Creating Cultures of Belonging: A Student Life Work Series (Fall 2026)

Belonging and mattering are two constructs that are critical to understanding student success, engagement, and well-being. While the terms are sometimes used as if they mean the same thing, they capture different aspects of students’ experiences. So how do we know whether students feel like they belong? And how do we know whether they feel that they matter?

In this session, we’ll explore similarities and differences between these closely related concepts and talk about the ways researchers and practitioners measure them. We’ll look at quantitative approaches, including surveys, response sets, and other assessment tools that help capture students’ feelings of connection, acceptance, value, and significance. We’ll also discuss qualitative methods such as interviews, focus groups, reflective writing, and storytelling approaches that provide a richer picture of how students make sense of their experiences.

Rather than focusing only on theory, we’ll spend time considering practical questions: What kinds of measures work best for different purposes? What can quantitative data tell us that qualitative data cannot—and vice versa? How can we combine methods to gain a more complete understanding of students’ experiences?

This session will offer ideas, examples, and tools for measuring belonging and mattering in ways that are both meaningful and actionable.

This workshop aims to help student affairs staff gain skills and tools for their toolbox for growing health communities. We plan to do this through introductions, community commitments, and listening activities that focus on social identity and healthy communities. Our learning outcomes are for participants to:

Deepen understanding of social identities and values in interacting with people who are different from oneself.

Practice active listening

Begin practicing having dialogues with people different from oneself

Consider the power one has to create healthy communities

After engaging in several experiential activities we will include time for attendees to discuss how they can utilize what they’ve learned in their workplace. Participants will leave with handouts to continue practicing investing in sustaining cultures of belonging. 

Workshop outline:

Introductions and Agenda

Community Commitments 

Getting to know who is in the room

Active Listening 

Think, Pair, Share: Creating Healthy Communities 

Takeaways 

This presentation will share findings from Student Life Research’s qualitative assessment of ecological validation among U-M undergraduate students. Based on structured interviews with 37 students, the study explores how students’ identities, relationships, and campus environments shape their sense of belonging, academic persistence, and overall success. Participants described identities that extend beyond institutional demographic categories, including family roles, first-generation status, sexuality, religion, disability, socioeconomic background, immigrant experiences, and personality traits. Findings highlight the central role of peers, family, student organizations, instructors, advisors, cohort programs, and Student Life staff in affirming, and sometimes limiting, students’ experiences. Attendees will learn how identity- and strengths-based connections foster belonging, while barriers such as bias, unclear navigation, inconsistent support, and siloed campus systems can undermine validation. The session will include recommendations for integrating validating practices that strengthen a campus culture where all students can thrive. Participants will also engage in short activities to consider practical implications for their own roles and units.

 Do you find yourself using the same icebreakers, check ins, and formats for building group cohesion? Are you bored with the same old same old? Are the teams you work with feeling 'over it' when it's time to do an ice breaker? Come to this workshop to quickly try out many new games and activities for making the 'forming' stage of a group less weird.

Theatre games and role play give leaders the opportunity to brainstorm together about the best practices in an interactive, fun way. Instead of simply listing possible solutions to a difficult situation on a piece of paper, these games help create possibilities by encouraging participants to try out difficult scenarios, experience each possible solution, and adjust and troubleshoot on the spot with the support of staff and peers. This play-based workshop will introduce participants to games and activities that support communication skills and help rehearse answering difficult questions, navigating challenging situations, and working out inter-staff disputes. Participants will learn theatre games they can implement immediately, ones that will support facilitation, leadership, and responsiveness.

Last year, CCI piloted our Goosechase experience, using a digital scavenger hunt app to establish a direct line of connection to students. Students were able to engage and earn points by solving missions, checking in at events, and sharing their perspectives. Goosechase’s primary goal was to build community across campus and increase feelings of belonging and connection through simple, fun missions. This year, we also aim to partner with departments across Student Life to provide students with more resources for support and connection. 

This workshop would begin with staff working in small teams to join Goosechase, solve the Student Life focused missions, and compete for the fastest time. Once they have been on the student's side of the experience, I will then share how we used Goosechase, the types of questions we asked, departments we collaborated with, and some fun examples of student engagement with the app.

Turning to the data side, I would then dive into how Goosechase has deepened our ability to build community, support them during high-risk times, and promote wellness and helpful strategies for self care.

Michigan Housing’s You Belong Here campaign affirms that every resident contributes to the sense of belonging within their community. In this session, we will use the campaign as a lens to explore the knowledge, skills, and everyday practices that turn a message of belonging into meaningful action. Participants will reflect on their role in fostering connection and inclusion and identify practical ways to strengthen belonging within their own workplace communities.