Nurturing Academic Well-Being in a Liminal Time

This spring semester, we have entered a state of liminality — an uncertain and ambiguous transition time when it is clear more changes are afoot but the path before us has yet to become clear. In this state of ongoing uncertainty and constant change, how can we nourish ourselves and stay well? How can we lead? In this interactive session, psychologist and educational developer Sarah Rose Cavanagh will guide us through exercises designed to identify courses of action to support student, faculty, and staff well-being in an uncertain time. She will share data from psychology, neuroscience, and pedagogy to support her proposed actions, and highlight insights from a new book project on the science of well-being. Attendees will have the opportunity for both reflection and discussion and leave with an action plan for the summer and fall.

About Sarah Rose Cavanagh

Sarah Rose Cavanagh is a psychologist, professor, and Senior Associate Director for Teaching and Learning at Simmons University, where she teaches classes on affective science and mental health, researches the intersections of emotion, motivation, and learning, and provides educational development for faculty. Sarah gives keynote addresses and workshops at a variety of colleges and national and international conferences, blogs for Psychology Today, and writes essays for venues like LitHub and The Chronicle of Higher Education. In her free time, she enjoys devouring fiction, spending time by the sea with her canine and human daughters, and cooking up pescatarian meals for good friends.