Shared Student Hours: Where Everyone Belongs

Meaningful student-faculty interactions have been shown to increase student sense of belonging and enable students to thrive in the college environment, particularly for students from minority communities. Through a grant from HHMI Inclusive Excellence and additional institutional support, VCU faculty and staff have developed a new model for office hours that engages students and faculty in shared Student Hours. An overview of how the model was developed and implemented is discussed as well as challenges that arose. A key component was the collaboration between staff and faculty that helped enhance the sense of belonging of all student and faculty participants.