LUNCH & LEARN - Come & Play: Building Bridges Across Campus & Developing Supports for Students

You are invited to join SOCHE for a virtual lunch and learn entitled “Come and Play: Building Bridges Across Campus & Developing Supports for Students,” on Wednesday, Dec. 6, beginning at 12 p.m. ET. The session will be presented by Cara Calabrese, Abi Morgan, Jerry Yarnetsky, and Elizabeth Staarmann from the Miami University Library.

Board game culture has seen a resurgence in the last few years, as a hobby and through game design as a scholarly field. Since 2017, a group of Miami University library staff have developed an event series centered around board games, with long-standing goals of fostering collaboration with student organizations, campus centers, and faculty, while also providing a safe, fun place in the library for students to destress. The series has been highly successful with over 3,000 attendees who range from students, faculty, friends, and even parents.

The team will share how they have used this popular event to increase engagement with the university community, which has yielded a positive increase in the perception of the libraries across campus. The power of Games Night is that it has real flexibility to benefit students, faculty, and staff in totally different ways for all these groups.

Academically, they have teamed up with Games & Simulation program professors to play-test student games. They have partnered with student groups such as League of Geeks to promote community among students who enjoy gaming, and UNIDOS, the Latinx student group, for cultural sharing. The team used targeted grants from university offices to create events for students’ families and to create entertaining, stress-free alternatives to the college party scene. The libraries are a natural host as they already act as a bridge-builder for the university community.

Participants will gain information regarding:

• How the Library Games Committee reconnected and built relationships with other departments on campus and students
• The library’s role in student success, retention, and mental health support and how board games can support them all.
• Ways to market a unique event to colleagues, potential partners, and students that can embed the library in university culture, leading to increased value of the library on campus.
• Ideas they can implement in their own spaces.

We invite you to learn about how the Miami University Library has approached the creation of what has come to be a signature event series and share your experiences with creating your own gaming-based or other unique events aimed at supporting students in a non-traditional way.

Registration for this event will close on Sunday, Dec. 3.

When: Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 12 p.m. ET

Where: SOCHE Zoom platform (link sent at least 24 hours prior to event)

Cost:   

• Personnel from SOCHE member schools: $5
• Personnel from NON-member schools/organizations: $10
• Students: FREE

Questions? Contact Mindy Claggett at SOCHE

Student Registration Fee Policy

Registration Cancellation Policy

Registration for this event closes on Sunday, Dec 3.