For students, finding a sense of belonging in college can start with something as simple as sharing a slice of pizza with a professor, meeting someone else in their major or discovering an opportunity they didn't know existed on campus.
That’s part of the thinking behind a growing focus on student-centered events in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters (CASL).
With increasing events last academic year and no plans of slowing this fall, the department has been working to create more opportunities for students to connect outside the classroom, with each other, faculty and with the campus resources that can help shape their experience here at UM-Dearborn.
“The Department of Behavioral Sciences is focused on community building and fostering a sense of belonging among our students and highlighting helpful campus resources and programs within the department that students may not be aware of,” Nitya Sethuraman, chair of the department said.
Behavioral Sciences kicked off the semester of welcoming events with a table at Wolverine Welcome Day and then on Aug. 31 they hosted a New Student Welcome specifically for incoming first-year and transfer students. Twenty students gathered over pizza with nine faculty members representing anthropology, psychology and sociology, along with staff from CASL Advising, CASL Internships and Career Services.
Less than two weeks later, the department expanded the invitation.
More than 60 students attended its Sept. 9 Fall Social, bringing together majors in anthropology, psychology, sociology, behavioral and biological sciences (BBS) and criminology and criminal justice (CCJ), along with undecided students in the department. Fourteen faculty members and representatives from CASL Advising, CASL Internships and Career Services joined them to connect.
But the events were designed to offer more than a chance to socialize.
Students learned about career development, experiential learning, and internships, community engagement and study abroad courses, the Psychology Honors Program, associated student organizations and the different types of advising available throughout their time at UM-Dearborn. Conversations introduced students to resources ranging from START and CASL Advising to health professions and pre-law advising.
The Fall Social event offered a hands-on glimpse into faculty research. Associate Professor of Psychology Zhong Xu Liu, the current director of the BBS program, brought a portable electroencephalography (EEG) system from the Cognitive Neuroscience lab and demonstrated how researchers use the equipment. Wearing the cap himself, Zhong Xu Liu introduced students to his research examining brain activity, including what happens as people relax and begin to fall asleep. The demonstration quickly sparked curiosity, with students gathering to ask questions and some even volunteering themselves as willing participants for a study that involves sleeping. The interest offered a glimpse of what these informal events can make possible for our students, the opportunity to have a casual conversation with a professor can become an introduction to research, a new academic interest or even an opportunity to get involved.
Those interactions are also helping students make connections within their academic programs. Instead of only encountering their peers during a course they may share, students had an opportunity to meet others who have the same interests while getting to know faculty in an informal setting. For new students particularly, those early connections can help make a large university feel a little smaller and more manageable.
And with more than 60 students turning out for the Fall Social, the department is seeing signs that students are looking for those opportunities to connect.
By bringing faculty, staff, students and resources together in the same space, Behavioral Sciences is helping new and returning students discover that being part of a major can mean being part of a welcoming and supportive community, too.
To learn more about the department or upcoming events, contact Department Chair, Nitya Sethuraman.
