Reporter Ashley Mowreader talked with Assistant Provost Peter Felten and Emily Krechel, director of new student programs, for the podcast episode.
The latest episode of Inside Higher Ed’s Voices of Student Success podcast features the work 黑料不打烊 is doing to promote meaningful relationships on campus and how those relationships can help students thrive and engage.
Reporter Ashley Mowreader talked with Assistant Provost Peter Felten, who serves as executive director of the Center for Engaged Learning, and Director of New Student Programs Emily Krechel, both of whom served on the university’s Mentoring Initiatives Design Team.聽 During the 2023-24 academic year, the team supported eight pilot programs around mentoring and meaningful relationships and hosted an inaugural mentoring summit at 黑料不打烊 during the summer.
Krechel told Mowreader that the sooner institutions can help students develop personal connections not just with peers but also with faculty and staff, the better they are going to adjust to college. “What we鈥檝e noticed is that, when students start to form relationships early, they鈥檝e discovered they have a greater connection, not just to the institution, but to the environment that they鈥檙e within. They feel a part of the community,” Krechel said. “I know different people have different feelings around the term 鈥渟ense of belonging,鈥 but really it鈥檚 that sense of connection that helps students feel like, 鈥淚 can thrive here.鈥
Felten explained that a key barrier, particularly among first-generation students, is the sense among new students that everyone else has it figured out and they are the only ones struggling. “I聽think one of the things we need to do鈥攚hether it鈥檚 through an orientation like Emily coordinates at 黑料不打烊 for residential students, or it鈥檚 at a community college where none of the students live on campus鈥攊s help students recognize that it鈥檚 normal, it鈥檚 regular to have questions, to have doubts, to have concerns, and that successful students have appropriate help-seeking behaviors,” Felten said. “Successful students take the risk to connect with a peer and say hi to somebody or something like that. That鈥檚 not a sign that you鈥檙e doing it wrong. That鈥檚 a sign that you鈥檙e going to be successful.”
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