The Healthy Minds Study: Why we need your help? - A Professor’s Perspective

My students are so dear to me. It all boils down to this: Because students. I realize that sentence is neither grammatical nor complete, which is ironic coming from a professor, but it perfectly encapsulates why we’re all here at FAU, why I love being a Professor, and why I am working on getting the Healthy Minds Study survey out to EVERY. SINGLE. STUDENT. Students, I am begging you: pleeeaaaasssseee take the time to complete it. I want to know about your successes and your struggles and what you need, so I can help FAU figure out how to help you get what you need. I adore our FAU students and I want to make sure we have the programs and resources that will best support you.

I have been a faculty member at FAU since 2006. I think I have the best job in the world and it is different every day and I meet amazing new students and faculty and staff constantly. Students are typically at a time and place in their lives when they are making discoveries about the world and deciding what place they want to occupy in it. Some of my favorite moments come in the classroom when we have lively debates and we all learn something new-maybe new facts or new perspectives or new ideas. I feel honored to be a part of students’ journeys as they grow and change and move forward. College is a time of growth and challenge and much of that is exciting and positive and I feel honored to be a part of it.

But sometimes the pace of university life is too fast or the demands too great. Sometimes the burden of outside pressures, events, or tragedies give students more than they can handle. Some days college does not feel like “the best years of your life.” As a Psychology Professor, I have been heartbroken as I watched students with so much promise develop dangerous eating disorders. I have been incredibly worried as I have tried to support students with severe depression, anxiety, trauma, and loss to get the help they needed.

I am always looking to do more more more for our students and asking what more FAU can do. I know many of you lead busy, overscheduled lives where you juggle classes, labs, jobs, clubs, home responsibilities, and more. I hope you find some time to squeeze in the Healthy Minds Study. You will get emails from President Kelly with your personalized survey link between January 27 and February 16. Your participation is completely voluntary and confidential. FAU will only get a dataset back from the researchers that is deidentified (fancy way of saying there will be no names or other identifying personal information) and gives us the overall picture of what FAU students need. I will then work with a group of faculty, staff, administrators, and students to figure out what changes we need to make, what new programs or resources we might need to develop. Please make a small investment of your time to complete the survey and I will make a large investment of my time to use the survey results to figure out more ways to support FAU students.