Doctoral student presents at 2020 UCI Student Affairs Conference

Doctoral student Jenny Woo is presenting a breakout session at UCI's Student Affairs Conference on Tuesday, March 10, 10:40 to 11:30 a.m., Emerald Bay Room C in the UCI Student Center.

Woo's presentation, "How to Help Minority and Transfer Students Take Charge of Their Sense of Belonging," is part of the Serving Our Diverse Student Populations segment of the conference.

"I'm looking forward to sharing my research and best practices from a six-week program (Emotional Intelligence for School & Job Success) that I've developed to help undergraduates gain essential skills to flourish in college," Woo said. "I delivered a pilot back in Spring 2019 and a six-week program to two cohorts of undergrads this quarter." (Download student testimonial here.) 

Woo's presentation goals for the Student Affairs Conference include:

• Gain an understanding of the literature on persistence and engagement of minority and transfer students
• Understand the constructs of student's sense of belonging
• Learn ways to engage adolescents based on findings from multidisciplinary research in developmental and cognitive neuroscience
• Learn about frameworks related to Emotional Intelligence

Woo, a second-year doctoral student specializing in Human Development in Context (HDiC), researches social-emotional learning, development of executive functions, family engagement, motivation, identity development, and critical consciousness. She is the creator of the social-emotional learning games 52 Essential Conversations and 52 Essential Relationships, featured on her website Mind Brain Parenting. She is advised by Chancellor's Professor Carol Connor and Professor Liane Brouillette.

Presentation Abstract

This interactive session unpacks the literature on students’ processes in navigating a sense of belonging throughout their college trajectory. The session equips participants with sociocultural lens to better understand the lived experiences of students from non-dominate cultures and transfer students. Anonymous UCI student anecdotes and evidence-based examples from the recent research will be used during breakout exercises to help participants gain a deeper understanding of the adjustment nuances of “where do I belong” from a student’s point of view during and beyond their first years. Participants will learn about the constructs of sense of belonging informed by the research and actionable strategies on how to equip students with the essential skills to take charge of their psychological sense of belonging at UCI.