Profiling the chief law school placement officer: Implications for student development specialists in professional school settings

Journal of College Student Development, Jan/Feb 1998 by Murray, Joseph L

Attitudes and professional statuses of chief law school placement officers were found to differ on the basis of academic background and institutional type. The findings hold implications concerning the role of student development specialists in professional school settings.

Since the inception of student affairs as a recognized occupational field, the status of the profession itself has been a recurring topic in the literature. Much of this dialogue has focused on the matters of professional education, enculturation, and regeneration (Carpenter,1991; Koile, 1966; Penney, 1969; Stamatakos, 1981; Wrenn & Darley, 1949). Over the past 10 years, the discussion of regeneration has dealt not only with recruitment and preparation of new professionals, but also with retention of those already employed in the field (Evans, 1988). Whether fueled primarily by philosophical concerns about professional identity or pragmatic concerns related to attrition within the field, interest specifically in student affairs career patterns has remained high.

As leaders in student affairs seek to understand the current state of the profession and to prepare for its future, practitioners themselves often serve as a rich source of relevant information. In the words of Richmond and Sherman (1991, p. 8), "To understand the nature of the student-development profession is to understand the people who enter, find success in, or choose to leave the profession." In the past, studies of student affairs practitioners have focused most frequently on their personal characteristics (Baier,1992; Berwick,1992; Chapman & Benati, 1986; McEwen, Engstrom, & Williams, 1990; Richmond & Benton, 1988; Rickard, 1985). Prevailing career paths of current practitioners have also been studied extensively (Chapman & Benati, 1986; Richmond & Benton, 1988; Rickard, 1985; Sagaria & Johnsrud, 1988). Additionally, the literature includes several studies of student affairs professionals' current job responsibilities (Baier, 1992; Twale, 1995) and attitudes toward their work (Belch & Strange, 1995; Berwick, 1992; Brown et al., 1986; Chapman & Benati, 1986; Hancock, 1988; Komives,1991; Shriberg & Wester,1994; Ward, 1995; Wood, Winston, & Polkosnik, 1985). Finally, researchers in the field have previously examined practitioners' experiences related to professional development (Piper & Fullerton, 1985; Twale & Jelinek,1996; Wood et al.,1985; Young,1994), as well as their views on desirable professional qualifications and attributes (Beatty & Stamatakos, 1990; Fey & Carpenter, 1996; Gordon, Strode, & Mann,1993; Komives,1992; Townsend & Wiese, 1992; Young & Coldwell, 1993).

Studies of careers in student affairs have generally dealt with specific segments of the professional community. Chief student affairs officers in particular have been studied extensively, as noted by Evans (1988). However, the body of literature based on studies of middle managers in the field (Belch & Strange, 1995; Fey & Carpenter, 1996; Gordon et al., 1993; Komives, 1992) is also growing. Additionally, several researchers have dealt with the experiences, attitudes, and other characteristics of those employed in specific functional areas (Chapman & Benati,1986; Komives,1991). Finally, several researchers have focused on the characteristics and experiences of specific populations within the profession that have been defined in terms of religion (Shriberg & Wester, 1994), ethnic background (Rickard,1985), or gender (Komives, 1991; McEwen et al., 1990; Rickard, 1985; Twale, 1995; Twale & Jelinek, 1996).

Despite the large number of studies dealing with careers in student affairs, greater breadth is still needed within this body of literature. Commenting specifically on the matter of career mobility, Evans (1988) called for research on a broader range of student affairs specialties. Opportunities for advancement within specific functional and organizational contexts are of particular interest to those seeking to understand and alleviate the problem of attrition that exists within the profession, because the lack of upward mobility has frequently been cited as one of the primary factors prompting departure from the field (Evans, 1988).

In recent years, few if any researchers have addressed student affairs career opportunities within professional schools, such as colleges of law or medicine, despite the uniqueness of this particular segment of American higher education. Unlike most other major organizational units within a university, the professional school has a singular and applied disciplinary focus. It is primarily answerable to the profession itself for purposes of accreditation, and typically functions with a high degree of independence from the university as a whole. In fact, the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) (1995) has estimated that 10% of U.S. law schools approved by the American Bar Association (ABA) are not even affiliated with universities. Among the 108 American medical schools affiliated with universities in 1983, 26 were not even located in the same cities as their parent institutions (Rothstein, 1987).