“Student success is dependent on students having their basic needs met and feeling a sense of belonging at Brookdale,” said Psychology Professor Sara Burrill. “As a faculty fellow at the Center for Transformative Learning, I spent 2024 studying poverty-informed practices in higher education.”
As a college, Brookdale has declared poverty-informed practice an Academic Affairs priority and has retained the consultation of Dr. Chad Dull, a nationwide leader in poverty informed practices in higher education.
Burrill said that with these concerns that she and others hold about students in need, she hopes that the challenges they face become better known. “Not only that, but it’s also important that those realizations are followed by action.
“If we realize that students are struggling to get laptops, we need to get funding to put laptops in those students’ hands. If we realize that it is difficult for students to take two days a week to fulfill a fieldwork requirement, then we need to find businesses and agencies that will pay them for that fieldwork,” Burrill said.
“It may not be a big deal for some students to go to do volunteer work for two days a week, but for other students, they may need to work extra hours just to pay their bills and get by,” Burrill said. “That’s why I’m working to find paid field work for students so that they’re not overextended by volunteering, going to school, and having a job.”
