How do we build community both intentionally and organically?

Renata Opoczynski smiling on a sunny day

I’m still reflecting on all the great learnings from the Student Success Summit in May, particularly how we can be in community with each other. Research tells us that students who feel a sense of community are more likely to stay enrolled and achieve greater academic success. When we engage in student success work, we often strive to build a sense of belonging by intentionally planning social gatherings, meticulously crafting agendas and icebreakers meant to connect folks, and working to build a space where everyone can come as their whole self.

From the assistant dean for student success assessment and strategic initiatives

Equity, Inclusivity, and Alphabet Soup

When we ran new faculty orientation for Lyman Briggs College, we always gave new faculty members a quiz called “alphabet soup.” It was a list of dozens of acronyms, some generally used in higher education (like FERPA and FTIAC) and many more that were specific to MSU (like RCAH and SASS). As expected, our new colleagues knew almost none of them, so the real exercise consisted of working through the list collectively to help them start learning our lingua franca.

From the desk of the vice provost