Fostering Student Sense of Belonging: An Equity Imperative for Higher Education

ABSTRACT:  This talk highlights the importance of incorporating attention to students’ sense of belonging into institutional reforms to address inequities in college experience and outcomes. In addition to defining the concept of sense of belonging, the session opens space to identify institutional policies, practices, and processes that can be adapted and adopted to facilitate students’ connectedness to campus.

BIOGRAPHY:  Royel M. Johnson is on the faculty in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and African American Studies at Pennsylvania State University, where he is also a research associate at the Center for the Study of Higher Education. His research interests broadly focus on issues related to educational access, equity, and student success, especially as they are shaped by social identities and systems of oppression. He has published over 40 academic publications that appear in a wide range of scholarly and practitioner-focused outlets such as Urban Education, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, and Journal of College Student Development. For his early career accomplishments, ACPA–College Educators International honored him with its Emerging Scholar Award in 2020.