Tag: wellness

  • Engaging Students in Collaborative Research and Writing Through Positive Psychology, Student Wellness, and Generative AI Integration – Faculty Focus

    Engaging Students in Collaborative Research and Writing Through Positive Psychology, Student Wellness, and Generative AI Integration – Faculty Focus

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  • A path to wellness for women of color in higher ed (opinion)

    A path to wellness for women of color in higher ed (opinion)

    I often ignore my well-being—mind, body and spirit—while advancing my academic career. As a woman of color academic, balancing work and life feels very hard. My personal and professional lives are tangled, pulling at me in tiring ways. Relaxing seems wrong, and resting feels like a luxury.

    I get so caught up in meetings and deadlines that on a typical day I often skip lunch. I forget to drink water and don’t even step outside for fresh air. My self-care plan has been “out of sight, out of mind.”

    Now, in my 40s, I see the toll this has taken. I struggle with muscle spasms, neck pain, mental health issues and deep exhaustion. The hardest part? My six-year-old daughter says, “Mom works a lot.”

    Enter Slow Living: A Revolutionary Recalibration

    The slow living movement, rooted in the slow food movement, promotes a lifestyle centered on mindfulness, sustainability and quality over quantity. It encourages us to slow down and make intentional choices in a world that often values speed and productivity. This philosophy emphasizes the importance of relationships, well-being and balance.

    For women of color in academia, slow living practices provide a means to counteract the intense pressures of teaching, administration, funding and publication. These pressures are heightened by systemic challenges such as microaggressions, tokenism, code-switching and the obligation to mentor students from similar backgrounds. This leads to cultural taxation and the demands of invisible labor, resulting in increased stress and burnout. The slow living approach promotes self-care and helps us reconnect with what truly matters, enhancing resilience and mental well-being.

    The Invisible Burdens Women of Color Carry

    Women of color in academia often face unique challenges that remain invisible to many of their peers. For example, the overwhelming burden of service work, particularly mentoring students of color, frequently contributes to feelings of isolation and burnout. While mentorship is vital and rewarding, it takes a significant toll, contributing to a sense of alienation, invisible labor and racial battle fatigue. The emotional and intellectual labor involved often detracts from time that could otherwise be spent on research, teaching or personal pursuits. Addressing these issues requires a deeper understanding of systemic obstacles and intentional efforts to foster equitable academic environments.

    Furthermore, women of color academics often encounter challenges related to tokenism within predominantly white academic settings. Their roles can be perceived as symbolic, which leads to the expectation that they represent entire racial or ethnic communities. Faculty of color are frequently called upon to address student concerns regarding racism or to spearhead diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, a burden not equally shared by their white colleagues.

    Moreover, microaggressions—subtle yet harmful discriminatory behaviors—can create an environment in which faculty of color feel compelled to continually validate their competence. These experiences highlight the need for systemic change to cultivate a more inclusive atmosphere where women of color faculty can thrive and contribute their invaluable perspectives.

    The Slow Living Solution

    The principles of slow living offer women of color academics a robust way to reclaim their time and energy, enabling them to focus on their well-being, passions and purpose. Embracing slow living practices may aid us in navigating the often overwhelming demands of academic life with greater intention and balance, which may amplify self-agency.

    Mindfulness practices such as morning meditation or walking in nature can provide essential moments of peace. Setting boundaries, saying “no” to additional commitments and taking mental health days are other strategies that allow academics to preserve their energy. Intentional time management helps reduce stress and ensures alignment with personal values, creating a more fulfilling academic experience. Institutional support for mindful practices can be crucial in promoting the well-being and retention of women of color faculty by creating environments that prioritize self-care, work-life balance and mental health.

    Slow living enhances career satisfaction by aligning daily tasks with long-term goals. Reflecting on work can help identify opportunities that bring purpose and joy, like prioritizing collaborative projects that match personal values. A model that reflects this intentional approach is transformational leadership in academia. This model focuses on leaders encouraging collaboration, promoting shared goals and emphasizing personal growth and well-being. Women of color faculty may use this model to engage in work that is aligned with their values and supported by institutional leadership, promoting meaningful collaboration and decreasing the likelihood of feeling disconnected or burned out.

    Incorporating slow living into academia can inspire a ripple effect across departments and institutions. Women of color faculty prioritizing well-being and balance set a powerful example for colleagues and students. These shifts can foster a culture that values mental health and personal fulfillment as much as professional achievement. Over time, tailored slow-living principles could encourage academic institutions to reimagine success metrics, emphasizing sustainability, collaboration and community impact.

    From Individual Change to Institutional Transformation

    Slow living can’t flourish in a vacuum. For women of color faculty to thrive, institutions must provide meaningful support. Structural changes can transform individual efforts into a sustainable culture shift—and, honestly, wouldn’t academia be better off for it?

    Institutions can enhance the well-being and retention of women of color faculty through several structural changes. Implementing flexible work policies, such as remote teaching and flexible hours, helps faculty manage their professional and personal lives. A holistic approach to tenure and promotion that values work-life balance, teaching quality, mentorship and community impact fosters inclusivity. Mentorship programs and employee affinity groups provide essential support and collaboration. Additionally, dedicated mental health resources help mitigate burnout. Programs like the Advancing Faculty Diversity initiative at the University of California celebrate (and fund) faculty DEI contributions. Finally, incentivizing collaborative work can shift success metrics to prioritize impactful contributions, benefiting faculty and institutions.

    A Paradigm Shift Worth Embracing

    After years of pushing myself to the limit, I realized it was time for a change. While moving to a peaceful countryside cottage wasn’t possible, I discovered that small daily habits could transform my busy life. I started by walking: Each morning, I would take a 10-minute walk through my neighborhood, paying attention to the rhythm of my steps and allowing myself to immerse in the present moment fully. I also began typing slower, breathing mindfully and speaking intentionally. These simple changes introduced mindfulness, making me feel less frantic about productivity and helping me prioritize quality family time.

    Embracing slow living in my professional life has been a game-changer. It’s helped me focus on well-being and redefine success as living better rather than just doing more. As academics, we should celebrate lifelong learning and incorporate slow living into our lives. After all, if we’re too busy to care for ourselves, what are we truly working for?

    So here’s my challenge to you, dear reader: Take a deep breath. Walk a little slower. Break away from the chime of an email sitting in your inbox. Speak with intention. Let’s rewrite the script that tells us we must hustle to the point of harm. Our careers, families and, most importantly, we are worth it.

    Kenyatta Y. Dawson is a program director and faculty member at Texas Woman’s University. She specializes in diversity, equity, inclusion, student success and professional development in higher education. Her research focuses on mentoring adult learners, career satisfaction and equity-driven leadership. Grateful to Texas Woman’s University’s Women’s Thought Leadership Program for advancing underrepresented voices, Dawson embraces the Write to Change the World mission for inclusivity and social impact.

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  • Old Dominion University launches fill-in wellness classes

    Old Dominion University launches fill-in wellness classes

    Instead of canceling class sessions, professors with conflicts at Old Dominion University may now schedule guest lectures on substance use, stress management, nutrition, safe sex and sleep.

    xavierarnau/E+/Getty Images

    “Hello faculty! Are you attending a conference, going on vacation, taking a sick day or want to take a break from your usual lecture? Consider having staff from the Recreation and Wellness Health Promotion team come in and lead an engaging and educational presentation during your class time!”

    So reads a circulating announcement from Old Dominion University’s Rec Well staff, inviting professors to consider their guest-lecturer services when conflicts with teaching schedules arise.

    What it is: Health educator Steven Gunzelman says that the new service—called “Don’t Cancel That Class!”—is also available to conflict-free professors who simply see value in connecting their students with key health information they might not otherwise get.

    “One of our strategic cornerstones is health and well-being, so we really wanted to develop something that would go into the classrooms and meet with students in that kind of setting, where we can talk about these kinds of things that they might not learn other ways, like feeling stress or sleep issues,” he explains. “Students are here to, of course, get their academics. But in order to be able to graduate and get those life skills, they need health and well-being. It’s a big component of [student success], as well.”

    ODU follows the collective impact approach to well-being, meaning that no single department or office on campus owns this responsibility, or—to put it another way—that everyone owns this responsibility. Rec Well, for its part, offers programs throughout campus on a wide variety of topics. But the “Don’t Cancel That Class!” initiative allows professors to pick a guest talk from the following list of five, starting with one concerning the use of alcohol and other drugs:

    • AOD & Me: Safety With Substances
    • Burn Bright, Not Out: Strategies for Managing Stress
    • Food for Thought: Nutrition 101
    • Play It Safe: The Lowdown on Safe Sex
    • Zzz’s for a Better You: A Sleep Hygiene Journey

    The why and how: Gunzelman says the list is informed, in part, by the top four health campus health concerns, based on internal data gleaned from the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment: stress, anxiety, depression and sleep.

    This tracks with Inside Higher Ed’s own Student Voice survey series, which in 2024 found that nearly all students said stress was impacting their ability to focus, learn and perform well academically, either a great deal (43 percent) or some (42 percent), and fewer than half (42 percent) rated their mental health as excellent or good. And in another 2023 Student Voice survey that asked about sleep, 60 percent of respondents said getting more of it was a top health goal.

    ODU professors interested in scheduling a guest lecture can fill out this form. Gunzelman says the first to schedule a guest lecture was a professor of engineering, who wanted students to learn more about managing stress. He expects this to be a particularly popular topic.

    While the current “Don’t Cancel That Class” staff is small, Gunzelman’s hope is that it will be able to accommodate as many requests as possible and possibly expand topic options with time. As for measuring impact, Gunzelman initially plans to solicit feedback from students about the usefulness of the information shared and how likely it is to influence their behavior going forward.

    The student feedback will also help staff members refine their approach.

    “Can we add in more engagement, or can we add in more topics that are more geared toward students?” he says, for example. Gunzelman also suggests that professors encourage student participation, “whether it be surprise, whether it be a plan, whether it’s built into the syllabus for credit, or if they want to be part of it and are still in the room with us.”

    Don’t cancel that class: ODU is one of a growing number of institutions to offer a Don’t Cancel That Class–style initiative. The University of Minnesota at Morris, for example, offers one that includes workshops on professional development and academic skills such as time management, financial literacy and résumé building.

    Programs of that nature highlight the connection between academics and other pillars of student success, such as health and wellness. But the general practice of finding alternatives to canceling course sessions, especially multiple course sessions, is also considered a best practice in faculty work. The English department at the University of Louisville, for example, suggests rescheduling sessions (including via synchronous online sessions), asking a faculty colleague to fill in or assigning students an independent learning exercise or asynchronous lesson.

    Does your institution have a different kind of don’t-cancel-that-class initiative? Tell us about it.

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