
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/acuitv
Association of Fraternity and Sorority Advisors (AFA)
http://www.afa1976.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AFA1976
Twitter – https://twitter.com/afa1976
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1637047
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/user/1976AFA
Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD)
http://www.ahead.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AHEAD.org
Twitter – https://twitter.com/AHEAD_USA
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/association-on-higher-education-and-disability
Association of Higher Education Parent/Family Programming Professionals (AHEPPP)
http://www.aheppp.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-of-Higher-Education-ParentFamily-Program-Professionals-AHEPPP/129360189051
Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA)
http://www.theasca.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TheASCAFanPage
Twitter – https://twitter.com/TheASCA
LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/company/association-for-student-conduct-administration
Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS)
http://www.cas.edu/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/CAS.Standards
LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/company/council-for-the-advancement-of-standards-in-higher-education-cas-?trk
Twitter – https://twitter.com/CAS_Standards
Council of Higher Education Management Associations (CHEMA)
http://www.chemanet.org/
Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE)
http://www.ciee.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ciee
LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/company/ciee
Council on Law in Higher Education (CLHE)
http://www.clhe.org/clhe/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Council-on-Law-in-Higher-Education-CLHE/270234763004994?sk=wall
Institute of International Education (IIE)
http://www.iie.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/IIEglobal
Twitter – https://twitter.com/IIEglobal
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/institute-of-international-education
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/IIEglobal
Instagram – http://instagram.com/iieglobal
Jesuit Association of Student Personnel Administrators (JASPA)
http://www.jesuitstudentaffairs.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/JesuitStudentAffairs/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/jesuitsa
National Association for Campus Activities (NACA)
https://www.naca.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TheNACA
Twitter – https://twitter.com/thenaca
National Association of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH)
http://www.nacurh.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/NACURH
Twitter – https://twitter.com/NACURH/
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
http://www.nafsa.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/nafsa
Twitter – https://twitter.com/nafsa
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/groups/NAFSA-Association-International-Educators-71923/about
National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA)
http://www.naspa.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/naspaFB
Twitter – https://twitter.com/NASPAtweets
Google+ – https://plus.google.com/s/NASPA
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/NASPAstuaff
Instagram – http://instagram.com/naspatweets/
National Orientation Directors Association (NODA)
http://www.nodaweb.org/
Other Resources, Social Networking Groups and Lists
- Student Activities in the Northeast – https://www.facebook.com/groups/studentactivitiesinthenortheast/
- Student Activities Professionals – https://www.facebook.com/groups/394281700668916/
- Student Affairs Professionals – https://www.facebook.com/groups/2204795643/
Google+
- Student Affairs Chat Community – https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/107135016403987640622
- Technology and Student Affairs Community – https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/100166566949020730496
LinkedIn:
- Group: Student Affairs Partnering with Academic Affairs (SAPAA) – https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Student-Affairs-Partnering-Academic-Affairs-2483930/about
- Group: NASPA Women in Student Affairs (WISA) – https://www.linkedin.com/groups/NASPA-l-Women-in-Student-2725465/about
- Group: Student Affairs Chat Twitter Group #sachat – https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Student-Affairs-Chat-Twitter-Group-2873979/about
- Group: ACPA College Student Educators International – https://www.linkedin.com/groups/ACPACollege-Student-Educators-International-1314847/about
- Group: NASPA – https://www.linkedin.com/groups/NASPA-139772/about
- Student Affairs Collective – https://twitter.com/The_SA_Blog
- List – HiEd & Student Affairs Public List by Becca Obergefell. A list of colleagues and news sources with tweets related to Higher Education and Student Affairs – https://twitter.com/OberBecca/lists/hied-student-affairs.
- Student Affairs .com – https://twitter.com/istudentaffairs
- Student Affairs Feature – https://twitter.com/SA_Feature
- The Chronicle of Higher Education – https://twitter.com/chronicle
Web
- Student Affairs Collective – http://studentaffairscollective.org/sachat/
Collaborative Tools/Apps
- Wiggio – https://wiggio.com/
- Fuze Meeting – https://www.fuze.com/
- GroupMe – https://groupme.com/
- Join.Me – https://www.join.me/
This blog is part of my MKT-555 Social Media course and fulfills the 5.4 course project requirement. References are all listed in-text.
Introspection Collection 
Tiffany, You have a very professional blog and it is designed in a most user-friendly fashion.
I am interested in understanding more about your profession. It appears that the standard mode of operation must need to radically change every few years. I am curious as the student body population moves from on-campus to on-line how your typical work week must truly evolve.
LikeLike
Great question. Moving from campus-based student activities to online student engagement is just as busy but in a much different way. While students don’t drop by the office in person or need you to attend a late night event, they do interact heavily in the online community and need support getting group ideas launched. The need to be responsive with online students feels even more urgent because distance is already a factor. This is why great online support from professional associations really helps us stay current with professional development and connecting with other colleagues.
LikeLike
Hi Tiffany,
I am sorry for the late comment. I have been on travel. Although I am not in the same profession, I find the idea of creating a listing of resources such as this a great idea for my profession. Our resources are vast, and can be complicated for new employees. How difficult do you find it to keep such a listing up to date? Does your profession’s resources change often? I know in my industry, we are always adding new groups, new social communities and the upkeep of such a listing might get burdensome. Do you have any suggestions for how to ensure the links your provide do not get stale and brake?
Thanks so much!
LikeLike
The associations don’t change that frequently, however, there are always new conferences and workshops popping up. I do think that it can be tough to keep a list like this updated, but if a wiki were used it’s possible that a group could keep this up to date much easier than just one person!
LikeLike