On Sept. 9, students and faculty attended a Listening Lab during Common Hour as part of a new campaign for Strategic Visioning in the university’s culture led by President Marie Hardin.
A Listening Lab is an interactive session of small group conversations, particularly focusing on the core values of the university. The values discussed included building a community around students and academics through ideas such as respect, communication and student-centeredness.
“I think you can’t have a strong community without academics, but then you also can’t have academics without a strong community,” sophomore mathematics major Megan Pollard said during a conversation about student-centeredness. “Everyone in the world can think back to a time where they were in school and they had a teacher they didn’t like so much. That class just didn’t click with them and they can’t remember anything from that class, and it’s because there wasn’t that sense of community.”
