Creating Connections: Exploring the

potential benefits of a re-orientation for

psychology students at UWB
By the students of BISCP 489
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Re-orientation Project Proposal:

Overview of Research Topic

A commonality between psychology majors, specifically at UWB, is a lack of sense of belonging

and engagement to the school itself. Particularly, commuter schools like UWB are found to feel
this absence at a higher rate, only further intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic (Ang, Monte,
Tsai, 2022). The long period of isolation made it extremely hard for students to come back to a
normal social setting, causing the school's atmosphere to change drastically. Returning students
felt a notable decline in the social aspect of school, with many previous extracurricular avenues
of student interaction (clubs, sports, hang out spots) affected or made null by social distancing
practices. Not only was the social aspect of coming back difficult, but psychology majors felt a
weak sense of direction in terms of ‘next steps’. Our research has indicated that students within
this major (and the department as a whole) are greatly affected in their path to graduation/post
grad life by two major issues: a lack of a sense of community with their peers and lack of career
direction.

Further research into the matter uncovered that social sciences in general suffered from these
issues in a way that was statistically significant when compared with other departments, causing
us to look further into possible causes and prior solutions from other schools. While many other
departments are structured in such a way as to directly guide students in preparing for their post
grad life (and soliciting peer interaction in the process) social sciences and humanities seemed
distinctly, ‘guideless’ with many in these departments unsure of cross lateral career options
outside of teaching, unaware of transferable skills gained in their time at school, and a general
lack of community in the department. In efforts to increase engagement and a sense of belonging
in students we came up with a proposal for a Junior Year Re-orientation Program (JYRP).
Building from some of the solutions we found in our research, along with our own innovations
through group discussions, and tailored to our findings among UWB psychology majors, we
propose a mandatory orientation for psychology majors in their junior year. This program would
include program alumni, faculty, career advisors, and professionals in the field to discuss/inform
psychology students of the variety of post graduate, and in school, career building opportunities
afforded by their major. In doing so, we hope to create a program aimed at guiding students
towards having a clearer sense of career direction and a stronger sense of community amongst
their peers, faculty, and major in the process.

Significance/Value/Worth
To further delve into the potential benefits of a junior year psychology re-orientation we want to
discuss how and why such a program could be considered necessary. A junior year psychology
program re-orientation could serve to provide multiple beneficial rewards for students who
attend. A traditional first year orientation functions to assist students in navigating their new
campus, as well as facilitating social bonds between their fellow freshmen and faculty members.
Unfortunately, there is no existing event like an orientation to promote social facilitation for
upperclassmen, especially for current students who missed out on a classic orientation due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Our plan for a junior year “re-orientation” has been carefully organized
with this in mind, while also taking into account the unique diversity of our student base, most of
which identify themselves as commuter students.
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The average commuter student often has responsibilities outside of the academic scope, for
“commuter students, the top three reasons for working were to pay bills/rent (51.7%)” (339,
2013, Alfano and Eduljee ) leaving them without the chance to stay on campus to better
familiarize themselves with their classmates, staff and the resources already given to them on
campus. Researchers note that the “further away a student lives from campus … the less likely a
student is to take advantage of the educational resources of the school” (336, 2013, Alfano and
Eduljee ) resources of the school.Our junior year re-orientation will offer multiple time slots to
cater to working students, ice breaker activities to get acquainted with classmates and a tour
around campus.

What purpose would social connections provide for juniors? We have gathered from class
discussions that, on a commuter campus like our own, students often struggle making friends
organically, as we will further explore and discuss in our literature review. The purpose of
icebreakers is to give students who wish to get to know more people the chance to do so. Getting
to know fellow students within their own major can provide various benefits. Often these
students are put into classes together and will now be more familiar with one another. Students
also tend to guide one another, providing a valuable resource within the school, especially for
those uncomfortable with going to faculty. Friendship and social connection within school are
important in helping students truly feel as part of the community, especially when only 42.9% of
commuter students feel they are part of the campus community, according to Alfano and Eduljee
(2013). Students will also feel more inclined to participate and attend classes when they know
their fellow classmates.

We also intend to provide existing and outside resource awareness through our re-orientation.
The event is designed to display an array of resources, opportunities for outside resources like
internships, opportunity to speak with grad schools, and emphasizing awareness of existing
resources on campus. The re-orientation will allow faculty to attend and speak to students, and
will be providing a tour of our campus’s resource offices. The objective is to make faculty more
approachable for students who are intimidated or did not have the opportunity to better
familiarize themselves with the campus. The overall goal and intention with providing these
resources is to allow students to explore their options and open pathways that students are
unaware exist.

The junior year re-orientation for psychology students would also greatly benefit their
professional development by providing students with internships, potential jobs, knowledge of
career paths, and exploration of graduate school opportunities. In our re-orientation, we plan to
incorporate a panel of guest speakers in the field of psychology as well as members of the UW
Bothell psychology department. We aim to choose speakers that can offer guidance for
psychology students who are unsure what direction to take after their undergraduate studies. This
will allow students to explore different opportunities in the professional world of community
psychology with the guidance of those with experience.

Students will have an opportunity to speak directly to psychology major faculty members,
providing insight and guidance into the academic opportunities offered within our institution. By
speaking to faculty, students will have a unique opportunity to discuss what graduate school
looks like, as well as the majors offered for their ideal career. The re-orientation will also offer
booths run by potential universities, and companies in search of employees and interns. This
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would give students direct access to important experience needed, while giving those that are not
interested in graduate school clear career opportunities. Students have also expressed a lack of
opportunities for psychology majors within our school. Students have noticed our current
internship and job fairs cater specifically to either finance and computer science majors; the
re-orientation would offer a level playing field for community psychology students who feel
there is a lack of opportunities on campus.

Overall, the junior year re-orientation can provide multiple benefits to psychology students in
their junior year by providing professional and academic direction, opportunity for social
connection and bringing awareness to the resources offered on campus. Our class conducted
extensive research on the struggles psychology students often face during their undergraduate
studies, plus the added adversity of attending a commuter majority campus. Our research also
explored how the institution can alleviate these issues posed onto students and how easing these
posed struggles can lead to greater success beyond undergraduate studies.

Literature Review

Through our initial research of peer reviewed literature there were various sources we found that
help reiterate why our proposal for a junior year re-orientation catered towards psychology
students is needed going forward to help create community bonding, networking, and a deeper
involvement of academics and extracurricular events. With the aid of Dr. Silva, our classroom for
BISCP: Projects in Community Psychology have drafted a literature review that will oversee the
outstanding positive impacts that a re-orientation could present to the community at the
University of Washington Bothell going forwards. This literature review will proceed with three
individual sections that tie into each other in some capacity. These sections include having a
sense of community, other successful orientation programs and career direction. These three
aspects are essential to showing why having a junior year reorientation is so important to
enhancing psychology students' educational experience here at UW Bothell. To begin the
literature review we will give an overview of the ways our sense of community is hindered here
at UW Bothell.
Sense of Community
I think this project really was important to pursue because it revealed an actual issue of lack of
career direction felt within a community that I had always thought was a problem that only I
was feeling. It was nice to know that when it felt like all my peers had their life together and I
was the only one struggling due to lack of aptitude in some way, or ‘laziness’, that it was an
issue that many others also felt as well. It would have been nice to know earlier so I did not feel
so lonely and it would’ve been even nicer to have a program like ours which offers solutions.
Reorientation would've meant a space where I (hopefully) would've been able to find more
direction for my post grad life as well as backup options which would have significantly
decreased my stress and anxiety during college. Especially in a cross-cultural household where
my mom was not familiar with the US college experience, and my dad never went, so not only
was asking them for help or direction not an option, but I was particularly self reliant despite
also knowing something. It would have saved a lot of time from having to figure things out due to
trial and error. UWB in particular felt like the wild west for the most part and I hated it. (Sophia
Fisher)
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Over my four years at three different colleges I have struggled with both of the issues we hope to
address with our reorientation, those being poor sense of community and lack of major/career
direction. I can personally attest that it is easier and more comfortable to go with the status quo
by doing school alone than it is to take the social risk of reaching out to peers for connection.
But I’ve noticed over these past few years that I perform better in school when I’m personally
invested in it, and that requires friendships. It took me a while (too long) to realize how
interconnected these factors are. Especially now that school is mainly back in-person, no one has
to take on the challenges of college alone. There is more joy AND more success in school when
it’s a communal experience and no one has to miss out on that. (Anna Olson)
Throughout all my years at UWB I struggled to have a sense of belonging on the campus which
made it difficult to connect with other students that attended the same school as me. I feel like a
reorientation program would’ve been beneficial for me to know my peers who were in the same
major and help me have a better sense of belonging. The Community Psychology major does not
have any type of orientation that connects other students to each other and in re-orientation
would encourage me to take advantage of all the available resources to me and become more
integrated on campus with activities and events. (Calvin Trinh)
From our literature research, as well as our personal experience, communal social connection
(referred to here as ‘sense of belonging’) during the junior year of college on a commuter
campus is suffering greatly. We hope to address this issue in our re-orientation, but first we feel it
is necessary to more thoroughly explore and describe the issues surrounding making social
connections. These issues include challenges of commuter campuses, challenges of transfer and
non-traditional students, and lastly the challenges of the covid pandemic. We will begin with an
overview of the challenges that come with being a student on a commuter campus.
Challenges of Commuter Students.
One of the main issues surrounding making social connections is the issue of attending a
commuter campus. Attending college at a commuter campus like UWB comes with many
challenges, especially in the social aspect. Our literature review on these complications gave us a
good understanding of why promoting social connections is so necessary. After a literature
review on the social challenges that come with being a commuter campus we found that
commuter students are more likely to have responsibilities outside of their academic studies,
often leading them to be less involved within their academic institution. “51% of commuter
students reported working over 21 hours a week, while only 37% of residential students reported
the same” (Alfano & Eduljee, 2013, p. 335). Significantly more commuter students take on full
time employment than residential students, causing additional obstacles for commuter students as
a“full-time work off campus decreases the time and energy that the student can devote to studies
and other campus activities" (Alfano & Eduljee, 2013, p. 335). A commuter participant in Anna
Maria Stalmirska and Vicky Mellon’s study also stated that even though he works 20–40 hours a
week and frequently on night shifts, he still pushes himself to attend all classes. The data
indicates that residential students have a statistically upper hand because their financial privilege
allows them to fully focus on their studies and immerse themselves into campus culture, while
the majority of commuter students are forced to focus their attention beyond their academics.
“[One of residential students’] … top three reasons for working were to obtain spending money
… [while one of the] top three reasons for [commuter students] working were to pay bills/rent
(51.7%)” (Alfano & Eduljee, 2013, p. 339). The study also found that “residential levels of stress
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was 2.55 (SD = 1.20) and for commuter students was 3.30 (SD =1.18)” (Alfano & Eduljee, 2013,
p. 339). Again, this proves that commuter students face greater struggles, often outside
responsibilities and attempting to keep up financially, as compared to residential students. These
outside responsibilities and financial struggles that commuter students face seem to make
engagement on campus very difficult. Which brings us to our next point: Not only do commuter
students face more financial and job obligation issues, they also have a harder time feeling a
social connection on campus.
Commuter students also struggled to feel part of the community at a considerably low 42.9%
(Alfano & Eduljee, 2013, p. 339). This is most likely due to the fact that commuter students have
more on their mind than school activities. Comparably, participant 3 in Stalmirska and Mellon’s
study, felt that coming to university for only one hour a day is “‘a bit pointless’ as it meant
wasting too much time and money commuting” (Stalmirska & Mellon, 2022, p. 5). These issues
are pressing. As we will discuss below, campus engagement and a sense of belonging help
students flourish in their academics. With that being said, let’s consider some possible solutions
to these issues faced by commuter students.
In solution to this problem, Stalmirska and Mellon say “In terms of extra-curricular activities, all
participants expressed their desire that activities should not be taking place late”. While Alfano
& Eduljee (2013) also suggested schools “orchestrate activities to fit schedules for both groups
of students” (p. 341). Emphasizing that students are more likely to engage with extra-curricular
activities if they were ‘scattered around in the gaps’ between teaching sessions or arranged
online without actual physical attendance” (Stalmirska & Mellon, 2022, p. 7). Tinto (1993)
indicates that "students would be more likely to invest in greater effort to learn when they
become involved as members of the college community" (p. 71). Proving the importance of
providing diverse opportunities for community engagement on campus. The articles emphasized
a “need for college campuses to design on-campus activities to help all students feel a part of the
college community” (Alfano & Eduljee, 2013, p. 341). Overall, creating easy access for
commuter students to become familiar and involved on campus will improve student morale and
better inclusion for all types of students. These solutions are important to consider for our
reorientation if we want to increase engagement for all students.
In other words, the proposed solutions for student community involvement in the “Differences in
work, levels of involvement, and academic performance between residential and commuter
students” coincide with our proposal for a junior year orientation. In that our re-orientation seeks
to provide multiple scheduling options to provide flexibility, especially for students who work or
have other responsibilities on campus. The re-orientation gives students an opportunity to get to
know the campus, community staff, as well as peers within their major. Thus, allowing students
to become more comfortable with the campus and prompting students to be more involved.
However, we also need to address the struggles beyond being a commuter student as well. Some
of these other struggles are those that come with being transfer students. Through our literature
review we found that transfer students also struggle a lot with social connections as well.
Challenges of Transfer Students (International, University Transfer).
After transferring from Cascadia College to UWB back in 2018, I have felt a disconnect right
away on this campus. One I felt at Cascadia, but was hoping once I moved to UWB would
diminish. Since I never got an orientation and never attended any event that fosters true bonding
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and built that sense of community, I always felt a lack of connection to not only the campus but
the people on it. Especially since I moved here from abroad and went straight into Cascadia
College, I had no sense of direction and felt that I had no one to talk to. It would have been very
beneficial and helped me feel like I belong, if there was a reorientation, because now I’m about
to graduate in Fall 2022 and I still find myself conflicted on what to do after graduation. (Selene
Sidani)
I believe a junior year reorientation would have been very beneficial to my time at UW Bothell.
The online orientation I participated in was helpful, but an orientation that focuses on our
specific degrees would have helped me learn how I can use my degree. I would also be able to
meet my professors and my peers. Having that group of people to talk to would have been really
helpful in my educational journey. As a transfer student I did not know anyone and being able to
meet people studying the same major as me would have not only benefited me, but would have
also made me feel more connected to my program which would have inspired my sense of
belonging. The Reorientation we are proposing would have greatly benefited my ability to
connect to the community, but also would have given me the resources for future success all
undergraduate students need for their futures. (Kodye Floyd)

As a transfer student, I’ve gotten the opportunity to experience the psychology program at both
the large state school environment of Oregon State University, and the smaller commuter school
of University of Washington Bothell. While my experience at the two universities were very
different, I noticed similarities in the lack of attention given to students in the psychology major.
Despite being a major that is based on human connection and community, psychology majors are
often disconnected from each other, with their only opportunities to connect taking place during
class lectures. The lack of activities and community events for psychology students inspired me to
start the “Psyched Out” club at OSU, an organization based on providing events for students to
learn more about psychology through guest speakers and faculty presentations, as well as social
events to encourage networking between members of their major. Upon leaving behind this club
and transferring to UWB, I couldn’t help but notice the Psychology program here falling into the
same pitfalls, only exacerbated by the negative impact that COVID-19 had on social connection
amongst the student body. This inspired me and fellow members of my cohort to plan an annual
event to directly address these concerns, in the form of the junior year psychology re-orientation
program. The event is a solution to a problem that plagues psychology programs across the
nation and beyond, to give upperclassmen psychology students an opportunity to connect or
reconnect with their peers, as well as importantly get them re-energized about their major!
(Madi Galiardi)

In a more general sense, college transfer students tend to come from a different college
environment. Thus, having an opportunity to have an outstanding and in-depth orientation is very
important to them. Going from one college to another to finish a degree is not easy because rules,
social norms, and expectations may be different. An article written by Lester, Leonard, and
Mathias describes the ways in which transfer students perceive their social and academic
engagement, and the way insights of engagement are affected by students' sense of belonging at
their university (George Mason University). The article states, “transfer students viewed social
engagement in the context of family and community rather than college life” (Lester, Leonard, &
Mathias, 2013, p. 202), which is an explanation why engaging with transfer students is more
important than usual because of the different enclosed community that they are in. Furthermore,
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teaching techniques and class sizes always vary among different colleges and universities. This
means that transfer students have a huge responsibility to carry when transferring to a university
because universities tend to have a different atmosphere. Thus highlighting the importance why a
more required and more specific re-orientation could be helpful for transfer students.

Additionally, international students studying at higher education institutions within the United
States face numerous challenges as they adjust to new environments. It turns out that
international students that come to the U.S. for post secondary education encounter many
demands, which include building new friendships, navigating different social and cultural norms,
and confronting the challenges associated with daily living such as adapting to new cultural
values, food, and weather (Rivas, Hale, & Burke, 2019, p. 688). The study using qualitative data
from interviews examined international students’ experiences and their sense of belonging to an
American college institution. Interviews examined both the factors that contributed to or deterred
from international students’ sense of belonging. In the study, participants expressed different
challenges throughout their academic journey which included language barriers, differing
educational systems, and discrimination. This concludes that the lack of English proficiency can
be a significant barrier for students to become academically, personally, and professionally
successful. It turns out that language is considered the most challenging aspect for international
students (Rivas, Hale, & Burke, 2019, p. 694). As a result, these challenges in adjusting and
developing a sense of belonging on U.S. campuses are often due to a new social life, potential
language barriers, and limited knowledge of the new culture (Rivas, Hale, & Burke, 2019, p.
688). Another issue pertaining to the difficulties that international students face is the shift in
collectivism to individualistic culture. An individualistic culture (e.g., North America and some
European cultures) emphasizes and prefers independent and personal individual development, as
well as self-expression. Whereas collectivist cultures (e.g., East Asian, African, Latin American,
and Middle Eastern Countries) focus more on the group rather than the individual. In a
collectivist culture everyone is connected to others because each part of a group, tribe, family, or
other type of unit and behavior is dependent on the values and preferences of others (Rivas, Hale,
& Burke, 2019, p. 692). This can be an issue when international students who experience cultural
differences can present difficulties in establishing a social network with other students. In
another study at two Midwestern universities, 143 international students were surveyed to
identify students’ social systems, academic and life stressors, and reactions to stressors. The
study concluded that higher reactions to stressors for female international students compared to
males in a sample pool where higher levels of academic stressors were predicted by higher levels
of stress and by lower level of social support (Rivas, Hale, & Burke, 2019, p. 688). The lack of
sense of belonging can in fact lead to international students isolating themselves which causes
higher probability of suffering in low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression.

With social support programs, this could provide opportunities for interactions with other
international students and Americans. Therefore, a re-orientation can be mutually beneficial for
international students and American students as a means to break down cultural barriers and
welcome cultural differences as well as offer a neutral safe space for learning and inclusiveness.
Not only can this make an impact on the students studying psychology but it can also enrich a
better sense of community among the UWB campus. However, another group of students that
struggle socially, and therefore may struggle academically, are first-generation students as well.
Thus, we need to also address their specific needs as students when considering our
re-orientation.
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Challenges of First Generation Students.

Being a first generation college student comes with a lot of time management and
responsibilities. I think having a reorientation would’ve helped me feel more welcomed and
involved with the campus. Coming into a college setting is a weird thing as a first-gen student;
entering college was strange and unfamiliar especially being new to the situation and having no
one to give me advice on how to navigate my way through. Simple tasks such as finding my
classrooms and faculty offices, I found difficult and it made me feel like a fool. Developing
friendships and making connections with my peers was the worst of it all because I ended up
doing all the classwork and homework by myself. I often found myself struggling with imposter
syndrome and it left me feeling like an outcast especially because those closest to me (meaning
my family) couldn’t aid me through this new journey. (Karen Romero)
With the increase of first generation college students, universities need to take into account the
vital differences, in addition to similarities, between first-generation citizen students and
first-generation college students. Due to commitments outside of school, first-generation college
students have a restriction on time to allocate to schoolwork in comparison to the traditional
student. They also find it difficult to fit/assimilate into the cultural, social, and academic
environment; this is based on their families, as most have limited English and these first-gen
college students need to navigate through education alone unlike first generation citizen students
whose parents are U.S. born. According to Williams & Ferrari (2015), having a sense of
community is vital. In fact, many first-generation students tend to drop out of college because
they have no one to rely on and their presence isn’t acknowledged as much as white students.
Additionally, a study found within the Williams & Ferrari (2015) article, proposed that smaller
class sizes and a diverse campus is what resulted in a higher school sense of community (SSOC)
amongst first-generation students. Whilst also taking into consideration, the sense of community
that first-gen students experience can vary whether there is assistance that will help them balance
outside factors [like work, family, etc.] and help them stay on track with their courses and their
workload [projects, homework, meetings, etc.]. Solutions mentioned in the article within the
Journal of Community Psychology, were plentiful. First, the article stated how past research has
suggested that campuses should provide diverse learning techniques and faculty teams due to its
vitality for minority students. Second, the article discusses the importance of universities being
more accommodating specifically towards students who are at a higher chance of struggling to
survive college life. Third, another suggestion mentioned is the implementation of programs that
are specified to bring awareness on diversity. This will help those students gain confidence and
desire for their education. The campus will start to make efforts to avert racial issues, reduce the
wearing down of the first-gen students, and allow for them to feel more welcomed as they’ll
know change is happening.
Overall, the implementation of programs and a curriculum that is specifically targeted towards
students at risk of surviving, in addition to faculty advising and mentoring such students, are all
viable solutions to increase the support for students who may be disadvantaged and are
unfamiliar with campus life. Increased support for these students in turn is correlated to not only
a higher sense of belonging and a positive outlook of the campus, but also to an increase in the
chances of students graduating college. This information is essential to developing our
reorientation because we want to cater to all types of students' needs when it comes to fostering
social connections, as well as career direction and confidence.
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With that being said, one of the sole purposes of this reorientation is to help psychology majors
feel a sense of belonging and discover or be reassured in their chosen major, in addition to
having their academic accomplishments not go unnoticed by potential employers and faculty. As
these first-generation students and first-generation citizen students explore college, the
re-orientation may be able to help foster a sense of belonging to college and their peers. As the
study found in the Williams & Ferrari (2015) “Identification among first‐generation citizen
students and first‐generation college students: An exploration of school sense of community”
article has shown and suggested, targeted programs alongside other suggestions are vital sources
of support for disadvantaged students who are unfamiliar with college life, such as
first-generation students. This in turn overlaps with our re-orientation, seeing as it is a program
targeted towards psychology majors. Yet, the struggles don’t stop there; issues with social
connection reach beyond being commuter, transfer, and/or first-generation students given the
lasting effects of the recent global COVID-19 pandemic.
Challenges of COVID-19.
As a graduating senior this quarter, this quarter is my first and last of doing on-campus learning
at UW Bothell. Prior to this quarter, I was very excited about returning to classes in person, but
my first day back was challenging. Since this quarter was my first time doing on-campus
learning, it was my first time being on the campus. Without knowing it, I parked as far as I
possibly could from my class that day, and I struggled to find my class. After I finished my class
and made my way home, I thought it was funny that I was there as a senior, but I was left feeling
like a freshman. This experience is what led me to realize that there was a lack of community and
guidance on the campus. (Grayson Lever)
From being a transfer student and now a graduation senior, a Junior year psychology
reorientation would be super beneficial as coming back to in person teaching was as if it was my
freshman year. I didn’t get the experience of college prior to COVID and lost the opportunity to
create bonds with classmates. But being a commuter campus I’ve noticed that many students just
come to class and leave, so this reorientation would make students feel part of the campus which
would encourage them to be more involved, make use of their resources, and build friendships.
(Karen Romero)

I believe that a junior year reorientation would allow students who did not get the “college
experience” because of the pandemic to connect with others whether it be their classmates
and/or professors. I have been a student at UWB for 4 years now and I have gone through many
major changes that ultimately has given me doubt about my career and what I want to do with
my life. With a reorientation, it would have helped me decide what classes to take and what
career path I would end up choosing. Having a reorientation would also allow students like me
to make connections with others and have a sense of community and belonging at UWB.
Knowing that I am a shy person who does not pursue talking with others and meeting new
people, the reorientation program can be a way where I can go beyond my comfort zone and
make that connection. (Andrew Hoang)

The COVID-19 pandemic has been detrimental to students’ social connectedness and sense of
belonging all across the world. In order to be safe and responsible in the face of a potentially
deadly virus, obedience to public health mandates required severe restriction of social gathering.
Face to face contact was actively discouraged by the local government for fear of further
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spreading of the virus. Classes switched from assembling in-person on a college campus to
meeting online from home. As a result, average student academic motivation was negatively
impacted. Students felt less committed to their institution, less connected to classmates and
faculty, and less motivated to succeed in their studies and complete their degrees.

One study we found from “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology” about the
impact of COVID-19 on students’ motivation, connection, and well-being was particularly
enlightening with regard to this topic (Marler, Bruce, Abaoud, Henrichsen, Suksatan, et. al,
2021). As college students are already at an elevated risk of psychological distress, COVID-19
and its effects have only worsened an already troubling issue. The study emphasized a positive
correlation between academic motivation and sense of social belonging, so to improve one
variable is likely to improve the other (Marler, et. al, 2021). The first glimmer of hope is the
(mostly) full return to in-person, on-campus instruction. Being in the same physical place with
our classmates to work together on group projects and classwork is a natural way to become
socially connected. However, given large class sizes and continued use of face masks, more is
required to truly make a meaningful difference in the majority of college students. We believe
that our psychology re-orientation event is a great first step to simultaneously increase social
connection and academic motivation.

We believe this on account of the intentionality in the structure of the event, as our two main
goals in creating it are to provide a greater sense of clarity around potential career trajectories
within the psychology major, as well as foster a natural environment for social belonging to
occur. We hope to accomplish the former via the job booths, presence of advisors, and
community psychology speaker panels. We hope to accomplish the latter by making it mandatory
for psychology majors, having mixers, games, and every junior year psychology major in the
same room simultaneously.

There are so many challenges to having a sense of community on campuses like UW Bothell as
we have shown in our research. UW Bothell being a commuter campus makes it difficult for
students to connect easily in ways that go beyond the commute itself. On top of being a
commuter campus, many of the students at UW Bothell are transfer students as well.
Transferring either internationally or from a local community college can be difficult as we have
discussed above. There are also first generation students and many times these students hit all
three categories that make connecting on this campus a trying task. There is so much going
against student’s abilities to connect on campus here and the Covid-19 pandemic has only made
an already drained sense of community that much more inferior to typical campuses. Even with
so much going against our abilities to connect there is still hope for students to feel that sense of
belonging we all need to thrive in our educational journeys. With our re-orientation plan we can
help solve some of these issues and hopefully bring about that sense of community this campus
is currently lacking. With that being said, let’s dive deeper into our idea of implementing a
re-orientation to help solve said issues.

Other Orientation Programs

In order to help foster this sense of belonging that a lot of students may be missing from their
campus environment, especially in a post-covid era on a diverse, commuter campus like Bothell,
 12

we set out to find creative and relevant aspects of an orientation program that seemed to be
effective in fostering community building between students, faculty, and even professionals in
the psychology field. We also focused on finding programs effective in fostering career
exploration and direction in order to help students clarify potential routes they can take in the
psychology field.

To begin with, community building and mentorship is a key aspect to creating an environment
that nurtures growth for students in academic, personal, and social realms. An article we found
that showed the positive impacts that a weekend long orientation has on community building for
college students was in the article by Gentry, Kuhnert, Johnson, & Cox, titled, “Even a weekend
works: The Value of a Weekend Long Orientation Program on First Year College Students”, as it
highlights how an alternate format of orientation helped facilitate proper community building
through team exercises, peer to peer bonding sessions, and academic oriented tasks alongside
faculty, staff, and upperclassmen. Opposed to a standard single day orientation, the researchers
implemented a weekend long program that was split into two sessions that occurred outside of
campus on a remote site. Though this orientation was catered towards the incoming classes, the
upperclassmen were highly encouraged to participate but in the role of mentors and group
leaders. This proved to be a substantial element of the orientation as post research surveying
showed that many of those groups remained in touch with one another well after the orientation
had taken place.

Furthermore, in order to understand the orientation process more we must analyze the template
of events followed in the orientation. The first session was for students to get acquainted with
their classmates, upperclassmen, teachers, and faculty through group building exercises and
icebreakers that was followed by a group lunch. The second session was oriented towards
learning about oneself. In this session students completed more team exercises, leadership skills,
identifying their strengths/weaknesses, and ultimately learning how to better themselves as
students. The next half of the second session revolved around learning more in depth about
campus life that included learning about programs, extra-curricular activities, and workshops
about life after college. The workshop about life after college was interesting as it helped
students with resume building, application process for career/graduate school, and also helped
hone interviewing skills. Additional sources such as the article by Macera, & Cohen, S. H. in
their article, “Psychology as a Profession: An Effective Career Exploration and Orientation
Course for Undergraduate Psychology Majors” support the effectiveness of such workshop
activities. Not to mention, evidence from the research found in “Even a weekend works: The
Value of a Weekend Long Orientation Program on First Year College Students'' (2006) showed
that students who participated in this weekend long orientation were more likely to engage in
class, around the community, and had built a network of peers that wasn’t limited to just their
classmates but also faculty and teachers as well. Through a self reported questionnaire from this
research article that consisted of 50 questions, researchers found that 87% of the students
participating believed that the orientation positively influenced involvement in school and 70%
would participate again (Gentry et.al, 2006).

Yet, not only do we want to consider other successful orientation type programs, we also want to
hear what the students have to say. As other studies have shown, an important aspect of planning
an orientation event is considering the voice of the students. Therefore, an important step in
 13

planning an orientation is to thoroughly assess the needs of the students themselves, as the
program’s attendance rate and overall success both depend on the students’ value perception.
One source of inspiration for our sampling process came from a study from Joshua Wilkin,
which showed the benefits of polling students prior to the event in order to gauge their
expectations, ideas, and potential concerns regarding the orientation program. The study
collected data from first-, second-, and third-year on-campus students by administering Student
Opinion Surveys (SOS), every three years to determine students’ satisfaction with their academic
experiences, student support services, and campus resources and programs. By gathering data
from students they discovered that only 59% of the students felt a sense of belonging on campus
(Wilkin, 2017). In regards to plans for a first-year experience, the survey also confirmed that
students preferred a longer form orientation that would take place over a semester or year, that
they hoped that the event/program would help them cultivate social connections, and also that
the students liked the idea of a buddy-system esque mentorship program for newer students to
connect with upperclassmen. By asking related questions to this example study such as, “What
components would you like to see included in a first-year experience program at the college?”
and, “What type of outcomes do you think this program will have for the campus and for its
students?” We are able to acquire accurate information that will perfectly fit the needs of our
university population. To quote a student referenced in their study, “If they specifically go out
and see what everyone needs, why people don’t feel like they belong, why they feel like they
don’t have support, then that way, they’ll be able to cater more to the needs of students.” (Wilkin,
2017, p. 28). Out of 30 participants in this study, 29 of the students indicated that the
implementation of this first-year experience program would address the gaps in student
satisfaction and sense of belonging in college (Wilkin, 2017). The success of this study indicates
the importance of incorporating student voices in the conceiving of our re-orientation program.

With regard to the article by Macera, & Cohen, S. H. (2006) in their article, “Psychology as a
Profession: An Effective Career Exploration and Orientation Course for Undergraduate
Psychology Majors” from “The Career Development Quarterly”, we found many aspects of this
article relevant as it highlights the need for career exploration that could be most effective in our
re-orientation. The study evaluates undergraduate psychology career exploration as a feature in
orientation courses. The course goals align with the goals we have for our re-orientation:
introducing undergrad psychology students to psychology-related career options and graduate
school options, as well as helping students acquire knowledge to achieve career goals in the
psychology field. Thus, making this course’s techniques and material important considerations
for ways to go about the career guidance aspect of our re-orientation. For example, one aspect
they included was a lecture with guest speakers offering advice, detailing psychology-related
career experiences, and offering a Q&A; This lecture was ranked the 5th highest valued lecture
of the 12 total lectures that were offered in the psychology orientation course. Furthermore,
another lecture they implemented into the course, that we may be highly interested in, was “Job
Opportunities in Psychology-Related Fields' ', which was ranked the 4th highest valued lecture.
The highest ranked lecture by students was “How to apply to Graduate School '' (Macera &
Cohen, 2006). Additionally, researchers Michelle Heffiner Macera and Stanley H. Cohen
evaluated the course's overall value and effectiveness through surveying the students who went
through the class. In fact, the survey technique that Macera and Cohen used also seems appealing
for evaluating our own re-orientation’s effectiveness: a presurvey evaluating interests and career
goals was given to students before the course. The same survey was re-administered with extra
 14

questions evaluating the effectiveness of the course from the students perspective after the
course. Their survey’s results showed that about half of the students viewed the course as
moderately high in value. Ninety-three percent said the course affected their career plans, and
86% of students said that the course should continue to be implemented (Macera & Cohen,
2006). Thus, giving us more reason to consider this course's techniques as potential techniques to
include in our re-orientation.

When it comes to the importance of career exploration, the common questions that psychology
students face is what to do following graduation. The question students have once they get their
undergraduate is whether or not to attend graduate school or join the workforce? What factors are
considered in decision making? These are questions that the re-orientation would help address as
student alumni would be present to address them. Getting feedback from those who have
experienced it all can give other students the knowledge to decide what they would like to do
once they graduate. It's important to understand how students make this decision for several
reasons. Some setbacks psychology majors may start with is that they may enter the workforce
with limited or inaccurate information creating additional barriers to securing employment.
Research suggests that psychology majors have difficulty with career decision making since
there is no well-defined script or job title corresponding to the major . If psychology majors
experience uncertainty as they transition away from college, a more directive and prescriptive
approach to career advising may be needed (Hettich, 2010; Landrum, 2018). This study states
that the psychology workforce alumni typically report low satisfaction with undergraduate
preparation for entering the workforce (Ogletree, 1998), low relatedness between their
undergraduate major and employment post-graduation, they desire more support for the
transition to the workforce (Landrum et al., 2010) and emphasize the importance of being
adaptable to diverse job paths (Landrum, 2009).

The study design consisted of an in-depth examination of narrative text collected for a larger
qualitative investigation of career stories for psychology alumni. This included a subsample of
Western Oregon University alumni within 5 years of graduation at the time of the interview.
They believed that the most recent alumni might have the most accurate recollection of feelings
and experiences and be more likely to share challenges associated with the transition (Landrum
et al., 2010). This study also interviewed three different types of alumni that followed the
criteria, gave helpful feedback and explained the reality of what helps them achieve. Workforce
alumni talked about work-related experiences, internships, and networking, suggesting that they
understood the importance of these experiences for career development (Landrum, 2009).
Graduate school alumni were shown to reflect on personal knowledge when it came to how they
managed in school. Whether it was their friends struggling through still and overcoming it or or
having family members in counseling therefore given them references. Participants who
identified as first-generation students were less likely to talk about networking relative to
non-first-generation peers. First-generation students have less social capital and may be less
familiar with strategies for finding a job (Tate et al., 2015b).

The overall consensus of having alumni share their experiences was that they can serve as a point
person to different resources depending on the needs of the student, and availability of
departmental and campus resources. Additionally, it showed that alumni’s career planning
curriculum needs to carefully balance gathering occupational information and committing to a
 15

career path (Atchley et al., 2012).This qualitative research study helped include the voices of
students, promote their own dialogue, and offer different culturally contextualized knowledge to
other students. Psychology majors will most likely always need help when it comes to what they
should do following graduation. Understanding the factors that influence people's choices such
as undergraduate experiences, relationships/schools community, and finances help answer
questions undergraduates have which alumni can provide. The knowledge of these diverse
factors influencing decisions enables any psychology program to develop curriculum relevant to
career decisions across time it facilitates productive faculty-student dialogues about career plans
(Vespia et al., 2018), and helps undergraduates transition from students to professionals well
equipped to navigate changes within their own career path. This is important to keep in mind as
we discuss the possibility of creating a re-orientation that includes alumni/expert panels, with the
goal of helping students feel more secure about their potential career direction.

Career Direction

I believe a Junior Year Orientation Program would have been beneficial to my college
experience in numerous ways that range from general knowledge about my major, to familiarity
within UWB itself. Applying as a Psychology major straight out of high school was extremely
intimidating to me and I felt lost in regards to registering for classes and even just finding my
classroom. My peers were mostly involved in STEM programs where they felt secure in their
decision and had no problem registering for classes, whereas I felt little to no guidance in my
transition. If I was given the opportunity to attend such an event, it would have given me the push
I needed to meet others within my major or talk to faculty about my future classes. (Jocelyn
Patricio)

Personally, I believe that a junior year psychology reorientation would be greatly beneficial. I
would not have gone into psychology if I did not have someone to guide me through my
schooling, and feel incredibly lucky to have that privilege. There are so many career options that
can be found in the scope of psychology and so many different majors offered by graduate
schools that I was never aware were even options. I also wish there were more opportunities for
experience and work to better prepare us for graduate school and build our academic resumes, it
is incredibly difficult to find any as an undergraduate student, especially as one that works full
time outside of school. (Dounia Benjdya)

In every part throughout my experiences with orientations in colleges, I have never really had
nor attended an orientation and it has caused me so much stress with my studies at school. When
stepping right through University of Washington Bothell as a transfer student in January 2022,
in the middle of a school year, I would’ve thought and also had an expectation of attending an
in-school orientation and getting to know the school and my major more and better. I never
thought I would feel so lost in between all the IAS majors, especially not knowing anyone in
community psychology major, which is what I’m majoring in.. and I certainly still don’t know
anyone until I applied for this current class and noticed that most of my classmates are having
the same similar struggles as I am having. At this type of situation, a reorientation is needed and
required for transfer students and importantly all students because I am entering senior year and
I still feel unguided for what path is this community psychology major leading me on in my next
 16

steps. It will also give me and other community psychology major students a better sense of
belonging into making future connections and goals further on. (Noura Alharab)

For me I wish that I had the opportunity for a reorientation geared towards Community
Psychology majors because though I knew I wanted to study psychology, I never had the
resources needed to further my development as a student within the academic psychology field.
The resources I’m referring to that I felt like I needed were a strong network of people within my
major, mentors that could guide me towards career choices, and a community that looked out for
one another academically and professionally. I believe that if I had those resources readily
available to me once I started my academic journey as a Community Psychology major, I would
have been more involved within the campus community once we were able to return but I would
also have a stronger connection with my peers and faculty as well. Ultimately, a reorientation for
community psych majors would have prepared me better to transition into the real world and
have a strong network to leave with once I graduate. (Edwin Rabadan)

As soon as I transferred to UWB, I was uncertain about being at campus and gaining a sense of
community since I transferred during the pandemic. I think in this situation especially a
reorientation would have helped me familiarize myself with my major, professors, and career
opportunities. Though there are events going on during the school, it's hard to do them when you
feel alone or not as experienced as others. The community psychology major can branch off into
so many things when it comes to careers and education, so being guided in the right direction
based on my interests would have greatly helped me achieve. My sense of community for the
majority of the school year was almost non-existent as it was hard to get to know other students,
especially to have to be the one to push myself to do so. As soon as I entered classes that
embraced its community and talked about what we could do to make it better was when I felt at
ease. I hope in the future students can have a reorientation program to help them get access to
resources and make connections. (Raquel Samphire)

I am one of the students in the Community Psychology major who is also involved in the
proposal of the reorientation for Community Psychology students. I genuinely think that if the
reorientation was implemented into my junior year I would have a way better understanding of
what exactly I want to do after finishing my undergraduate here at UW Bothell. This would help
me decide whether or not I would like to continue studying at UW Bothell for a potential master
degree. Additionally the reorientation would have provided me with the possibility of making
multiple friends in my major that would ultimately cause me to spend more time on campus
instead of just treating UW Bothell like a commuter college. Overall reorientation would be a fun
and simple event to set up across the entire university that could seriously allow all students to
understand themselves and their campus that much better. (Connor Hanson)

A study titled “Constructing early graduate careers: Navigating uncertainty in transition”

investigating career direction indicates that, despite the fact that there is no statistically
significant difference in employability for humanities and social science majors such as IA, there
is a statistically significant difference in awareness of jobs (arts 53.2% vs business/law 77.8%)
and stress/anxiety levels (Christie, 2017, p. 81). If there is no difference in actual employment
 17

rates, why then do we see these increased feelings of stress, anxiety and general uncertainty in
the humanities majors such as psychology? Our research found several recurring factors:
perception of the majors “importance” by others outside the field, a general lack of student
knowledge and academic guidance regarding career paths/ lateral movement prevalent to their
field, unawareness of how to market their skills, and feeling unsupported by faculty. However,
further research has given cause for hope in the form of solutions such as increased awareness of
cultural impact on career attitudes in students and greater specification in career planning such as
undergrad career orientation programs with reflections and surveys to help students have more
structured career plans. One of the greatest influences on shaping the outline of our re-orientation
program centered on the various postgraduate choices, or perceived lack thereof by psychology
majors as a whole.

The article “Rethinking Employability for Humanities Students” by Sabrina Altariva (2018), is a
comprehensive qualitative dissertation done at The University of Scotland that looked further
into some of these causes. This dissertation was written for the University of Scotland and uses
both qualitative and quantitative data to look into the viability of a humanities degree in the
postgraduate world. Specifically, it uses interviews and questionnaires with both faculty and
students to discover what are the common expectations, worries, and perceptions about the major
to discover areas in which there could be improvement in the pursuit of the humanities degree for
this modern age. This study is relevant to our re-orientation proposal as it supports several of our
own statements and issues found within the psychology major that led to the creation of this
proposal, such as students feeling a lack of career direction, awareness of resources, and
community support. It is best summed up by their finding that, “What was significant in the
findings, was regarding the students’ lack of self-awareness in the skills they had developed
during their degree, and how these skills then translated from an educational setting to a
workplace context. This was further supported with findings which illustrated the lack of
awareness regarding options with their degree, lack of uptake of placement modules and for
some students, the lack of ability to make career decisions upon completion of their
undergraduate degree” (Altariva, 2018, p. 51). There is additional significance to this piece
stemming from the fact that this study was done in the UK, denoting that this is an issue that
seemingly extends far beyond the confines of UWB.

Despite the Humanities offering students many unique and viable skill sets such as
communication, empathy, and time management, many in the major continue to feel
underprepared and unaware of the options available to them. As our findings continue to prove,
the world continues to grow and change allowing new careers to develop and old ones die out as
a result. This makes it imperative that student education similarly adapt to the times.

In the article by Ferguson (2017) titled “A new push for integrating college and career
preparation,” a poll from 2016 was provided to capture the voices and viewpoints for the
American public school system and what is needed for college preparation and job readiness. It
was noted that less than half of the responses in this poll did not see academic and/or career
preparation as a key objective in a student’s education. In another poll, “82% of Americans now
support classes that teach job or career skills, even if that means students might spend less time
in academic classes” (Ferguson, 2017, p. 42). In other words, what Ferguson is saying is that
 18

schools should give more focus to students developing interpersonal skills whether it be having
respect, working with others, and being persistent when faced with challenges. With that being
said, the best way for schools to prepare students after high school for college and career paths is
to strengthen their academic, personal, and social skills along with the capability to effectively
communicate. Students should also be able to work cooperatively with others and to stay strong
when faced with a challenge. In the same poll, respondents reported that some schools still rely
on standardized testing where a lot of parents and other people say that the standardized testing
does not properly gauge their children’s education. Only about 13 percent of the poll had
answered that standardized testing is extremely important. California along with some other
states have begun preparing students for college and career preparation. According to Ferguson
(2017), school districts in California have administered a program that “organizes a
standards-based education around industry-specific themes, integrating rigorous academics with
sequenced, high-quality, career-technical education, work-based learning, and student supports”
(2017, p. 43). Some states have tried to implement other ways of preparing students for college
and career but have not been able to do much. States like Chicago required students graduating
high school to show an acceptance letter from a college, work offer, or being enlisted into the
military in order to receive their diploma. Universities and colleges have tried to adapt by
offering hands-on experience in a workplace along with studying in a classroom. Having a plan
on what next steps can be taken in your educational journey is essential to all students' future
success.

An article published by the University of Washington DO IT program shows just how important
having a plan after school can be. Schools need to help students become successful after their
time at their institution is up. One of the most significant ways a school or university can help
students is by providing them with resources that can help them in their futures. This article was
more about what students can do to help gain an advantage in finding jobs once they graduate.
The article is titled "What can students do to improve their chances of finding employment after
college?" A critical statistic from the article was “The fact is that approximately 53% of college
graduates are unemployed or working in a job that doesn't require a bachelor's degree”. (UW DO
IT, 2021). There are many advantages to going to a 4-year university like UW, but with all the
services they provide many students never use them or do not even know they exist in the first
place. Some of the services mentioned in the article include accessing campus and community
career development services and activities, as well as accessing campus and community
resources for academic and employment support. If we could recommend some of these services
and opportunities during the re-orientation, maybe finding a job post-graduation would be just a
little less difficult for students at UWB. Accessing these essential resources are vital for a
student's professional development.

Having these resources available to students is critical to their success in college, and developing
their professional skills through these resources is also very important for career development.
An article written by the German Journal of Research in Human Resource Management shows
why not only having resources available, but also being able to use resources to develop one’s
career planning and development is crucial to finding work after students get their degree. “The
Influence of National Culture on Business Students' Career Attitudes — An Analysis of Eight
Countries” article by Marjaana Gunkel, Christopher Schlägel, Ian M. Langella, Joy V. Peluchette
and Elena Reshetnyak explains how cultural factors can affect a person’s career choice, arguing
 19

that career planning is most important when it comes to career development. Four career
attitudes shown to have a strong effect on future career outcomes were mentioned in this article:
career planning, career adaptability, career optimism, and career-related knowledge. “Career
planning is a deliberate process of (1) becoming aware of self, opportunities, constraints,
choices, and consequences; (2) identifying career-related goals, and (3) programming work,
education, and related developmental experiences to provide the direction, timing, and sequence
of steps to attain a specific career goal (Gunkel M. et al, 2013, p. 49).

Career adaptability is defined as an individual's readiness to deal with and adjust to changes in
the future (Savickas, 1997). Career adaptability includes the willingness to adjust to changing
work responsibilities, as well as the ability to adjust quickly in case of unexpected alteration of
the career plan. “Career optimism relates to the attitude of expecting good outcomes for the
future career.” In addition to that, “The modern career research shows that career mastery has
shifted from an organization towards individuals” (Gunkel M et al, 2013, p. 48).

All of these components matter because the collective attitude towards individuals' futures is
inevitably going to define how their realities play out over time. We propose to have a safe,
inclusive, and supportive community that positively compliments students' desired future.

While this article proposes a method to achieve students' success, another study was done to
provide evidence that this is a relatively helpful approach. The author of this study designed an
undergraduate career orientation course that met for 55 minutes for 15 weeks, to excite
undergraduate college students and get them actively involved in planning their career. The
course was initially related to careers in Biology but was eventually extended to include careers
in Psychology, including course goals such as: "students will articulate what career path they will
follow and will describe why this is the appropriate path." They studied personalities of the
students in the course and compared them to personalities of people in various careers and they
worked to find career paths that were a good fit for all students enrolled. Assignments ranged
from self reflections and surveys to career research and presentations. Students were tasked with
investigating academic requirements needed for careers and their financial costs, as well as
creating actionable timelines for themselves once they developed a career path, including an
additional back-up pathway. As a whole, students reported feeling energized by the course in the
post course survey. The course is typically offered to Juniors at the author's college, but some
students recommended offering Sophomore year. We think there are many aspects of this course
that could be integrated into our re-orientation program, such as how the survey matched
students with careers it saw best fit their personalities. It sounds like the benefits of this course
were positive and even employers who hired students who completed this course noticed the
benefits.

The aforementioned articles each contain supporting evidence for why a career based
re-orientation is necessary at UWB. By providing scholarly evidence toward why career
networking and readiness is not only lacking for humanities majors, but also that this problem is
very curable at multiple levels of our schools and universities, and UWB is no exception.
 20

Questions

These are the questions we came up with as a class that lead our research and proposal:
What factors caused the lack of a sense of community at UWB?
Why don’t our psychology students feel secure in their career direction?
How could a junior year reorientation more clearly define career pathways and create a stronger
sense of community for CP Majors?

Purpose Statement

The purpose of our research proposal is to explore the potential outcomes that a junior year
re-orientation may have on UWB psychology students that builds a deeper sense of community
on our commuter campus while also providing various opportunities for professional
development.

Theoretical Perspective

Once our class had finalized the topic for our research proposal we collectively agreed that the
next logical step would be to gather insight from other students on their opinion on their sense of
community on campus. Through convenient sampling of students that we already had a form of
connection with and surveying them, we collected further input towards our research proposal to
ensure that we were not falling victim to an echo chamber effect by regurgitating the same points
back and forth to one another in class. Our survey consisted of a single question that had two
parts, “Do you feel a sense of community/belonging on campus? Why or why not?”. We took an
exploratory approach towards our research and surveying of the student body as it offered
flexibility and allowed us to investigate our question on a more personal one on one basis with
the people whom we have already built interpersonal relationships with. Though this proposal
isn’t a traditional research proposal that warrants statistics, data, and methodologies as part of a
foundational support for situated ethos, we firmly believe that the voices and opinions of the
student community within the University of Washington Bothell hold great reverence and will
act as the foundation for implementing a junior year re-orientation for psychology majors.

Description of Re-orientation

With that being said, our proposition for the re-orientation will have four main elements that will
help our fellow psychology majors find and create their own sense of community and career
pathway while pursuing their undergrad at UW Bothell, all while enjoying complimentary food
and drinks. The major events will include an ‘ice-breaker’, professional and alumni speakers,
booths, a campus tour with a reminder of existing resources, all taking place on the plaza at
UWB. We believe that the best time to host such an event is around spring time, allowing
optimal time for students to apply to as many opportunities as possible. Additionally, we
envisioned that the event will take place all on one day, however data we found have encouraged
multi-day programs.
 21

Starting off, the announcer will have students and faculty in attendance split off into pairs or
groups, and within that pairing, answer questions that are projected on a screen of which a game
will be based on- winners are given a prize. The goal behind this first activity, ice-breakers, is to
foster a connection amongst the students and faculty, and the implementation of a game is to
incentivize them to truly converse with one another.

After the ice-breaker portion of the re-orientation has concluded, our hosts will then move on to
the second element where we will have 3 to 4 speakers talk in front of the students with a short
question and answer session after each speaker. For the speaker section we really want there to
be a wide variety of not only professors and faculty but also psychology alumni and
professionals in the field. Additionally, having both gender and ethnic diversity amongst these
speakers would be amazing considering UW Bothell is a diverse campus. Hopefully, each
speaker will provide the students with a little bit of background and clarity when thinking about
psychology post graduation.

Once the speakers have wrapped up we then will progress to our third element: booths. The
multiple tables will consist of booths designated for graduate school, for the vast array of career
opportunities for psychology majors, and for the collaboration with other clubs at UW Bothell.
Once again, keeping diverse representation in mind.

Lastly we will transition from the open booths to a campus tour, where we will take the
psychology students through the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences building and show them the
actual physical location of resources they can utilize for both undergraduates and postgraduates.
Specifically, we would like to show them rooms that they can reserve for both individual and
group work, IAS counseling offices, how to check out books/use the library resources, and some
of the social areas like the arc/commons. We hope that the numerous resources shown during the
tour will provide the students clarity and the ability to thrive both socially and academically
while studying psychology. After the tour has concluded we will return to the Plaza where we
will dismiss students and leave time for further questions, feedback, and socializing.

Research on Existing UWB Career Resources

It is also important to mention the existing resources on the UWB campus to help students with
career exploration. Doing so can help bring awareness to what resources are already available to
students and which ones should be tapped into more, or which ones we may want to collaborate
with for our re-orientation. Most of the current career-centric services for University of
Washington Bothell students are located at the career center and its website. Drop-in hours for
the career center are in room UW1-160 from 3PM-4PM on Mondays, and 1PM-4PM on
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, although the hours depend on the quarter.

The career services website (2022) is incredibly informative and has a plethora of great resources
for psychology majors seeking direction. There is resume assistance, including writing
guidelines, descriptions of resume types with examples, and several helpful videos. There are
resources for internships and jobs which includes methods of finding available positions,
COVID-safe opportunities, and Handshake (a program made for helping college students find
jobs). There are also videos and webinars covering topics such as resume building, job/internship
search strategies, interview tactics, networking practice, major/career exploration, and employer
 22

events. There is also a section dedicated specifically to networking which involves tips and
strategies. The career services website also has information about graduate school, such as a
resource guide for prospective grad students (provided by UW libraries) and professional
resources for current grad students. There is also a section on interview tips including
preparation strategies, mid-interview guidelines, mock-interview platforms, phone/video specific
tips, and post-interview tips. The website also has information on plenty of upcoming
career-centric events, such as ‘A Day in the Life of a Google Engineer’, ‘The Road to Medical
School’, and ‘Careers Serving Children with Autism’. There are also specific resources for
students with disabilities, international students, LGBTQIA+ students, undocumented students,
and student veterans. There are also alumni services to build and showcase skills, develop
relationships, and find jobs, which include introductions into recruiting programs like Handshake
and LinkedIn. This also includes mentorship opportunities, both to become a mentor and a
mentee. Also included are service opportunities for post-graduates such as the peace corps and
habitat for humanity. Lastly, there is help with clubs and events such as event planning
assistance, social media marketing requests, and workshop/presentation requests.

At UWB, Club Council and its members are dedicated to help with event planning, marketing,
and any club-related needs. It is composed of passionate and dedicated student leaders who are
committed to serving clubs and building community at UW Bothell. These student leaders
support club members, empower students, and maximize student voice in decision‐making.
UWB has different categories for clubs, including Academic Cultural & international Health &
wellness Political & social action Recreation & leisure Religious Special interests, Student life,
Volunteer & service.

These resources can not only help students with their future pathways, but they can also bring
students together into a common space where they can socialize and exchange information. It is
important for students to be aware of resources around them and in their environment. Activities
and Recreation Center is where UWB students can collectively participate in activities like
volleyball, indoor cycling, a variety of yoga, and gaming.

As far as any collaborations with other clubs at our re-orientation programm at UWB, the
psychology club at UW Bothell can be a club that we form a connection with to complement our
re-orientation goal for Juniors. The club collaboration can happen in a manner where different
resources from the club get introduced in hopes that the exchange of information at our
re-orientation can reach anyone that is interested in joining or partaking.

Dissemination Plan

Through this proposal, we want to highlight the positive impact that a junior year re-orientation
would have on building a deeper sense of community at the University of Washington Bothell
campus for psychology majors. Furthermore our end goal is to help students network with each
other and explore career development early on in their academic journey to help establish a
concise outlook on their future endeavors. Our proposal of an alternate re-orientation catered
towards junior year students in the psychology major, we want the outcomes to be generational
for future classes to also enjoy that eventually will lead to more active participation both inside
and outside of the classroom. We ultimately want to create and maintain a healthy and
 23

prosperous environment that ultimately allows students to reach their true potential in their
academic journey.

Our research proposal and findings will be shared with the existing community at the University
of Washington-Bothell that ranges from executive committee members such as Chair Ryan
McIrvin, Vice Chair Kathryn Rich, Secretary Kameron Harper, and Treasurer Megan Deveau, as
well as the student body, faculty, and staff. We aim to share our research proposal in the form of
both physical prints of our proposal mailed directly to them and also through email to ensure that
they have multiple sources to obtain our proposal. Though our proposal will be largely directed
towards this committee due to their status and fundamental duties within our school we would
disseminate this proposal to the student body within the psychology major via posters
highlighting the purpose, benefits, and desired outcome of a re-orientation. Additionally, we will
also share this proposal through virtual means such as social media that would include LinkedIn,
Instagram, and Discord servers oriented towards the student body.

Overall, this event is to better the understanding of the program for all junior students, including
international and non-international transfer students, that are majoring in psychology and give
them a chance to build a better sense of community.

Future Recommendations/Limitations:

Throughout our research, we have found limitations that we feel future students should consider
if they were to pursue this project again. We found it hard to specifically survey psychology
majors on campus due to time constraints and dealing with COVID restrictions at the time.
Recommendations that the group would propose for future students to consider having a survey
sent out to psychology students through the school or professor, thus allowing us to collect
further data to compare and contrast with scientific literature. Another thing to keep in mind for
future endeavors would be to explore if there are any clubs that could survey on how they get
students to become involved. This can lead to a higher sense of community as psychology
students will be able to feel a part of something and create friendships to at least interact in
classes. Additionally, future students should consider if there are already any clubs or events
pertaining specifically to psychology majors and their interests, there were none during the time
of this paper and that is a limitation we encountered.
 24

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