Keynote Presentation: Dr. Elizabeth Dunn, "Happiness 101"
As Advisors who want to help students develop happy and meaningful lives, how do we do this with our current generation of students? It has been said that our students are living in an “age of envy” where social media has created a world where everyone seems happy, even ecstatic with their lives. On top of that they are also living in a world that primes them to seek instant gratification, and to pursue happiness often through the click of a button or the tap of a credit card. It will also come as no surprise that happiness and health are often deeply intertwined. This keynote address will provide a cutting-edge look at the science of happiness. Dr. Dunn will describe key findings from her own “Happy Lab” at UBC and share insights from top research labs around the world—enabling advisors to harness the best science in supporting students to find happiness during their University experience and beyond.
About Dr. Elizabeth Dunn:
Dr. Elizabeth Dunn is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Dunn conducts experimental research on self-knowledge and happiness, with a current focus on how mobile technology can both support and undermine human well-being. She is the co-author of Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending (Simon & Schuster) with Dr. Michael Norton. Her work has appeared in top journals, with three papers published in Science, and she has given talks at PopTech! and TEDx. She was selected as one of the “rising stars” in academia by the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2004 and was an honoree for the 2007 Mind Gym Academic Prize for pioneering work in positive psychology. In 2010, she received a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, as well as UBC’s Robert E. Knox Master Teacher Award. She is also a member of the Royal Society of Canada's New College. Her research has been featured in hundreds of media outlets around the world, including The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, The London Times, Maclean’s, Time, and CNN. Dr. Dunn is also an avid surfer and skier.