Everyone wants to feel that they belong somewhere. At PSU, we have named our General Education program HoME, not just to stress the Habits of Mind, but also to gesture towards our commitment to help all our students feel that they belong here.
Student belonging is an academic issue. Research shows that we can improve persistence if we, as faculty, learn more about how to cultivate a sense of belonging in our courses and programs, and use that knowledge to inform our teaching practice.