Faculty and staff at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Va. don’t typically have resources for new campus initiatives that aren&#8217;t absolutely necessary.&nbsp;



But when students at the formerly Methodist-affiliated school requested a renewed focus on spiritual life, administrators were able to answer those prayers. Renovations began on the college’s chapel, which was empty and in disrepair, to forge a revamped, interfaith space for not only religious gatherings but meditation, lectures, and performances.



The explanation for the sudden deepening of Randolph’s pockets is a share of a $3.275 million investment from the Endeavor Foundation. The two-year grant, which started in November 2023, funded the collaboration of 13 different small liberal arts colleges to develop new ways of enhancing student mental health and wellbeing. Last month, Endeavor announced it has committed another $5.22 million to launch a second phase of the project over the next three years.&nbsp;



At a time when many are counting liberal arts colleges out, questioning their focus on broad intellectual development over vocational training, Endeavor is betting on them for the same reason. Its support of Randolph and its peer institutions stems from a belief that their “whole person” educational approach and close-knit, engaged communities are uniquely poised to help young people find the sense of purpose and belonging that so commonly elude them. And by working together, the theory goes, the schools may push their innovation and impact even further.



“Ultimately, our hopes were to generate initiatives that would strengthen these institutions — that would showcase the liberal arts and the power of a liberal arts in a world that&#8217;s increasingly skeptical for various reasons of its value,” said Ashley Kidd, the program director of grants and research at Endeavor.



In 2016, Endeavor first united small liberal arts colleges after noticing a trend of “really wonderful, community-engaged” schools struggling against declining enrollment and finances, Kidd said. The foundation invited presidents from some of these at-risk colleges to discuss institutional issues and other developments, and the convening became an annual tradition.



Over the following years, Endeavor awarded various presidents small to mid-size grants to tackle discrete projects on their campuses. Toward the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, though, the foundation approached the larger group with a proposition: to form a collaborative of their schools with a focus on one issue of their choice.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The conversation turned to: ‘What do you really all need? And if we were to invest a larger sum of money in something that was a collaborative project or two, what would be the primary initiative or initiatives on your plate?’” said Lori Collins-Hall, who was involved at that point as interim president of Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vt.&nbsp;



“The presidents very quickly gelled around student mental health and wellness, and from there, the collaborative was born,” she said.&nbsp;



13 colleges from Maine to New Mexico, Ohio to North Carolina, signed on to join what has since been named the Endeavor Lab Colleges (E.L.C.) Collaborative. Collins-Hall also left her post at Sterling and became the E.L.C.’s project director. Beyond Sterling and Randolph, the initial member institutions included Antioch College; Bennington College; Blackburn College; Northland College; Prescott College; St. John&#8217;s College, Annapolis; St. John&#8217;s College, Santa Fe; Unity Environmental University; Warren Wilson College; and Wells College.&nbsp;



Not all would make it. Wells and Northland have since closed, while Unity Environmental left the collaborative after structural shifts, including an emphasis on remote learning, meant it no longer shared the profile of the other member schools.&nbsp;



Bennington College in Bennington, Vt. was particularly influential in the presidents’ decision to coalesce around wellbeing. Shortly before choosing this focus, the leaders had heard from Bennington President Laura Walker on the results of a study she commissioned to assess student needs and institutional gaps around mental health on her campus. That report, Walker said, “became kind of the foundation for not only our work at Bennington but also the work of the Endeavor project.”



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“The presidents very quickly gelled around student mental health and wellness, and from there, the collaborative was born.”
</blockquote>



Next, the presidents agreed on four areas to direct their collective and respective institutional energies: infusing curricula with wellbeing-related content; helping students explore their sense of purpose and meaning; creating experiential learning opportunities, especially in nature; and enhancing clinical and nonclinical services, like counseling and peer support.



The majority of the first Endeavor grant went towards compensating faculty and staff, who came from all levels across the institutions, in their joint work to determine the best ways of approaching and executing the collaborative’s priorities. The remaining money was split among the schools for practical capacity building according to distinct institutional needs.&nbsp;



Randolph dedicated funds to not only the redesign of its chapel but the addition of a comprehensive telehealth service, TimelyCare, as well as mental health training and professional development for staff. A minor in contemplative studies, an interdisciplinary field exploring the human contemplative experience, also took off.



Bennington, meanwhile, invested in the renovation of its fitness center and a revamp of the first-year career preparation course. The college’s standing interest in the arts also inspired a pilot course combining art engagement with mental health processing.



“It was a wonderful mix,” Bennington’s President Walker said of the class. “The students reported they had increased motivation, reduced isolation, and positive changes to mental health. And because so many of our students are artists and creative, it also gave them the sense that they had power to change people&#8217;s lives and their mental health through their art.”



For both Randolph and Bennington, another perk of the Endeavor partnership has been the ability to leverage the funds to raise money from other sources. By pointing to dollars already secured for, say, bolstering interfaith programming at the chapel or building out career services, the schools have garnered even more support for their efforts.&nbsp;&nbsp;



By the end of phase one, the collaborative’s ideative efforts had resulted in the transformation of the initial four priorities into five fine-tuned initiatives to guide future work: Cultivating Curricular Review and Innovation, Building Models of Community Care and Resilience, Center for Purposeful Life and Work, Mapping Belonging, and Nature Rx.



Mapping Belonging and Nature Rx evolved from the commitment to experiential learning, where Mapping Belonging uses reimagined campus maps to cultivate student belonging to the place and its history, while Nature Rx helps connect students to the school’s outdoor spaces.



Unlike phase one, when colleges might use their individual funding to pursue whichever of the priorities was most compelling to them, this next stage will urge every school to tackle each of the five initiatives. According to the president of Randolph, Sue Ott Rowlands, this part of the new grant is especially important.&nbsp;



“We&#8217;re not just going to pick and choose what we do,” she said. “We&#8217;re going to commit to all of the five areas, and that&#8217;s going to push us — make us really expand our engagement and thinking and open up a lot of opportunities for our students.”



Also in the second phase, the collaborative efforts of the colleges will continue to grow. Currently, a working group of faculty from across the participating schools is spearheading each of the five initiatives, while the chief academic officers of every college also work together.



Part of the mission of the working groups is to devise a way of assessing the impact of their particular initiative. On a larger scale, each institution will measure how the whole of the Endeavor-funded work is affecting campus by conducting pre- and post-surveys on student wellbeing, as well as that of faculty and staff.



Despite the colleges’ limitations resources-wise, Bennington President Laura Walker said she’s been excited to have access to the wealth of “real talent” on their other campuses. “I think one of the best things about this project has been the collaboration among colleges and the support group,” she explained.



Collins-Hall said she thinks most participating faculty and staff have been similarly “jazzed” to work together and come to meetings. “I have people who have been doing this for two years on a biweekly schedule who are excited to be back for year three. That doesn&#8217;t happen with any committees in higher education.”



At Randolph, one of the unexpected challenges of Endeavor’s support has been acclimating faculty and staff to the idea that there are now resources to pursue projects that were once off the table — that they no longer need to stretch every dollar to the extent they might have before.



“It was a very interesting process to say, ‘No, wait, we can do that. We have Endeavor funds to help us with that,” President Ott Rowlands said.



Now she’s telling her team: “Think a little bigger.”



You can reach LearningWell Reporter Mollie Ames at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:mames@learningwellmag.org">mames@learningwellmag.org</a>&nbsp;with comments, ideas, or tips.

Collective Wellbeing

Nestory Ngolle is a sophomore at Georgetown University, a biology and global health major, an EMT, and a member of the Engelhard Project Student Advisory Council. The Engelhard Project for Connecting Life and Learning is Georgetown’s curricular approach to integrating whole-student learning and wellbeing into academic contexts — and, as Ngolle sees it, creating an environment where students can connect what they learn about the world to what they learn about themselves.&nbsp;



Bringing health and wellbeing into the classroom increases engagement, encourages collaboration and self-reflection, and cultivates a sense of purpose that helps students flourish across all facets of college life, he says. In late March, Ngolle joined Joselyn Schultz Lewis, Director of Inclusive Pedagogy at Georgetown&#8217;s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship, for a presentation on Engelhard’s innovative, student-informed pedagogy at the Coalition for Transformational Education’s national conference in Washington, D.C. LearningWell caught up with Ngolle to see what his experience can teach leaders and learners in higher education.



In his first semester at Georgetown, Ngolle took a foundational biology class that happened to be an Engelhard course. “Rather than memorizing information and applying it to problems, we were applying what we learned to ourselves and our experiences. It helped students feel connected to what they learned and reflect on their own lives in relation to the academic material.” The following semester, Ngolle enrolled in a medical anthropology class, another Engelhard course. “From there, I think I sort of fell in love with the Engelhard mission,” he said. “You can see the positive impact in the classroom, in student participation, and in how students approach the work.”&nbsp;



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Bringing health and wellbeing into the classroom increases engagement, encourages collaboration and self-reflection, and cultivates a sense of purpose.
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While we tend to look to college counseling centers, peer advising, or support groups as the first frontiers of student mental health, Ngolle emphasizes the transformative potential of acknowledging and promoting wellbeing within the content and culture of academic life. In the classroom, that means inclusive pedagogy and exploring the relationship between student wellbeing and engaged learning. Engelhard’s course model invites faculty to redesign existing courses by identifying an area of wellbeing that is relevant to the curriculum. Engelhard courses exist across academic disciplines, so students of philosophy, mathematics, business, or medicine have opportunities to enroll in courses that incorporate topics such as substance use, depression and anxiety, sleep, social media use, or sexual assault into their curricula.&nbsp;



Crucial to this integration is getting students to understand that good grades, even superlative grades, are not at odds with wellness. Rather, Ngolle says, academic success and wellbeing can coexist and complement one another. For students like Ngolle on the pre-medical track, academic rigor and ambition have a reputation of souring into severe stress or competitive, unsupportive peer relationships. Professors can be active in dismantling this process before it begins, Ngolle says, by creating a sense of community and belonging among classmates. “Those are the people we are going to walk across the stage with in four years,” Ngolle said of classmates, who often see each other as opponents rather than as peers. A spirit of unconditional individualism, he argues, can get in the way of finding community and belonging, an essential ingredient for good mental health in college.&nbsp;



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The end goal, as Ngolle sees it, is to arrive at a point where “all classes are centered around students and strive to cultivate a sense of health and wellness in the classroom.”
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Ngolle believes that healthy behaviors, improved memory and information retention, positive peer networks, and the confidence to talk to professors or speak up in class all reinforce one another. He hopes to dismantle the narrative that students, in order to achieve a good GPA or ace their exams, must compromise their sleep, suffer under stressful conditions, and work themselves to the point of burnout. The Engelhard Project has taught Ngolle that wellbeing and care can extend into every aspect of a person’s college existence, including academic life. He now amplifies his peers’ voices as a Student Advisory Council member for the Engelhard Project, and he hopes to see the program’s reach grow. The end goal, as he sees it, is to make every course an Engelhard course, eliminating the need by arriving at a point where “all classes are centered around students and strive to cultivate a sense of health and wellness in the classroom.”



Ngolle’s experience as a student in classes that prioritize wellbeing has affirmed and shaped his ambition to pursue medicine. “Healthcare is more than just prescribing medication to a patient. It can mean connecting with patients on an individual level, being there to just sit and talk with them. These courses have led me to see patients as people: the goal is not to treat a disease; the goal is to treat a patient.”&nbsp;



For Ngolle, the pre-med student experience has expanded his definition of what it means to be well, both for himself and for all medical patients receiving care. His professors have “challenged student perspectives of what it means to be healthy and well. That means that going to the doctor or talking to a psychiatrist are not the only settings where we can talk about our health and wellbeing. In the classroom, we can achieve wellness — not just through grades, but through the knowledge we acquire.” Students connect more meaningfully to course material when they are able to see its relevance to daily college life, Ngolle says. That connection not only leads to better academic outcomes, but to better lives.

Wellbeing Curriculum: A Student’s Perspective

In 2005, Georgetown professor Joan Riley was walking across campus when she had an epiphany that would change the way she thought about teaching.&nbsp; Riley has just been to an evening meeting of the “Friends” group—an intradepartmental team of administrators, students, and faculty members who were working together on harm reduction strategies to combat student alcohol misuse. &nbsp;The silo-crossing activity was unusual for higher ed and got Riley thinking from a different perspective.



“I remember stopping in the middle of campus and asking myself, ‘What can I, as a professor, do to help address this problem?” The next day, she told the undergraduate students in her Health Promotion and Disease Prevention course to throw away their syllabi. For the rest of the semester, they studied the effects of alcohol throughout one’s lifetime, from the metabolic breakdown of alcohol, to familial alcohol patterns, to binge drinking, all in a way that engaged students both academically and personally.



“When you bring topics like these into the academic setting and use evidence to describe them, students listen in a way they don’t with other interventions,” said Riley.&nbsp; “I started asking, ‘Why aren’t we talking about these subjects inside the classroom?’”



Riley’s seemingly simple question would lead to a precedent-setting initiative in curriculum infusion called the Engelhard Project for Connecting Life and Learning. Launched in 2005, out of Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS), the Engelhard Project engages faculty in making connections between students’ academic studies and their broader life experiences, especially in the areas of well-being, flourishing, and mental health. You don’t have to be in health studies or psychology to teach an “Engelhard course,” as it is not so much about the topic as it is about the technique of combining learning with personal growth. While this approach is often touted, it is reluctantly applied in higher education, even at schools like Georgetown that seek to teach to the whole person.



“The tradition of academe, especially in highly competitive settings, was the radical mind-body split,” said Randy Bass, who led the creation of Engelhard as executive director of CNDLS and now oversees an education innovation unit at the school. “Classrooms were places for your head and the rest of the campus was the place for your body and soul.”



Building the Bridge



For Georgetown, the Engelhard Project’s effort to fuse these personal dimensions has been a steady progression, starting shortly after Riley’s course shake-up, and continuing to this day with the full weight of the president’s office behind it.  Georgetown President John J. DeGioia sees the project as the embodiment of the Jesuit school’s mission and is quick to thank the other woman who made it possible. Sally Engelhard Pingree funded CNDLS’ first proposal to infuse wellbeing into the classroom through Bringing Theory to Practice (BT2P), a fund she launched with Don Harward, who was, at the time, president of Bates College. Motivated by the personal experiences of Pingree’s daughter when she was a student at Bates, BT2P seeded campuses with the support to craft programs that focus on the intersection of student well-being, engaged learning, and civic engagement.



At an early BT2P conference, Riley met a faculty colleague in the Department of Philosophy named Alisa Carse and learned that she, too, was doing similar integration. Together with a student and the head of the counseling center, the Georgetown team began to explore how to make curriculum infusion its own program.  Under the leadership of Professor Randy Bass and Todd Olson, who was then vice president of Student Affairs, and others, Georgetown sought and received two rounds of multi-year funding to establish the framework, staff, and criteria for the new inter-disciplinary program. They named the program the Engelhard Faculty Fellows, with a nod to the professors who were recruited to mold the classes to their own design and comfort level. In 2010, they received an endowment gift from Pingree for what is now called The Engelhard Project for Connecting Life and Learning.



<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote>&#8220;The tradition of academe, especially in highly competitive settings, was the radical mind-body split. Classrooms were places for your head and the rest of the campus was the place for your body and soul.”</blockquote></figure>



&#8220;I wanted students to be healthier and supported and Georgetown was a perfect&nbsp;fit as a campus already dedicated to looking at the whole person,” said Pingree. “I feel very lucky to be included and able to interact with faculty and staff doing this work in the Engelhard community of practice and to witness the positive impacts on faculty and the Georgetown&nbsp;community.&#8221;



“Georgetown leaned into something that was deeply connected to their mission and then went about engaging faculty in ways that honored their time and seeded ownership,” said Ashley Finley, who was a national evaluator for BT2P and is now vice president for research and senior advisor to the president for the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&amp;U).  In addition to the “faculty first” mentality, Finley said the intra-departmental nature of the work, led by an advisory committee of faculty, staff, and administrators, created a unique and powerful learning community.  



What began as five original classes has grown to over 500 courses in a wide variety of disciplines, with a combined student enrollment of 25,000 and the involvement of over 150 faculty members. Joselyn Lewis was a graduate associate at Georgetown when Engelhard first launched and she now leads the project as part of her education development work for faculty and graduate students at CNDLS.



Lewis is responsible for a large portion of faculty coming into the program and is adept at identifying the “sweet spot” that might get them engaged in designing or redesigning their course to integrate an element of student wellbeing.&nbsp; Part of the recruitment involves reassuring faculty members who worry they will cross a boundary by bringing personal issues into the classroom or will “screw up” the unfamiliar approach. &nbsp;Lewis addresses this by offering a robust orientation session and continued support along the way.&nbsp; Monthly meetings and social gatherings for all Engelhard participants, past and present, are another level of security and offer friendships with colleagues one might not otherwise get to know.&nbsp;



Part of reducing the barrier to entry is the program’s intentionally simple criteria. Faculty are asked to choose a wellbeing topic that connects to the course they teach. For one course meeting, they bring in a partner from a student-facing service area. This can be a clinician from Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), an expert in healthy eating, a Title IX coordinator, a DEI officer, even a financial aid advisor.&nbsp; They then ask students to do a reflective writing piece about the experience. &nbsp;



What does this look like for students? Lewis said most are unaware that they are in an Engelhard course as the wellbeing topics are so well integrated into the subject matter. They may study mental health within Foundations of Biology; examine sexual assault as part of Introduction to Ethics; or discuss anxiety in The Physics of Climate Change. The difference, whether they know it or not, is that the courses are designed to make connections that build relationships with their professors and with each other.&nbsp;



Lewis said while the student affairs professionals appreciate the effectiveness of sharing important information inside the classroom, the program’s effects on teaching and learning at Georgetown have been profound. She said some faculty choose to do just the basics which allows students to make a connection between the content they are learning and their own wellbeing. Others do “All Engelhard, all the time,” embracing a full pedagogical shift that welcomes students’ interior lives into the learning process.



“I have faculty say to me ‘Engelhard gives me permission to teach the way I’ve always wanted to,” said Lewis. “I just didn’t know that it would be valued.’”



Just Breathe



Jennifer Woolard was one of the first faculty members to teach an Engelhard course at Georgetown and continues to do so today. As a psychology professor, she was eager to find a way to humanize mental health topics and found that forging a partnership with a professional from CAPS was a powerful statement that said, “Mental health is part of life.”&nbsp; She begins every class with a breathing exercise as a way to ground students and ask that they pause and be present. For high achieving “perfectionists” like many of those who attend Georgetown, taking a moment like this can mean a lot.



“For me, Engelhard is about modeling,” said Woolard. “Taking the time out of class to discuss these issues, to invite colleagues from other departments in to join me, says to my students that I care about their wellbeing.” &nbsp;Woolard said that the student reflections confirm this. One student reported, “I felt cared for—like the professor was genuinely interested in our wellbeing rather than us just churning out good grades.”



“I think the most powerful thing about being an Engelhard faculty member is that it allows you to communicate to your students that you care about them as people,” said Bass.



<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote>&#8220;I have faculty say to me, ‘Engelhard gives me permission to teach the way I’ve always wanted to,’&#8221; said Lewis. &nbsp;&#8220;&#8216;I just didn’t know that it would be valued.’”</blockquote></figure>



In the near two decades since Engelhard was launched, rates of anxiety and depression reported by college students have nearly doubled.&nbsp; During the 2020–2021 school year, more than 60% of college students met the criteria for at least one mental health problem, a near 50% increase from 2013, according to the <a href="https://healthymindsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/HMS-National-Report-2021-22_full.pdf">Healthy Minds Study</a>.&nbsp; The stress and isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these issues.&nbsp; A <a href="https://marychristieinstitute.org/reports/the-role-of-faculty-in-student-mental-health/">2021 survey</a> of over 1,000 faculty across 12 diverse institutions by the Mary Christie Institute, the Boston University School of Public Health and the Healthy Minds Network found a strong majority (87%) believed that student mental health had “worsened” or “significantly worsened” during COVID-19. Almost 80% had one-on-one phone, video, or email conversations with students about their mental health.&nbsp;



“There isn’t a faculty member in this country that doesn’t see that our students are struggling,” said Riley, pointing to a list over her door of the mental health issues she asked her students to identify having experienced. Loneliness topped the list.



“At the beginning, we didn’t talk a lot about addressing mental health issues in recruiting professors,” said Lewis. “They were really concerned about crossing that line into counseling, which is why our early work focused more on awareness of the campus safety net and referring students to CAPS.” Now, she said, faculty are becoming more comfortable with discussing mental health with their students; many open up about their own struggles. “A lot of our faculty say, ‘If I’m asking my students to come as whole people, I have to be able to model that.’”



While many professors value the Engelhard Project’s role in prioritizing mental health issues amidst alarming prevalence numbers, others resonate with decades of strong evidence on the impact of relationship-based learning on a range of positive student outcomes.&nbsp; In their book, Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College, Peter Felten and Leo M. Lambert cite ample evidence of this, including Mathew Mayhew’s book How College Affects Students, and write, “Students’ interactions with peers, faculty, and staff positively influence the breadth and depth of student learning, retention and graduation rates, and a wide range of other outcomes, including critical thinking, identity development, communication skills, and leadership abilities.”



Lewis said referencing literature on the strength of the pedagogy has convinced many professors to join the Engelhard Project and is one reason its appeal has crossed over into numerous departments.&nbsp; While the faculty representation skews heavily female, the program has a good ratio of humanities and STEM courses.&nbsp; One neuroscience professor told Lewis, “It’s not my job to know who my students are, but I am open to doing this because I believe it will make them better scientists.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Randy Bass said that some of the places the Engelhard Project has worked the best are those that are the least obvious, like in the sciences.&nbsp; “If you ask students to examine the biological basis of any mental health issue,” as they do in a long-running Engelhard course taught by Heidi Elmendorf, “they will choose topics such as their mother’s alcoholism, their brother’s autism, their own eating disorder, or someone they know who was suicidal.&nbsp; These are unbelievably personal connections that deepen their knowledge and appreciation of what it means to study biology.”



Can this Idea be Scaled?



Engelhard leaders are not aware of the existence of another wellbeing curriculum infusion program, to this degree, on any other US campus. They receive a fair amount of requests for information from other schools and try to respond among limited time and information. Outcomes for the project are largely anecdotal, but they have begun a check list for other schools on what needs to be in place for a program like this to gain traction, starting with a multi-stakeholder leadership team, an academic orientation, and the availability of willing student affairs professionals. This last category can be a problem for schools with fewer resources, but for the most part, the project is low cost, particularly when compared to more direct mental health interventions. &nbsp;It is an important equity consideration as advocates like Felton and Lambert argue that high-impact practices, like those within the Engelhard Project, are particularly beneficial for first-generation, low-income students, and students of color.



At Georgetown, enrollment in the project has stayed about the same for several years despite a growing acknowledgement of its many benefits. Part of the plateau may be a continued reluctance, on the part of some faculty, to embrace the personal side of students. While this appears to be changing, Woolard says professors who view Engelhard as too “touchy feely” should probably sit out.&nbsp; “There may be some faculty members for whom this is not a good option,” she said.&nbsp;



Riley, who also recruits for the Engelhard Project, said professors are worried the project will take time away from their many responsibilities.&nbsp; “The irony is the Engelhard method makes you a better teacher—like exercising over time—and that works in your favor when it comes to managing multiple roles.”



Another theory is that the Engelhard Project may still be ahead of its time. “I think what education will become about is the development of the inner self in relationship to the capacity to do external work, what we’ve called “the inner/outer” problem,” said Bass.&nbsp; “That’s the next frontier in higher education, but most of higher education doesn’t know that yet.”

Welcoming Wellbeing into the Classroom

Measuring Wellbeing Among College Students

In 2015, colleagues at the University of Washington designed a novel framework to promote wellbeing on campus. The UW <a href="https://wellbeing.uw.edu/unit/resilience-lab/">Resilience Lab</a> aims to cultivate a culture of resilience that goes beyond the individual and reaches across the university’s three campuses and surrounding communities. A member of the <a href="https://lists.virginia.edu/sympa/info/fan">Flourishing Academic Network (FAN)</a>, the lab drives systemic change through pedagogy and curriculum, interdisciplinary collaboration, research, strategic projects, and community engagement – all designed to help students thrive.&nbsp;



The lab’s collective approach joins faculty, staff, and students with a wide range of academic backgrounds — Buddhist studies, economics, medicine — into conversation with one another. It is a living example of how, when bringing different people and departments together, colleges and universities have an opportunity to transcend individualistic ideas of wellness and instead engage community members in productive dialogue. At the University of Washington, that dialogue is driving systemic change.



Kizz Prusia, MPA, is the Community Impact Manager at the UW Resilience Lab. He describes a resilient campus as one that embodies a quality of spaciousness. “Is there space and psychological safety for students to engage in dialogue with each other and with faculty across disciplines and status or levels of hierarchy and power?” he asks. “Are there tools available to practice wellbeing and compassion?” Prusia’s work, much like the work of the lab as a whole, extends into many areas of campus life. The lab values collaboration and fosters symbiotic relationships with other offices and programs —&nbsp;the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance; the School of Social Work; the Center for Communication, Difference, and Equity; and the Center for Child and Family Development, to name a few. That collective approach sets them apart, Prusia says. “I’ve seen centers and groups, here and at other institutions, that are insular and siloed. In the Resilience Lab, we think about individual wellbeing, but we also think about our collective ability to adapt and learn together; to shift wellbeing from an individual responsibility to a community effort.”&nbsp;



Institutional Memory



Interdisciplinary initiatives maximize the Resilience Lab’s reach and impact across a large, multi-campus university. They also generate a new “institutional memory,” Prusia says, by embedding the culture of compassion and resilience into all domains of the student experience, planting the seeds of lasting change.



One such initiative, Resistance through Resilience (RTR), is the product of a collaboration between the Resilience Lab and the Center for Communication, Difference, and Equity. RTR is a new training and speaker series that engages community members on and off campus in the application of mindfulness practices to interrupt racism and its intersections. One example is discussions on examining the meaning of resilience in the lives of minoritized students, for whom resilience often connotes “toughing it out” through challenging circumstances — “muscling through,” Prusia says, sometimes at great costs. Working to change that definition, Resistance through Resilience expands the conversation around what resilience looks like for students of color, LGBTQ+ students, and other marginalized groups by exploring “different ways to resist what exists,” Prusia explains.



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 “We are looking at how systems operate, how we can make sense of an organizational culture, and where individual actors fit inside that broader context.”
</blockquote>



“Those conversations have talked about joy, about rest, about resilience, and about radical listening,” he says. RTR promotes wellbeing through conversations around power, privilege, and the environments in which students and community members develop, learn, and thrive. The initiative highlights the Resilience Lab’s commitment to understanding the roles of both individuals and systems: with regard to anti-racist pedagogy, whole-person wellbeing, and community engagement, Prusia explains, “We are looking at how systems operate, how we can make sense of an organizational culture, and where individual actors fit inside that broader context.”



The Resilience Lab also provides seed grants in partnership with the Campus Sustainability Fund. The grants are an opportunity for anyone in the community, including students, faculty, staff, and community partners, to apply for grant funding for a proposed project relating to sustainability, mindfulness, resilience, or anti-racism. <a href="https://wellbeing.uw.edu/resilience-lab/seed-grants/seed-grant-prev-projects/">Examples</a> of recent grant recipients include the Critical Conversations Collective (CCC), a space for interdisciplinary doctoral students of color to engage in peer mentoring, and Embodying Abolition, a faculty-led project designing innovative pedagogy and curriculum that challenge systems of incarceration.



The <a href="https://ccfwb.uw.edu/bereal/">Be REAL</a> initiative is a collaborative project from the Resilience Lab and the Center for Child and Family Development. Be REAL (REsilient Attitudes and Living — the name predates the popular app) got its start as a research project in undergraduate residence halls studying the efficacy of “preventative tools to help students manage stress, understand their own needs and relate to others with compassion,” Prusia explains. The six-week program equips students and staff with cognitive skills and mindful techniques that help them flourish in their daily lives and respond mindfully to challenging situations. In partnership with the Center for Child and Family Development, Be REAL’s curriculum is in the process of being adapted to fit the needs of high school students and extend the culture of wellbeing beyond campus.



As faculty, staff, and students across the country gradually returned to in-person learning as pandemic restrictions lifted, the Resilience Lab published <a href="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/uw-s3-cdn/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2021/01/20101850/WBLL-Guidebook-FINAL.pdf">Well-Being for Life and Learning</a>, a guidebook organized around four pillars of an engaged and resilient university: teaching for equity and access, nurturing social connectedness, building coping skills, and connecting to the environment. The guidebook represents a community approach to taking resilience and wellbeing from optimistic concepts to fully-realized, implementable practices. While the guide provides a framework for best practices, the Resilience Lab’s work is, by design, not one-size-fits-all.&nbsp;



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“Is there space and psychological safety for students to engage in dialogue with each other and with faculty across disciplines and status or levels of hierarchy and power?”
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“We don’t expect that every department will implement the guidebook in the same ways or at the same time,” Prusia says. “Instead, we try to work with faculty and staff in a way that works for them. Maybe it’s not the whole guidebook — maybe it’s taking one practice and building a skillset around that.” This adaptability makes wellbeing tools practical and accessible to all community members.



Pedagogy and Curriculum



Integrating resilience into university curriculum “can be a light lift and as manageable&nbsp; as professors implementing a mindfulness practice at the start of class, being intentional about co-creating the learning environment with students, or just bringing resilience into the classroom as a topic to consider,” Prusia explains. Most recently at UW, this integration has involved guest speakers and visiting artists who engage with questions of wellbeing in its many intricate forms. For some faculty, this approach has taken off — and taken their curriculum down unforeseen paths.&nbsp;



Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a poet, dancer, and <a href="https://meanycenter.org/engage/artistic-partner-2023-24-season">artist-in-residence</a> at the University of Washington’s Meany Center for Performing Arts for the duration of the 2023-2024 academic year. Joseph brought to campus his original Carnival of the Animals, a multimedia performance that “navigates the reality of the political jungle by embodying shifting societal values and our relationship to democracy” through poetry, dance, and music. Joseph’s residency at the University of Washington explores “what it means to go from art to wellness, from artistic joy to collective wellness,” Prusia says. Through multimedia performance art, Joseph hosts a conversation that asks viewers to consider art’s place in creating collective change. One professor in the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance saw a resonant connection between Joseph’s art and her coursework and invited her whole class of graduate students to the performance. From a government course to a multigenre stage production, the professor cultivated a nimble, adaptive, and innovative learning experience that embodies the Resilience Lab’s vision of the compassionate campus. 



If the University of Washington is any indication, that vision, when rigorously explored and thoughtfully implemented, can blossom into tangible change. Where wellbeing is a collective responsibility and a shared opportunity, the culture shifts to embrace it.

A Collective Approach to Wellbeing

Rooted in New York City and distinguished by a global network of campuses across 15 other cities, New York University is a composite of the world itself. Its president, Linda G. Mills, is charged with leading this cosmopolitan learning community at a time when many of the world’s problems are reverberating on campus. A therapist by training who is also a lawyer, filmmaker, social scientist, and restorative justice champion, Mills draws from her own diverse background to center wellbeing amidst unrelenting change and uncertainty.  



Before becoming the school’s first woman and first Jewish president, Mills spent many years at NYU, building a mental health infrastructure that has become a national model. In this interview for LearningWell, she is joined by VP of Student Health, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Zoe Ragouzeos, to talk about why that is only one aspect of a larger strategy to make individual and collective wellbeing a part of every student’s experience. In the current climate, that means helping those who come to NYU with mostly homogeneous past experiences thrive in a pluralist society.



LW:&nbsp;How is the uncertainty in the political world today, including on college campuses, affecting the wellbeing of your community?



Mills:&nbsp;When I think about the rapid changes happening at the federal level and their impact on our students, I’m constantly thinking about both the individuals and the community as a whole. What I’m seeing is an undercurrent of anxiety—students feeling deeply unsettled by the sheer velocity of change, regardless of their political perspective.



For those already vulnerable from a mental health standpoint, this uncertainty only amplifies their struggles. But even those who are generally resilient are feeling weighed down, less steady, and often simply confused. And that leads to deeper questions: “How do I process this? Is this something I should bring to therapy?” For some, becoming engaged in a community to advocate for change is an outlet. But if those actions don’t bring a sense of emotional relief, what then? How do they manage that lingering distress?



This moment in time creates a real tension between meeting personal emotional needs and navigating the external events unfolding around us. Finding balance between the two is a challenge we all must confront.



LW:&nbsp;What do you most worry about in terms of how this is affecting people?



Mills: I worry about all of it. In times of intense change, people often struggle to find their footing. That uncertainty can cause them to neglect their own wellbeing—whether it’s their mental health, their academic work, or even just basic daily routines. Reading and concentration become difficult. Decisions feel overwhelming. And stress can lead to choices that may have lasting consequences.



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&#8220;In times of intense change, people often struggle to find their footing. That uncertainty can cause them to neglect their own wellbeing.&#8221;
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What I worry about most is students making impulsive decisions—choices that could derail their long-term goals—simply because they feel like they’re being swept up in a tidal wave of external events. What they often need most in these moments is to pause, reflect, and take a step back before reacting. But in times of stress, that’s not always easy to do.



LW:&nbsp;Hearing you talk, I am reminded that, among all of your many distinctions, you are a licensed clinical social worker. How has this influenced how you approach your presidency?



Mills:&nbsp;I think it has been really central.&nbsp;I feel like I need to be aware of the therapeutic and resilience elements of our students&#8217; lives. My background in clinical social work means I don’t just see the importance of seeking support, whether that’s through therapy, group counseling, or student organizations. I think deeply about students’ inner lives and what this particular moment in history means for them.



I also recognize that my position is unique. I don’t know many university presidents who are trained therapists. That experience gives me a different lens. I approach my role with an acute awareness of the mental health challenges our students, faculty, and staff are facing. It informs how I communicate, how I think, and how we develop programs that support not just the community as a whole but the individuals who need specific interventions.



So, in many ways, I am always thinking in two directions: What does our student body need collectively, and what does each student need individually? And that approach fundamentally shapes the way we build our mental health and wellbeing initiatives here.



LW:&nbsp;You recently hosted a national convening of university presidents on student mental health and wellbeing. What were some of the common concerns and challenges you and your peers discussed?



Mills:&nbsp;Zoe and I have been working on these issues for nearly 20 years. We started with a focus on direct services, ensuring that students who needed one-on-one counseling could access it quickly and effectively. That remains a core priority.



But over time, a larger challenge has come into focus: Not everyone will seek out traditional mental health services. Some students avoid therapy for religious, cultural, or familial reasons. Others struggle with the stigma attached to mental health care. So, our work has expanded beyond simply serving the most vulnerable students. It’s about creating a culture of wellbeing that reaches everyone.



The question we’re asking now is: How do we support mental health in a way that meets students where they are? How do we tailor programs that resonate with different backgrounds and lived experiences? That was the heart of our discussion at the convening—exploring innovative approaches that make mental health support accessible and relevant to all students, not just those who walk into a counseling center. And I was truly inspired by the creative solutions my peers are already testing.



LW:&nbsp;What are some of the challenges to that shift in focus?



Mills:&nbsp;One of the biggest challenges is that college is an incredibly demanding time with competing priorities pulling students in different directions. They have academic goals, study abroad opportunities, research projects, career aspirations—all of which require time and energy. So how do we integrate wellbeing into their daily lives in a way that doesn’t feel like yet another obligation?



That’s where I think Zoe has done this brilliantly, weaving mental health and resilience into every part of the student experience. If college is meant to prepare students for life, then wellbeing has to be a fundamental part of that preparation.



Some students arrive with strong wellbeing skills. They’ve been working on this for years. But others come to us with no foundation in self-care or emotional resilience—sometimes even with deeply ingrained stigma around mental health. For them, we’re starting from scratch, or even from a deficit.



So where should this integration happen? In student affairs? In study abroad programs? In the classroom? Faculty are often surprised when we suggest that mental health belongs in academic spaces, but the reality is it’s already showing up there. When a student asks for an extension on an assignment or when they can’t finish a course due to a&nbsp;personal issue, those are mental health concerns manifesting in academic life. Universities need to recognize this and build systems that support students holistically.



LW:&nbsp;Zoe, from your perspective, how do you see this shift in thinking taking shape?&nbsp;&nbsp;



Ragouzeos:&nbsp;Linda often spoke about “the student in the back of the calculus class”—the person who never raises their hand, who may never step forward to seek help. She instilled in us the importance of not just serving those who come to our counseling services but actively reaching those who won’t. And that philosophy, in many ways, is the foundation of the public health model we embrace today.



So, the real question becomes: How do we reach that student?&nbsp; Because this work isn’t just about clinical services, though those are critically important. It’s about every touchpoint a student has within our institution. Whether it’s an interaction with a faculty member, a peer, the physical environment, or student services, what messages are they receiving? What are we doing to strengthen their ability to cope?



At its core, resilience is the challenge we must address. While this model was initially built to support our most vulnerable students, we now recognize that every student benefits from stronger coping and resilience skills, regardless of where they start. In fact, we see it as our responsibility. By the time a student leaves here, they should not only have gained academic knowledge and the ability to think critically but also a greater capacity to navigate life’s challenges. That’s part of our mission.



With that in mind, how do we, as an institution, ensure that every student—not just those who seek support—leaves us more resilient than when they arrived?



LW:&nbsp;What’s the most effective thing a university president can do to address mental health on campus?



Mills:&nbsp;Modeling and reinforcing.



I often say that to be an effective therapist, you have to have gone to therapy yourself. The same is true for leadership around mental health. We need to model the idea that seeking support isn’t a weakness. It’s a fundamental part of a productive, healthy life.



That means speaking about it openly, normalizing conversations around mental health, and ensuring that our institutional policies reflect those values. We have to create a culture where prioritizing wellbeing is not just accepted but expected.



LW:&nbsp;What are your thoughts on the current state of higher education? What kind of change do you think is needed, especially in light of public skepticism?



Mills:&nbsp;Despite definite concerns about higher education, people still deeply believe in its value. The sheer volume of applications to NYU—over 120,000 this year—tells us that. Higher education remains the single most important factor in setting individuals and families up for success.



But beyond academic and professional preparation, universities also have a broader responsibility. We need to cultivate critical thinking, civic engagement, and the ability to navigate diverse perspectives.



One of the most urgent gaps I see is in bridge-building. Many students arrive on campus from homogenous communities, whether in the U.S. or abroad, and are suddenly immersed in one of the most diverse environments they’ve ever encountered. That transition can be jarring, especially in today’s polarized world.



Social media and cancel culture have made it even harder to engage across differences. We need to teach students the skills to have difficult conversations, to coexist with people who think differently, and to build meaningful connections across divides.



Interestingly, our research shows that students who study abroad improve their ability to navigate cultural differences. So how do we bring that kind of growth into all aspects of university life? Just as we integrate mental health and resilience from day one, we need to be just as intentional about fostering cross-cultural understanding and communication.



LW:&nbsp;Zoe, do you have any thoughts on that?



Ragouzeos: Resilience isn’t just about personal coping. It’s also about how we engage with the world around us. When we truly listen to one another and appreciate differences, we become more adaptable, more open, and, ultimately, more resilient. The ability to navigate life’s challenges is deeply connected to our capacity for understanding perspectives beyond our own.



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&#8220;Resilience isn’t just about personal coping. It’s also about how we engage with the world around us.&#8221; 
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This is one of the reasons why study abroad experiences can be so transformative. When students immerse themselves in a different culture, they naturally give themselves permission to accept differences in a way they might not at home. As visitors, they recognize that they are stepping into a world with different customs, perspectives, and ways of life, so they adjust. They observe, and they grow.



Yet, back home, that openness often fades. In familiar environments, people tend to default to expecting things to function as they always have within the norms of their own communities. This can create resistance to difference, rather than a willingness to embrace it.



So the question becomes: How do we cultivate that same openness and adaptability within our own communities? How do we encourage students to bring that study abroad mindset—one of curiosity, acceptance, and resilience—into their daily lives, even in places that feel familiar?



LW:&nbsp;Do you ever get asked about your own mental health? This is a tough time to be a college president, but I’m guessing there’s no support group for that.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Mills:&nbsp;As a therapist by training, I think about my own mental health constantly. I believe that if I didn’t, I’d be failing my community. We all have to prioritize our wellbeing, especially in leadership roles where the pressures are relentless.



These are incredibly challenging times, and I have to be at my best to lead effectively. Some days are tougher than others, especially when events hit close to home, like my personal experiences with antisemitism. But those moments also deepen my understanding of resilience, making me a better advocate for our students. At the end of the day, I’m not just leading this community. I’m living these challenges alongside them.

Leading with Wellbeing at NYU

A conversation with Holly White, doctoral candidate at the University of Maine, and lead author of the recent PNAS Nexus article, Cultivating long-term well-being through transformative undergraduate education. Listen on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-7-how-learning-influences-wellbeing/id1732284927?i=1000673303918">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2mOrvO0SVIGJPlGm7Sqnxi?si=b5e5ea78dc4c4fc2">Spotify</a>.



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LearningWell Radio

When your house is burning, it feels like the whole world is on fire. That is how one student described her experience since October 7, when the heated protests and divisive debates over the war in Gaza erupted on her campus and on campuses across the country. For many students like her, the conflict is personal, it is political, and it is tangled up in all the things she is already struggling with: finding her identity, navigating friendships, and striving to retain intellectual curiosity while also feeling really angry. 



For&nbsp;higher education, the Israel-Hamas war has rocked its own foundation, exposing&nbsp;not just&nbsp;elephants in the room&nbsp;but real&nbsp;wooly mammoths like the definition of free speech, the role of the presidential pulpit in geopolitical events, and the degree to which institutions tolerate or enable extreme political views.&nbsp;All of&nbsp;these issues relate to the overall wellbeing of students and of campus communities, issues that have emerged as important priorities for colleges and universities given the rates of anxiety and depression students, and faculty and staff, have been reporting. &nbsp;



It would seem there would be no&nbsp;better time for campuses to be&nbsp;working on&nbsp;those elements&nbsp;that we know&nbsp;help&nbsp;humans&nbsp;flourish, such as&nbsp;empathy, civility,&nbsp;community&nbsp;and self-awareness.&nbsp;But very little of that is cutting through the vitriol, blame, and anger that&nbsp;are unavoidably replayed on non-silenced screens. &nbsp;How can higher education use this moment in time, and others&nbsp;before it, to understand some of what is happening and to begin to heal through the power of its own resources and assets?&nbsp;LearningWell&nbsp;asked&nbsp;a number of&nbsp;people what they think. &nbsp;Here&nbsp;is our&nbsp;first guest interview.



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:55% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="680" src="https://live-learningwell-wp.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/D91EBAF8-4500-434C-A18A-972682CC2C5A-1024x680.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-1091 size-full" srcset="https://live-learningwell-wp.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/D91EBAF8-4500-434C-A18A-972682CC2C5A-1024x680.jpeg 1024w, https://live-learningwell-wp.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/D91EBAF8-4500-434C-A18A-972682CC2C5A-300x199.jpeg 300w, https://live-learningwell-wp.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/D91EBAF8-4500-434C-A18A-972682CC2C5A-768x510.jpeg 768w, https://live-learningwell-wp.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/D91EBAF8-4500-434C-A18A-972682CC2C5A-1536x1020.jpeg 1536w, https://live-learningwell-wp.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/D91EBAF8-4500-434C-A18A-972682CC2C5A-2048x1360.jpeg 2048w, https://live-learningwell-wp.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/D91EBAF8-4500-434C-A18A-972682CC2C5A-1820x1209.jpeg 1820w, https://live-learningwell-wp.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/D91EBAF8-4500-434C-A18A-972682CC2C5A-586x390.jpeg 586w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
Gene&nbsp;Beresin, MD, MA,&nbsp;is executive director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a full professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and senior educator in child and adolescent psychiatry at MGH.
</div></div>



LW:&nbsp;What is your reaction to the way the&nbsp;conflict&nbsp;in the Middle East&nbsp;is playing out on college campuses? &nbsp;



GB:&nbsp;Colleges are places that can&nbsp;raise issues that are highly&nbsp;controversial, that involve conflict, that generate high levels of emotion and that require civil conversations. &nbsp;We want college campuses&nbsp;to be&nbsp;places where students feel safe enough to speak their minds, to disagree in ways that are interesting, that engage them.&nbsp;The problem in this&nbsp;particular instance&nbsp;with&nbsp;the war&nbsp;between&nbsp;Israel and&nbsp;Hamas&nbsp;is that I don&#8217;t think that there&nbsp;has&nbsp;been sufficient attention&nbsp;given&nbsp;to how to deal with conflict. 



We try to teach our younger kids social emotional learning, principles of wellbeing, controlling our own emotions such as rage, shame, humiliation, passion, and in ways which are helpful.&nbsp;But&nbsp;what&#8217;s happened&nbsp;here&nbsp;in my view is that lines are&nbsp;being&nbsp;drawn in the sand. The students have been taking sides. And even though the leadership of many colleges have said,&nbsp;“we want this to be a safe place,&nbsp;and&nbsp;that there&#8217;s no room for terrorism or hatred or brutal behavior,”&nbsp;I have not heard much at all about principles of conflict resolution.&nbsp;It seems to me that students on both&nbsp;sides of the issue need to understand that there&#8217;s tremendous power to resolving conflict and dealing with conflict. And there are principles, for example, of noting the appreciation of differences, of acceptance, of tolerance, and the ability to love and respect each other despite our disagreements. But that does not seem to be happening.&nbsp;&nbsp;I&#8217;ve heard a lot about free speech. I&#8217;ve heard a lot about the right to express your own opinions. I&#8217;ve heard a lot of platitudes, but I have not heard anything about principles.



LW: &nbsp;How would&nbsp;these principles&nbsp;apply on college campuses today where&nbsp;disagreement appears to be the only thing people are focused on?&nbsp;



GB: &nbsp;We need to hold&nbsp;open conversations and&nbsp;active&nbsp;listening to both points of view.&nbsp;If we take a pedantic view of this and we look at history, both the Palestinians and the Jewish people in that region, both groups of people have been conquered, oppressed,&nbsp;displaced&nbsp;and brutalized by outside influences. If you look at it, there&#8217;s a lot in common between the Palestinian people and the Jewish people and we should take a step back and appreciate both points of view.&nbsp;



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“I&#8217;ve heard a lot about free speech. I&#8217;ve heard a lot about the right to express your own opinions. I&#8217;ve heard a lot of platitudes, but I have not heard anything about principles.”
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Principle two is avoid being judgmental. When one is a subject of criticism or rage or a&nbsp;personal&nbsp;affront&nbsp;from a mental health standpoint, there&#8217;s the risk of feeling blamed, devalued, shamed, humiliated. &nbsp;When&nbsp;on the defensive, the impulse is to counterattack. It basically fires up the amygdala and the fight or flight response, and it doesn&#8217;t generate oxytocin, which is the kind of neurochemical that brings us&nbsp;together.



Another principle is having frequent conversations that are under control. Many of the protests that I&#8217;ve seen have not been well controlled. They&#8217;ve been people screaming at each other. We&#8217;re not going to get anywhere by screaming at each other. We&#8217;re not going to resolve conflict. Another principle is learning to apologize. If I&#8217;ve offended you, if you&#8217;ve offended me, there&#8217;s tremendous power in apologizing for lashing out, for attacking another point of view. And what do you have to lose? Nothing really. You have a lot to gain by seeing what&#8217;s in common and by making one&#8217;s own reparations. I think that&#8217;s another principle of conflict resolution that I have not seen much of at all.&nbsp;



Violence should, in every case, not be tolerated. Not tolerated in the Middle East, not tolerated in the United States, not tolerated on college campuses. And violence, I mean in word as well as in deed. Name-calling, attacking personally, ruthless behavior should be unacceptable.&nbsp;



I think another principle is that the solution to this problem is not going to be easy, and it&#8217;s not one side giving into another or one side being right or one side being wrong.&nbsp;&nbsp;It&#8217;s complicated, it&#8217;s nuanced. It requires accountability. You don&#8217;t resolve a conflict like this by a win or a loss. You resolve it in a way&nbsp;that&nbsp;leaves&nbsp;some things unresolved by demonstration of empathy, putting yourself in the other person&#8217;s shoes. I have not heard much at all from anyone including administrations or studentprotesters,&nbsp;about empathically understanding what the other side has endured.&nbsp;I can&#8217;t stress it enough. If the students can&#8217;t empathize with the impact of these horrifying events, if they can&#8217;t see that the trauma that&#8217;s happened to virtually everyone is&nbsp;extraordinarily traumatic, extraordinarily sad, extraordinarily dehumanizing, then we&#8217;re not going to get anywhere.



We want our kids from toddlerhood through young adulthood and beyond to understand principles of having civil conversations. And for the most part, these have not been civilized. So is there demonstration of respect? When you&#8217;re all fired up, you don&#8217;t demonstrate respect. And when you don&#8217;t demonstrate respect, you foster trauma, you foster distrust, dishonesty in some sense, and saying things that are hurtful and traumatic to other people. We should be able to respect differences. We try to teach our young children to take turns, to use the golden rule, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I don&#8217;t see much of that. I&#8217;m getting back to basics here. Basics that are psychological principles and principles of conversation and understanding that we want to teach kids from toddlerhood through adulthood.



Another principle of civil conversations is telling stories. What we&#8217;ve learned from&nbsp;all of&nbsp;our major scriptures, whether it&#8217;s the Quran or the Torah or the Bible, is that&nbsp;every scripture in the world lives through narratives and I think people can really begin to listen to each other through stories and through narratives. One of the reasons why all the scriptures have been built upon narratives is because narratives generate not only emotions, but questions about trajectories, about lives, about family, about loss, about trauma.



LW:&nbsp;What do you think about this from&nbsp;a mental health perspective?



GB:&nbsp;The bottom line is that this insoluble situation, this inflammatory situation is not only traumatizing, but breeds depression, anxiety, stress, and in some cases, hopelessness, loneliness, and suicidal thinking. I mean, it has all the elements of inflaming the mental health crisis that our college students are already undergoing.&nbsp;



Stages of rage and trauma and high levels of emotion are not good for physical, emotional,&nbsp;or&nbsp;mental health. They fire up the immune system. They affect our sleep. They change our hormonal systems. They suppress the releases of oxytocin that makes us feel together and connected. So they have physiological effects that are dangerous. They have mental health&nbsp;effects&nbsp;that are dangerous, and they&nbsp;foster&nbsp;social disconnection, which I think is very detrimental for students on college campuses. So&nbsp;neurophysiologically, emotionally,&nbsp;and behaviorally and psychologically, these kinds of vitriolic demonstrations are not conducive to mental health.&nbsp;One can still express one&#8217;s point of view in a powerful way and not take a beating physically, mentally, emotionally, behaviorally.



Look,&nbsp;anger is a normal response. Anger prepares us for fight or flight. It&#8217;s a normal emotion. But when anger is extreme, when anger becomes laced with rage and hate, it is uncontrollable, and it clouds our cognition. It clouds our thinking. It clouds our ability to engage with others, and it puts us in an attack mode. So I think one of the other things that I would welcome is for not just students, but everyone involved in this very difficult and traumatic situation, is to use principles of anger management. If we can cool our jets, we&#8217;re in a much better place to&nbsp;actually talkwith&nbsp;each other and have civil conversations and have some kind of conflict resolution. And what this means is knowing when you&#8217;re angry and knowing when you&#8217;re coming from a place of anger rather than a more neutral emotional state.



Identifying your triggers for anger&nbsp;is&nbsp;really important. We all know road rage&nbsp;–&nbsp;the car that cuts us off, we want to just kind of slam into&nbsp;it.&nbsp;But we don&#8217;t do it. It&#8217;s okay to have impulses and angry impulses, but it&#8217;s not okay to act out on it. And one&nbsp;has toidentify one&#8217;s triggers.&nbsp;A lot of times the triggers here are identification with one&#8217;s cultural heritage, but that doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean attacking the other person. And a third principle of anger management is controlling your thoughts. Yes, we&#8217;re feeling angry. Yes, we&#8217;re feeling hateful. Yes, we&#8217;re feeling that we&#8217;ve got to do something, but it&#8217;s like one of my favorite supervisors said to me once, &#8220;A lot of times when you&#8217;re doing therapy, don&#8217;t just do something, sit there.&#8221; And I don&#8217;t see people just sitting there.&nbsp;&nbsp;I don&#8217;t see people sitting there and taking things in and processing it without impulsively blurting things out.&nbsp;



LW:&nbsp;How do you think colleges and universities should react?&nbsp;



GB:&nbsp;I think the role of the leadership&nbsp;should be to&nbsp;provide&nbsp;and&nbsp;empower different segments on campus to actually promote these&nbsp;principles,&nbsp;so we need faculty and student training in conflict&nbsp;resolution, &nbsp;civil&nbsp;conversations,&nbsp;and anger management. Secondly, this is&nbsp;not a “one-off.” &nbsp;As a child, you learn things in places of worship, in the boys and girls club, in the community, in the home, on the playground. &nbsp;We need stakeholders on campus to communicate these principles in reinforcing ways. &nbsp;The dorm leaders, the heads of our student mental health service, the dean of wellbeing, our clubs, our athletic teams, our coaches to all engage in some way in modeling civilized behavior&nbsp;because what we are seeing now is not civilized.&nbsp;



It&#8217;s not as though we need to have an assembly or a meeting at the student center and have a debate and then we&#8217;re done. No, it&#8217;s not one and done. These are ongoing conversations that need to occur with dignity and with respect and with thoughtfulness and kindness and compassion and empathy in multiple different forums so that they can reinforce each other. &nbsp;The leadership of colleges can say,&nbsp;“Look, there are no simple solutions.”&nbsp;Not&nbsp;many presidents have said this.&nbsp;“There are no simple solutions.&nbsp;But&nbsp;let&#8217;s try to turn things around.”



Let&#8217;s not let rage and hate&nbsp;lead to what&nbsp;we’re seeing in the Middle East with&nbsp;tragedy and&nbsp;loss of life. Let’s try to make our campus a model of civility. Let’s have multiple places in which we can communicate with each other respectfully in a calm fashion, present opposing points of view, agree to disagree, bring in history, bring in culture, bring in personal narratives, bring in spiritual narratives.&nbsp;&nbsp;And let’s do it differently. Do we want to replicate&nbsp;this? Do we want to perpetuate a stalemate,&nbsp;or do we want to do something that&nbsp;actually brings&nbsp;us to a higher level of empathy and understanding?

Mindful Unrest

At noon three days a week, a room overlooking the pond at the University of Virginia falls into quiet meditation while the rest of campus churns with mid-day activity. Some students sit, some lay on the floor. A facilitator leads with guided thoughts and modes of breathing, but you’re welcome to do your own thing. After about 20 minutes, everyone is back on their way to lunch and afternoon classes.



“It’s very accessible to all kinds of people. It’s a nice break in the day, and it’s powerful for the people who have discovered it so far,” says Dearing Fife, a sophomore who organizes the sessions at the Contemplative Commons.



Dearing is a student advisor at the Commons, a new soaring glass and fieldstone building that is home to the Contemplative Sciences Center (CSC). For more than 12 years, the CSC had been operating from UVA’s religion department with multidisciplinary research, experiential learning, and mindfulness initiatives. The construction of the Commons represents more than an impressive new building to house a department and some activities. It is headquarters for the interdisciplinary face of wellbeing on campus—from grounding activities like yoga and meditation to scholarship on the many intersections of contemplation and nature, art, and technology.



The construction of the new Commons makes tangible President Ryan’s desire for UVA to be a top school for holistic student life while pushing boundaries on what higher education can look like in terms of mental health promotion. For many years, UVA had been the administrative backbone of the <a href="https://learningwellmag.org/article/the-flourishing-university">Flourishing Academic Network (FAN)</a>, an inter-institutional collaboration aimed at promoting student flourishing through higher education.



A Contemplative Commons



On the western edge of campus, the new 57,000-square-foot building sits beside the serene 11-acre pond and watershed area known as The Dell. Its U-shape wraps around a Ginkgo tree-lined courtyard, and connects to central campus via a pedestrian bridge over Emmet Street inspired by the High Line in New York, with benches and plantings. It’s hard to imagine a location better suited for a center dedicated to research, teaching, and outreach for contemplative experience.



“Our building is designed around the three themes of nature, art, and technology, and all three combine together to create contemplative opportunities for individuals,” says Kelly Crace, Executive Director of the Contemplative Sciences Center. “It’s intentionally multidisciplinary, creating wonderful spaces where students just love to come and study, whether they want to come into our art galleries, or come into our Conservatorium and experience light and sound in a variety of ways, or connect with nature through our biophilic design.”



The Commons houses, and reflects, work being done at UVA’s Contemplative Sciences Center.&nbsp;The facility’s purpose is to support student flourishing through a host of indoor-outdoor spaces, academic classrooms, immersive learning and events. It will soon include art installations and flexible studios that can be configured as classrooms, research labs, or even yoga studios.



Technology plays an interesting role in both design and practice in the Commons, used both to enhance mindfulness experiences and to create intentional tech-free spaces for deeper reflection. The Conservatory is an immersive room with floor to ceiling windows, sounds and light panels, with state-of-the-art audio to mimic natural soundscapes—think ocean waves, rainforests, waterfalls, wind, and buzzing bees. Other areas at the Commons are tech-free zones, encouraging students to disconnect altogether.



Innovative Classrooms, both labs and studios, are designed as multi-modal spaces that allow instructors to change the room setup based on the session’s needs. Classes can alternate between traditional seating, or more free-form setup using yoga mats or meditation cushions. Some rooms feature sprung floors, ideal for movement-based practices like Tai Chi, or facilities conducive to a Japanese tea ceremony. Others serve as academic classes that faculty members would prefer to hold in something other than a traditional classroom building.



“There&#8217;s one class that meets in the Commons, for example, on medical Spanish. This professor has her own deep contemplative practice, and she incorporates it into every class that she leads,” says Connie Kresge, chief of staff of the CSC. “She’s not just bringing in somebody who&#8217;s pre-med to learn a few vocabulary words. She is saying, ‘Okay, you are going to be the front line of working with humans. How do you imbue your practice with understanding of this population and a contemplative, compassionate approach?’ And so they also get the benefit of a setting like the Commons.”



Research and Practice



In a world increasingly defined by speed, competition, and information overload, the CSC represents a shift in higher education. Housed within UVA’s Provost’s Office, CSC benefits from strong institutional support, ensuring its programs are not peripheral but central to the university’s academic mission. As Michael Sheehy, CSC’s Director of Research, points out, UVA’s investment in contemplative education is unique among public universities, positioning it as a leader..



With its three-pronged mission, CSC is reshaping how students, faculty, and the broader academic community engage with education, wellbeing, and leadership. Work and programming at the Contemplative Sciences Center is organized around three pillars: Research, focus on advancing contemplative studies through scholarship; University Life, integrating mindfulness into students’ days; and Systems Change, expanding contemplative education globally through leadership and K-12 initiatives.



At the heart of CSC’s work is a research lab known as CIRCL, which stands for Contemplative Innovation, Research, and Collaboration Lab. There, scholars study many aspects of the ways meditation, nature, and technology shape our well-being from a collaborative, cross-disciplinary perspective.



One of the current projects examines how different environments impact contemplative experiences, explains Sheehy. As part of the methodology, participants will be studied meditating in five different settings, and researchers then track brain activity, heart rate, and emotional responses. “If you meditate in a garden, does it feel different than if you meditate in a featureless white room?” he &nbsp;asks. “What happens in your brain and body when you practice mindfulness in nature?” Sheehy is also editor of the Journal of Contemplative Studies and also Contemplative Currents, which &nbsp;are uniquely poised to cover both peer-reviewed academic studies and open public scholarship.



Research, academics, and collaborations go well beyond the study of nature and meditation. CSC is diving into diverse studies such as virtual reality experiences, lucid dreaming research, and exploration of leadership and public policy.



“We&#8217;re having professors coming in from our Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy to talk about policy and leadership from a contemplative perspective, professors from religion to come talk about Buddhism, and we&#8217;re exploring collaborative work of how we can do things with the school of data science,” says Crace. “What&#8217;s really cool is getting a sense of the breadth and diversity that’s possible. People might initially think, Oh, so this is where you do yoga, or this is where you do mindfulness, that type of thing. Yes, and we&#8217;re so much more than that. Being able to bring in that diversity of collaboration, I think, is really important.”



University life&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



But the CSC isn’t just about research—it’s about making curiosity and mindfulness part of daily student routines to support an overall culture of thriving. The CSC hosts monthly salons, where students and faculty can discuss contemplative topics with leading interdisciplinary scholars.  A Citizen Leaders Fellowship offers students a year-long leadership opportunity to gain skills needed to flourish during their time at UVA and after graduation.



Beyond the lab and classroom, the CSC and Commons are uniquely poised to support student flourishing with a wide range of campus programming—beginning with a celebratory weekend of concerts, food and activities in April to mark the grand opening of the Commons. Going forward, a weekly calendar of programming and well-being initiatives include regular yoga, meditation, Tai Chi, reflective writing, and spaces to cultivate mindfulness and resilience.



It’s a bold push against what Crace calls the “stress-glorification culture” of modern academia.



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People ask, Why would a university have a building for contemplation? They don’t ask, Why do you have a building for the arts, and a building for sports?
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&nbsp;“’I stayed up two nights. Well, I stayed up three.’ It&#8217;s this constant one upping, where we&#8217;re trying to find distinction through how hard I&#8217;m working,” he says. “It’s not only how hard I&#8217;m working, but it&#8217;s important for you to know how hard I&#8217;m working, and it just creates a very toxic culture that really disrupts flourishing. We want to be a disruption to that stress culture.”



Systems Change



Flourishing is a key word in the overall picture of contemplative sciences and its place in a larger ecosystem of institutions helping young adults maturing in a way that best supports their wellness and full potential. Appropriately enough, the <a href="https://learningwellmag.org/article/the-flourishing-university">Flourishing Academic Network (FAN)</a> grew out of key individuals at UVA committed to flourishing, including David Germano, a religious historian at the University of Virginia and Crace’s predecessor as former director of CSC, and alumni Jeffrey Walker, a finance executive, philanthropist, and member of the board.



“What we&#8217;re trying to do with FAN is taking a system orientation and looking at how we can prepare students for the real world, and allow them to succeed in higher ed,” says Walker. “It means giving them tools when they arrive, and educating them about what kind of tools there are out there, working on things like social emotional learning models, meditation, yoga, body movement, breath practices, peer to peer support, and also managing ego and collaborative models, and looking at leadership models.”



For real systemic change, the third pillar of the CSC reaches beyond the campus into the wider scope of academia with FAN, and reaching K-12 classrooms and international leadership programs.



 “The systems change work can be thought of as expanding what we do reaching outward,” says Kresge. One major initiative is the Compassionate Schools Project, a groundbreaking K-12 mindfulness curriculum leading new practices in Louisville, Kentucky. Another is the Dalai Lama Fellows Program, which trains young leaders around the world in mindfulness-based social change. In 2024, CSC took 17 Fellows to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama.



CSC is also working on a national initiative to integrate contemplative education into higher education policy. By partnering with education policymakers and university administrators, CSC hopes to make contemplative practices a core part of the American educational experience—and something both more easily understood and more widely undertaken.



“People ask, Why would a university have a building for contemplation? They don’t ask, Why do you have a building for the arts, and a building for sports? No one stops and says, what do you mean by arts?” says Kresge.. “We don’t have that barrier in our colloquial understand of the words arts and sports, but we do in our conversation of what contemplation is.”



Leaders like Kresge hope there would be a greater understanding of mindfulness and meditation as an ongoing tool and practice—like exercise—and not a one-time thing that can be taught in a seminar and crossed off a list.



Sheehy learned meditation from his grandmother when he was about 10 years old, and it made a lasting impression. “I’ve had the chance to live most of my life with access to knowledge about contemplative practices, because I’ve had experiential access to as a constant reference point,” he says. “That’s why I think the research we do is important, because we’re showing people how these practices wok, how powerful and empowering they can be, and give them agency over transforming their lives.”



Dearing Fife also had access to these practices at an early age, and the addition of the Contemplative Commons at UVA cements her belief she could not have found a better place for herself to attend school. A self-described “anxious kid,” she discovered meditation in middle school, and it’s been a core part of her life ever since. “Like brushing my teeth,” she says. “A non-negotiable.” She grew up knowing that learning to handle it was just going to be her thing.



“Everyone manages something in their life, and I have to manage my anxiety,” she says. She meditates once or twice a day, and believes it’s a tool many more college students would benefit from. She is aware of a first-year student who shows up to the noon meditations regularly, and likes to envision that it’s making a difference in her life—and that in a small way, as organizer of the sessions, Dearing contributes to that.



“It’s a big school, and I’m in Greek life, and that’s been great,” she says. “But I also wanted an academic realm where it’s like, This is my place, and this is where I’m going to impact the university,” she says. “And this, working at the Commons and CSC, is it.”

The University of Virginia Builds a Headquarters for Wellbeing

It is a cold, rainy day in March, but Vassar’s campus still holds its appearance as the beautiful, contemplative place of learning for which it is famous. Its lush green quads and remarkable architecture reflect a traditional liberal arts experience. But like any community, Vassar is more than it appears to visitors. Over the past two decades, its landscape has significantly changed in many ways, both positive and challenging.&nbsp;



Among its many distinctions, including its outsized number of famous alumni, Vassar’s President Elizabeth Bradley hopes the school will be known as a place of good health and wellbeing. To make this vision a reality, she recognizes that the college must establish a universal sense of belonging amid a new, more diverse student body where students of various identities express different expectations and needs. Like their Gen Z peers everywhere, many Vassar students struggle with their mental health.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Since becoming President in 2017, Bradley has worked with faculty and the college’s senior leadership team to foster a campus of wellbeing as a key part of her administration’s agenda, with a focus on belonging in the classroom and in the community. “When I think of wellbeing, I think about our students’ ability to thrive, and to grow, and to learn to become confident young adults who will go out and do the things that are in their hearts to do,” she said. “You can’t thrive if you feel like you don’t belong — in or out of the classroom.”



A noted public health expert, Bradley believes success in this area requires all campus stakeholders to work on improving wellbeing within their respective realms and across departments when necessary. This means professors being attuned to the personal and emotional aspects of their students’ lives and practicing inclusive pedagogy along with their areas of expertise. Student affairs roles, such as the office of Student Growth and Engagement, steer students toward co-curricular activities that help them “thrive, not just survive.”&nbsp;



Mental health services are highly utilized and, like many college counseling centers, the office is experimenting with new strategies like bringing community partners onto campus for students with acute needs. But even mental health is not confined to any one service, partly due to capacity and partly due to philosophy. Early in his tenure, Dean of the College Carlos Alamo-Pastrana asked, “Can we, as a community, shift our perspective on whose responsibility it is to think about wellness?”&nbsp;



One inter-departmental effort that is central to wellbeing and belonging is the Office of Engaged Pluralism (EP). Like the term implies, EP seeks to engage all community members in acknowledging differences through an asset-lens where unique perspectives and norms are respected, if not universally agreed upon. It is both a program (offering workshops, trainings and events) and a pledge. The concept evolved from tensions on campus shortly after Vassar moved to need-blind admissions and the student body make-up changed significantly.&nbsp;



All of these efforts, taken together, are demonstrations of the college’s commitment to building a campus of wellbeing, and one can’t help but wonder what role initiatives such as Engaged Pluralism may have played in more recent controversies, including the voluntary, and atypical, removal of the pro-Palestinian encampment at the school. But to better understand how Vassar’s intentionality on wellbeing and belonging has affected its students overall, LW discussed the topic with four students in various stages of their education. In this enlightening interview, the students talked honestly and graciously about their aspirations, their challenges, and what wellbeing means to them. Here is an edited transcript of some of what they had to say.&nbsp;



Editor’s note: It is unclear whether any of the interviewees participated in the Vassar protest encampment which occurred after this conversation, but it is worth noting that each of them expressed support for the right to protest on this and other issues, though it is not reflected in this transcript.&nbsp;



LW: Let’s start with mental health and wellbeing. What kinds of supports or strategies help you thrive here at Vassar?



Marissa is a junior majoring in Science, Technology and Society (STS) with a minor in prison studies.



Marissa: For me &#8211; I&#8217;m a student leader here on campus alongside a whole bunch of other amazing students. I&#8217;m the vice president of the Black Student Union. I&#8217;m the co-head of a small concert throwing organization that we have on campus. My friends are always saying, “Marissa, you&#8217;re so busy. How do you do it?” But I think the thing that allows me to do all these different things and be in all these different places but still be flourishing is the fact that I&#8217;m consistently working with people who all love it. We come together and we support each other and I think for me, thriving is being in these spaces where you are able to laugh but then cry about assignments and experience this whole breadth of emotions. The school has a counseling center, and there&#8217;s been times where I went there – some were good and some were not.But I feel like, overall, the thing that really allows me to continue going and not burn myself out is being in these spaces with these people.&nbsp;



Prisha is a senior psychology major and international student from Bangalore, India.



Prisha: Can I add on to that? I think something that might go unnoticed, but that I feel has a big impact, is the fact that we acknowledge that mental health, your mental health, changes every day and that it does impact your work and your interpersonal relationships. Coming from an international standpoint, I think a lot of students come here as first-generation students arriving in a new country with all of these aspirations and goals for themselves and also expectations that I feel like they don&#8217;t give themselves enough grace around. They’re doing a lot here and their wellbeing is a part of something they need to take care of, not just their futures.&nbsp;



For me, it&#8217;s in the really little things that I find solace; just having check-ins at the start of class or meetings like the “rose, thorn and bud question” — a rose is what went well this week. A thorn is something that didn&#8217;t go as well and a bud is something you&#8217;re looking forward to. Before I was asked those questions, I didn’t even think in that frame of mind of, “Oh, what went well this week?” I actually began to think about myself and what I’m putting out in the world, more than just going through the motions.



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“My peers are a significant source of support for me. Another is my professors.”
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Maya is a senior biochemistry and psychology double major.



Maya: I think I approach wellbeing from three avenues. My peers are a significant source of support for me. Another is my professors. I know that there are professors on campus who push you and want you to do your best, and sometimes it can feel very overwhelming. But there are other professors who are very, very understanding. I remember two years ago, I was going through a very difficult situation in my personal life and I was able to reach out to my professors and they immediately said, “I can be that avenue for you to make sure that you&#8217;re advocating for yourself and advocating for what you need during this time, extensions, whatever.” In general, professors will work with you, which is so nice on this campus. And that definitely helps a lot because things can get very overwhelming very quickly, especially during this time of year when you have burnout from papers and finals.&nbsp;



But then the third avenue for me is all the work that I do as a leader on campus. I work at the women&#8217;s center. I&#8217;m a women&#8217;s center intern, and we do a lot of events that are centered around wellbeing, but I also lead a women of faith group. Religion is very important to me and has become even increasingly important to me as my years at Vassar have gone on. Which is interesting because a lot of people look at Vassar and they&#8217;re like, “Oh, it&#8217;s a liberal arts school. You could do so many other things. Why talk about religion?” I am a Christian and my beliefs have developed throughout my time here. And that&#8217;s because I&#8217;ve been able to ground myself in these groups and in these places where other people also believe. And the women of faith group, I mean we have people who are Jewish, we have people who are Muslim, we have people who are Christians and they&#8217;re coming from all different perspectives, but we&#8217;re able to unite about our experiences on this campus as well in life. And that has been so centering for me.



Mia is a first year, first-generation college student.



Mia: I would say a lot of the same things. Community is huge. I don&#8217;t think I would&#8217;ve made it through the year if I didn&#8217;t have people to rely on or people to have conversations with. And just to know that you&#8217;re not alone. People are having the same experiences, especially when you&#8217;re transitioning from high school to college. For me that included feeling like you don&#8217;t necessarily belong in the classroom just based on everyone else&#8217;s background. I am a first-generation, low- income student and I look at other people in the classroom and sometimes I think, “Do I really belong here?” Then I&#8217;ll talk to other people and it&#8217;s a very common experience to feel like that — it&#8217;s very normal. Knowing that you&#8217;re not alone makes it a lot better and helps you find ways to feel comfortable in this space.&nbsp; The role of professors is huge. Before I came here, I&#8217;d never heard of a mental health day. I had a professor who said, “If you need a mental health day, you can just take it. You don&#8217;t have to email me or anything.” And I realized, wow, there&#8217;s a really big emphasis on who you are as a person outside of your academics. That is something that is sometimes really hard for me to separate because I&#8217;m a goal-oriented person. I will get through this task no matter what because I&#8217;m looking at a bigger picture. And sometimes that also can harm me because it can lead to burnout. Sometimes I have moments where I realize, “Wow, I&#8217;m definitely struggling.”



LW: What are some of the challenges to wellbeing and belonging here? How can things be improved?&nbsp;



Prisha: I think I can give this a go. All of us need to better understand our different cultures and perspectives. I work at the Office of International Services and we do a bunch of these events throughout the year, some big, some small, all celebrating the different cultures that are present on our campus and give students, especially international students, a platform to celebrate their own cultures as well as to spread awareness. And something we always face is how can we get more students to come engage with us? I think a lot of international students feel the need to just disappear into the crowd of white Americans here on campus, and they feel a really strong need to conform.



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“Considering how fast college goes by, you have to create your belonging quickly in four years.”
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I think another way to cultivate a larger sense of belonging is how can we get white Americans or locals to also look at what we do? It’s like you see the email and right away, it’s not for me. And it&#8217;s just such a missed opportunity. If it was the other way around, if instead of putting the pressure on international students to fit in, we got all students to learn about all the different kinds of cultures we have here, it would benefit everyone. You would learn to be more tolerant, be more open. “Hey, this is what exists outside of this campus, outside of this state, this country, and this is what&#8217;s going on, and you should look at it.” That is something I’d like to change.&nbsp;



Marissa: It can be tough here sometimes. Vassar is a PWI, predominantly white institution, and I think statistically the numbers of students of color are going up, but you could look out into the college center, into the dining hall, and it doesn&#8217;t feel that way. Oftentimes I hear people say, “This is a really small school. I feel like I know everybody.” And I think, “I don&#8217;t know everybody.” And I think that&#8217;s because even as extroverted as I am, there are different pools here, you have your cliques. Vassar is still just like any other school that way. And sometimes it can be hard to mesh those, even when we are all taught to be very multidisciplinary and interconnected. That&#8217;s why I rely on my peers to uphold one another. But sometimes it feels like if we don&#8217;t do it, nobody else is going to. And then we could fall through the cracks. Considering how fast college goes by, you have to create your belonging quickly in four years. And then you want to be able to not just make your own belonging, but to make spaces for other people like you to belong that are consistent, that are long lasting, that don&#8217;t disappear.&nbsp;



Mia: I knew coming here it was going to be humbling. I knew the workload, the difference in material and curriculum was going to be huge for me. I came from a Title 1 school. It was not going to be the same. There&#8217;s always going to be something you don&#8217;t know. I think my biggest fear was also not having a community here. I was so scared I wasn&#8217;t going to make friends. I thought, “I&#8217;m going to be all alone. This is going to be so hard.” But I came in and I made friends the very first week, and they&#8217;re still my friends now. We&#8217;re eight months down the line and we have dinner every single night. You don&#8217;t realize how much people will impact you as you spend time here. So, I think you expect certain things and you just don’t know what it’s really going to be like until you get here.&nbsp;



LW: You are all so inspiring and accomplished. I wonder, have you thought much about your purpose in life, which is different from just what you want to do.&nbsp;



Maya: For me, personally, the desire to go into research, and specifically researching disorders like ALS, is because my dad was diagnosed with ALS and he passed away two years ago. (That’s the personal thing that I was struggling with.) So that was very embedded in me since his diagnosis. I understand the person suffering as well as how much suffering their family is going through and how much support they need during this time. And the fact that we have so many unanswered questions remaining despite all of the technological advancements that we have, seems like we need to really focus on certain aspects of these diseases to further our understanding and to further treatment and cures to these problems. I do think my experiences on campus, specifically talking with other people who are in my majors, who are also close friends, has further solidified my interest in research. I see the research that they&#8217;re doing with other professors on campus, or I see what they&#8217;re learning about and I&#8217;m like, oh, that&#8217;s really interesting. I want to learn about that, too. I would definitely say that finding my purpose in life has been facilitated throughout my time at Vassar. 



Marissa: I think, at least for me, my purpose — the thing that drives me — is to be happy. Because there was a period where I really wasn&#8217;t. And I look back at my younger self and I just want to give her a hug. But I look at her with grace and I look at the journey and I&#8217;m so grateful that I was able to go on it. And when I&#8217;m here, I think I also believe in the power of storytelling. And telling the stories, whether it be how it was back then or where I&#8217;m at now, it&#8217;s just being able to do that. And I think what college gave me was a toolbox for all that.