The New York State Department of Education approved changing the name of the College Student Personnel Administration (CSPA) master’s program to Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration (HESAA).
“The new name reflects more accurately the content of the program,” said Sandra Estanek, PhD, professor of graduate education and leadership and director of HESAA. “We prepare administrators to work in institutions of higher education, especially in areas of student affairs. The name also matches more closely the keywords that are used most often to search online for master’s programs in this field,” she added.
The New York State approval is effective immediately and the college is in the process of working through all of changes that need to be made. The class of 2017 had the choice of graduating as CSPA or HESAA and “voted to be the first HESAA graduates in May,” said Estanek. “We changed the academic codes in time for registration for fall classes and we are changing all of the financial codes in time for the new fiscal year on June 1, which marks when we will fully be HESAA.” CSPA celebrated its 20th anniversary this year and looks forward to the next 20 as HESAA.
Submitted by: Sandra Estanek, PhD, professor, graduate education and leadership
