Arthur Chickering

Educational researcher

• Born: April 27, 1927
• Birthplace: Framingham, Massachusetts

Education: Wesleyan University; Harvard University; Columbia University

Significance: Arthur Chickering is a renowned educational researcher specializing in the field of student affairs. Throughout his career, Chickering's primary focus has been on studying the psychosocial development of college students. His student development theories are among the most respected and influential studies in the field.

Background

Arthur Chickering was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, on April 27, 1927. As a young man in the mid-1940s, Chickering spent two years serving in the army during the later stages and immediate aftermath of World War II (1939–1945). After completing his service, Chickering enrolled at Wesleyan University and earned a degree in comparative literature in 1950. The following year, Chickering moved on to Harvard University, where he subsequently pursued a master's degree in teaching. Upon completing his education, Chickering embarked on an initial career as a high school teacher. For several years in the 1950s, he taught English, Spanish, and French classes and coached high school football, baseball, and tennis. Eventually, however, Chickering decided to resume his own educational pursuits. Choosing to focus on school psychology, Chickering entered the Teachers College at Columbia University and found work as a school psychologist. After earning his doctorate in 1958, Chickering became the chairperson of the Department of Teacher Education at New Jersey's Monmouth College. He retained that position for a year before joining the faculty at Goddard College in Vermont and becoming the coordinator of evaluation for the Ford Foundation Experiment in College Curriculum Organization in 1959. It was during this time that Chickering undertook the research that would ultimately result in the publication of his 1969 masterwork, Education and Identity. After leaving Goddard in 1965, Chickering continued working in higher education, helping to create Empire State College in the 1970s and later working at such prestigious institutions as Memphis State University and George Mason University.

Life's Work

During the time spent at Goddard College in the 1960s, Chickering conducted an in-depth study of the psychosocial development of college students. Through this study and later collaboration with fellow researcher Linda Reisser, Chickering developed a theory of psychosocial development in college students that became his most celebrated accomplishment. When he published his findings in 1969's Education and Identity, Chickering identified seven so-called vectors of development on which students work as they progress through their college experience. These vectors are recurring issues that effectively drive personality development as a person moves through his or her life. Chickering suggested that these vectors include developing competence, managing emotions, moving through autonomy toward interdependence, developing mature interpersonal relationships, establishing identity, developing purpose, and developing integrity.

According to Chickering, the first vector—developing competence—refers to incoming students' need to acquire a certain degree of intellectual, physical, and interpersonal competence in their new collegiate environment. In other words, to begin their psychosocial development, students must be able to feel that they fit in with their peers in terms of intelligence, physical appearance, and social interaction. The second vector—managing emotions—refers to the transitions students have to make from having their behavior controlled by external influences to controlling their own behavior through internal processes. The third vector—moving through autonomy toward interdependence—refers to the process through which college students gradually develop emotional, physical, and financial independence en route to attaining interdependence, which is the realization of responsibility for positively contributing to one's society. The fourth vector—developing mature interpersonal relationships—refers to the growth that students experience in relation to the depth and intimacy of the relationships in which they engage. The fifth vector—establishing identity—is the result of the development that students undergo as they proceed through the first four vectors. By developing competence, managing emotions, moving through autonomy toward interdependence, and developing mature interpersonal relationships, students gradually develop a sense of confidence in their ability to maintain inner continuity. Chickering asserted that once students achieved this personal confidence, they were ready to begin further developing their identity. The sixth vector—developing purpose—refers to the vocational decisions that students begin to make regarding their professional career path as they enter the later stages of their time in college. The seventh and final vector—developing integrity—refers to the humanization of values that occurs as students begin to draw a distinction between external values and their own personal values.

After publishing Education and Identity, Chickering continued studying educational psychology and maintained his position as one of the foremost minds in the field. Among his other most notable achievements was a 1987 paper he wrote with Zelda F. Gamson called "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education." In this work, Chickering sought to explore how undergraduate education could be improved. His seven principles for doing so included encouraging contact between students and faculty, developing reciprocity and cooperation among students, encouraging active learning, giving prompt feedback, emphasizing time on task, communicating high expectations, and respecting diverse talents and ways of learning.

Impact

With the publication of Education and Identity, Chickering emerged as a leading expert in educational psychology. Since that time, he has continued to be one of the most influential figures in the study of higher education and student affairs. Over the years, his theories and ideas have remained enormously popular with educators and administrators who play a role in the development of student personnel. During the course of his long career, Chickering received numerous awards, including the E.F. Lindquist Award from the American Educational Research Association, the Outstanding Service Award from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, the Distinguished Contribution to Knowledge Award from the American College Personnel Association, the Distinguished Service Award from the Council of Independent Colleges, and the Howard R. Bowen Distinguished Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

Personal Life

Chickering married Joanne Nelson in 1952. Together, the couple had four children, including three daughters and a son.

Principal Works

• Education and Identity,1969; 1993 (2nd edition)
• Commuting Versus Resident Students: Overcoming Educational Inequities of Living Off Campus, 1974
• The Modern American College: Responding to the New Realities of Diverse Students and a Changing Society, 1981
• Getting the Most Out of College,1995; 2001 (2nd edition)
• Cool Passion: Challenging Higher Education, 2014

Bibliography

"Art Chickering." Goddard College, www.goddard.edu/people/art-chickering/. Accessed 5 May 2017.

Blimling, Gregory. The Resident Assistant: Applications and Strategies for Working with College Students in Residence Halls. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 2003.

Chickering, Arthur W. and Associates. Cool Passion: Challenging Higher Education. National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, 2014.

Chickering, Arthur W., and Linda Reisser. Education and Identity.2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1993.

Chickering, Arthur W., and Stephen C. Ehrmann. "Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever." AAHE Bulletin, vol. 49, no. 2, 1996, pp. 3–7.

"Chickering's Seven Vectors of Development." Westmont College, www.westmont.edu/‗student‗life/documents/ChickeringHandoutFINAL.pdf. Accessed 5 May 2017.

Garfield, Nancy, and Laurence B. David. "Arthur Chickering: Bridging Theory and Practice in Student Development." Pioneers in Counseling & Development: Personal and Professional Perspectives. Edited by P. Paul Heppner, American Association for Counseling and Development, 1990, pp. 82–7.

"Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education." University of Tennessee, www.utc.edu/walker-center-teaching-learning/teaching-resources/7-principles.php. Accessed 5 May 2017.