Dr. Jeff Docking: The Question Every Student Is Really Asking

Описание: Every student walking onto a college campus is asking one fundamental question, whether they realize it or not: Do I matter? Dr. Jeffrey Docking has built Adrian College around answering that question through community, not factory-model metrics. In this conversation, he reveals why degrees without belonging are hollow, how community is sustenance for the soul, and what it takes to create universities where students truly feel like they belong.

In this episode of Architects of Belonging, we sit down with Dr. Jeffrey Docking, President of Adrian College, to explore the transformation from factories to communities in higher education. We discuss:

• The one question born into every human being: Do I matter?
• Why the factory model fails
• How community transforms the college experience beyond knowledge ingestion
• The existential crisis facing small private institutions today
• Building 53 sports teams to create micro-communities and affinity groups

"Every kid, every baby born anywhere in the world, any race, either gender, is born with one overriding question that supersedes everything else. Do I matter? And if they get the feeling that they matter through the love of their parents, the support of the community, people around them that say, hey, you are infinitely valuable—that all starts with community."

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ABOUT ARCHITECTS OF BELONGING
A video series of interviews with exceptional leaders in higher education who are building community to save universities from becoming factories. Through these conversations, we explore the defining transformation taking place today—from factories to communities—and how leaders are architecting universities where students feel seen, known, and inspired to belong.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Introduction
2:28 - Growing up in East Lansing and the foundation of education
5:45 - The big why: working on something bigger than ourselves
8:52 - Why this moment feels different for small colleges
12:49 - The transformative power of community in college
17:23 - The factory model is hollow
24:37 - Information through a computer chip vs. human experience
27:05 - Do I matter? The question that supersedes everything
29:35 - The marching band moment: discovering sustenance for the soul
32:11 - Creating affinity groups through 53 sports teams
34:23 - One cornhole at a time
35:11 - Using assessment to drive intentional community building
36:19 - The courage to bust a move
38:01 - Closing thoughts

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