Cultivating Thriving Educators

The Cultivating Thriving Educators program is a professional development series for staff and faculty who support the development of thriving students. 

Program Lead: Student Experience
Project Status: Pilot complete

The Parr Centre funding provided the opportunity to integrate research and practice across Western University and promote collaboration among a variety of campus partners. The funding allowed us to create learning spaces that helped our stakeholders to understand the vision of thriving and to gain knowledge and skills that will contribute to their overall success in reaching their fullest potential. With this foundational knowledge in place, thriving practices are embedded meaningfully into academic and co-curricular learning experiences to support students in optimizing their well-being and development. To this end, the Cultivating Thriving Educators series was created.

“They shared their journeys, what it meant for them to be a student ‘back in the day,’ what it means to be a student now, and how we can collectively, as a campus community, come together and really attempt to understand what we need to help inform what we do and expand and adapt in supporting our students’ success.”

This learning experience is delivered through 10 workshops. Each workshop includes specific learning outcomes, engaging activities, and opportunities for educators to reflect on their own professional practice with colleagues.

Led by content from leaders across Canada, the workshops provide an opportunity to share literature and best practices across the field of student affairs, while internal leaders contextualize it to fit our campus culture and student population.

The series also includes a book club, coffee and conversation events, as well as fireside chats to build a sense of community and support for faculty and staff.

In summary...

  • 150 faculty and staff across 22 campus units participated in the 10 sessions.
  • 53% of participants (80 out of 150) joined the book club.
  • Based on the success of the pilot funded by the Parr Centre, Student Experience plans to continue the program as a regular offering.

Learn more about this project

  • Read a Western News article about staff members' reflections and view some of the work they completed.