Graduate College Faculty & Staff Supporting Student Wellbeing Knowledge Pathways

Knowledge Pathways

Effective knowledge pathways help students connect to the information they need to progress through their degrees on schedule and with the support needed. 

Resources, opportunities, and information exist in abundance on our campus, but students don’t always connect to them in timely ways. To support wellbeing, we want to make information available to and accessible by students (and faculty) at the right times, focusing on transparency and demystification, making the hidden curriculum visible, and sharing definitions on an often-siloed campus. 

A grad students’ main connection to the university is their department, so departments are often a primary source for not only academic information, but the pathway to all of the other things students need over the course of their degree programs. It is often through their departments that students learn how to navigate health care, find housing, build social connections, etc.  

Part of creating effective knowledge pathways is having the information available, and part is making it widely known, easily accessible, and understood. Asses whether information exists in its fullest, most helpful form (Are all degree requirements published? Are research group expectations fully outlined?) and then how people access and interpret the information (What is communicated at orientation? In third-year advising meetings? Are advisors up-to-date on policy and process?).

In addition to clear and accessible information, what we hear from students is that personal conversations, whether student to student, advisor to student, or departmental contact to student, help interpret information and make it actionable. Robust mentoring networks help students receive and interpret information. You don’t have to know the answer to every question that might come up, but being able to say “let’s figure this out together” or “I know who you should talk to” can get things moving in the right direction. Having a network of people who know students’ individual circumstances creates safety to ask real questions and support navigating to the answers. These connections provide a foundation for all areas of wellbeing.

Ways to create knowledge pathways:

  • Start during the recruiting and admissions process. Share the information prospective students need to make informed decisions and help them ask the right questions about academic and non-academic topics. How long will this program take? What is the schedule for major degree milestones? How will it be paid for? How does the advising process work? What do the career paths of recent grads look like? How do students find housing? What student groups exist for grad students?
  • Create, update and socialize effective resources and programs for onboarding new students and helping them transition to different stages of degree completion. Include students in the creation and planning.
    • Orientation programs - for new students and new academic stages
    • Department and lab handbooks
    • Communication about workload and expectations
    • Student group “unofficial departmental handbooks” or community guides
  • Create roadmaps for degree completion. Help students see what is expected of them each semester. Map out expected timelines for major milestones and the process for adjusting those timelines if needed.
  • Consider peer mentoring programs for first year and continuing students.
  • Consider opportunities in the curriculum (pro-seminars, one credit courses) as opportunities to share information and to create webs of relationships.
  • Keep a collection of “sensitive” information where students can access them discretely – for instance, confidential advising through the Women’s Resource Center, Counseling Center self-help brochures, Food Resources, Basic Needs Office 

Tools to start with: