“My dream is that we have this culture of wellness here, where we have all the resources that you could possibly need to thrive and we make them accessible,” said Annunziato, professor of psychology and associate dean for strategic initiatives. “We thought by tying it all together, maybe it makes it easier and normalizes it, so there’s no stigma attached to needing help with something.”
So far this initiative has included launching academic coaching services, creating a centralized page featuring resources from the dean’s office and from across campus, and hosting events on skills like time management and studying.
Academic coaching services provide support to students looking to improve their organizational skills, learn time management strategies, and create study plans. Students can either be referred directly by an instructor or they can ask the dean’s office or their advisor for a referral if they think one-on-one coaching could help them.
Kristina Stevanovic, FCRH ’22, who worked with Annunziato on this initiative before she graduated, said that she appreciated the dean’s office’s willingness to add student services that go beyond academics.
“For people coming out of high school, you’re all of a sudden so free, and you don’t have a structure,” she said. “That newfound freedom can be exciting and overwhelming especially if you don’t have the best sense of time management.”
Wellness Wednesdays, a new Instagram campaign, has included advice such as how not to study and tips for managing stress.
Annunziato said that the office is also continuing to add resources to its website, based on student feedback, particularly for students feeling stressed or overwhelmed.
“We’re asking students what they would like—we want to be informed and driven by their voices in all of these things,” she said.
Dean’s office events and workshops are helping to raise awareness of some of these resources. In the fall, they hosted two sessions on “How to NOT Study for Midterms” and also organized tabling events in the campus center to let students know about tutoring and other programming offered.
Students can visit the academic wellness page on the dean’s site or follow @fordhamfcrh on Instagram to stay up to date.
