Removing Language Barriers to Student Success and Belonging


Monday, February 9, 2026
4:00 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.
Online
Faculty


Melanie Rabine

Join Melanie Rabine-Johnson, Academic Resources and Retention Specialist, to discuss college as a foreign culture and language new to students, regardless of their background and experiences. Melanie asserts that student-belonging comes about as a result of feeling included and dignified by a community within a culture of norms and expectations. Using the 6 Principles of TESOL as they relate to research mentoring, Melanie will help faculty participants gain transferable skills for working with diverse student populations to affirm a students belonging regardless of background or experiences.

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Melanie Rabine-Johnson is the Academic Resources and Retention Specialist at Grand Valley State Universitys College of Education and Community Innovation, where she works at the intersection of academic advising, student success, and institutional support. She currently advises graduate students in the Master of Social Work program and collaborates closely with faculty and professional advisors to support at-risk students, design student-facing resources, and facilitate professional development programming.


Location Information


Please go to the RSVP Link to register. We will send the zoom invitation out to all registered faculty in a separate email.  Please register on or before Friday, February 6 (end of workday), so that we know you intend to participate in order to receive the zoom invitation.


Contact Information


Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship; [email protected]; 616-331-8100


Tags

csce cuse faculty fellowships ftlc mentoring ours


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This event was added to the calendar by Brenda Tooley (tooleyb@gvsu.edu) on Tuesday, January 27, 2026 and was last updated on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at 11:46 a.m.