91茄子

For the first of our 鈥淎ccording to Faculty鈥� series, the College of Arts & Science鈥檚 Brian Couch weighs on how students can build relationships with faculty members.

Building connections with faculty members can be an incredibly valuable part of your college experience. Yes, they鈥檙e experts in their fields, but they鈥檙e also endlessly great resources for real-world connections, internships, mentoring, and so much more.

And at 91茄子, we have some of the best.

We鈥檝e spoken to a handful of 91茄子 faculty members about best practices for building student-faculty relationships and why you should seek them out鈥娾�斺�奺ven if their class isn鈥檛 your favorite.

First up is Brian Couch of the College of Arts and Sciences. Brian is currently teaching the several-hundred-student Life 120 course and has some great insights on building connections with your faculty in large class settings.

On making that first connection

鈥淔or me, right after class is a great time to come up and say hi, especially if you notice there aren鈥檛 other students,鈥� says Brian. 鈥淚f you just want to introduce yourself, I have students do that a lot and I appreciate that!鈥�

You heading this way, too?

鈥淎 little secret that I think is under-utilized is that I have a walk back to my office after class. So, if we find our paths on campus are headed in the same direction, it鈥檚 a great time to informally chat, talk about class or discuss anything really!鈥�

Faculty want to get to know their students!

鈥淚 got into teaching because I want to teach students, I want to get to know students, and I want to see them progress. It excites me when I see them learn and when they do well, and it bugs me if they don鈥檛 do well!鈥�

Excited to chat? So are your faculty members

鈥淗opefully students can have more comfort in approaching faculty, because there鈥檚 nothing that delights faculty more than when a student shows interest in a class or asks for support鈥娾�斺�奺ven after the class is over. Moments like that really make your whole career worthwhile.鈥�

Email is a great place to start!

鈥淚 run everything through email鈥娾�斺�奍鈥檓 often on email, and I respond on email. I always tell students if you want to reach me, just shoot me an email and I鈥檒l respond, and we can set up a time to have an in-person or Zoom conversation.鈥�

Struggling with the material? Don鈥檛 forget about your TAs!

鈥淲e have quite a few TAs that are affiliated with the course, and they have tons of office hours offered each week. That鈥檚 often a great place to start, especially with practical questions about the textbook, homework assignments or due dates. TAs are amazing and really take the time to make sure they understand students鈥� needs and concerns. They can also raise high-level concerns to me on behalf of students.鈥�

Give your instructor some space before class鈥娾�斺�妕hey might be scrambling, too

鈥淭here鈥檚 often a lot of technical troubleshooting that happens in those large lecture halls. We only have 10 minutes in the classroom before class starts and I have a whole checklist of things I need to organize, so, especially in those first few weeks, I probably need that time to get set up.鈥�

It鈥檚 tricky to connect in large classes鈥娾�斺�奲ut it鈥檚 still worth the effort

鈥淚t鈥檚 challenging to have authentic interactions with every student in those larger classes, but that shouldn鈥檛 dissuade us from trying! We still care about every student, even if we don鈥檛 get to make a personal connection with every single one.鈥�

Keep an eye out for more insights and advice from our 鈥淎ccording to Faculty鈥� series!