Looking Back, Moving Forward, and Everything in Between: Revisiting Student Development's Relevance and Enduring Concepts

The study of student development has long been considered a cornerstone of the higher education and student affairs (HESA) profession. However, perspectives on what constitutes student development have evolved as scholars continuously embrace more critical frameworks to implicate systems of power and oppression—what scholars have termed the third wave of student development. And yet, questions abound about which concepts are still relevant for contemporary college student populations and which no longer endure. In this paper, we take up this concern, together with analyzing the centrality of student development theory in the HESA profession. First, we revisit past and emerging understandings of student development, providing insights on how the profession must shift previously held ideas and embrace constructs that remain core to this area of study. Second, we consider what these perspectives on student development mean for teaching and practice, especially given the present sociopolitical context. We conclude with a call to (re)establish critical views on student development as a foundation of the HESA field.