14th Annual MENASA NASPA Conference 2020 | NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education | 8 March 2020 | American University of Kuwait, 15 Salem Al Mubarak St, Salmiya, Kuwait

This three-day conference by NASPA and the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA) Area, is an ideal opportunity for discussing innovative ideas, approaches, technologies, best practices and policies in the field of Student Affairs.
In an age where direct human interactions increasingly are replaced and enabled by machines, each of us needs to reconsider our roles both professionally and personally. As student affairs professionals, we need to address the impact of technology on Higher Education and its effects on students--especially when the machine becomes the front-line service provider for students. Increasingly, students utilize technology as the first point of contact for learning, communication and other interactions. Students rely on Siri to answer their questions, on apps to order their food and clothes, and to guide them to their destinations. They connect with their friends and family via social media. Similarly, in Higher Education, online and mobile applications are becoming a common tool for interactions between student and university professionals. The effects of this posthuman era should not be neglected when practitioners in Student Affairs or other areas of higher education look for ways of reaching out to students, engaging them, supporting their life-long learning, instilling values of empathy and civic engagement, and caring for their well-being.