Sarah Burrows
Professor
she/her
Sarah is very inclusive, makes me feel welcome and puts a smile on my face. She understands mental health and how it can affect education. Such that, Sarah makes everyone feel equal and worthy as a part of the class community and discussion. She also helps with assessments. These actions help me with my overall university experience. I feel better thanks to Sarah and the determination, detail and dedication she puts into making my peers and I feel as though we have a welcoming environment to learn. Her actions ensure qualitative teaching with care, in an environment where it feels like the student voice is truly heard.
Anonymous Student
Mental health is feeling a sense of peace within yourself. I view mental health as a journey that requires support from those around you. Certain periods might be difficult (e.g., feeling sadness, or anxiety). Hopefully, those difficult periods can be overcome by turning to those you trust and feel safe with so you can once again experience feelings of happiness and peace within yourself. I believe mental health is something we have to work towards every day and in our hectic lives we often need a reminder to take time for ourselves to recover and rest.
One of the most important things for me as an educator is to foster psychological safety within the classroom. Classroom "culture" is really important because I want students to feel that they can speak their opinions freely and not be judged, knowing that their peers and I are there to support them. I teach entrepreneurship and part of my research also involves studying entrepreneurial wellbeing. I try to bring in content on the "dark side" of entrepreneurship (e.g., loneliness, stress, failure) because I think we often romanticize entrepreneurship without providing students with a realistic preview of associated difficulties.
In the last session of every semester, I have a mini-lecture on failure not only in the context of entrepreneurship but also in life - to try to destigmatize failure. This semester, the classroom discussions around failure were particularly eye-opening as many students shared how competitive and lonely their undergraduate experiences felt in moments. They often felt like they were the only ones who experienced feelings of anxiety, loneliness, etc. These discussions made them realize their peers also felt this way and that it comes down to how the topic is currently not openly discussed. I think destigmatizing the fear of failure and focusing on resiliency and practices to overcome that fear of failure need to be talked about more openly. I'm grateful that students felt comfortable sharing their experiences with me and their peers.
--- Professor Sarah Burrows