Students Connecting with Institutional Leaders

[0:00]I think it's really important for students to feel comfortable connecting with college and university leadership. Sometimes our titles of Dean or Provost or president seem scary to students. But these are people. And they are people who have invested their their lives and their careers in institutions because they want to make those institutions better for students. They are actually better leaders when they engage with students regularly. And many times, they don't have the opportunity to teach classes on a regular basis. So finding some other ways to connect with students, and it can be as simple as my friend at North Carolina A&T State University, Chancellor Harold Martin, uses a simple technique to build time in his schedule when he's walking to meetings, to spend time intentionally on the sidewalk talking with students and asking them how they're doing. And he'll report back that years later, students will recall those conversations with them and and tell them how important they were as a part of their their their career at A&T. But I think the other thing that students need to bear in mind is that these are also people that can help you, that can advance your career as an undergraduate student, that when you get to know them and build a relationship with them through your student organizations or other campus involvements that you have, these are people that can end up as a part of your constellation of mentors. They can write recommendations for you. They can help you get a job. They will people that will be in your corner. They will be people that if you have a problem, there are another great person that you can go on and and rely on for help. So what I'm hoping that students won't do is be shy about approaching individuals because they see that person as an authority figure. Think of them first as a human being that really wants.