1. Well-Being: An Essential Outcome for Higher Education
- Author
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Finley, Ashley
- Abstract
For over a decade, the national Bringing Theory to Practice (BTtoP) project has promoted the idea that well-being is an essential outcome of college students' learning and civic engagement. The project emphasizes the full promise of a liberal education: to be liberally educated is to possess the complex skills and abilities necessary for navigating an ever-changing, highly diverse global world. A liberal education includes not only intellectual skills--it also includes the personal capacities that help students to flourish in their lives and future careers. The expectation is that a liberal education should enable all students to understand their civic responsibilities and to connect to others on campus and in local, national, and global communities. Through this civic commitment and shared understanding, students will not only find joy in learning--they will gain a larger sense of who they are and the value of their contributions within and across communities. By providing modest funding, BTtoP supports campus programs and practices connecting students' learning and civic efforts in engaged-learning practices--such as learning communities, first-year seminars, and service-learning courses--to outcomes related to their personal growth and well-being. This article provides specific examples of programs funded through the BTtoP Well-Being Initiative. These programs exemplify the campuses' commitment to a liberal education that links well being with the institutional mission, resource allocation for sustained programmatic development, and faculty and staff engagement.
- Published
- 2016
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