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Building Anew: Anchoring Student Success in a Divided Landscape

Rethinking Student Transitions: Fostering Connection and Belonging Through Authentic Community Participation

Wednesday, January 21, 2026
2:00 PM - 3:15 PM East Coast USA Time
Location: George Washington - Level M1

    Primary Presenter(s)

  • Kathleen Lehman

    Executive Director, National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition
    University of South Carolina, Columbia, United States

    PDF

    • Co-Presenter(s)

  • Bryce Bunting

    Assistant Dean, Undergraduate Education
    Brigham Young University, United States

  • Jillian Kinzie

    Associate Director, National Survey of Student Engagement, Center for Postsecondary Research
    Indiana University Bloomington, United States

  • JO

    Jordan Ochs

    Director, First-Year Experience
    University of Connecticut, United States

Students are always in transition—they enter, choose majors, leave and return, move between work and school, and experience many other changes. While transitions may present challenges, they can also be the source of tremendous growth and transformation. In this session, panelists will share results from two large-scale national research projects, introduce a new theoretical framework for college transitions, and highlight practical applications of this theory and research. Panelists will include officers from national higher education and student success associations, leading thinkers and scholars with recently published work on student transitions, and practitioners with on-the-ground experience developing programming informed by the emerging scholarship highlighted in this panel. Participants will also work collaboratively to discuss and reflect on how these findings and emerging theoretical frameworks can increase student connection and belonging, while also informing campus policy and practice in today’s divided sociopolitical landscape.