Professional and technical communications contributions to student affairs writing competencies

Student affairs practitioners in mid-level positions write in the workplace daily, but in many cases do not formally or intentionally train themselves or their staff members to write. I used qualitative methods of semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis about competencies related to writing. Mid-level managers in campus centers helped to answer these three research questions. First, how and to what extent do student affairs professionals in campus centers practice their knowledge and skills as writers in the workplace? Second, how and to what extent do the writing and communication values communicated by student affairs competencies and standards match those in documents commonly produced by mid-level campus center professionals and third, given the initial findings for the first two questions, what revised or new competencies and accompanying training materials need to be developed?;The investigation of writing practices of professionals working in campus centers in the field of student affairs shows that mid-level campus center professionals write extensively in their positions, including daily writing, many document types, and multiple audience types. Mid-level managers value writing ability and the ability of their staff members to be able to write, and could enhance writing knowledge and ability through competency training and development by connecting with work in the field of professional and technical communication. Professional associations can and should support professionals using competency language that supports writing and writing training. Mid-level managers as writers and as supervisors could join associations in employing intentional writing strategies for writing and writing training by using professional and technical communications research for this education and training.