The Good Life Series

Our purpose is to engage many different perspectives that relate to how we might consider purpose, engagement, fulfillment, etc. as we advance through different periods of our life. We live in a time characterized by great anxiety. While learning about and understanding anxiety is a reasonable response, giving serious consideration to notions of the good life is another way to resist despair. In this series we aim to benefit from the insights of many disciplines and to think critically about our individual and collective goals and aspirations relating to the good life.

Dana Souders

Licensed Massage Therapist and Life Coach

Pursuing the Good Life During a Pandemic: Pause, Connect, Pivot and Re-Design

Wednesday, April 22, 2020 – 7 p.m.
Live Stream Event
Live Stream Link (available at 6:50 p.m. on day of event)

We have globally found ourselves in a collective pause from our daily routines and activities. And in many ways life is now forever changed of how we will move forward. We are at a crossroads of sorts. Our nervous systems can be getting quite a workout these past weeks and months and it is important that we meet ourselves and each other with grace. This talk will include some reflections regarding awareness and what happens in our bodies when we are in extended periods of stress and fight/flight/freeze response. Some tools on how to calm the stress response by self regulating and co-regulating. Join in as we explore some ways to support one another in finding our center in the dynamic sea of information and energy. The Good Life, according to Souders, means being able to create a safe haven for ourself and each other as well as a launching pad of re-designing our lives anew as we move forward.

*Special Read more

Bill Durden ’71

International University Alliance (IUA)

An Anticipatory Memoir: Aging on the Diagonal

Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Advanced age – or what is commonly called “The Third Chapter” – arguably remains without operative definition, although so many citizens globally are entering that phase of life. Based upon personal reflection, a definition is proposed for debate – a definition that could lead to a “Good Life.”

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and is part of our The Good Life series. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

William G. Durden is President Emeritus of Dickinson College, where he served for 14 years (1999-2013). During his tenure at Dickinson he was both a professor of German and a professor of Education. He is currently president of the International University Alliance (IUA), a non-profit association of top-tier U.S. research universities committed to international education (sponsored by Shorelight), chief global engagement officer at Shorelight, a courtesy professor (research) in the School of Education, Johns Hopkins University and an operating partner of Sterling Partners, a diversified investment management platform founded Read more

Gene Dykes

Record-Holding Master Marathoner

Just Run

Monday, November 11, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.

Dykes will explore the many ways running is made overly complicated and how both running and your life can be made so much more enjoyable by employing his “Just Run” philosophy.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of Athletics and the Office of Student Leadership & Campus Engagement. This event was also the first program that is part of our new The Good Life series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Gene Dykes was born in Canton, OH in 1948. He lived there until he attended Lehigh University, graduating in 1970 with a B.A. in chemistry. After two years in the army, serving in Vietnam and Japan, Dykes received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Cornell University in 1978. He then embarked upon a career in computer programming until he retired in 2012. He married in 1982, and along with his wife, raised two daughters who now reside in San Francisco and Minneapolis. His wife is a professor of economics in the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dykes ran track in high school and Read more