Supporting

Well-Being at
Notre Dame
Mary Do, Mary Kate Temple, Manvit Adusumilli,
Jamie Reintjes, Elizabeth Mellor
 Themes

01 Connection 02 Belonging

03 Flexibility 04 Purpose
 Goals

Connection Practices
Bridge the gap between Learn practices and
students and professors to techniques to incorporate
help students flourish in the classroom
Dialogue
Create a meaningful
discussion about how we
can improve well-being in
the classroom
76.6% of university students across the United States
experienced psychological distress in 2022

The ACHA-NCHA III. “Undergraduate Student Reference Group.” 2022.

 Belonging and Connection

Study Relevance
- Study conducted at Columbia
University on students’ feeling of - Shows the impact
connection and belonging at their that professors have
university on student’s well-
- Top Factors: Friendships, Academic being
classes and projects, Relationships
with professors/ other faculty
members
- Top service: Office hours or other
activities with faculty
Mitchell, Dennis, Melanie Bernitz, Marcy Ferdschneider, and Claude Ann Mellins. “2020 Columbia Student Well-Being Survey Report.
Columbia University Life. October 21, 2021.
 Psychosocial Well-Being
Study
-study conducted over four years at
numerous colleges and universities regarding
the relationship between student-faculty
interactions and psychosocial well-being
(Troilan et al. 2020)
-results found a positive correlation between
the five measures of student-faculty
interactions and the six dimensions of
student psychosocial well-being
Relevance
-student-faculty relationships are highly
impactful on student well-being
-evidence for the purpose of this
workshop
-despite time constraints and other
barriers we all face, finding methods to
promote student-faculty engagement is
valuable
 First Conversations!
01 Introduce yourselves!

Students: What are the biggest challenges that

02 you face in classrooms?

Professors: What are the biggest challenges

03 that you face when teaching classes?
 Feedback from Your Students
Class Practices
Students highlighted that certain
activities and practices in class can
create a sense of support and
belonging
Examples:
Check-ins with students during class,
discussion of well-being,
acknowledgement of busy times for
students
Arrive at class a few minutes early and
stand by the door to greet students as they
come in, and stay after class to say
goodbye to students to build a sense of
relationship and community
 Feedback from Your Students
Academic Support
Particularly in challenging courses,
students emphasized that additional
support eased the stress of academic
pressure
Examples:
Continued emphasis of office hours and
flexible availability, exam preparation
resources like review sessions and
relevant practice exams
Emphasize a hope/expectation to see
every student in office hours once/twice
each semester or by a certain date to
highlight resources and availability of
support
 Feedback from Your Students
Communication
Student feedback emphasized that
receptibility and response to student
feedback built a sense of collaboration
and support
Examples:
Seek out and respond to student feedback
Save two minutes at the end of class for a
brief survey (online or on a scrap of
paper), and have students answer:
- What was the main idea of class?
- What from that lecture remains
unclear?
Then use that feedback to tailor future
lectures/review sessions.
 Feedback from Your Students
Flexibility
Students noted that versatility in
deadlines and significant projects
allowed them to better schedule their
overall workloads
Examples:
Reasonable accommodations for students
who provide justification, and
opportunities for input on deadlines
Provide two alternative essays and
deadlines, but make only one required,
and allow students to decide which
prompt and deadline works better in their
schedule
 Feedback from Your Professors
Student Voices Connections
Giving students the space to
Building meaningful
contribute meaningful to the
relationships with students
course
Engage students in the creation Use Name Coach on Canvas to
of a course manifesto help learn students’ names
2-minute post-lecture surveys to Meet with students’ outside of
see how students are doing with classroom (coffee chats)
the material

Flexibility
Professors understand the value of
being aware of students’ needs
and concerns
Staggering deadlines for
big projects
 Discussions!
Students: What do you hope to see
01 professors do to further support student
well-being?

Professors: What practices are you

02 currently implementing that have
received positive feedback?
 Themes

01 Connection 02 Belonging

03 Flexibility 04 Purpose
 Feedback Survey
01 Students: What do you hope to see improve
in the future of student well-being?

Professors: What are some practices you would

02 like to implement in your classroom after today?

Both: If we were to do this workshop again,

03 what could we improve?

Thank you!