News_Northwestern_Summit – Workshop Architects

CONVENING CURIOSITY

Curiosity and convening are at the core of Workshop’s reason for being. We are by nature innately curious about the world, deeply interested in improving the human condition, and have long made a habit of convening smart people around challenging topics.

We have done everything from organize a national summit on community-building with 10 higher education associations and 50 thought leaders, to host a gathering at SXSW EDU with faculty, staff, policymakers, and advocates interested in improving the college student experience. In fall 2024, we partnered with Northwestern University to host a two-day Summit on Student Belonging with 30 campus leaders from seven notable institutions: Emory University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University, Washington University,
and University of Chicago.

The Summit focused on student belonging because it is a necessary
pre-condition to achieving equity in learning, and educational research increasingly describes it as essential to student success. Over this two-day Summit, participants generated insight and actions in response to
three key questions:

What does ideal student belonging look like?

What is in the way of achieving our vision?

How can campus facilities help achieve it?

Participant comments were captured as data, and a faculty-led Research Team later analyzed findings to produce new understanding and possible actions that campus leaders can take to achieve more equitable student experiences. These include insights about the disconnect between what is conveyed to prospective students and what is experienced after they enroll; the unintended influence of institutional history and symbolism upon students’ perceptions; the small and large levers campus leaders can move to improve the student experience; the potential of transferring oversight for student spaces from administrative to student ownership; and the role that architecture and physical conditions play in how students experience the university overall.

Contact us for a copy of the full report. We’d love to convene with you!

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