The University of Richmond offers a variety of programs and initiatives with the goal of ensuring students feel a sense of belonging on campus. Thanks to a recent grant, a group of faculty and students are examining what it means to feel at home here — and how the University can work to make all students feel welcome.

The Belonging Project began last fall when the University received a $625,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The six-year grant brings together 11 faculty members to identify barriers to belonging, test interventions to address those challenges, and support faculty in promoting inclusivity, with a particular focus on underrepresented students in STEM fields.

Part of the grant included funding for a study led by psychology faculty members Karen Kochel, Kristjen Lundberg, and Janelle Peifer. Along with students in their psychology classes and a group of UR Summer Fellows, they are looking at existing equity and inclusion efforts on campus to identify barriers to belonging and opportunities to enhance students’ connection to one another and the University.

Before they began, however, they had to agree on a definition of belonging. Students delved into previous studies on belonging in higher education, especially those focused on students from historically underrepresented backgrounds. Ultimately, they agreed on a well-known definition from Terrell Strayhorn, a scholar whose work involves equity and diversity in higher education. Belonging, he said, is when students feel connected to, respected by, and valued by the campus community.

From there, the team of faculty and students set out to understand what they could learn about belonging at the University. They assembled a range of information, including existing data from campuswide surveys to reports from campus initiatives with a central focus on belonging.

"This isn’t a new conversation. We’ve been talking about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging for some time,” Kochel said. “There is a fair amount of both quantitative data and knowledge on the issue of student belonging. We’re gathering and synthesizing these data and the expertise available to us.”

Over the summer, the students also interviewed faculty and staff whose work involves diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Through those conversations, the students are identifying what efforts are already underway, any challenges or barriers faculty and staff experienced, and their advice for next steps.

“I’m learning a lot about what the school does behind the scenes that I had no idea about,” said Sophia Ludman, a rising junior and psychology major. “We’ve talked to people from housing and athletics, from every single department of the school, and learned what they’re doing to help students.”

Bridget McGuinness, a rising senior and psychology major, said the interviews have been an opportunity to interact with faculty and staff in new ways.

“Students at Richmond have great relationships with faculty,” she said. “But it’s been interesting to talk to faculty and staff in this really candid manner.”

By gathering data and interviews, Kochel, Lundberg, and Peifer hope to identify potential barriers to belonging, as well as opportunities to expand on what’s already in place. Ultimately, they hope to propose methods to improve belonging on campus. These could include classroom-based interventions with ongoing training for faculty or better coordination between existing efforts. Kochel said they also plan to measure their impact over time with student surveys before and after these methods are implemented.

For the students, participating in the Belonging Project presents a rare opportunity to serve as both researcher and subject. Lundberg said their voices are critical to understanding who feels they belong and who doesn’t and what students need to feel connected. But they’re also deeply involved in the research process, synthesizing data and proposing ways to improve a sense of belonging on campus.

“One of my biggest drawbacks from research in the past was that it didn’t feel like I got to see the impact of what I was doing,” Ludman said. “With the Belonging Project, six years down the line, we’ll get to see how our work was called for in the future. It will be really exciting to see that impact.”