Connecting with Professors - Connections Are Everything

[0:00]There are so many, so many reasons that students should connect with their professors. Um, but first I want to acknowledge how scary that can be from their credentials to their expertise that kind of manifests itself in so many different ways. It can be really intimidating and and sometimes faculty members it isn't obvious that they're so interested and that they want to connect with you, right? They have so much going on and they can seem busy so many students don't want to go to their office and and take up their time. But in fact, professors are there for them. Um, they're a key reason students are central to the faculty member experience. And uh, and so we we hope that this book gives students some little steps, some action items that they can take to kind of break the ice. And then realize, um, that professors are human beings, people just like you and me, um, that they are there for them and can contribute in so many ways. I'll list a couple of those ways, um, and and then I hope readers will go into the book and learn more. Um, one is of course, the learning, right, which is so central to the college experience, there, uh, faculty are there to facilitate and deepen and strengthen learning. And so the more students connect to their professors and have relationships with them, the more they will learn. Uh, but beyond that, uh, they have uh, insider information into the discipline, into careers, into how college works. Um, mistakes that other students have made, opportunities other uh, other students have uh, engaged in. And so really, uh, there are no limits to the benefits of connecting with faculty. And the research tells us that those connections and those impacts last long after graduation. When students look back, they often remember those professors and really the lasting impact they made on their success.