Kellie Raffaelli, the Dean of Students and Associate Vice President for Student Affairs works on projects behind the scenes that many people don’t realize. “Right now I’m trying to work on the exam policies… they’re confusing [and] they all say something different,” she says. Raffaelli is working to unify these documents and reduce confusion for students and faculty. “For example, the Winter Carnival exam policy… was last updated in 1975.” Coming up, she will have to write a proposal for the new policies and bring it to the university senate for voting and approval. She says she “would like to make one clear policy that everyone can follow.”
Raffaelli’s office also helps students handle academic suspensions and appeals. “We provide a lot of support to students [on] how to do that process, ask us for advice on how to write their appeal,” and more. Students who fear they may face suspension and have a strong case to appeal can reach out for support, as well. “Students never know that they can get help with those things, they don’t have to just do it on their own.”
The student success council works closely with Raffaelli to make improvements for students and faculty across campus. Within the council, the accessibility subcommittee continually makes improvements to issues on their websites and physical issues on campus. Another subcommittee for academic advising reviews surveys and trains advisors to better help students.
The Student Commission is also run by Raffaelli. “A big issue right now that the students have is that they took away the microwaves in the library.” Currently, she’s figuring out if they can get permission and a donation to cover the costs, otherwise they’ll have to request funding from USG. She says, “it is my goal that this semester… we would have two more microwaves in the library for students to use!” The Student Commission meets on the third Thursday of the month, and students are encouraged to bring up any issues they have. “The microwaves are just as important as those bigger policy issues.” Check out the Student Commission website for the form or email any concerns to studentcommission@mtu.edu.
As the semester comes to a close, many students are facing burnout and other challenges. Raffaelli says her projects are piling up at this time of year, too. She likes using her calendar and “false deadlines” to stay on track. It’s good to organize your time well, but she strongly recommends scheduling rest time, too. She suggests you say “no” when things are piling up. Prioritize your mental health first and schedule time to relax each day. “Even if you can give yourself 20 minutes, or even half an hour, to take a complete break.” She wants students to give themselves a complete mental break from constantly consuming information-this includes social media and scrolling! Small changes like this can aid in fighting burnout, and Raffaelli says students are welcome to come talk to her. “Recognize the signs of burnout… if you’re getting irritated with your friends easily, and you just have no interest in doing anything… it might be time to talk to somebody.”
