Engaging the Whole Student: Student Affairs and the National Leadership Education Research Agenda Open Access

Student affairs educators have an important role in advancing the National Leadership Education Research Agenda (NLERA). This article reviews the ‘cross fertilization’ of student affairs and leadership education by examining strengths, opportunities, and challenges in relation to the NLERA priorities. Student affairs educators’ commitment to the integration of theory and practice, to the intentional and developmental design and assessment of learning environments, and to applying critical and constructivist perspectives to the ethical and emancipatory foundations of leadership education are all explored. Recommendations for future research are identified, including a call for research that includes complex modeling and multivariate analyses, and research that examines the contributions of cognitive, affective, and efficacy-related dimensions of leadership.