Advocacy to support mental health and well-being at UNC-Chapel Hill so our students can thrive is a critical endeavor. There is an acute need among our graduate and professional students for mental health and well-being support. Many of our students come to Carolina with a variety of life experiences and diverse backgrounds, and as a University for all, we are committed to their success.
A well-being expo hosted by The Graduate School and several campus partners in early February demonstrated this need; nearly 525 graduate and professional students attended. More than 11,000 graduate and professional students, who come from a variety of disciplines, bolster our University’s mission of teaching, research and public service. What’s more, graduate students are the next generation of leaders who are pursuing careers in a variety of areas, including fields that champion mental health and well-being, such as nursing, social work and mental health counseling.
We have a moral obligation to our students as we strive to equip them with the tools they need in order to flourish at UNC. More broadly, we must strive to support graduate and professional students across our state, supporting students in the UNC System and beyond, so we can all advance together.
The pursuit of a graduate degree is designed to be rigorous, but it should not be undertaken at the expense of our students’ mental health and well-being. We can continue to build our community together by listening to our students, by providing the programming they need and by advocating for their success.
– Beth Mayer-Davis
Dean, The Graduate School
