Work in Progress with Christopher Wong Michaelson

"Work and the Good Life" Series: Working for the Common Good with Erica Campbell

Work in Progress with Christopher Wong Michaelson Season 4 Episode 5

One way in which the University of St. Thomas is  trying to realize its mission to "educate students...to work skillfully...to advance the common good" is with a new course  called Work and the Good Life. Most of our students come here expecting that their college degrees will help them find jobs out of college. But as UST President Rob Vischer says, one reason that we have stellar employment outcomes is that we care about more than employment outcomes. We’re helping to form whole human beings, not just working people. And most of those people don’t just want paid employment; a Gallup study a few years ago found that most of them want a purpose but relatively few would find it early in their careers. So this course is designed to enable  students to think critically about their career choices so they can act wisely on the way to work that serves a worthwhile purpose in their lives and those of others.

In the second of a three-part speaker series, students heard from Second Harvest Heartland Chief Development Officer Erica Campbell about her quest for work and the good life.