Welcome and Meeting Overview

Welcome from conference organizers and introductory remarks by Richard Miller (President emeritus of Olin College of Engineering) on the mission and goals of the CTE.

Keynote “Design Your Life – Sixteen years prototyping meaning and purpose in higher education” by Bill Burnett, Executive Director of the Life Design Lab, Stanford University (location)

Learnings from the Life Design Lab “prototype,” teaching classes for freshman, seniors, and PhD students, and working with over 300 colleges and universities around the globe to apply the innovation principles of design thinking to the question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Empowering Students to Thrive in a Changing World: Life Design at Bowling Green State University by President Rodney K. Rogers and Adrienne Ausdenmoore, Executive Director of the Geoffrey H. Radbill Center for College and Life Design

Life Design at Bowling Green State University provides a transformative experience for students to gain the tools and skills to design their college and post-college life. In addition to engaging with faculty for academic preparation, students work with Life Design coaches to learn design thinking skills so that they fully leverage all the experiences available to them during their time at the University with intentionality and resiliency. Thus, preparing them to live a productive and meaningful life.  In this session, Bowling Green State University President Rodney K. Rogers and Adrienne Ausdenmoore, executive director of the of the Geoffrey H. Radbill Center for College and Life Design, share why they launched Life Design at BGSU, including their work to secure $13.5M in private gifts to endow two centers for student success, how they engaged faculty and staff to embrace Life Design, and how it is impacting enrollment and retention.

Session by Jonathan Adler, Professor of Psychology, Olin College of Engineering on “Storytelling: The Human Tool for Meaning, Purpose, and Identity”

Scholarship from across a wide range of disciplines converges on the notion that storytelling is the tool humans have evolved for adapting to our complex social niche.  This talk will provide an introduction to the thriving science of personal narrative and its support for meaning, purpose, and identity.  It will also describe several examples of innovative applications of the science in support of life transformative higher education.

Session by Maureen Linker, Professor of Philosophy, University of Michigan-Dearborn on “More Than A Single Story: UM-Dearborn Speaks”

The University of Michigan-Dearborn, with funding through a grant from the Coalition for Transformational Education, undertook a project using digital storytelling to explore the identity, agency, and purpose of our students with a focus on challenging stereotypes about our community and our region. Students learned to challenge their assumptions about themselves, their potential for creativity and to become comfortable giving and receiving feedback through story circle sharing. In a concluding showcase in which digital stories were shared with friends, family and university leadership, attendees noted the raw honesty students displayed in their stories and the collaboration and support they showed in their responses to questions about their work and the overall project. The next phase of the project saw the students stepping into a mentorship role with a new group of students. We will share our progress and reflections about the project while discussing the move to the third phase where we will work with our students to create stories and resources for students and faculty who want to incorporate digital storytelling in the classroom.

LearningWell Update

Lunch with, and an update on the new CTE “Learning WELL” initiative by Marjorie Malpiede, Executive Director of the Mary Christie Institute.

Keynote “What does well-being actually look like?: Lessons Learned from the Harvard Study of Adult Development” by Robert Waldinger, Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development

Dr. Waldinger will speak about findings from the 85-year Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest longitudinal study of adult life ever done.  He will talk about the aspects of wellbeing that are central to health and happiness, and the implications for how we might reverse trends of social isolation and loneliness that are increasing among all age groups.

Session by Michael Bradford, and Dean for Undergraduate Education, University of California, Davis, Sarah Croucher, Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University of Connecticut and Jennifer Lease Butts, Associate Vice Provost, Enrichment Programs and Director, Honors Program, University of Connecticut on “Designing Purpose through LTE at the University of Connecticut”

At the University of Connecticut (UConn), we are infusing Life-Transformative Education into the culture of our university. The primary vehicle for this is our LTE guiding principles, which give a flexible framework for LTE implementation in every area of the institution. In implementing LTE and embedding the guiding principles throughout UConn, we have been utilizing a design thinking approach through a series of design sprints. Our presentation will discuss this design sprint approach, covering project-based design sprints that create vision and scale up LTE approaches at scale, and design sprints focused on strategy and leadership that help leaders across UConn explore how they can build out LTE in their areas. We will describe examples of this approach, including work from AY21/22 with our partners The Design Gym and current design sprints with Greenhouse Studios, our in-house design focused interdisciplinary research unit. We will also leave time open for dialogue with participants related to our guiding principles and design sprint approach to LTE.

Research Learning Experiences Across Four Years and Seven Universities: The Maine Difference

John Volin, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Maine. We are scaling Life-Transformative Education (LTE) across a state-wide university system of seven universities, from the State’s comprehensive R1 land grant university to small regional universities focused on undergraduate and professional education. In addition, we are expanding LTE across all four years of our students’ experience. This presentation will focus on Research Learning Experiences, which were piloted in fall 2021 and are available to all first-year students.

Panel Session on higher education’s role on the mental health of recent graduates based on a new survey showing high rates of mental distress and “burnout”  among young professionals.  Moderated by Marjorie Malpiede, Executive Director of the Mary Christie Institute and featuring Clayton Spencer, President of Bates College, Stephanie Marken, Partner at Gallup, and Lynn Pasquerella, President of the AAC&U.

Panelists will discuss the findings and consider: What can colleges do to better prepare students for the changes that will occur as they enter the workforce?  Are we setting our students up for a life of mental wellbeing as well as career success?

Session by Stephanie Marken, Partner at Gallup, on “Gallup’s Work on Wellbeing in Higher Education”

Gallup’s research connecting higher education experiences to well-being outcomes in alumni has had a profound effect on our traditional thinking about teaching and learning.  In this session, Stephanie Marken, who leads Gallup’s higher education segment, provides an overview of the body of work that is the analytical underpinning of the CTE mission.  

Session by Nicole Willcoxen and Zachary Hrynowski, Gallup Research Director and Gallup Research Consultant on “Measuring What Matters: A Data-Driven Approach to Transforming Students’ Postgraduation Lives”

Since 2014, the Gallup Alumni Survey has interviewed over 100,000 bachelor’s degree holders to better understand how many graduates are thriving in their lives and jobs, and which college experiences lead to those outcomes. With those findings in mind, CTE has designed and launched a survey that measures how its partner universities are performing on those key metrics right now. By tracking progress and areas of opportunity during enrollment – rather than after graduation – universities can ensure that as many students as possible are exposed to the types of college experiences that have the potential to transform their postgraduation lives. Gallup will share its research related to those transformative experiences, summarize findings from Year 1 of the CTE Student Survey, and preview changes and research objectives for the second year of the research.

Summary and Preparation for Day 2 by Archie Holmes, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the University of Texas System

 Student Well Being and Mental Health: A Public Health Agenda for Higher Education

Nancy Gonzales, Executive Vice President and University Provost.