A Faculty-Led, Community-Building Program That Enhances Student-Faculty Connections within Biology

Connections between students and faculty on campus may influence students’ sense of belonging, and a greater sense of belonging has a positive effect on student success. We developed a low-cost, faculty-led program of community-building events and implemented the program in the biology department at a small liberal-arts institution with the goal of improving students’ sense of community. Student responses to surveys indicated that the majority of students felt connected to faculty and students in the department; however, Black or African American students initially felt a lower level of connection to faculty than did white students. After implementing our series of community-building events, students surveyed reported high levels of satisfaction with the events. Furthermore, there was a trend toward a higher percentage of Black or African American students than white students reporting that they were more likely to reach out to faculty after participating in the community-building events. Thus, our low-cost program improved connections between students and faculty in the biology department. Collectively, our results suggest that academic departments can implement community-building programs to improve students’ sense of belonging.