Using the Mullen 5 Layer Bioecological Model to Reflect on University Culture and Student Success
- Greg Mullen
- May 8
- 4 min read
In the face of increasing calls for transformation in higher education, universities across the country are reexamining how well their values, policies, and practices align with the needs and experiences of their students.
A recent conversation with a University student raised concerns about inclusivity, cultural understanding, and institutional coherence, offering a timely opportunity to introduce a reflective framework with broad applicability: the Mullen 5 Layer Bioecological Model for Who We Are and How We Learn.
This model presents a holistic, nested system of human development and identity, emphasizing how culture and character shape learning and behavior. It gives institutions a powerful tool for analyzing how students grow, and how institutions either support or hinder that growth, across five interdependent layers. Any university can use this model to identify cultural misalignments, structural barriers, or hidden values that limit the full realization of their mission.
Layer 1: Elements of Culture – Understanding the System We’re All Part Of
The outermost layer examines cultural elements: language, government, philosophy, norms and traditions, structural relationships, art and literature, and the allocation of resources. These define the institution's worldview and signal what is prioritized or marginalized. For example:
Does the university speak in inclusive or exclusionary language?
Are decision-making processes centralized (government) or collaborative?
Is the prevailing philosophy rooted in hierarchy or mutual learning?
At the University level, concerns about representation, relationships with multicultural communities, and inequities in institutional priorities suggest tension in this layer. For any university, a cultural audit of these elements can reveal disconnects between what the institution says about its culture and what its structures and traditions actually promote.
Layer 2: Core Values – Identifying What We Really Stand For
Moving inward, the second layer focuses on core values such as respect, responsibility, fairness, integrity, trust, and community. These values should guide how policies are written, how people interact, and how the university resolves conflict. However, universities often struggle to make values visible in daily practice.
Questions for reflection include:
Are values embedded in hiring, admissions, discipline, and classroom culture?
Do students and staff experience fairness, trust, and community?
Are values applied consistently across departments and identity groups?
In a University setting, perceived gaps between values and actions may be leading to disillusionment. By addressing this layer, institutions can assess how their stated values are being enacted (or contradicted) across the organization.
Layer 3: Socioemotional Competencies – Building the Human Skills to Thrive
The third layer identifies socioemotional competencies like empathy, self-awareness, self-regulation, and communication. These human capacities are critical to learning, leadership, and interpersonal relationships. Universities must support students and faculty in developing these competencies, especially when navigating diverse communities and perspectives. This layer also calls on institutions to ask:
Are socioemotional skills taught and modeled in curriculum and leadership?
Are students supported in managing stress, conflict, and identity development?
Are faculty and staff equipped to engage in emotionally intelligent dialogue?
Across Universities, cultural conflict and emotional harm often result from a lack of these competencies (and not from a lack of intent). Universities that invest in socioemotional development for both staff and students will foster safer, stronger, more resilient learning environments.
Layer 4: Ranges of Behaviors – What We See in Action
The fourth layer focuses on behaviors, specifically the observable ways people act, interact, and respond in different environments. These are shaped by internal traits in response to external systems. This is where institutional values become visible in practice:
How do staff behave during crises or conflict?
What classroom behaviors are rewarded or punished?
How are student actions interpreted through cultural or disciplinary lenses?
Disparities in behavioral expectations often reflect deeper structural or cultural biases. When certain students or faculty are labeled "unprofessional," "difficult," or "not a good fit," institutions should pause and examine whether those judgments reflect broader misunderstandings or inequitable norms.
Layer 5: Personality Traits – Acknowledging Individual Differences
At the core of this model are personality traits, including openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Each student and educator brings a unique personality profile that influences how they learn, communicate, and grow. This layer encourages universities to ask:
Do our learning environments respect introverts and extroverts equally?
Are we designing systems flexible enough for differences in motivation and organization?
Are we allowing room for disagreement as much as we are for collaboration?
Where institutions misread personality traits as deficits, rather than differences, students and staff often feel alienated or unsupported. By recognizing and honoring personality diversity, universities can better engage the full spectrum of their community.
Final Thought: Reactive Reform to Proactive Alignment
The Mullen Bioecological Model is more than a diagnostic tool—it’s a mirror. It helps universities see themselves not just as academic institutions, but as cultural ecosystems that shape and are shaped by human development. It shows that to truly support student learning, institutions must align their culture, values, structures, and expectations.
The concerns raised in my recent conversation with a University student can be found, in some form, at nearly every University. But any institution willing to look closely across all five layers can begin transforming those concerns into clarity, alignment, and growth.
In this sense, the Mullen Bioecological Model offers not just a theory but a call to action.
Greg Mullen
May 8, 2025
