Friday, May 8th & Friday, May 15th, 2020 | Online
Each year the conference hosts roughly 300 faculty, staff, and other members of the DePaul community for a day of speakers, discussion, panels, and presentations. This year, the conference will be a shorter, online event due to COVID-19.
Student Mental Health and Wellbeing: a Mission-Central Institutional Priority, facilitated by Richard Keeling, MD
Friday, May 8th | 11am-noon
Watch recording (requires authentication)
After attending this event participants were able to:
• identify strategies to change aspects of curriculum, pedagogy, policy, and culture to better support mental health and resiliency for students.
• develop at least one specific strategy to create an ethic of care in their own classroom or teaching environment.
Concern about the mental health and wellbeing of college and university students reflects not only increasing demand for clinical services, and consequently the capacity of institutions of higher education to respond to students’ needs, but also the influence of emotional and psychological distress on students’ engagement, learning, and success. Many students with significant mental health problems experience not only personal suffering, but also reduced readiness and capacity to learn; the combination of those challenges constrains students’ ability to thrive, or flourish, and prevents their taking full advantage of the educational and developmental opportunities that institutions offer.
Student success—broadly defined, to embrace not just quantitative measures of persistence and completion but also the achievement of intended learning outcomes and effective preparation for life and work after graduation—is the shared responsibility of students and institutions; recognizing and responding effectively to students’ mental health needs is therefore a mission-central, campus-wide priority. Both high quality clinical services and a diversity of preventive programs are needed—but must, in both cases, be re-imagined, renewed, and continually reassessed to promote equitable access and ensure effectiveness.
On every campus, there are new essentials: attention to campus climate; identification and change in aspects of curriculum, pedagogy, policy, and culture that impair mental health and resiliency; creation of an ethic of care; responsiveness of mental health services to demographic, social, and cultural differences; greater integration of health-related programs and services; and support and care for caregivers.
Student Mental Health Panel, featuring DePaul experts
Watch recording (requires authentication)
Friday, May 15th | 11am-noon
- Jeff Lanfear, Director of University Counseling and Psychological Services (UCAPS)
- Shannon Suffoletto, Director of Health Promotion and Wellness
- Greg Moorehead, Director of the Center for Students with Disabilities
- Ellen Herion Fingado, Dean of Students
- Rod Waters, Director of Residential Education
- Kim Everett, Director of the Office of Multicultural Student Success
About the Keynote Speaker
Richard P. Keeling, M.D., leads Keeling & Associates, LLC (K&A)—a comprehensive higher education consulting firm focused on creating change for learning. He has worked with more than 300 institutions and organizations over more than 25 years of practice.
Dr. Keeling serves on the Board of Directors of the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) and has been president of four professional organizations in higher education. He has published more than 125 articles, monographs, and books. He served as Editor of the Journal of American College Health and has received the highest awards of both the American College Health Association (ACHA) and NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.
Before creating K&A, Dr. Keeling taught medicine, directed comprehensive health programs and services, and explored innovative, cross-institutional approaches to advancing student learning during 20 years on campus at the University of Virginia and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Keeling took his bachelor's degree in English with highest honors from the University of Virginia and received his M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine.