Issue 20

As head of student services at ASU, Joanne Vogel has a big job at a large school with a major mission. Her multi-faceted purview within the Educational Outreach and Student Services department runs from mental health services and the Dean of Students Office to student organizations and student conduct. Despite…

The growing national mental health epidemic among college students has been well-documented over the past decade, and, in response, many universities have significantly expanded their support and infrastructure to respond to students in distress, including increased staffing at mental health clinics, the creation of campus-wide committees on student crisis intervention,…

Mitchell Greene, Ph.D., a lifelong athlete and sports enthusiast, applies his passion for sport and his expertise in clinical psychology to empower athletes through their mental game. Greene, founder and leading clinician of Greenepsych Clinical and Sport Psychology, was inspired to explore sport psychology from one of baseball’s most famous…

Like many parents across the country, Maya Enista Smith got a new job last year – homeschooling her two young children. It’s a bit of a departure from her normal 9-5, or rather, her 24/7/365. Smith is the Executive Director of Born This Way Foundation, the youth-serving, kindness-promoting non-profit founded…

In late December, we spoke with Lee Pelton, President of Emerson College and President-elect of the Boston Foundation, about supporting student wellbeing through one of the most turbulent years in history; confronting racism; and looking ahead to positive change in 2021. Here is the transcript of our conversation. Marjorie Malpiede:…

While many of us have spent much of 2020 learning to live with uncertainty, isolation, and fear, those with chronic and rare diseases are well-acquainted with these challenges. Advances in medicine and technology have increased the number of young people diagnosed with chronic and rare diseases and have allowed them…

After a long career in college student health, Gerri Taylor now finds herself at the center of the management of its current crisis. As the Co-Chair of the COVID-19 Task Force of the American College Health Association (ACHA), Taylor co-leads a multidisciplinary team tasked with advising colleges on everything from…

When great minds think alike, anything can happen, which is why the Student Flourishing Initiative might just succeed in starting a wellness revolution in higher education. Begun by David Germano, Robert Roeser, Mark Greenberg, and Richard Davidson, the Initiative uses scholarship on human flourishing from the sciences and humanities with…

In November, John J. DeGioia, PhD, President of Georgetown University and Shirley M. Collado, PhD, President of Ithaca College, were interviewed for a special series on the Mary Christie Quadcast. “Creating Environments for Flourishing,” a five-part series, was based on a report by the same name, which highlighted findings from…

During the summer of 2020, there was much speculation about whether or not camps could operate during COVID-19. What would be the point of a place-based recreational experience if there could be no place and no recreation? At Camp Harbor View, the decision was a lot more complicated. Its summer…

COVID-19’s Impact on Student Wellbeing A new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) reports that COVID-19 mitigation protocols like remote learning and stay-at-home orders had a modest, but persistent, impact on mood and wellness behaviors of first-year college students. Surveys were…