Dear Students

Dear Students: 10 Letters to Empower and Transform Your Higher Education Journey is a higher education guide that prepares students to authentically and intentionally "do school." This is not your typical "how-to" guide. Dear Students uses narratives to illuminate critical topics that will foster the reader’s understanding of valuable matters such as getting noticed and having your experiences centered; building a circle of support; the significance of faculty relationships including building those relationships in spaces like office hours; addressing fears of speaking, disrupting silence, and engaging voice in the classroom; developing deep listening; cultivating community; nurturing belonging; preparing to participate; and keeping hope alive. Readers will engage moments of critical reflection and leave with many diverse "know-how" strategies that will position them to "do-school" from a place of empowerment and for the purpose of transformation. This book will support the journey of all students, and the people who support them, but is an especially important resource for students holding marginalized identities such as first-generation college students.

Meredith Madden is Assistant Professor of Education at Utica University. She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Foundations of Education from Syracuse University. A publicly engaged scholar activist, her recent work has been published in the Teaching for Social Justice Series and in Equity and Excellence in Education. Information on Meredith's consulting services through her program The Equity Prof can be found by visiting www.equityprof.com.