The Importance of Faculty Involvement in a Society
Written By: Angus Mancini-Miller
Thumbnail and Banner Photo by Vitaly Gariev via Unsplash
Student societies have very intricate levels of involvement. One of the least used resources by societies is our amazing professors. Faculty members can assist in too many ways to list in a single article, so I’ll only be going over what I think are the most important aspects of a faculty relationship.
When your academic career begins, it’s hard to know or find resources related to your degree, especially finding a society that meets your interests. Faculty members are usually many students’ first introduction to university life, and are therefore one of the easiest ways to access resources that would otherwise remain unknown. It follows that most of the faculty will, at the very least, be aware of active student societies in their department. While faculty members can be a great source of information on where to find specific societies, they can also inform you whether a society even exists in relation to said degree.
As a personal anecdote, when I started attending SMU, I was excited to join a philosophy society, so I naturally asked one of my professors where I could sign up. To my surprise, there was no student philosophy society established at SMU. As a result of learning this, I, along with two of my friends, went on to found SMU’s current philosophy society. But we were only able to achieve that goal because members of our philosophy department taught us how to start a student society. Even when we started organizing events for our society, our department’s faculty helped us navigate SERM forms and suggested the types of events we could run. To be clear, my anecdote is meant to illustrate how effective faculty can be at assisting societies, especially when it comes to the degree-specific societies.
By virtue of being at a university for much longer than students, faculty gain a better understanding of what is needed for student societies to both succeed and fail, and, for the most part, faculty members want to see your society thrive, even if it isn’t fully related to their field. For instance, if you have a professor with similar interests to your society, it might be worth asking whether they are interested in helping with future events, which can also lead to the longevity of the society, even after you have graduated.
Especially if your society is focused on academics, faculty members can be of the utmost importance for certain events. For example, they could host different talks regarding their research or assist with a student-run conference. In fact, they might even know people related to specialized events and be able to put you in contact with them.
Another important aspect of faculty involvement is that it can strengthen the local community at SMU. The more success your society sees, the more acquainted your faculty becomes with students and vice versa. This is yet another reason why faculty can help sustain student societies. Moreover, it helps new students understand that there isn’t as great a divide as they thought between academics and social life, hopefully making them feel less pressure when discussing academics with their professors.
On top of this, an easy way for societies to gain new members is through faculty involvement. For example, SMU’s Debate Society could reach out to some political science or philosophy faculty to see if they could present at the end of a first- or second-year class to recruit new members. Or, if the SMU Chemistry Society reached out to the chemistry faculty, they could do the same, likely contacting students who were unaware of the society’s existence. Another option for faculty could be to include a pre-made slide created by the respective society in a PowerPoint presentation. Advertisements and member capture are among the easiest ways for faculty to help students and societies benefit from an already established relationship with professors.
Lastly, faculty can assist societies with administrative matters, advocating on their behalf, and helping them book rooms for events or meetings. The mentorship that can be provided through a society’s relationship with a faculty member is invaluable. If you’re looking to start a society, find one that matches your interests, or just want to get faculty members more involved in your society’s events, it might be worth talking to a faculty member/department that you think could help!