WED-030 - Conversations That Matter: Fostering Connection Through a Student-faculty Book Club
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM PST
Location: Pacific I/II, 2nd Floor
Area of Responsibility: Area VIII: Ethics and Professionalism Subcompetencies: 8.3.4 Build relationships with other professionals within and outside the profession., 8.3.5 Serve as a mentor. Research or Practice: Practice
Professor University of Central Oklahoma Edmond, Oklahoma, United States
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Describe three key features of a successful co-leading relationship between mentor and mentee.
Identify at least one way to measure quality reflection by book club attendees.
List potential partnerships for a collaborative book club on campus.
Brief Abstract Summary: Discover how a student-faculty book club, co-led by a student and professor, fostered mentorship and connection through meaningful conversations. The discussions bridged academic and personal growth among students, faculty, and staff, encouraging diverse perspectives and building strong relationships. Designed to facilitate dialogue on important issues around gender and race through a public health lens, this book club created a brave space for sharing insights and experiences. While students could choose to formally reflect and earn transformative learning credit, the connections formed within the group proved most impactful.
Detailed abstract description: Presenters will share the development of their student-faculty book club, including their goals, recruitment strategies, and ongoing support of participants in order to nurture deep discussion and true connection. This book club, co-led by a student and professor, focused on authentic conversations and shared experiences, through a public health lens. Discussions focused on sexism, racism, social norms, and social expectations. Readings provided the group with a jumping off point to these discussions in an informal setting. For students, the experience not only offered transformative learning credit, but also provided the opportunity to develop lasting mentorships and peer connections on campus. Faculty and staff benefited by gaining deeper understanding of students' perspectives and fostering a more connected campus community. Attendees will hear lessons learned from this book club and will have opportunities to think through how they could replicate something similar on their own campus or workplace to dig deeper into tough topics while nurturing mentoring and peer-to-peer connections.
