She Needed an Academic On-side

An open glass office on the ground floor of Student Omni Services housed several agencies: disability support, student loans, financial advice and bursaries, counselling, housing, health services, learning support, visas and something to do with managing overseas student affairs, called ‘OMG’. A woman stooped over a broken photocopier. Several strands escaped her messy bun; she didn’t seem to notice or mind. As Mike stopped, hesitant, she looked up and walked towards him, with a long and easy stride.

“Mike?”

“Yes! Lauryn?”

“Great to meet you - come and let’s talk, I like to meet all the new staff and see how we can work together with the academics”.

Mike followed Lauryn into a small private office, where she closed the door. He said,

“Oh, I’m glad it’s not all glass open-plan”, adding, “I mean, for the sake of the students in trouble, who’d like it to be a bit private”.

Lauryn smiled at his innocence. Of course, as soon as a student was led out of the main SOS area and into a private office like this, everyone knew that the student was in some kind of ‘confidential’ mess or other. And with so many support services all piled up together in one location, there was plenty of coming and going, meaning that students had a good chance of bumping into someone they knew. Being seen in SOS could be a mark of shame or failure at worst, something you had to explain to inquisitive enquirers at best. The standard cover story of a ‘delayed student loan payment’ never fooled anyone. This meant that traffic was less than it might have been. Lauryn worried that, for every student she helped, there were 3 who felt ashamed or afraid to come into SOS. Bloody managers and idiot architects!

Lauryn turned on her elaborate filter kettle with an energetic flick and asked,

“What would you like? I don’t do coffee or tea but I’ve got loads of herbal teas and stuff”.

“Green tea, please, if you’ve got it”, Mike said.

Bless him, he looked grateful. Sweet guy. Lauryn pointed to the shelf:

“Which one?”

There was green tea with turmeric, green tea and jasmine flower, green tea with lemon, and straight green tea. Most of these she’d chosen for the colours and the patterns on the boxes as much as for the taste. A tiny thing like a vibrant and welcoming tea shelf could make an impact in this kind of space.

“Wow”, Mike said, and Lauryn heard, not mocking, but genuine gratitude in his voice as he asked,

“Straight-up green tea, please. Thanks!”

Lauryn looked at him, her head slightly on one side, reading him. She raised her eyebrows.

“Is the tea so exciting?”

“Oh, it sounds a bit stupid, but I’ve only been here 2 days and I’m already feeling a bit overwhelmed. It’s good to be in such a welcoming space”.

Lauryn smiled and cleared an area on her cluttered desk for two small ceramic tea-cups, moving aside a jade Buddha and a glass paperweight swirled with different shades of fiery orange. As the tea’s dull green leaves slowly unfurled into the liquid, the steam rising from Lauryn’s cup was faintly citrus. She smiled and spoke.

“So, shall I start?”

It was amazing to have a new staff member who’d actually taken up her offer of a meet-up. 47 emails sent out and only 1 response. This was precious. She leaned forward.

“Here, we offer all kinds of support to students, and we really encourage the academic staff to work with us in identifying which students need what kind of help, and getting them to us in time. Early intervention can make such a difference. You wouldn’t believe some of the turnarounds we’ve seen here. You’re in ASH faculty, right?” Mike nodded. “I could tell you right off about at least three students I can think of in the last couple of years who started out making Ds and Cs and ended up with first class and high 2:1 degrees.”

If she could impress on him how much of a difference SOS could make, he might help encourage students to come in. She needed an academic on-side.

“That’s great”, said Mike. “And I definitely want to work with you. I believe in the power of positive support, I mean, I know how it can help. I was at a pretty average school, but because I had good teachers who gave me confidence and practical help, it made a difference.”

Lauryn looked at her Buddha paperweight and nodded her head, smiling. Magic! He could be a SOS ambassador. Get students in, maybe even encourage his colleagues to use SOS more. Cut through the cynicism a bit, perhaps.

“Mike, that’s great to hear. So many of our academics just don’t realise how important this stuff is. What courses are you teaching? Where can we work together?”

She was doing a good job at keeping the tone warm and informal, building a relationship. He looked relaxed, interested. Great.

“I’ve got the 2nd year undergrads, core course. The adjuncts–”

“The Faculty Assistant Teachers, the FATs”.

“Yes, sorry. The FATs will be running classes, of course, but I’ll be doing their lectures and co-ordinating”.

“Well, Mike, let me ask you for a favour, if I can?”

Mike nodded, and she saw that his eyes were fixed on that messy bun quivering on top of her head as she spoke with enthusiasm, gesturing and leaning forward towards him. That hairstyle had emerged after a lot of experimentation. The professionalism of an up-do, but with a relaxed friendly vibe. A vivid sense of presence made more impression and gave you an edge; those tall women who try to become small didn’t understand that. She said,

“If you meet your FATs every week and ask them to tip you off fast about any student who’s struggling, and if you let me know - confidentially of course - then we can think about how to get that student the positive input they need. Of course, all academic staff on core courses are meant to meet their FATs weekly, but almost nobody does. So busy, you know ...?” Mike nodded and looked a bit beaten, poor love, as he said,

“I know. Already, I know”. She felt for him. Being new was tough.

“Lauryn”, he said.

She was pleased to see him experiment with her carefully-crafted habit of addressing people by name; it would help him in his relationships with his students. There was something else, though. Was he also trying out the feel of her name in his mouth? She parked the thought.

Mike went on,

“That sounds like good practice and something that we all ought to do, yeah. Promise I’ll do that. I’ll be meeting my FATs next week so I’ll give them a heads-up about this.”

“Great! I’ll count on you”.

Lauryn sparkled. Good-hearted guy. Sincere.

Mike leaned in.

“Lauryn”

Her name again! He was definitely trying it out and enjoying the feels. Good to see that her ‘tea and tone’ approach was working - no sign now of that nervousness or embarrassment from when he’d first come in.

Mike’s request to Lauryn arrived very frankly worded.

“I’ve never supervised a PhD student before. And I’ve been allocated one who is a final year, on a tight deadline, and seems to be struggling. She’s plainly very bright, but…”

“But …?” Wow, she’d already built relationship here! He was showing trust. Humility, too - that was unusual. Young academics could be so prickly and status-conscious. He was looking at Lauryn as though to gauge reaction. She’d have to be careful to encourage, and not shut him down.

“Well” he said, “I feel she’s hampered more by psychological barriers than academic ones - it looks like perfectionism, procrastination, imposter syndrome and all that. You know”.

Lauryn nodded vehemently.

“Oh we know, in here all right - we know”.

Mike went on.

“The difficulty for me is that I think she doesn’t recognise that about herself. She talked to me about having a ‘complicated life’ ”.

Mike looked at Lauryn, as if to check that he wasn’t going off-track here. She leaned forward, put her cup down, let him know she was giving all her attention and taking this very seriously, as he went on, slower now, and hesitant.

“I mean, you’re the expert in all this, but to me, it seems that everyone has complicated lives”. He looked at her for agreement, but she was careful to keep neutral; she needed to see where this was going. He went on,

“Life is complicated. For everybody. It’s how you handle the problems that make the difference. And I don’t have the tools to help her find her own strength. Do you think there’s anything you could offer her? I mean, do you also help grad students in here, as well as undergrads?”

Lauryn leaned back nodding, bun wobbling, and picked her tea up again, taking a sip. Relationship built! A chance to intervene and help two people at once. Discussions about barriers and mental health and why some students struggled could wait another day. He’d get it, he just needed some training, probably. She said,

“Of course - send her over! Come with her, if you like, for the first meeting, and we can talk about how to get her on track. We work here with all the students - BA, MA, PhD”. Lauryn took another sip of tea as Mike did the same; their eyes met in a smile as she went on, in her best tone of calm and reassurance,

“Anyone can need support at any stage of studying”.

“Great, thanks”, Mike said, breathing out long and slow and taking another sip from his tea. “I’ll pop in with Izzie next week”.

Oh God.

“Did you say Izzie? You mean Isobel Sharp?”, Lauryn asked.

“Yes, do you already know her?”

Lauryn squeezed out a smile and nodded her head very slowly, her bun swaying gently. She breathed out slowly, keeping calm, and forced herself to soften her eyes and broaden her smile into one of confident empathy.

“We all know her, we’ve been working with her for the past 2 years”.

Mike put his tea down, a little heavily. A drop splashed onto the desk. He pulled a tissue from the box on the desk and rubbed at the small mess.

Lauryn leaned in and reached towards Mike’s arm, but didn’t touch it. She needed to get him on side, needed to pull something out of the bag here for him. She didn’t want to lose him. She spoke calmly and with a low tone - serious, but assured. She held her head steady, and her hair settled into stillness.

“Mike - I’m so glad you came to see me. We’ve been doing our best, and we did manage to get her through 3rd year continuation assessment, and onto the final year, but she’s been a difficult case. But I’m sure that with you as a fresh new supervisor, and with another push of tailored support from us, we can get her writing.”

Lauryn saw panic in Mike’s eyes and she moved quickly, saying,

“Very bright student - a 1st at undergrad; a competitive scholarship - you know how few AHRC grants there are - we only have 2 of those in the entire ASH; and she started off so well in year one, slowed down in year 2 and then somehow things went bad for her in year 3. She’s had counselling, writing support, one-to-ones, a mentor, a grad-student buddy - we’ve thrown everything we’ve got at her to be honest”.

Mike’s face clouded, and Lauryn scolded herself. She made sure now to drag back that upbeat and confident mood. She needed to get the academics on board with recommending SOS more, and Mike actually seemed engaged with it all. She’d have to do something more for Izzie, or she’d risk losing him. Also, she realised, he was cute. How about a tailor-made custom support plan? A bit of extra effort?

She said,

“Let’s meet next week, all three of us, and see if we can come up with some fresh ideas and a work-plan for her? This calls for something more than off-the-shelf solutions, don’t you think?”

“Definitely” said Mike, a little too quickly and eagerly.

Lauryn smiled. He was super-cute, actually.

He went on,

“I’m so relieved to be getting support from you for helping Izzie. I want to do my best by her”

Lauryn gave him her warmest look, projecting vibes of calm and confidence. She needed him to trust in her and in SOS. He added,

“And it’ll be nice to come back here again, too, Lauryn”. He looked down into his tea-cup.

Shy guy! Mega-cute. Lauryn reached to adjust a curl that was escaping her bun as she heard him say,

“And next time, I’ll bring my own keep-cup to save you washing-up”.

She grinned and waved her hand, saying,

“It’s nothing! You’re so welcome!”

“And I might try that jasmine green tea next visit”.

Lauryn grinned and said,

“You’re on! I’ll make sure I don’t offer it to anyone else in the meantime”.

On that ambiguous remark (she hadn’t meant it like that, it had just come out that way; it was so exciting to have an actually relatable and keen academic ) Mike looked embarrassed, but he was smiling as he stood up. Definitely looked happier than when he’d walked in. He was tall, she noticed.

Lauryn felt sure that there was an extra warmth into his voice as he replied, (also with deliberate ambiguity, or was she imagining it?)

“Ooh yes, please do save some for me. I’ll be looking forward to it!”

Lauryn spent the rest of the day doing her job on auto-pilot while she brainstormed a strategy for Izzie - and for Mike.

Curious to meet Izzie? Here she is. Go gently. She’s a royal arse-pain and is also in deep struggle.