We believe

Higher education Should prioritize the Wellbeing of All Students

We believe

Higher education Should prioritize the Wellbeing of All Students

Rationale

Research in the last decade has shown that certain experiences in college lead to wellbeing and work engagement throughout life. These transformative experiences include emotionally supportive mentoring and experiential learning opportunities through which students connect curriculum and classroom experiences to real-world problem solving. There is robust evidence linking experiences like mentoring and experiential learning to the development of a sense of identity, belonging, agency and purpose. We believe these factors are the critical elements to a transformational education that leads to lifelong wellbeing.

Our History

In response to research findings linking learning-centered higher education approaches such as supportive mentorship and experiential learning to lifelong wellbeing, we came together as a diverse coalition of colleges and universities to take on a unifying challenge: If the impact of these experiences is so profound, don’t we have an obligation to ensure that they are available to every student?

2014

Gallup Purdue Index data is published.

June 2017

20 leaders from colleges and universities across the country gathered near Chicago O’Hare to review and interpret Gallup data. This was the initial meeting of the group that would become the Coalition for Transformational Education. 

August 2019

The Founding Document explaining the purpose and necessity of the Coalition for Transformational Education was drafted.

June 2021

The first Leaders’ Meeting of the Coalition was held, which featured a presentation by Dan Porterfield, President and CEO of The Aspen Institute.

September 2021

1st National Conference, held virtually, featuring presentations by Laurie Santos, professor of psychology at Yale University and expert on the science of happiness, and Jonathan Lee Walton,a social ethicist and religious educator who is now the President of the Princeton Theological Seminary.

March 2023

2nd National Conference, the Coalition’s first in-person conference, featuring presentations by Bill Burnett, Executive Director of the Life Design Lab at Stanford University, Robert Waldinger, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, Lynn Pasquerella, President of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and Nancy Gonzales, Executive Vice President and university Provost of Arizona State University.

July 2023

Launch of LearningWell magazine, a publication at the intersection of higher education and lifelong wellbeing.

March 2024

March 2024 3rd National Conference: Making Higher Education Work for Life featuring Corey Keyes, Pioneer in positive psychology, author and expert on flourishing and Professor of Sociology, Emory University College of Arts and Sciences; Wendy Suzuki, Dean of NYU’s College of Arts and Sciences and renowned expert in mental health and brain plasticity; and Paul Tough, acclaimed journalist and New York Times best-selling author.