Debra Robinson

For students, success is about more than just good grades; to get the most out of their university experience and reach their full potential, students need to be supported in all aspects of their well-being. This understanding is central to the work of Debra Robinson, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

In today’s conversation, Debra sat down with Max Webber, Co-Host of The Interview, to discuss topics including her background in psychology, strategies for fostering a sense of belonging and community, and how to build constructive conversations across divides. 

Debra's Journey

Max: Let’s start with a brief introduction to yourself and your career so far.

I’m Debra Robinson, and I’m the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at Missouri University of Science and Technology. I'm a psychologist by training – I went to graduate school at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and I always had an interest in Higher Education. As an undergraduate, I had the opportunity to work for the provost on things like looking at enrollment projections and faculty profiles. As I went through graduate school, I decided to become a psychologist in the counseling center. That's how I started here in 1980, and I began progressing from there. 

Max: How have you found the transition from working in counseling to the world of Student Affairs? How has your background in psychology influenced your approach?

When I started here, our counseling center was a part of student affairs; as well as working with people dealing with things like depression, I also used my skills as a psychologist to support students with other issues they were facing. In this line of work, you need to spend more time listening than talking. You can learn so much just by observing and listening to people. So I think that was an easy transition. I find that developing my staff is something I do all the time – one staff member told me I’m different from other supervisors because I take a pretty strong developmental approach. You need to always try to help people see things from other points of view and how they could do things differently – ask, rather than tell.

Max: What’s the key to fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion so that every student can feel like part of a community?

Our campus is 75% male and 25% female – that creates a unique dynamic in terms of our student population. We are highly focused on science and engineering, and that has historically attracted more male applicants, although we’re trying hard to increase female enrollment. That has a real impact on how we go about trying to create a sense of belonging. With our athletic programs, our student athletes tend to do really well because they connect with the community – they grow, they develop, and they graduate at higher rates. We also have student design teams that experience the same phenomenon. If you feel like you're a part of something more than yourself, you’re more likely to do well. Fraternities and sororities do exactly the same thing – members tend to do really well because they feel like part of a community. We try to be intentional in our approach; for example, we have a program called Vanguard Scholars, a scholarship program for students who don’t come from traditional academic backgrounds. That program has taken in some students who might have otherwise struggled and helped to make them highly successful. Creating intentional communities makes a huge difference because it allows people to connect.

Max: Recent guests have discussed the tensions on college campuses across the US, especially when it comes to free speech. How can we encourage students to engage in civic discourse respectfully and constructively? 

It’s a huge challenge. In terms of student behavior, our students tend not to be as politically active, so we haven’t seen the same level of demonstrations as many of our peer institutions.  We try to lead by example; if a group wants to march through campus, we’ll usually send an administrator with them. That will help them to make their voice heard in a respectful way. By allowing students to organize and giving them that responsibility, we foster a culture of mutual respect. Sometimes, people might get reactive when we have a speaker on campus – for example, we recently had a guest preacher, and students either loved him or hated him. But ultimately, we all have a right to free speech – we can’t shut down speech, but we can encourage people to exercise it in a respectful way. Our diversity and inclusion staff have been excellent in introducing a lot of different programs and helping students understand that diversity goes beyond race or gender – it’s also about ideas. We've had a lot of different events to show different ways of demonstrating tolerance. We're trying to get people to understand things that were not part of their upbringing, and to consider ideas that challenge their beliefs –  to be truly educated, you need to have a broader view of things beyond your own experience. 

Max: Students have a lot of demands on their attention. How do you ensure that your key messages cut through? 

I don't do this alone – we’re all in this together. That’s probably one of the reasons we make it work. Student Involvement, Residential Life, and diversity programs all have a lot of contact with students. I meet with student leaders on a regular basis to discuss their concerns. Sometimes, just hearing people out is the best thing to do. We can’t just do the things we think are good ideas; we need to listen to what students really need if we want to help them become successful. 

Max: What’s the top piece of advice you’d give to anyone starting a career in student affairs? 

It’s all about mindset; keep one foot inside your comfort zone and one outside of it. It’s natural to want to do the things you feel confident about, but if you spend too much time there, you're going to be bored. You need to stretch yourself and try different things – that helps you stay energized and able to grow.