10 Book Published: Human Flourishing and Higher Education
I have published my 10th book Human Flourishing and Higher Education which is co-edited with my doctoral advisor Dr. Joseph DeVitis. It is published by Information Age Publishing (now Emerald) and appears in my Identity and Practice in Higher Education-Student Affairs (IPHESA) text series.
In this text, we each author one chapter and challenge readers to understand the myriad of ways the concept of human flourishing theories can be applied to higher education contexts. The remaining chapters are organized into two halves. The first part of the text focuses on theory and the second half applies the tenets to practice.
Description:
This book provides a more overarching, inclusive, appraisal of “human flourishing,” especially as it applies to the larger society and higher education. In an increasingly fractured world, it is imperative that both internal (individual) attributes of that notion be juxtaposed with external (social, economic, and political) factors that may either enhance or constrain development toward a more fulsome realization of “human flourishing.” The text focuses more on external contingencies since that side of the equation has been more submerged through history than the former model. Thus, the chapters take on a kind of Deweyan approach in that they simultaneously treat school and society, rather than a narrow look at only higher education. The methodological lenses for the book include critical pedagogy, critical social theory, philosophical analysis, and qualitative research.
The volume uses the term “human flourishing,” as opposed to “human thriving,” because (1) it connotes a fuller flavor for the means and ends in developing both individuals and societies; (2) “thriving” sometimes connotes a sense of status, a problematic aspirational goal; (3) more universities and colleges are creating “centers for human flourishing,” as in the case of Baylor, Harvard, Notre Dame of Maryland, and Stanford. In sum, “human flourishing” seems more attuned to the larger aims of liberal education, building a good life and a saner society, and the forging of continuous efforts toward higher ethical aims. Indeed, it is more synonymous with fulsome growth in individual identity and the enrichment of cultural development within a pluralistic world.
It is available via Amazon and other major stories (https://a.co/d/aAAFt5s).
