Sammy Gulliver, third year Law student and recent recipient of the Business and Law Faculty Award for Student Excellence has accepted a new role as the BAL Chief Student Fun Officer (CSFO).
Sammy is also a peer mentor and Student Voice Ambassador. BAL’s Student Voice Ambassadors are a new layer of student representation aimed at strengthening the course rep system to ensure every student voice is heard. It is one of the outcomes of the BAL TaLEnt programme, led by Dr Leanne De Main – the BAL Associate Dean Academic – to further cement the faculty’s excellent support infrastructure for students that’s seen BAL’s professional service colleagues win several excellence awards.
A very good example of this excellence is the , which has significantly improved support to BAL students, making it easier for them to find help and information. The programme has also resulted in a significant uptake of the Certified Management and Business Educator (CMBE) accreditation and a commitment to its framework for continuous professional development by academics across the faculty.
Sammy’s role has a very serious side to it. According to Dr Chris Odindo, Associate Professor, Student Experience, since research has found that laughter and humour can have significant positive psychophysiological impacts on individuals. Its power can be a key tool in not just improvements of health but also enhancements of teaching and learning (see for example Savage et al. 2017*).
Indeed, some of the studies have now been documented in books including the excellent ‘Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient’ written by Norman Cousins on Mirthful laughter and Robert Provine’s ‘Curious Behaviour: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping, and Beyond’. It is not just about the science though but also recognition that current learners are living in unprecedented times and that BAL faculty is doing everything possible to help them grow and thrive, and support them through it all.
The role involves Sammy developing ideas designed to encourage her fellow students in the BAL community to engage in fun-related and laughter inducing activities as well community boosting ones. As part of that, she is curating a special newsletter series that will be out every Friday, which will also include links to the wealth of support the BAL faculty has available for students in a wide range of areas including more learning opportunities, academic and assessment support, wellbeing, library and learning resources, and many more.
*Savage, B.M, Lujan, H, L, Thipparthi, R, and DiCarlo, S, E (2017), Humour, Laughter, Learning, and Health! A brief review, Advances in Physiology Education 41:3, 341-347
Posted on Monday 21 February 2022