ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the history and context of standards development in student affairs and investigates the current use of standards by master’s preparation programs. It traces the individual and collective efforts of Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS), ACPA, and Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) to provide standards for the student affairs profession. A syllabus for one of the more innovative courses in student affairs administration assigned students to review the ACPA/NASPA professional competency areas and identify three competencies that were personal strengths and areas for their own professional development. All three organizations—CAS, ACPA, NASPA—have been careful to emphasize that aspiring to meet standards and to employ competency-based approaches does not suggest uniformity or a one-size-fits-all scheme for higher education because diversity among institutions is one of the greatest strengths of America’s higher education system.
