Title:Global partnership focuses on well-being

Guided by its core values, Georgetown has joined with The Wellbeing Project, a global partnership focused on the well-being of those who advocate for social change: activists, nonprofit leaders, teachers, social workers, and health care providers.

“Well-being bridges the development of the inner self with the healing of the world,” says Randy Bass, vice president for strategic education initiatives and leader of the Red House, an incubator that furthers educational innovation at Georgetown. “That is not only fundamental to Jesuit education but also essential to a sustainable future. Nothing could be more appropriate for Georgetown’s involvement and leadership.”

Georgetown is the only higher education institution serving as a co-creating partner of the organization. The collaboration, which goes back several years, initially focused on Georgetown’s leadership of a Global Think Tank on intergenerational trauma and its community and systemic transmissions. The next area of research will address ecological belonging, in partnership with Earth Commons, Georgetown’s institute for environment and sustainability.

In 2022, Georgetown joined the Wellbeing, Innovation and Social Change in Education Network (WISE), an extension of the Wellbeing Project that connects higher education institutions and organizations that are working to advance a culture of well-being. The move, led by Psychology Professor Jennifer Woolard, complements Cura Georgetown, a working group focused on strengthening Georgetown’s community of care for its students, faculty, and staff.

In June 2022, 20 Georgetown students, faculty, and staff participated in the Wellbeing Project’s Summit for Social Change in Bilbao, Spain. Attendees from 80 countries enjoyed the international debut of Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski, a one-man play created by Georgetown’s Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics.