Students' life circumstances need not marginalize them. The author's students--Margot and Steve--missed out on her full support because she assumed they had lots of support of their own, given their race and the socioeconomic status she assigned to them. She focused on their papers, not their lives. The complicated areas of students' lives don't…

Describes how Penn State solved the problem of finding out about students' habits, concerns, preferences, and thoughts on college services by utilizing a phone survey. With the creation of Penn State Pulse, educators had an ongoing way to survey students' opinions and to communicate results. The key factor to the project's success is the quick…