Michele C. Murray – författare

Helping College Students Find Purpose Today's college students are demanding that their educational experiences address the core questions of meaning and purpose. . . What does it mean to be successful? How will I know what type of career is best for me? Why do I hurt so much when a relationship ends? Why do innocent people have to suffer? Faculty and administrators are in the unique position to make special contributions to their students' search for meaning, and when they work together, everyone on a college campus benefits. Helping College Students Find Purpose provides a theory-to-practice model of meaning-making that enables the entire campus community to participate in the process. Based on a practical how-to approach, the authors outline a series of concrete steps for applying the theory and practice of meaning-making to teaching, leading, administering, and advising. Filled with real-life vignettes, this guidebook includes the background knowledge and proven tools that will help faculty and administrators act as effective mentors to students. While there is no single solution that can meet everyone's needs, the authors provide a series of classroom and cross-campus strategies that are specifically designed to help students successfully navigate their diverse meaning-making activities and effectively enhance their quest for meaning.

This book has received the AESA (American Educational Studies Association) Critics Choice Award 2013.The book deals concretely with the most effective ways for educators to be social justice advocates, with questions about what it means to be a social justice advocate, and with the best communication strategies to advocate for a particular social justice view that might start and sustain an open dialogue. The book presents a number of practical approaches to dialoguing about social justice in formal educational settings. It is well suited for college students, graduate students, faculty and higher education administrators, politicians, and anyone interested in having a civil discourse addressing social justice.