The student learning and development competency, “addresses the concepts and principles of student development and learning theory” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 26). I have developed a proficient competency level through learning applying student development theory with the students I interact with.
 

My coursework was the primary medium through which I learned about student development theory. The 6020 class in the CSP program covered a range of theoretical frameworks that enabled me to better understand the psychosocial and cognitive development of the students I work with. Through the class, I was able to critique theory and understand its practical limitations. Theory is not a prescriptive tool, but rather a framework that should be applied with healthy skepticism. This knowledge ultimately shaped the interactions I have with students because it has informed how my supervision, advising, and teaching style has developed.
 

One of the experiences that showcases my integration of student development theory is the syllabus for the course that I co-instructed on womanism. My interest in supporting the positive identity development for young woman of color culminated in a semester long seminar which I taught with my colleague, Caitlin O’Neill. The course was based on the literature of woman of color activists and scholars and was named after Alice Walker’s text, “In search of our mother’s gardens” . The course integrated Baxter-Magolda’s self authorship as the epistemological framework. This tool provided a holistic framework to guide students, “to create meaning through using complex cognitive skills like personal reflection and critical thinking” (Magolda, 2004).
 

This framework allowed my students to first learn how other women of color scholars and activists understood their liberation through womanism. They learned through interacting with authors whose identities were similar to their own. Our syllabus intentionally incorporated a great deal of complex and nuanced narratives of women of color from across the globe and the experiences of queer women of color in order to allow students to interact with diverse experiences. The culminating assignment was a personal narrative project which charged the participants to explore their conception of womanism through a creative project that applied their personal experiences to a womanist framework. This assignment was cultivated through applying self authorship so that students could effectively, “articulate their own personal values, beliefs, and identity” (Magolda, 2004).