As a novice student affairs practitioner, I often wonder about my own professional identity development and career direction in student affairs. Realizing the importance of professional identity in serving as a navigation point to learn about past experiences, and future direction, I decided to examine my own professional identity development. Using a self-study research, I examined how my personal identities intersect and emerge in the development of my professional identity in student affairs. In this presentation, I will share my personal self-study research to understand the development of my professional identity in student affairs. I will discuss what is a self-study research, the concept of identity development in student affairs, and the various methods that one can engage in self-study relating to student affairs. I will present my own self-study method where I used memory work, and personal history analysis to examine my professional identity development in student affairs. This presentation hopes to share examples of how student affairs practitioner can conduct their own self-study to examine their professional identity in student affairs.
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