Robin Boudette, Ph.D., is our campus speaker on April 1, 2016. She’ll be talking to the campus about the benefits of mindfulness practice in higher educational environments in two sessions: (1) a general session for everyone and (2) a more focused session for faculty and advisers.
Grants from the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, Educational Technology Services, Penn State York Diversity committee, Student Activity Fee, and the DAA’s office all supported this speaker event. Faculty and staff from University Park, Hershey, Harrisburg, Lehigh Valley, and Mont Alto will be traveling to campus for the event. The speaker will be introduced by Jacqueline Edmondson, Ph.D., Associate Vice President and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Education at Penn State.
The hope is that many people will benefit from the information presented and that student groups may also arise from this who are interested in practicing mindfulness on a more regular basis to support greater health, wellness, and academic success!
This event is a culminating activity for a yearlong faculty cohort called Transformational Conversations which met bi-weekly during AY 2015-16 to explore wellness, community-building, and social-emotional learning practices.
Fred Haag, Kerry Magni, Noel Sloboda, Barb Eshbach, Harry Payne, Jane Emery, Mike Jarrett, Annie Haines, and I met bi-weekly during the fall and spring semesters to try out various strategies and activities, many of which originated at University of California Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. Participants also contributed to the sessions. Fred Haag led a mindfulness practice using art, and Kerry Magni offered a session on mindful movement. For more information about the program and other activities, please get in touch with me at scs15@psu.edu.
We are very much looking forward to this event and to the positive experiences participants can derive from it by attending.
UPDATE
We had a great day!!! Two fine presentations with 34 students and 31 faculty! Evaluations were very positive and Robin was GREAT! Thanks to everyone who supported the event as it came together and to all the participants!
