June 20, 2023

Centenary University psychology professor Tal Ben-Shahar had an article published in Inside Higher Education on June 20, 2023.  Click here to read it or download the PDF.

Excerpt

As Student Mental Health Worsens, Colleges Embrace Happiness Courses

Centenary University’s new master’s degree program in happiness studies emerges as courses related to well-being proliferate on college campuses.

By Sara Weissman

Tal Ben-Shahar was thriving academically as a second-year computer science major at Harvard University. He had good grades and a robust social life, and he thought he should feel happy. But he wasn’t, and he wanted to understand why.

The desire for answers ultimately led him down an academic career path focused on researching and teaching about happiness. Ben-Shahar, now a psychology professor at Centenary University, a private liberal arts institution in New Jersey, launched what he believes is the first accredited master’s degree program in happiness studies last fall.

 

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