It鈥檚 such a widely told story about Lee Knefelkamp that it鈥檚 become apocryphal: How, a few days before a beloved advisee鈥檚 long-planned doctoral dissertation defense, Knefelkamp was carried out of Teachers College on a stretcher, believed to be suffering from a heart attack 鈥� yet on the morning of the defense, left the hospital in defiance of her doctor鈥檚 advice, went home and took a cold shower, arrived at the defense in time to ask the first question (thus rendering the proceedings official) and then checked herself back into the hospital.
鈥淧eople told that story all the time,鈥� says Jayne Brownell, Vice President for Student Affairs at Miami University. 鈥淎nd I鈥檇 say, 鈥楾hat really happened. I was the student.鈥� And p.s., there鈥檚 a little more to the story. As she was leaving, she said, 鈥楾here鈥檚 a bottle of Champagne in my office.鈥欌��
L. Lee Knefelkamp (the 鈥淟.鈥� was for 鈥淟orraine鈥�), Professor Emerita of Psychology & Education, who died in early September, was known for many things. She is credited with bringing the first wave of student development theory to the student affairs profession, shifting the field from service provision to a focus on transforming college campuses into developmental communities.
She spearheaded a national initiative by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) to reshape liberal arts education for the 21st century. With her long-time colleague, W. Warner Burke, she helped create 麻豆原创鈥檚 Eisenhower Leader Development Program (EDLP), a master鈥檚 degree program in social-organizational psychology for officers at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She defied intellectual categorization, leading highly successful careers as both a dean and a professor, and teaching in two different programs at 麻豆原创. She also quietly led a customized teaching program for female inmates at a prison in upstate New York.
Lee traveled across disciplines to the question of, 鈥榳hat is it that鈥檚 to be learned here?鈥� Her ultimate concern was with the particular student, and was the student learning, for heaven鈥檚 sake 鈥� and if not, she鈥檇 see to that.鈥�
鈥擶. Warner Burke
More than anything, however, Knefelkamp will likely be remembered as a fierce advocate for students 鈥� her own, certainly, but also, students as the focus and point of education 鈥� and student learning.
鈥淟ee traveled across disciplines to the question of, 鈥榳hat is it that鈥檚 to be learned here?鈥欌�� says Burke, E.L Thorndike Professor of Psychology & Education. 鈥淗er ultimate concern was with the particular student, and was the student learning, for heaven鈥檚 sake 鈥� and if not, she鈥檇 see to that.鈥�
Knefelkamp was mourned by an extensive and devoted following of former students who channel her thinking and spirit in student affairs positions around the country.
鈥淟ee had a deep and abiding respect for the learning that students go through during their college experience,鈥� said Brownell. 鈥淪he believed that our responsibility as professionals is to learn from and about our students, see where they are, and help them grow and develop. That means that if you鈥檙e a student in my office for a conduct reason or with an unformed opinion, I don鈥檛 blame you for thinking the way you do. I think, no, you鈥檙e being developmentally appropriate, and I need to meet you there so that you leave having attained your next stage of development. That鈥檚 the essence of Lee.鈥�
In the 1970s, the student affairs profession was still primarily service-based, focusing on resume development and other aspects of helping students find jobs. Theorists such as Arthur Chickering (Ph.D. 鈥�58), William Perry, Lawrence Kohlberg and Jean Piaget had advanced theories of moral, ethical, cognitive and intellectual development in college students and other young adults, but without specific reference to how they might be applied by those working with students on campus.
In a 1978 publication titled 鈥� a special issue of the journal New Directions for Student Services 鈥� Knefelkamp, Carol Widick and Clyde A. Parker laid out a framework for translating these ideas into a set of tools for student affairs professionals. They argued that the profession needed a theoretical knowledge base that described the changes that take place in college students and what those changes look like. They called for a model for how development occurs, including the psychological and social processes that cause it; an understanding of how the college environment can influence student development; and consensus on what the goals of development should be.
She connected the theories we talked about in class not just to practice issues in our field but also to larger ideas in the world,鈥� says Christensen. 鈥淚t was what she called her 鈥榯eaching outside of Jossey-Bass.鈥� We鈥檇 look at an idea from education or psychology through literature鈥� books like Their Eyes Were Watching God 鈥� or film. It was incredibly powerful when she did that.鈥�
鈥擬onica Coen Christensen
鈥淟ee changed the field in ways that have endured for 40 years,鈥� says Monica Coen Christensen, Dean of Students at Manhattan School of Music. 鈥淏ecause of her, everyone who gets an M.A. intending to work in student affairs takes a course in student development theory. And in great part because of her, the student affairs profession is now concerned with student life issues and the kinds of environment we create so that students grow and thrive. That can take place in one-on-one encounters with a student, but also in understanding why having student organizations are important, and that residence halls aren鈥檛 just a set of beds, but opportunities for creating community.鈥�
In 1985, Knefelkamp, Elizabeth Wells and Rennie Rogers Golec published their (PTP) model, an 11-step conception of how, in essence, student affairs professionals can function as theorists themselves. PTP calls for practitioners to approach their practice as problems in theory; come up with new strategies based on developmental theories; reapply those strategies to practice, and so on, in a continuous cycle of refinement.
鈥淧TP was one of the first theories of what鈥檚 our role, what actions do we take in creating environment in which students will flourish,鈥� says Case Willoughby, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at Butler Community College in Pennsylvania. 鈥淎nd that grows straight out of a refrain from Lee鈥檚 classes at 麻豆原创 鈥� something she didn鈥檛 coin, but that she said a lot. Someone would say, oh, but that鈥檚 purely theoretical, and she鈥檇 quote Kurt Lewin and say, there鈥檚 nothing so practical as a good theory.鈥�
Lee Knefelkamp grew up on a farm in Minnesota and retained a lifelong fondness for horses. Her father was a career officer in the U.S. Navy. She earned a B.A. in literature and humanities studies from Macalester College, where she was deeply influenced by the institution鈥檚 emphasis on urban service and global citizenship, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Minnesota.
She served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica from 1968 to 1970. During the 1980s, she traveled extensively with the Harvard developmental theorist William Perry and his wife, Mary, leading seminars designed to enable faculty apply Perry鈥檚 insights about students鈥� intellectual development. Perry鈥檚 great contribution, Knefelkamp later wrote, was the recognition that 鈥渁 fundamental belief in students is more important than anything else,鈥� and that acting on that belief entailed 鈥渞ealistically conceiving the student where he or she is, and at the same time never losing sight of where he or she can be.鈥�
In particular, Knefelkamp was influenced by Perry鈥檚 鈥渟ense of the positionality of students as they approached learning鈥� 鈥� the perspectives acquired from one鈥檚 lived life,鈥� including 鈥渢he influences of gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class.鈥�
WE NEED YOU NOW That was Knefelkamp's message to graduates of Wagner College last spring.
Prior to joining 麻豆原创鈥檚 faculty, Knefelkamp directed the student development graduate program at the University of Maryland; served as dean of the school of education at American University; and was academic dean of faculty at Macalester College. For the past three decades, she also held the title of Senior Scholar, Office of Integrative Liberal Learning and the Global Commons, for the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). In that role, she worked on an initiative called LEAP (for Liberal Education and America鈥檚 Promise) 鈥� a comprehensive campaign to redesign the academic and social experience for American undergraduates. LEAP鈥檚 core goals were to ensure, first, that students gain an understanding of human cultures and of the physical and natural world; and, second, that they use their skills to improve society.
鈥淚f AAC&U senior scholars were awarded tenure, Lee Knefelkamp would have earned it long ago,鈥� read on the organization鈥檚 website immediately after Knefelkamp鈥檚 passing. The statement cited Knefelkamp for 鈥渉er ability not only to widen the intellectual horizon on educational questions but also to touch the hearts and lives of all those who worked with her.鈥�
Certainly that assessment tracks with how she is recalled by former students.
鈥淪he connected the theories we talked about in class not just to practice issues in our field but also to larger ideas in the world,鈥� says Christensen. 鈥淚t was what she called her 鈥榯eaching outside of Jossey-Bass.鈥� We鈥檇 look at an idea from education or psychology through literature鈥� books like Their Eyes Were Watching God 鈥� or film. It was incredibly powerful when she did that.鈥�
Brownell remembers that at the beginning of one course on how adults learn, Knefelkamp asked students to assess their own learning styles using the , a tool that maps learning along an experiential spectrum. 鈥淎fter she read our assessments, she came back with a new version of the syllabus, with assignments targeted to our different strengths and weaknesses,鈥� Brownell says. 鈥淐ertain assignments you had to do using the style you were strongest in, and others in your weakest style. I鈥檇 never seen anyone else do that before. She lived what she taught.鈥�
Basically, you came to her with a bunch of threads, you presented it to her, and she handed you back a sweater. And then she taught you how to do it.鈥�
鈥擟ase Willoughby
Several people described Knefelkamp as the most brilliant person they鈥檇 ever met, with a knack for making others feel more brilliant as well. Willoughby recalls an evening in the late 1990s, when he and another doctoral student ate dinner with Knefelkamp at a restaurant in New York City. 鈥淚t was an elegant place, but they use to have these white butcher block table clothes and crayons. We were drinking Cosmopolitans and talking about our dissertations, and by the end of dinner, Lee had my dissertation was mapped out on the table cloth. I still have it somewhere in my basement -- I鈥檝e been meaning to frame it, food stains and all.
鈥淏asically, you came to her with a bunch of threads, you presented it to her, and she handed you back a sweater. And then she taught you how to do it.鈥�