RELATIONSHIP-RICH BOOK CLUB

 

The application to join the Relationship-Rich Education Book Club closes on February 16, 2026.

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Accepted participants will be notified by February 20, 2026, and will receive a free copy of the book! Space is limited.

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"Relationships are the beating heart of the undergraduate experience."

  -Peter Felten and Leo Lambert

 

For the P3’s 2026 Anchoring Higher Ed conference, we are focusing on the importance, perhaps centrality, of human relationships and relationship-building to college success. Decades of research demonstrates the transformative potential and lasting impact of a relationship-rich college experience. Our Spring 2026 book club pick, Relationship-Rich Education (Johns Hopkins UP, 2020), written by Peter Felten and Leo Lambert, systematically gathers and analyzes stories of how college relationships contribute to personal and intellectual growth, create and reinforce support structures needed for weathering challenges, and sustain students’ efforts well beyond matriculation. As additional material and research for their book, Felten and Lambert also conducted interviews with three hundred and eighty-five (385) students, faculty, and staff at twenty-nine (29) higher education institutions across the United States (including Rutgers University - Newark!). The stories they collected provide key on-the-ground insight and highlight a range of institutional initiatives designed to ensure that all students can learn in an environment characterized by high expectations and high support.

 

Central to the book's argument is that all faculty and staff can learn to teach and work in ways that enable relationship-based education. Across its six (6) chapters, Felten and Lambert explore the many kinds of relationships, e.g., student-to-student (peer), faculty-student, and staff-student, that undergird the college experience and unpack the transformative potential of each type, highlighting success stories from across their interview pool, institutional research, and literature review. They also candidly discuss the challenges of creating and sustaining a relationship-rich model of education within systems that ignore or may even penalize the investment of time and care that these relationships embody. Relationship-Rich Education concludes with strategic and practical advice for institutional and individual actions to prioritize relationships in their work.

 

As they note in the introduction, the premise of Relationship-Rich Education is that relationships should not occur primarily by happenstance or only for some students. “Indeed, scores of students we interviewed told us of moments when they were one relationship, or one conversation, away from dropping out of college. Relationships matter.” Despite an ever-changing landscape of technology, politics, and policies that affect higher education, an emphasis on cultivating relationships can (and should) be a north star to our work; an area of investment and focus that yields consistently positive results and sustains our own joy and satisfaction. ​​​​​​​​​

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Participant Expectations: 

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Accepted Participants are expected to attend Three (3) Group Discussions about the book. Meetings will occur during free periods (11:30 AM - 12:50 PM) on the following MONDAYS:

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• Intro. & Ch. 1 (40 pages) - March 9, 11:30 AM - 12:50 PM (Zoom)

• Ch. 2 & 3 (40 pages) -  March 23, 11:30 AM - 12:50 PM (Zoom)

• Ch. 4 & 5 (50 pages) - April 6, 11:30 AM - 12:50 PM (Zoom)

 

The final meeting will be in person, and Peter Felten will be in attendance to answer questions.

• Ch. 6 & Conclusion (30 pages) + Meeting with Author - Tuesday 4/21 (Time & Location TBA).

  • Note: This will be an IN-PERSON meeting.​

 

• Felten's keynote at the Anchoring Higher Ed Conference on April 22 from 11:00 AM - Noon will highlight relationship-building strategies and the renewed importance of human connection in today's educational landscape. Lunch follows, and book club members are encouraged to attend and participate in this important event.

 

 

Are you a student looking to learn more about how to build relationships in college? 

See Connections are Everything, the student-facing title on similar themes. ​​

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