Culture Connection | Values | |
Professional Development Opportunities | |
Grief and Loss: How to Address it With Your Students | |
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By: Jonathan Hunn
Death has been seen as a very taboo subject for many. It can feel awkward to approach a student who has experienced a death of a family member, a friend, or a fellow student. If you are uncertain of how to approach students who are suffering from a loss, know you are not alone. Don’t beat up on yourself, know that the Student Counseling and Resource Center is here to assist you in referring not only the grieving student, but any student you feel is having mental health challenges. The Student Counseling and Resource Center can be reached Monday through Friday 8am-5pm at 636-949-4522 or by email at scrc@lindenwood.edu.
If you feel comfortable, know that there are some things that you can do to help a student who is experiencing grief. Silence speaks volumes to hurting and grieving students; reaching out to students in their time of loss lets them know that you recognize what they may be going through and want to be there to support them.
As awkward or uncomfortable as it may feel, as caring faculty and staff we must try to start the conversation with the grieving student. Silence can cause the student to feel alone or uncared for. Reluctance and fear along with anger and shame may all be reactions that some students have after a death. Let them know that you are available when and if they are ready to talk.
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The goal here is not to have the “right” answers or say the “right” thing to make the student feel better. You don’t necessarily possess this power. The purpose is to create space for the student to speak. The following are 6 tips for how you can create space to help your students.
Expressing Concern
Let students know that you heard about the loss and that you are there to offer support in private.
Initiating the Conversation
Initiate the conversation with students in private and with open-ended questions. For example, you could ask, “how are you doing?”
Listening and Observing
Share observations about students’ behavior or responses in a nonjudgmental manner, such as, “I noticed you haven’t been sitting in your usual seat and I just wanted to touch base.”
Listen more and talk less.
Limiting Personal Sharing
You can draw on personal experiences, but do not share details with them. Keep the focus on the student.
Offering Reassurance
Without minimizing their concerns, let students know that over time they will be more able to cope with their distress, and that they are not alone - you will be there to help them along the way.
Checking In
At first, students may not accept your invitation to talk or offers of support. Their questions and willingness to talk will evolve over time. Remain accessible, curious, and connected.
The suggestions above are a good start to helping your student who may be suffering a loss. These tips often help facilitate meaningful conversations. They may prove to be just what a student needs. If not, please remember that the Student Counseling and Resource Center is here to help.
Student Counseling and Resource Center
Contact Information:
Phone: 636-949-4522
Email: scrc@lindenwood.edu
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The pace of change and volume of information we encounter in daily life make it hard to think through decisions. Instead, people often rely on biases and rules of thumb, which trap them into drawing faulty conclusions. The most successful teams use critical thinking—objective and rational analysis—to illuminate the wisest conclusions. This course prepares leaders to hone the critical thinking skills of their entire organization. Learn how to upgrade critical thinking to avoid deceiving fallacies, spot misleading cognitive biases, craft better arguments, hone judgment, and improve decision-making. Instructor Becki Saltzman teaches skills that will improve how your team innovates, tackles challenges, and responds to change.
Learning objectives
- Comparing critical and strategic thinking
- Minimizing bad judgements
- Recognizing cognitive bias
- Using counterfactual thinking
- Overcoming loss aversion
- Avoiding logical fallacies
- Creating a culture of critical thinking
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Leadership and Supervision: Nancy Messina
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Each year, month, week, and day we have to prioritize what and where we spend our time. I realized that this might not be the year or semester that participating in the Leadership and Supervision Fellowship took priority for everyone. (I completely understand! There just never seems to be enough time in a day!) To help those who are interested, but don’t have weekly time to devote to the fellowship, I created a fellowship hub, with the reflections, resources, quotes, and other pieces that I am finding along this fellowship journey that I am sharing with participants. This allows everyone to be able to see a snapshot of what we are doing and be able to go through it at your own pace. I try to update it once a week, as new reflections and materials come my way, so feel free to check out my Everyday People Can Make Extraordinary Leaders hub to gain a little leadership wisdom.
It is also never too late to join the fellowship. We are starting Chapter 4 – Challenge the Process this month and will continue to reflect on it through the end of January. Just send me an email at nmessina@lindenwood.edu if you would like to join or would just like to share leadership materials that you found inspiring.
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Q2 Service Excellence: Cayte Billman | |
For the Q2 Service Excellence fellowship I have been focused on conducting student focus groups. During the month of November and December, I held student focus groups both in person and virtually, consisting of 4-8 students per session. So far, 5 focus groups have been conducted and each session lasted between 60 minutes to 90 minutes. | |
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The focus groups I met with included an international student group, 2 student-athlete groups, 1 group of student ambassadors, and 1 group of student government members. I will continue to conduct more student focus groups in the month of January. It has been an empowering experience hearing from our students about their experiences as a Lindenwood student and I look forward to sharing these findings with both faculty and staff in the Spring. If you are willing, please share this link with students who would be great participants in a student focus group. | |
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Myron Burr | |
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Sign up today to participate in the Cap-A.B.L.E. Program!
Cap-A.B.L.E. (adapt, build, listen, and engage) is a programmatic approach to developing employees who are capable of creating a more equitable and inclusive university culture. Program participants explore diversity, equity, and inclusion from an organizational, societal, and individual perspective. Cap-A.B.L.E. is an eight-week program with 3 hours or less of weekly assignments, which include self-reflection journals, peer-to-peer and large group dialogue, and a Cap-A.B.L.E. action plan for impacting change on campus.
The program will start Monday, January 10, 2022. Sign-up today if you are interested in becoming a capable change agent!
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Course Objectives
Participants will be able to...
- Understand the basic principles of intergroup dialogue theory
- Examine the organizational and societal structure of institutions of higher education and how it pertains to diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Define and recognize the different aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Design a Cap-A.B.L.E plan of action for impacting an area of diversity, equity, and inclusion of their choosing
- Fostering and facilitate difficult conversations surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion
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Course Schedule
- Week One: Cap–A.B.L.E. and the Intergroup Dialogue Theory
- Week Two: The organization of higher education
- Week Three: The socialization of higher education
- Week Four: DEI: What is it and why does it matter?
- Week Five: Adapting to our needs
- Week Six: Building what’s missing
- Week Seven: Listening to the voices around us
- Week Eight: Engaging our community
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Culture Connection – Reflection from Cohort Three | |
For the past three semesters, the Learning Academy has hosted a new employee professional learning community called Culture Connection. The three main objectives to Culture Connection are to build relationships and community, cultivate connection to the culture, and help new employees discover their purpose and potential at Lindenwood. The cohort meets six times over the course of the semester with one of Lindenwood’s values being the focus each session. During the last session, each participant was asked to write a culminating refection on their time in Culture Connection and express how they will apply Lindenwood’s values to their daily work. Here is a sample of their thoughts: | |
Excellence
“A commitment to Excellence is the foundation in all that I believe and communicate to others. In the space of diversity, equity, and inclusion it is imperative to focus on not just the what, but the how. Everyone is on a journey of learning and part of the commitment to excellence is meeting people where they are and helping them discover things, they may have not known about themselves or others. We all have blind spots, and those are our primary areas of opportunity to become a more inclusive student, faculty, or staff.” - Emily Pitts, Chief Diversity Officer
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Dedication
“Dedication is a commitment to a purpose. Lindenwood is more than a university, its a group of people applying their skills to make something better with their resulting synergy, in this case our university community. Empathy and emotional intelligence combined with detailed process development can help not only improve workflow and remove obstacles from others, but it can help us to understand human needs and to build relationships and partnerships that last long after the workday ends. Building these connections vests interest within our community and that community embodies our dedication, which in turn amplifies and improves the synergy of diverse talent, continually building a better university community.” - Matt Williams, Enterprise Project Manager
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Integrity
“I plan to further implement the value of integrity in my work by thinking critically about the ways in which I, an imperfect human being, choose to represent people from all backgrounds in the content I create, and what purpose that content is serving. It would be unethical to feed people answers to my questions, represent them as somehow flatter than they truly are, or edit videos in a way that serves an untrue narrative. So I choose to work in a way that honors many people's perspectives over just my own, true complexity over flattening simplification, and integrity over dishonesty.” - Phoebe Mussman, Videographer/Photographer
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Creativity
“I have had to be flexible and creative over the course of LindEngage's business development in response to feedback from potential partners and I have had to change narratives and approaches accordingly. One example of this is we started training students for work in the IT organization as a way to better demonstrate to potential partners that we have the framework of an IT operation already in place.” - Jeanine Cotter, General Manager, LindEngage
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Teamwork
“There's so many wonderful teammates here that touch our program. Allowing each person who works with our athletes to shine and influence our team will give each player their best possible experience. I will be sure to work with our department and university to make sure our athletes are cared for and provided the resources to help them reach their fullest potential on and off the field. Lindenwood is special in this sense...we have so many wonderful people helping our athletes. If we continue to work together we can provide an experience unlike any other in the country for NCAA DII.” - Erin Brown, Head Coach, Women’s Softball
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During Culture Connection we talked about how our values, when looking at the first letter of each, spell out the word, “EDICT”. In his reflection, Matt Williams went on to say, “The clear EDICT at Lindenwood is to encourage excellence, dedication, integrity, creativity, and teamwork to ensure the university serves as a learner-centric organization that is the top-of-mind for students seeking education and skills required to compete in the workforce. To those serving subject to the EDICT, each component has meaning sculpted in years of unique experience and that diverse interpretation brings the EDICT to life to better the university.” Living out the values of our institution was clearly a priority for many of our new employees. Please join the Learning Academy in welcoming them to our community, ensuring they know they are right where they belong! | |
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The Learning Academy is here to support you!
As you plan your courses for next semester, remember that the Learning Academy is here to support you.
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Also, remember that the R.I.S.E. scholars are ready to talk with their colleagues about rigor, inclusiveness, support, and engagement and that the Learning Academy offers consultations. Please reach out to your R.I.S.E scholar or the Learning Academy to talk over ideas or teaching strategies, to request feedback on teaching materials and much more! | |
Thank you from the R.I.S.E. Team!
As we come to the close of the fall semester, the R.I.S.E. Team would like to thank everyone for their participation during the Fall 2021 R.I.S.E. events! During the fall semester, we hosted a variety of R.I.S.E events such as the:
In addition to attending the events above, many of you learned about our R.I.S.E. Student Spotlights during full faculty meetings, took advantage of the helpful resources found on the R.I.S.E. Project website, consulted with a R.I.S.E. Scholar and participated in a professional learning community. We hope that everyone learned some helpful tips and strategies for enhancing rigor and inclusiveness in their courses. We look forward to working together to establish a shared framework for effective teaching that will serve faculty from all disciplines and students from all groups in the Spring 2022 semester.
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Resources on Universal Design for Learning
Since none of us want to intentionally create barriers for our students to the course content, communication, and activities, consider adhering to the major principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as you design and deliver your upcoming courses. Designing your courses using the UDL guidelines will help to ensure that you are adapting your courses to your students’ needs and interests from the first day of the semester. Check out one or all of the following resources to help you better understand and implement UDL in your courses.
About UDL: General Overview
This useful resource provides a brief introduction to UDL by explaining what it is, why it is important and what it looks like in a college classroom.
Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education
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Summary: …This is also a perfect model for Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework grounded in the neuroscience of why, what, and how people learn. Tobin and Behling show that, although it is often associated with students with disabilities, UDL can be profitably broadened toward a larger ease-of-use and general diversity framework. Captioned instructional videos, for example, benefit learners with hearing impairments but also the student who worries about waking her young children at night or those studying on a noisy team bus. | |
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Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone is aimed at faculty members, faculty-service staff, disability support providers, student-service staff, campus leaders, and graduate students who want to strengthen the engagement, interaction, and performance of all college students. It includes resources for readers who want to become UDL experts and advocates: real-world case studies, active-learning techniques, UDL coaching skills, micro- and macro-level UDL-adoption guidance, and use-them-now resources. Contact the Learning Academy to borrow a copy of this excellent resource.
UDL Guidelines Checklist
This checklist allows you to identify the UDL teaching strategies that you are already using and identify some approaches that you can begin to implement to make your teaching even more inclusive.
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January Professional Development Opportunities | |
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4E's Active Shooter Training
Location: Dunseth Auditorium, Harmon Hall
Phase I
Phase I training entails a presentation to provide a baseline and to educate the participant. Afterwards, participants are broken into groups for scenario-based training. The session usually completes 4 scenarios.
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Date: January 6, 2022
Time: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
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Date: January 6, 2022
Time: 1 – 4 p.m.
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Phase II
Phase II consists of a presentation reviewing first aid needs and tourniquet application. We break into groups and practice application of tourniquets and participate in scenarios practicing emergency first aid skills.
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Date: January 7, 2022
Time: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
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Date: January 7, 2022
Time: 1 – 4 p.m.
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Survey 101: Qualtrics
Date: January 11, 2022
Time: 10 a.m. Duration: 1 hour
Location: Lindenwood Learning Academy, LARC 009
Survey 101: Qualtrics is a foundational course that explores Qualtrics and all it has to offer. In this session you will learn how to create distribution lists and surveys and how to use many more Qualtrics functions.
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Interactive PowerPoint Workshop
Why should I create an interactive PowerPoint (PPT) for my students, you ask? Engagement, higher learning skills and putting the fun back in learning! You’ll walk away with an interactive PPT ready for your students and an understanding of how to create them in the future. Just bring a PowerPoint you want to make interactive and a smile!
First Offering
Date: January 13, 2022
Time: 9 – 11 a.m.
Location: Online
Second Offering:
Date: January 13, 2022
Time: 1 – 3 p.m.
Location: Lindenwood Learning Academy, LARC 010
Third Offering:
Date: January 24, 2022
Time: 2 – 4 p.m.
Location: Lindenwood Learning Academy, LARC 010
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration
Date: January 19, 2022
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Location: Spellmann Center
Join us for a day of events in celebration of MLK Day and the Rededication and Ribbon Cutting for the NEW Center for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion! St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell is our keynote speaker and will kick off the celebration, followed by the MLK Awards Ceremony. Next, we will head over to the NEW Center for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion for ribbon cutting.
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Nominate an individual for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Awards!
Please help us in nominating a student, staff, or faculty member for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Awards! The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award is intended to grant distinction and recognition to those individuals in the Lindenwood University community who embody the spirit of Dr. King's work. Click here to read more and to submit your nomination.
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Feed Your Mind Friday
Date: January 21, 2022
Time: 12 – 1 p.m.
Location: Online
Feed Your Mind Fridays are brief discussions on pressing issues in higher education. Each discussion begins with a presentation by a regional or national expert. A Q&A session follows each presentation. We welcome faculty and staff to these important conversations! This session will explore what the COVID pandemic tells us about emergency management procedures.
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Courageous Conversations
Date: January 26, 2022
Time: 1 – 2:30 p.m.
Location: Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI), Spellmann Room 3085
“Courageous Conversations” is a facilitated conversation for faculty and staff to have an open dialogue about topics that impact real career and life experiences. We will discuss challenges, opportunities, and successes from which we can learn from each other, become more empathetic, and identify actionable ways to create a more inclusive environment for our entire campus community. In this session, we will discuss what do we need to know and do to maximize the power of multiple generations in the workplace.
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Spiritual/Religious Bias
Date: January 27, 2022
Time: 2 – 3 p.m.
Location: Lindenwood Learning Academy, LARC 009
This interactive training session will help participants develop an awareness of how spiritual/religious bias can impact others who practice different spiritualties or religions. Training participants will discover applicable campus resources, as well as strategies to help identify and challenge their own spiritual/religious bias.
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“May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility.” – Mary Anne Radmacher | | | | |
