Bethel College

Office of Culture and Belonging

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Welcome to the Office of Culture and Belonging

Our mission is to increase the sense of belonging among employees and students.

Belonging, in this context, occurs when each individual feels accepted, valued, and encouraged to participate in campus life. The Vice President of Culture and Belonging oversees these efforts along with a team of Culture and Belonging Faculty, Staff, and Student Fellows.

Have a question or concern? Fill out our Intake Form

Office of Culture and Belonging Goals

Create intervention processes to meet the needs of students, faculty, staff and alumni. These include:
- Working with the BC Director of Student Success to support students in a first responder capacity before they consider withdrawing from Bethel to attend another institution, or to drop out of school
  - Meeting with students to understand their concerns
  - Offering mentoring from Culture and Belonging Fellows as a means of support
- Offering support to BC HR Director in facilitating interventions for faculty and staff when needed
Conduct listening tours to determine what people want in an office focusing on culture and belonging by hearing from the following constituencies:
- Student campus organizations
- Faculty divisions
- Staff Welfare Committee
- Affiliates
- Alumni groups
- Any other groups indigenous to the Bethel Community
Belonging survey: We are asking for students, faculty, staff, and alumni to participate in a survey that addresses how people feel about belonging at Bethel
- Pre-survey offered at Fall Fest
- Post-survey sent out at school year end (for faculty, staff and students only) to measure belonging throughout the school year

Upcoming Events

Meet the Vice President of Culture and Belonging

Sheryl Wilson

Vice President of Culture and Belonging

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Sheryl R. Wilson (M.L.S.) has been a practitioner, trainer and educator in restorative justice for over 20 years, working with individuals, non-profits, academic institutions, and public agencies from around the world. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) holding a restorative justice-based master of liberal studies degree, a Kansas state-approved mediator, past President of the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice (NACRJ) board of directors, and serves by appointment on the Kansas Supreme Court’s Advisory Council on Dispute Resolution. Sheryl is the former Executive Director of the Kansas Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (KIPCOR) at Bethel College. She is the author of a chapter in Colorizing Restorative Justice, a book about restorative justice practitioners of color and the challenges they face. She is also co-author of The Little Book of Restorative Justice and Community: Reclaiming Connection and Responsibility for our Neighbors, which focuses on the role of community in restorative practices, to be published in 2025.