ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Dr. Charles Walker, professor of psychology at St. Bonaventure University, believes that psychological well-being in higher education matters and he’s spent more than a decade developing ways to measure it.
He’s now launched a Web site – www.wellbeingincollege.org – in order to share those results with others.
“If it is in the mission of some colleges and universities to improve the psychological well-being of their students and faculty, then this new Web site will help them achieve it,” said Walker. “Its purpose is to help faculty, students, staff and administrators become better agents of well-being.”
Recent research finds that colleges and universities that promote psychological well-being are more apt to have students and staff who are regularly cheerful and have a zest for life, who welcome challenges and opportunities for growth, and who embrace diversity and find meaning in social groups, said Walker. Those individuals are also more likely to live longer, healthier lives, suffer less depression, be more creative, and have deeper, more stable relationships.
The Web site delivers and scores well-being inventories for faculty or students, then gives them immediate results. For those who take a well-being inventory, concise PDF documents are available to provide interpretive information and specific suggestions for strengthening psychological well-being.
However, the site is also designed for use by development staff or institutional researchers. “Institutional researchers will like the database functions it provides,” said Walker. “They can add useful respondent questions to an inventory then query their unique database online or download a copy of it after all the respondents have finished.”
The Web site also has a blog (under construction) that will give visitors updates on best-practices in the promotion of well-being and discussions of trends in higher education that may affect human well-being.
“I hope the site becomes a virtual meeting place for those interested in applying research and theory on positive psychology to higher education,” said Walker.
Those interested in learning more about well-being in college are welcome to contact Walker at cwalker@sbu.edu.
About the University: St. Bonaventure is in the top 15 percent of institutions in U.S.News & World Report’s 2010 ranking of Northern universities that offer master’s degrees. It has a history of accomplishment and service that extends back 150 years. At the heart of St. Bonaventure University is the Franciscan affirmation of the dignity and worth of the entire created order. Fundamental to this vision is an awareness that it is within relationships and community that individuals discover and develop their potential.