{"id":12366,"date":"2024-08-27T11:34:57","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T15:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/?page_id=12366"},"modified":"2026-03-03T10:22:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:22:44","slug":"human-flourishing-series","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/human-flourishing-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Flourishing Competences: A Training Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Join Elenice De Souza Oliveira<\/a> (Justice Studies) for workshops and discussions designed to ignite your curiosity, inspire your insights, and empower you to foster a culture of flourishing in the Montclair State University community.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What is Human Flourishing?<\/h1>\n

Inspired by the transformative work of the Center for Healthy Minds (CHM)<\/a> at the University of Wisconsin, led by psychologist and neuroscientist Richard Davidson<\/a>, human flourishing is the development of well-being through cultivating mindfulness, awareness, connection, wisdom, and purpose. Well-being is a skill that can be learned and enhanced through training and practice.<\/p>\n

Human Flourishing is an interdisciplinary field, and many at Montclair are already doing work in human flourishing. This series supports like-minded faculty and staff to share their wisdom and expertise so more students can gain from the art and science of Human Flourishing.<\/p>\n

Universities and colleges around the country and beyond are developing courses and programs in Human Flourishing, finding that these programs support the well-being and success of their students.<\/p>\n

For example, see programs at the\u00a0University of Wisconsin, <\/a>Pennsylvania State University,<\/a>, Johns Hopkins Medicine<\/a>, Harvard University<\/a>, and Stanford University.<\/a><\/p>\n

2026 Working Group on Education for Human Flourishing<\/span><\/h2>\n

Flourishing in Education: Self, Others, and Together<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This six-session series invites faculty, staff, mentors, tutors, and student leaders<\/span> to explore how education can become a space where individuals and communities truly flourish. Grounded in interdisciplinary scholarship and evidence-based practice, the program centers the full humanity of those who teach, learn, advise, and lead\u2014recognizing that flourishing is not only student-centered, but ecosystem-centered<\/span>.<\/p>\n

This series focuses on core competences of human flourishing–competences<\/a> being “the ability to exert control over one\u2019s life, to cope with specific problems effectively, and to make changes to one\u2019s behavior and one\u2019s environment, as opposed to the mere ability to adjust or adapt to circumstances as they are.”<\/p>\n

Program Overview<\/div>
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The Working Group on Education for Human Flourishing is an interdisciplinary learning community designed for educators, campus professionals, and student leaders who wish to reimagine education as a space where people\u2014not just outcomes\u2014can thrive<\/span>.<\/p>\n

At a time when higher education is experiencing rising stress, burnout, disconnection, and questions of meaning, this program offers a holistic yet carefully bounded approach to flourishing. Flourishing is understood not simply as the absence of stress or distress, but as the capacity to live, learn, and work with meaning, resilience, connection, and purpose\u2014even amid challenge.<\/p>\n

Grounded in classical and contemporary scholarship on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, drawing from the Greek concept of <\/span>eudaimonia<\/span><\/em> as human flourishing\u2014along with insights from neuroscience, education, psychology, and the humanities\u2014the program explores flourishing as a multidimensional and interdependent process, with particular attention to psychological, relational, and ecological dimensions of educational life. Participants engage in both theoretical exploration and practical application<\/span>, learning skills that can be meaningfully integrated into classrooms, advising, mentoring, leadership, and personal life.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n

Spring 2026 Training Series Schedule and Registration<\/h1>\n

All sessions meet in person, 11:30am-1pm except where noted. The sessions are open to all members of the University community. You do not need to be a member of the working group to attend or to have attended previous sessions. Feel free to bring your own lunch!<\/span><\/p>\n

Workshop 1 – Reimagining Education Through the Lens of Human Flourishing: Foundations, Frameworks, and Shared Humanity<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Friday, February 13, 2026, 11:30am-1pm<\/strong> in-person.<\/p>\n

The OFE invites you to join Elenice De Souza Oliveira and guest scholar-practitioner Amrita Chaturvedi for this opening session of the Working Group on Education for Human Flourishing. This session will introduce foundational frameworks of human flourishing in education, with particular attention to their relevance for holistic learning. Led by Amrita Chaturvedi, the session will invite participants to reflect on how education can honor the whole human being\u2014among students, faculty, and staff\u2014while fostering meaning, belonging, and sustainable success through practical, evidence-informed approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amrita Chaturvedi, Ph.D., is the founder and chair of the Consortium for Human Flourishing and an Assistant Professor in the College of Art and Sciences at Saint Louis University. Her area of work includes youth and adult flourishing. Amrita has been engaged in designing curricula and practices that promote wellbeing and flourishing of individuals and communities, both locally and globally since 2019. She is a Senior Fellow of the Flourishing Network hosted by the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University and is the founder of Youth Flourishing Network.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Workshop 2 – Mindset, Resilience, and Positive Neuroplasticity in Human Flourishing\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Monday, March 2, 2026, 11:30am-12:45pm<\/strong> in-person.<\/p>\n

The OFE invites you to join Elenice De Souza Oliveira for a session that explores insights for Human Flourishing from positive psychology and neuroscience. This session will explore growth mindset, resilience, and transformation through the integrated lenses of positive psychology and neuroscience. Participants will examine how strengths, optimism, meaning, and adaptive coping\u2014combined with neuroplastic processes\u2014shape responses to stress, challenge, and change. Emphasis will be placed on cultivating enduring flourishing traits such as flexibility, confidence, hope, and self-efficacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Workshop 3 – Awareness, Attention, and Meta-Skills for Human Flourishing<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Monday, March 16, 2026, 11:30am-1pm<\/strong> in-person.<\/p>\n

The OFE invites you to join Elenice De Souza Oliveira for a session focused on stability, focus, and emotional clarity. Focusing on awareness as a core flourishing capacity, this session will introduce practices that strengthen attention, emotional regulation, and reflective presence. Participants will\u00a0 explore how meta-awareness supports thoughtful decision-making, reduces reactivity, and enhances communication and connection in educational settings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Workshop 4 – Emotions, Needs, and Relational Well-Being in Human Flourishing<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Monday, March 30, 2026, 11:30am-1pm<\/strong> in-person.<\/p>\n

The OFE invites you to join Elenice De Souza Oliveira for a session that considers trust, safety, and connection in educational spaces. This session will\u00a0 reframe emotions as sources of information and connection rather than obstacles to performance. Participants will explore needs, boundaries, compassion, and power dynamics, learning how relational attunement supports psychological safety, trust, and healthier learning environments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Workshop 5 – Purpose, Meaning, and Strengths for Leadership in Human Flourishing<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Monday, April 13, 2026, 11:30am-1pm<\/strong> in-person.<\/p>\n

The OFE invites you to join Elenice De Souza Oliveira for a session focused on l<\/span>iving and educating with coherence. Participants explore how purpose, meaning, and core strengths\u2014such as courage, gratitude, compassion, and a beginner\u2019s mind\u2014support both personal fulfillment and professional effectiveness. The session will highlight flourishing competencies as essential leadership skills for communication, adaptability, confidence, and ethical action.<\/span><\/p>\n

Workshop 6, Part 1 – Wisdom about the Good Life from the Global Flourishing Study: A Public Talk and Workshop with Dr. Matthew Lee In-Person<\/a>
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Monday, April 21, 2026, 11:00am-1pm<\/strong> in-person.<\/p>\n

The OFE invites you to join Elenice De Souza Oliveira for this session with special guest speaker,\u00a0<\/span>Dr. Matthew Lee<\/a>, Director of the Human Flourishing Network and Associate Researcher at Harvard University. This interactive talk and workshop exploring insights from the Global Flourishing Study, one of the largest international studies on well-being, meaning, and purpose. This session offers a unique opportunity to engage with cutting-edge research on human flourishing and reflect on how insights about meaning, purpose, and well-being can inform teaching, leadership, and professional life in higher education.<\/p>\n

Workshop 6, Part 2 – Roundtable on Flourishing Education in Practice: Implement, Measure, Sustainability<\/a>
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Monday, April 21, 2026, 2pm-3pm<\/strong> in-person.<\/p>\n

The OFE invites you to join Elenice De Souza Oliveira for the second part of this session facilitated by, <\/span>Dr. Matthew Lee<\/a>, Director of the Human Flourishing Network and Associate Researcher at Harvard University. The session will explore what drives flourishing in education and how to make it practical and measurable through actionable approaches and scalable metrics.<\/p>\n

Workshop 7 – Ecological Flourishing and Educational Ecosystems<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Monday, April 27, 2026, 11:30am-1pm<\/strong> in-person.<\/p>\n

The OFE invites you to join Elenice De Souza Oliveira for a final session that will explore <\/span>context, culture, and collective well-being. This final session will broaden the human flourishing lens to ecological and contextual flourishing, examining how institutional culture, environments, policies, and relational climates shape well-being and learning. Rather than positioning flourishing as an individual responsibility alone, this session emphasizes shared accountability and collective care. Participants will develop a Flourishing Application Plan, identifying realistic, role-appropriate ways to foster healthier educational ecosystems.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why a Working Group on Education for Human Flourishing?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Research increasingly demonstrates that well-being and flourishing are essential to student retention, learning, leadership development, and long-term professional success. However, in higher education, flourishing is often framed as a student responsibility alone, disconnected from the lived experiences of faculty, staff, and the broader institutional culture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This Working Group is grounded in a different premise: Education for flourishing is an ecosystem. When faculty, staff, and student leaders are supported in cultivating awareness, resilience, connection, and purpose, they are better equipped to support others\u2014and the entire university community benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n

By attending to inner lives, relational dynamics, and structural contexts, the program strengthens the development of flourishing competencies that are increasingly recognized as essential for leadership, adaptability, communication, ethical decision-making, and sustainable professional life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Program Structure & Learning Design<\/span><\/h3>\n