Abstract
In this episode of The Professor Podcast, Amir Mohamed discusses how his upbringing as the child of working-class immigrants shaped his research on belonging in higher education. Drawing on personal experience and scholarship, he explains that belonging involves inclusion, recognition, connection, and agency, and that it plays a crucial role in student success—especially for first-generation and BIPOC students. Mohamed argues that colleges must actively cultivate belonging rather than expecting students to find it themselves, and he highlights classroom practices, institutional responsibility, and approaches like culturally sustaining pedagogy as ways to create more supportive and equitable learning environments.