A Sense of Community

MATE faculty create community development among students

by Taylor Villanueva

Building strong relationships among peers can be difficult, especially while balancing a heavy courseload, clubs and extracurriculars. To combat these potential challenges, lecturer Nicole JohnsonGlauch incorporates a range of events throughout the school year so materials engineering students can feel connected to their classmates.

“I have hosted board game nights, a book club every quarter, pumpkin carving for Halloween, MATEsgiving (Thanksgiving for the MATE Department) and even a game of “Dungeons and Dragons” for the students,” she shared. “I’m also doing professional development events, like resume and cover letter workshops.”

The events provide ample opportunities for students to connect with their classmates who are going through, or have completed, the same coursework.

Senior Joselyn Hurtado is the president of Cal Poly’s Materials Engineering Student Society (MESS) and helps put on department events alongside the club’s officers.

“The event where I believe we bond the most and always have the most turnout is definitely MATEsgiving,” Hurtado said. “We bring food and eat together, hang out and have a movie playing in the background. It’s nice to connect with younger MATE students and see how they are doing, as well as share advice.”

The department events help foster a community environment for materials engineering students.

“We have really close relationships with our instructors,” said junior Marcus Hawley. “It’s easy to feel seen when your professors know who you are and have an understanding of your skillset and interests and can point you in the right direction.”

Johnson-Glauch attributes the camaraderie in the Materials Engineering Department as part of the reason she joined the department.

“I had a similar community feel when I was an undergraduate student and wanted to have that when I became a faculty member,” she explained.

Besides hosting a range of events, the Materials Engineering Department also provides designated gathering spaces.

“We have two department spaces open to students,” Hawley shared. “One is a classroom and the other is our student lounge.”

The dedicated spaces provide a place for students to study or socialize with their peers.

“Encouraging a sense of belonging has been shown to help students thrive academically, but I like to think that empowering students to form relationships with their peers will have benefits throughout their lives,” Johnson-Glauch said. n