I know all my colleagues understand how important mental health is for the success of our students

“I believe mental health is a necessary condition for students’ success at any level of education,” says Borzou Rostami, assistant professor of Operations and Decisions Sciences at the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics. “A student with poor mental health tends to be less able to manage the stress and pressure of the course loads and the exams effectively, which will result in a poor academic outcome.

“We all need to help mental health to ensure a positive, active and safe educational environment.”

As a professor who mainly focuses on graduate courses in the Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Science degree in Management Analytics (MMA) programs, and who supervises MBA, PhD and postdoctoral students, Rostami has a unique insight into the stressors of post-graduate students. As an Our Laurier donor, he has made a commitment to supporting mental health for all Laurier students.

“I think the COVID-19 pandemic has brought into focus the mental health of the PhD and postdoc students because of their work, which is individual research projects with minimum social interactions,” he says.

For many post-graduate and post-doctoral students, social interaction is limited to weekly or bi-weekly meetings with their supervisor. This type of work is already often quite solitary, with much time spent alone at the computer, and now, even more so.

“The uncertain and unreliable job market and the fact that many of them are already married, some with families to support, have added another stress level to their lives, different than most undergraduate students,” adds Rostami.

As a donor, Rostami hopes to provide resources to Laurier “to help students assess their strengths and overall resilience.”

“I know all my colleagues at Laurier understand how important mental health is for the success of our students, our university and, ultimately, our society,” he says. “I hope we can all support student mental health and give to the Mental Health and Wellness Fund at Laurier.”

To join Borzou Rostami and hundreds of other staff and faculty who help our students thrive, make a donation online or by payroll today.