Cultivating a Sense of Belonging in Higher Education: The Role Fostering Connectedness, Support, and Respect Play in Student Success

This book provides an in-depth exploration of how belonging is cultivated in higher education through four key areas: students, faculty, community, and administration. These sections collectively deepen our understanding of what it means to cultivate belonging and offer practical examples of program design, implementation, frameworks, and documentation practices that promote connectedness, support, and respect throughout the higher education ecosystem.

Cultivating Belonging - Student

• What are the theoretical characteristics of the sense of belonging for students in higher education?
• How does the literature define the sense of belonging?
• How can students be included in efforts to cultivate a campus community of belonging.
• What defines a campus community of belonging for students?
• What are ways that social, academic, and professional connections are being cultivated for and with students?
• Why documenting your work in cultivating belonging is a unique genre and how you can learn to write about it

Cultivating Belonging - Faculty

• What is a teaching philosophy and how can it focus your efforts in cultivating belonging for students?
• Beyond the end-of-semester student evaluations: Using evaluations to determine if your classroom is an environment that fosters a community of belonging.
• How is instructor creativity a co-requisite for Cultivating belonging?
• How can you build cultivating belonging into your service role.
• What are practical ways to continue learning about cultivating belonging (including digital badging), and why does it matter?
• What role do instructional designers play to foster a sense of belonging (faculty-ID relationships, course design, etc.)?
• How can faculty move beyond the “I just don’t have time” barrier to engage meaningfully with students outside the classroom?
• How can instructors help students cultivate social, academic, and professional connections among themselves, the campus, the surrounding community, and their future professions?
• How can faculty promote the ethical use of AI and other technology tools to support a culture of belonging?

Cultivating Belonging - Administration

• What theoretical frameworks should be considered when developing programs for cultivating belonging.
• How can department heads be encouraged to prioritize cultivating belonging at all levels?
• How can administrators advocate for explicit programs that promote belonging for students, staff, faculty, and the broader community—and why is this investment important?
• How can administrators support efforts to strengthen social, academic, and professional connectedness across the institution and between campus and community spaces?

Cultivating Belonging - Community

• What are some university-community models/best practices that promote a sense of belonging?
• How can alumni be meaningfully engaged in cultivating a campus culture of belonging?
• How does working with community partners cultivate belonging for students, faculty, administrators?  How does this strengthen the relationship between campus and community?
• How can administrators and communities partner to build a shared culture of belonging and inclusion? (i.e. community engaged Learning, service-learning opportunities).
• How can community partners be engaged in helping students and/or faculty cultivate social, academic, or professional connectedness between each other, the campus, the social community, and the professional world?
• How can supportive campus units and organizations (i.e. Library, Extension, Instructional Design, Student Services, Institutional Researchers, etc. contribute to a culture of cultivating belonging. , i.e., Library, Extension, Instructional Design, Student Services, Institutional Researchers, etc.) contribute to a culture of cultivating belonging?

Intended Audience:

This book serves as a guide and inspiration for all members of the college who interact with students on any level. This includes not only tenured and tenure-track faculty members, but also lecturers and graduate instructors, as well as temporary and part-time instructors. Cultivating belonging is an integral part of the student, staff, and administration experiences to form a connection to the institution. This peer-reviewed, open-access volume forms part of the Open-Access Book Series published by Utah State University’s Center for Empowering Teaching Excellence.

Organization, Format, and Style

Cultivating a Sense of Belonging in Higher Education: The Role Fostering Connectedness, Support, and Respect Play in Student Success, will include 13–16 chapters, along with a foreword, introduction, and conclusion. Chapters will be organized into four distinct parts:

Part I: The Student Experience – The How and Why of Cultivating Belonging for Students
Part II: Faculty Engagement – Creating Social, Academic, and Professional Connectedness in Higher Education
Part III: Staff/Administrators – Supporting Students Through Professional Connectedness, Support, and Respect
Part IV: The Community – Engagement for Connectedness

Chapters may draw from proven strategies, effective approaches, recognized standards, institutional policy, and personal experience. Each chapter will be 3,000–5,000 words in length, and a range of styles—from academic to narrative—will be considered.

Chapters reporting on IRB-approved research must clearly indicate the approval status and timeline.

How to propose a chapter:

Before writing a formal proposal, prospective authors have the option to request a meeting with the editors via Zoom, on the phone, or in person to discuss an idea for a chapter. This is not a requirement. The editors are happy to provide guidance and help prospective authors refine topic ideas.

All prospective chapter authors must use the submission form to submit a chapter proposal for review. The deadline for chapter proposal submissions is December 1, 2025. The editors will review chapter proposals and make decisions on the table of contents after receiving all proposals. Please note that submitting a proposal for review does not guarantee inclusion in the book. An author guide and sample abstract is being provided to assist authors in preparing proposals:

• Author Guide
• Sample abstract

The submission portal will ask prospective authors to enter the following information:

1. Email address
2. Email address (again)
3. Preferred name (first, last)
4. Position title, institution, city, state (country, if outside the US)
5. Co-author name, email, position title, institution, city, state (country)
6. Co-author name, email, position title, institution, city, state (country)
7. Co-author name, email, position title, institution, city, state (country)
8. An attention-grabbing title and descriptive subtitle (max. 15 words)
9. Chapter proposal (300-500 words), which includes
10. a clearly stated goal or objective of the chapter
11. a narrative overview of what the chapter will cover
12. a minimum of three relevant and sufficiently recent citations
13. List of references cited in the chapter proposal.
14. A question asking whether original data will be presented in this chapter. If the answer is ‘yes’, the next question asks whether data was collected from human subjects. If the answer is ‘yes’, the next question asks about IRB approval. (The editors are neutral about this type of chapter -- they just want to know, as seeking IRB approval can take some time)
15. Brief author bio (max. 200 words)
16. Current CV or resume (max. 4 pages).

Style:

APA style for citing and referencing is expected. For those unfamiliar with APA, see the OWL Purdue website for tutorials.

Timeline For Publication

• Nov. 1, 2025–   Call for Proposals opens
• Dec. 1, 2025–   Chapter proposals due to editors
• Dec. 15, 2025–  Chapters awarded to authors
• Jan. 31, 2026–  Author Contracts and Chapter due – early submissions welcome ;)
• Feb. 15th, 2026–  Peer review occurs; detailed feedback to authors
• March 31, 2026 –  Revised final drafts due, Author Bios due
• April 2026–   Copy editing
• May 15, 2026–  Book publication