Making Their Own Way

Book excerpt: WINNER OF AERA’S NARRATIVE & RESEARCH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP 2003 BOOK AWARDWhat impact does a college education have on students' careers and personal lives after they graduate? Do they consider themselves well prepared for the demands and ambiguities of contemporary society? What can we learn from their stories to improve the college learning experience?This groundbreaking book extends Marcia Baxter Magolda’s renowned longitudinal study and follows her participants’ lives from their graduation to their early thirties. We follow these students’ journeys to an internally-authored sense of identity and how they make meaning of their lives. From this, the author proposes a new framework for higher education to better foster students' crucial journeys of transformation--through the shaping of curriculum and co-curriculum, advising, leadership opportunities, campus work settings, collaboration, diversity and community building.This is an important book for all faculty, administrators and student affairs professionals.