Federal law requires institutions to designate campus-based administrators to oversee Title IX processes and investigations, but little is known about how these have been professionally prepared for their roles. The purpose of this study was to understand the professional preparation, educational experiences, and professional training of Title IX administrators and to understand their independence in decision-making in those roles. This study utilized qualitative content analysis and a social constructionist approach to analyze data generated from interviews and document analysis. Sixteen current and former Title IX administrators (investigators, deputy coordinators, coordinators) provided their perspectives on their professional training and development. Using frameworks of work/professional socialization and professions theory, findings illustrated complex systems for knowledge acquisition, professional preparation, and professional socialization based on factors including resources, institutional context, and role prioritization. Participants' formal education, formative experiences, position-specific training, and professional organizations training all served as preparation for their roles. Discussion focused on implications for graduate programs, training and trainers, institutions and supervisors, the field of higher education, and current Title IX practitioners regarding professional preparation for these roles.

This study aimed to take asset-based approach and identify Latino male students who were persisting in college, and to identify what strategies made them successful. This qualitative study consulted Tinto's revised student departure model, Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital, as well as Yosso's theory of community cultural wealth. A phenomenological design was utilized to identify the shared experience of first-generation Latino male college students who had persisted in college and maintained a 3.0 grade point average. Findings revealed that Latino students entered college with goals to provide better opportunities for the next generation. They encountered unfamiliarity, culture shock, and marginalization, all obstacles centered not on academic preparedness, but on unfamiliarity with the environment. They used their linguistic, navigational, and aspirational capital to navigate their two worlds. Their cultural upbringing stressed a strong commitment to family and community, i.e. familismo. They found community among in-group peers and college staff. This support network provided what Laura Rendon refers to as validating experiences. Once familismo was obtained they gained a sense of belonging and grew their cultural capital to become familiar with the college going culture. The learned the rules of the game which enabled students to focus on their goal of earning …

Early career attrition in student affairs is a topic of interest for hiring and supervising managers, graduate preparation programs, as well as new professionals. Contributions to the growing body of research on the topic potentially informs bets practices in curriculum development, hiring, onboarding, and professional development for new student affairs employees. This study involved 352 new student affairs professionals in the field's largest professional association. With Rhodes and Doering's integrated model of career change as a framework, the research study was designed to identify individual and environmental factors influencing new student affairs professionals' person-environment fit and, subsequently, career commitment. The result was an eight-factor structural equation model that included graduate curriculum, pay satisfaction, mentoring, student interaction, connection to institutional mission/vision, collegiality, and person-environment fit as independent variables, and career commitment as the dependent variable. The study suggests that these eight variables, to varying degrees, indirectly and directly influence career commitment in new student affairs professionals.