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In 2022, Woodford et al. released a series of reports on the experiences and perceptions of 2SLGBTQ+ students on university campuses in Ontario. Findings indicate that while 17% percent of overall students reported being verbally threatened, bullied, or intimidated and 14% overall reported being sexually harassed or assaulted, these rates were considerably higher for students belonging to 2SLGBTQ+ community, with trans and nonbinary students being at the highest risk.

The hate-motivated, transphobic attack that happened last June 28^th on-campus, has become another point that marks a before and after. Of course, the events of June 28^th have affected everyone across campus.

There are close to 5 billion smartphone users worldwide (Statista, 2024). The average person spends 4 hours a day on their phone (Statista, 2023), and almost half of all smartphone users describe themselves as having a smartphone addiction (Ratan et al., 2022). Unsurprisingly, almost all university students have a smartphone (Huey & Giguere, 2023). In people aged 25 and under, 25% of them meet the criteria for problematic smartphone usage (Sohn et al., 2019).

It’s March and the sounds of Spring are in the air. By sounds of Spring, we mean the excessive honking of geese as they return from their winter vacays. Watch your step. 

As we head into the weekend and one of the most celebrated holidays around the world (St Patrick’s Day), it is a great time to talk about substance use health. 

Whether it’s green beer, regular beer, tobacco, caffeine, cannabis, or illicit drugs, substances are a fact of life.  In Canada, it is estimated that 78% of people over the age of 15 regularly use substances of some kind. With substances playing a consistent role in our lives, it’s important that we develop healthy relationships with them.

Substance use and mental health concerns among graduate students has been growing for some time. Allen, et al. (2017) explored how mental health symptoms and substance use varies between professional doctoral (engineering and business), academic doctoral (arts and behavioral science), and master’s students. 

Concerns about the impacts of imposter phenomenon on students and employees in higher education has been the focus of concern (and research) for some time. In recent years, the narrative around imposter phenomenon has begun to change. In this month’s newsletter, we will explore historical perspectives as well as the changing narrative around imposter phenomenon.

"Here’s a quote I once heard from a priest: If you don’t want to burn out, stop living like you’re on fire.” -Brene Brown

The term “burnout” was first introduced in 1974 by American psychologist Herbert Freudenberger to describe the consequences of severe stress and high ideals in human professions (social workers, teachers, nurses, police officers, physicians, etc.). Freudenberger defined burnout as “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one's devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results” (1974). In 1989, Byrne and Hall explored the impacts of the three dimensions of burnout (exhaustion, depersonalization/cynicism, and reduced personal accomplishment) on teachers, including university instructors, as well as the work-related stress factors that contribute to burnout. Byrne and Hall found that a combination of personal traits and organizational factors directly contributed to feelings of burnout.  

Research dating back to 1989 (possibly further) identified concerns about increasing employee stress levels occurring in higher education. As a result of the pandemic, numerous new studies on faculty burn-out have been initiated. A recent qualitive study by Koster and McHenry (2023) analyzed narrative comments on a survey assessing burnout and well-being to identify factors that contributed to faculty feelings of disengagement and exhaustion.

 

This month we are featuring research on the impacts of sexism, discrimination, and exclusion on the experience of female learners. New research from Georgia State University explores the differences in gender-based discrimination between STEM and non-STEM programs. Co-author Leah Daigle, a professor in Georgia State’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, says, “If you see an equal number of women and men in your classes, you might think that, by definition, the women are being treated fairly. But that’s not what our study shows. It should be a wake-up call for people to realize that even when people are not in the minority in a group, they can still be at risk for discrimination and harm.”

The Introduction:

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein