College Belonging

LISA M. NUNN is a professor of sociology and the director of the Center for Educational Excellence at University of San Diego. She is the author of Defining Student Success: The Role of School and Culture and 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty: A Week-by-Week Resource for Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students (both Rutgers University Press).

• ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroduction1          Social Belonging vs. Campus-Community Belonging2          Campus Community Belonging and Organizational Structures3          Academic Competence and Academic Belonging4          The Academic Community and Academic Belonging5          Ethnoracial Diversity and Belonging6          “Nice” Diversity7          Recommendations for CampusesTheoretical Appendix: Durkheim and BelongingMethodological AppendixNotesReferencesIndex

"Administrators have long persisted with a problematic notion of inclusion that puts the responsibility on individual students, without thought to what belonging looks and feels like. In this fabulous book, Nunn skillfully argues that institutional context shapes the most salient forms of belonging. Nobody has tackled the issue of belonging quite in this way, and the intervention is so needed." - Laura T. Hamilton (author of Parenting to a Degree: How Family Matters for College Women's Success) "College Belonging presents a fascinating account of students’ experiences, informed by in-depth interviews, and offers a level of complexity rarely encountered. Nunn compellingly argues that those who care about equity must care about belonging. Her findings show why common practices in higher education are insufficient and what colleges can do to meet the belonging needs of their students."  - Blake R. Silver (author of The Cost of Inclusion: How Student Conformity Leads to Inequality on College Campuses) "College Belonging: Author discusses her new book on first-generation students and how they navigate college life," by Scott Jaschik (Inside Higher Education) New Books Network: Academic Life podcast interview with Lisa M. Nunn (New Books Network: Academic Life podcast) "An important update to sense of belonging literature because of its claims regarding campus-community belonging and how belonging cannot be earned by an individual but rather must be received from a community."  (The Review of Higher Education) "Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students: A Conversation with Lisa Nunn" (New Books Network: The Academic Life)