Contributions of Student Affairs Professional Organizations to Collegiate Student Leadership Programs in the Late Twentieth Century

Some 300 years after the founding of the first American institution of higher education, developing students into future leaders remains a central objective of contemporary colleges and universities (Astin, 1993; Johnson, 2000; Komives, Lucas, & McMahon, 2007). In the modern university setting, a significant amount of leadership training and development is accomplished outside the classroom in the co-curricular arena; much of this work is now in the province of student affairs professionals who teach leadership training and development. Many of these professionals prepared for this aspect of their roles while on the job via campus-based professional education and development and at conferences hosted by professional organizations. Historically, these professional associations have played a key role in establishing leadership education as a priority in student affairs, informing professionals' knowledge and understanding of leadership concepts and theories, and advancing the emerging profession of leadership education. The purpose of this study is to document the role student affairs professional organizations played in the latter half of the 20th century to advance collegiate student leadership education programs. The historical narrative relies on sources from the National Student Affairs Archives located in Bowling Green, Ohio and interviews with key individuals active during the timeframe investigated. Understanding the formalization of student affairs practitioner as leadership educators offers the opportunity to recognize individuals and organizations significant in the process, to identify gaps in the scholarship, inform academic preparation programs, shape the efforts of professional organizations, and mold the programmatic efforts facilitated daily on college campuses. This historical investigation attempts to demonstrate how student affairs professional organizations and key individuals across the profession shaped student leadership training, education, and development in higher education in the late twentieth century.