WIRSA 2023

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Living on purpose is correlated with health and happiness. We all need a reminder to focus on why it matters before how to make it happen — and some practical tools to integrate these big questions into our work with students. UW-Madison School of Human Ecology Professor Christine Whelan will help us demystify that big concept of purpose, and take us through a practical exercise to help keep our “why” front-and-center. Discover how you can live with purpose and create your own purpose roadmap to find your flow in mental and physical wellbeing.

Dr. Christine Whelan is a professor, speaker and author. She’s known as the “Happy Professor” at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she’s a Clinical Professor of Consumer Science, teaching classes on wellbeing in the market economy. At Emory University she’s known as the “Purpose Professor,” where she’s supporting the applied and academic integration of the Emory Purpose Project and working with all first-year students through the Health 100 course from the Center for the Study of Human Health.

Dr. Whelan’s motto comes from Seneca, “Not for school, but for life we learn,” and she’s dedicated most of her career to translating academic research for the general public. Dr. Whelan is a nationally recognized thought leader, helping groups like the DeBruce Foundation, AARP’s Life Reimagined, Jackson National, Hackensack-Meridian Health and others on purpose-focused approaches to health, finances and self-improvement strategies for life’s transitions. She is on the board of SEEK Safely, and an outspoken advocate for the dissemination of research-based advice.

Dr. Whelan is the bestselling author of the acclaimed 10-lecture series Finding Your Purpose, an Audible Original Great Courses program. She is the author of five books, including The Big Picture: A Guide to Finding Your Purpose in Life (Templeton Press, 2016), Generation WTF: From “What the &%#$?” to a Wise, Tenacious and Fearless You (Templeton Press, 2011), Marry Smart: The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to True Love (Simon & Schuster, 2009) and Why Smart Men Marry Smart Women (Simon & Schuster, 2006).

While Dr. Whelan graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, earned a masters and doctorate from the University of Oxford and has held teaching positions at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Iowa and Princeton University, she believes that a good soundbite can transform the discourse, too. She has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times, among other national outlets. She has appeared live on dozens of television programs and radio programs across the nation.