Faculty Well-Being

The CBE Office of Academic Affairs collaborates with the UW Resilience Lab – a unit in the Undergraduate Academic Affairs created to help build a culture of well-being at the UW. They have a wonderful four-part model of wellbeing that includes:

1. Teaching for equity and access
   Creating an atmosphere of belonging and addressing power, privilege, and oppression in the classroom (e.g., co-creating shared norms and expectations for class discussions).
2. Nurturing connection
   Tending to the social connectedness students experience with others and supporting students as they build stronger connections and aware- ness within themselves (e.g., encouraging peer interaction through study groups).
3. Building resilience coping skills
   Teaching and modeling everyday practices to develop the four cornerstones of resilience: mindfulness, growth mindset, gratitude, and self-compassion (e.g., opening class with a few minutes of reflective journal writing).
4. Connecting to the environment
   Establishing an intentional and meaningful relationship between students and the places where they learn and grow (e.g., creating opportunities for students to learn outside).

 

3 min video of UW Resilience Lab Director, Megan Kennedy, explaining the lab in 15 seconds at a time.

Resistance through Resilience – The UW Center for Communication, Difference, and Equity draws important connections between resilience and equity work.

UW Medicine has a program called “Right as Rain” which features different programs and information about all sorts of wellness issues, mind, body, live-work balance, etc. They provide wonderful articles for self-care, health and well-being that are worth a read!