Fables, Labels, and Folding Tables: Reflections on the Student Affairs Profession

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Summary: A revelation for educators who want to make difference
Review: Fabels, Labels and Folding Tables is small in size but big in heart. If you are interested in how to educate college students, or if you just want to know how to reflect on your life's work, this book is packed with amusing experiences, poignant reflections, and invaluable tips from an author of obvious wisdom and passion.

Without question, college students learn as much or more outside of class than they do in class, and the people that construct those learning experiences are as talented, passionate and dedicated as any group of teachers. This fascinating book takes you inside that world and reveals many truths about the process by which we help young people grow and succeed. In some places the book unfolds in wonderful stories that anyone, anywhere can relate to... in other places the book resembles a veritable college student owner's manual.

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Summary: Why choose to be in the college student affairs profession?
Review: Fables, Labels, and Folding Tables: Reflections on the Student Affairs Profession by Randy L. Mitchell

There are dozens of books focusing on the how of the college student affairs profession. Now, there's a book on the why.

In Fables, Labels, and Folding Tables, Randy Mitchell, Associate Vice President for Student Success Programs at James Madison University, writes about the human dimension of the student affairs profession. Using insightful stories drawn from his own experiences during his 20-year career in the field, he shares perspectives that will challenge and inspire, whether you are a:

seasoned student affairs professional looking for new angles on old issues, new student affairs professional encountering the inherent challenges of the field for the first time, or graduate student preparing for the challenges of the student affairs profession.

Fables, Labels, and Folding Tables features thirty-one essays falling loosely under one or more of the themes in the book's title. Fables are stories and experiences that provide potential direction for the student affairs profession. Labels capture the names and ways used to describe people, movements, causes, and paradigms within the profession. And folding tables illustrate the profession's need for tools, symbols, and physical surroundings - "tricks and tools for our trade," as Mitchell writes.

Each essay also offers three "Reflection" questions, making the book "a natural for use in professional development workshops," according to John Gardner, director of the National Resource Center for The Freshman Year Experience and Students in Transition, based at the University of South Carolina.

Fables, Labels, and Folding Tables will get you thinking - about yourself, your colleagues, the student affairs profession, and the students you serve - in new and innovative ways that lend themselves nicely to your personal and professional growth.

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Summary: Nice to pick up for either inspiration or reflection.
Review: Randy Mitchell brings his enthusiasm, creativity, and insight to bear on every part of his life: his family, his hobbies, and in the case of Fables, Labels and Folding Tables, his profession.  This book is full of warm-hearted reflections and observations that many will identify with, whether in the field of higher education or not.  Randy can Write (with a capital W) and we can enjoy the Reading (with a smile).

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Summary: Unique guide for helping examine the WHY, not just the WHAT
Review: Randy Mitchell's down-to-earth, personable writing style might initially obscure the wide variety of settings where this book could be used. It's obviously a rich source of material for student affairs staff development, at all levels. But it also has utility for other divisions/areas on campus, for other educational organizations, and for the corporate world. Organizations of all kinds could benefit from talking more about WHY they're doing something, not just about WHAT. Although getting employees to examine the WHY questions is difficult, any of Mitchell's warm reflections would be a perfect catalyst.

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Summary: The essays in this book examine and transform the profession
Review: The Student affairs profession is complex and dynamic, as old as higher education and as new as today's headlines. Sometimes the profession's complexity and dynamism obstructs the ability of professionals to see clearly, speak clearly, and make sense out of daily trials, tribulations and triumphs.

Though the profession has rich theoretical underpinnings, professionals seem less sure of their philosophical foundations. A significant amount of time, money and energy is spent in developing the technology related to the profession, but little is spent on developing the humanity of the profession. Without purposeful sharing of stories, reclamation of language, and development of the capacity to use tools, the profession is in jeopardy of losing its relevance in the changing world of higher education.

The essays in this book examine and transform the humanity of the student affairs profession. Each essay falls (loosely) under one or more of the themes in the book's title. Fables are simply stories and experiences that provide potential direction for the profession. Labels capture the names and ways used to describe people, movements, causes, and paradigms; labels can help or hinder our communication. Folding tables is a theme used to illustrate our need for tools, symbols and physical surroundings; the tricks and tools of our trade.

By reading this book and employing the questions posed in each essay for personal reflection and group discussion, readers will have the opportunity to:

· Discover and employ their own fables so that their work will have greater value and deeper meaning.

· Discover - and possibly reframe - the labels used in description and the language used with varying degrees of effectiveness in the profession.

· Discover their own folding tables ("tools of our trade") so that they can become more resourceful, more skilled, and more knowledgeable about the needs and expectations of the profession.

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Summary: Refreshing, inspiring and enlightening
Review: This refreshing work is a literary trinity composed of these elements: philosophy, pragmatism, and playfulness. Randy Mitchell arouses your spirit for learning and its application with the ultimate goal of making a difference. His word gifts inspire our present and enrich our future. This book will serve as a great primer for the practitioner. It deals with issues not learned in school, but that are ubiquitous in higher education. Most of all, the book engages you to discover your own answers to the perplexing questions posed.

Dr. Mark J. Warner, Vice President of Student Affairs, James Madison University, and Author of THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO ENHANCING SELF-ESTEEM