One of the most crucial factors to students experiencing success in their first year of college is finding their people as quickly as possible. While first-year seminar (FYS) courses based on long-term goals and career preparedness have value, first-year students’ immediate needs include connecting to like-minded peers, gaining a sense of belonging, and achieving early success (Williams & Roberts, 2023). In contrast to long-term success–based courses, the priority of our college’s FYS course is to create a learning community (LC) that provides a platform for immediate success. This platform includes a purposeful, cohort-based approach that focuses on peer-to-peer connections between students with similar career paths, increased interactions with caring and compassionate faculty, and discussion-based presentations with university staff who oversee resources that empower students to succeed early in their first semester.
Supporting Faculty and Staff Mental Health and Well-Being: Mattering and Growing at Work
So far this spring, I have explored the first three “essentials” for workplace mental health and well-being—protection from harm, connection and community, and work-life harmony—in the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/workplace-mental-health-well-being.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer
Rebecca Pope-Ruark
May 6, 2024
