The term “existential crisis” evokes powerful recognition across time and culture. Reckoning with our own mortality has profound implications for how we live: how we navigate meaning, freedom, and personal responsibility. These themes are often associated with so-called midlife crises. At this juncture, adults come crashing headlong into harsh reminders…

The Plan. On 10/26/2022, I had surgery to reduce my lifetime risk of breast cancer drastically. I had a plan for my recovery. I was going to eat nothing but healthy food. I was going to exercise as much as possible within limits set by my medical team. I was going to…

From a professor’s perspective — The advice I’m offering here is intended to help young adults be intentional about creating meaningful college experiences. One of the things I love most about being a professor is seeing the tremendous personal growth and development that happens for students as they navigate this pivotal chapter of their lives. 1. Question everything …

Maybe it’s because I recently entered my thirties, but I’ve been thinking a lot about how people react when I say that I don’t want children. I have gotten some reactions that feel judgmental or patronizing. Very often though, people react with kindness, acceptance, and curiosity even if they don’t…

It’s time to stop treating jobs like soulmates — Many of my young adult students expect that they’ll have things all figured out by the time they are my age. It doesn’t occur to them that someone past their early-mid twenties could still be navigating what they want out of a career or changing course. I assumed the same…

7 tangible ways I show my investment — I care about my students. Most every instructor can say the same. Lately, I’ve been thinking back to high school creative writing classes where the aphorism “Show. Don’t tell.” was drilled into me and asking myself am I showing my undergraduate students that I care? …

A rigid approach is stifling students — I’ve seen many definitions of college success. As a researcher, I’ve examined these definitions to try and understand what helps students achieve their goals. All these measures are useless though, if we fail to capture the nuance of what a rewarding college experience really entails. Students are frequently inundated with…

Finding ourselves in fictional worlds — If I’ve learned anything from researching identity development, it’s that we cannot understand ourselves without looking outside ourselves. Science fiction does this on the grandest scale. It challenges us to contextualize human identity within an infinite universe. It prompts us to interrogate our values and confront the paradoxes of our…

Fostering community in online classrooms — When I enrolled in an online graduate program, I was met with several raised eyebrows and questions about whether my degree would be respected by potential employers. This kind of skepticism has been prevalent since the earliest days of online learning. Attitudes towards online education are changing, though. Demand for…