Finding your way around a large campus environment like the University of Utah can be an exciting, yet daunting experience during your first semester in college. From meeting new people in the dorm and in class, along with navigating how to get around from building to building, there is bound to be some self-reflection on how individuals feel they fit into the U community.
For those seeking guidance on how to approach that issue, there is a resource specifically created to provide support. The Center for Equity and Student Belonging (CESB) is charged with helping to develop a sense of community and campaign on behalf of students across intersectional identities and experiences who are seeking to achieve success inside and outside of the classroom.
“The most important thing to highlight this semester is going to be the work we’re doing with early belonging this year,” said CESB Director Cassie Zamora-Cathcart. “Existing students can get cultural and affinity support and development. We are going to do all our programming from a lens of belonging in four areas–personal, social, academic, and postgrad.”
One way is through affinity-based programs that run throughout the year, she said. The programs emphasize connection with faculty and staff and community leaders with a specific identity in mind using the lens of excellence appropriate for that (affinity) space, she added.
The center is also supporting five student organizations, including the Asian American Student Association, Black Student Union, Inter-Tribal Student Association, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlan (M.E.Ch.A.), and Pacific Islander Student Association. Zamora-Cathcart said affinity belonging will be a top priority this academic year.
“Our Experience the U program is going to be more academically focused. We are partnering with the various colleges across the university to put together student experiences that are high-impact and very engaging,“ she said. “Right now, we are trying to work with the College of Nursing to see if we can get students into the simulation lab so they can practice the potential skills needed if they want to become a nursing student one day. There is still going to be an intercultural element that will be designed around its support system.”
Zamora-Cathcart said the next iteration of the Experience the U program being introduced this year is going to be affinity belonging pieces for early belonging. The center will have six total, including one that is Black student-specific, Pacific Islander, American Indian and Indigenous, Latine, and Asian American, with a sixth one created for transfer students.
“Because they are from a specific lens, they are going to focus more on social belonging and what it is like to be a Black student at the U, for example? What are the student organizations here on campus?” she said. “Who are the faculty and staff on campus? What are the faculty-staff organizations that support students on campus? Things of that nature.”
Also, CESB will be working on how to get students, faculty, and staff currently at the university to engage with the incoming students from each affinity community, along with rebooting its Summer at the U program for incoming freshmen.
“It’s meant as a program to run during the summer before you come in for your first year and get you key skills that will aid in your matriculation, as well as introduce students to useful resources for your first year in college,” Zamora-Cathcart said.
All interested students are encouraged to visit the center in Room 235 of the A. Ray Olpin Student Union where staff will be happy to help and provide information as needed.
