This semester, we had more responses than ever. We try to red flag and triage issues as fast as we can, usually starting with an email to your UMKC account.

Our first round of follow-up is to check in with students who reported the fear/challenge of having access to basic resources like food or housing. Here are some resources for each of the areas mentioned in the survey: 

Academic Resources: Academic Support & Mentoring

Access to Basic Needs: Kangaroo Pantry

Advising/Scheduling: Roo Advising

Being Part of UMKC Community: Events Calendar

Campus Safety/Security: Campus Police

Financial Aid/Scholarship Support: Scholarship Application

Friendships/Social Life: RooGroups

Mental Health/Motivation: Roos for Mental Health

Multicultural Inclusion/Representation: Multicultural Student Affairs

Networking/Career Services: Career Services

Physical Health: Student Health & Wellness

Averages for quality of classes and advising were up from last fall, 3.92 (compared to 3.62) and 3.81 (compared to 3.76).

Based on some of the comments, many love being back on campus and having more in-person classes. There are some students for whom online courses are still the best decision, too, but it can feel hard to connect to campus resources.

We asked Obie Austin, the director for our campus COVID response team, to reflect on the results from this part of the survey.

What takeaways do you get from these survey results?

We are working hard to meet the needs of students in particular the mental health needs. This pandemic has isolated people, removed us from what was safe and familiar, and stokes the flames of depression and anxiety. Students already have so much to deal with and now their stress plates run over. I am comforted to know that the University continues to seek ways to meet this overwhelming need.

I encourage students to ask the questions needed to feel comfortable, make the decision that is first best for themselves and their family, and then to consider the more vulnerable in our society.

What campus resources do you want to make sure our students are aware of?

Please seek care if you are ill. Students have services available to them at Student Health, Counseling Services, and Community Counseling and Assessment Services (CCAS).

Be preventative; ask for help before you are in too much trouble.

We directly contacted students who reported feeling low levels of support. If you ever need support, but don't know who to ask, please reach out. This could be to an instructor or advisor you trust, to one of the resource offices listed above, or sending us an email at thecollege@umkc.edu.

76 faculty and staff in the College of Arts and Sciences were named as giving excellent support and demonstrating care for our students. About 40 more outside the College were named, as well. We send kudos to everyone and often get responses like this one: "This is a great encouragement and reminder for me to do my job better and to help students when they are in need of help as best as I can."

This section is one we particularly focus on when sharing results with faculty, staff, and department chairs. It can help to remember that you have many aspects of your lives and identities that influence the quality of your academic journey. One respondent said "These responsibilities and concerns hinder my ability to give 100% effort to my classes."

Thank you all for sharing about what is working well and what could be better for you to be able to more completely enrich your experience at UMKC. We look forward to continuing to strive toward supporting you more and better.