{"id":639,"date":"2026-01-16T16:55:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/studentaffairs\/?p=639"},"modified":"2026-02-19T14:03:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:03:27","slug":"deans-welcome-january-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/studentaffairs\/2026\/01\/16\/deans-welcome-january-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Dean’s Welcome – January 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Happy New Year, UNE families! A new semester is upon us, and with that comes an opportunity for me to offer ideas on ways to communicate with your student about starting the term with strategies that support their success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not unlike the resolutions some of us may commit to when the calendar hits January 1st<\/sup>, so too, do many of our students resolve to \u201ctry harder\u201d. What do we know about resolutions though? To be most effective, they should be specific and actionable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Simply saying we\u2019ll prioritize our health isn\u2019t as effective as, for example, committing to taking a walk for 20 minutes three times a week. The latter is specific and reflects an action we can more easily check off as \u2018done\u2019. In the same way, if you hear your student reflect that they\u2019ll just \u201ctry harder\u201d, I encourage you to ask them what that means. If they come up short, here are some ideas you might relay to help them think more strategically about what \u201ctrying harder\u201d might actually look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n