History of the Initiative. The LSW initiative was first conceived in 2019, when Professor Karen Dobkins (Psychology) got approval to scale a 20-person Freshman seminar into a 65-person Psychology class, entitled “Learning Sustainable Well-Being: Compassion for Self and Others” (PSYC 88).  In 2021, the course was further developed and refined with Teaching Professor Janna Dickenson (Psychology). This is a 1 unit, P/NP, 1x week (80 minutes) course, which teaches students how to have a good relationship with themselves and others.  The syllabus and content of PSYC 88 are provided below.

The Request.  We are recruiting 10 – 12 ladder-rank or teaching faculty from different departments to teach (above load, with compensation, see below) a 1-unit, P/NP, 1x week (80 minutes) course with curriculum identical to PSYC 88.  The course would need to be requested through one’s home department with a course number of “88” (e.g., HITO 88) and a title of  “Learning Sustainable Well-Being: Compassion for Self and Others”.  

Who Is Qualified to Teach? We recognize that the LSW course material may be outside the expertise of the average professor, however, we believe that anyone has the capacity to teach the course, and in doing so, will experience the beneficial effects for themselves.   Selected faculty will go through a 5-day training in Summer 2025 to ready them.

Diversity.  Having professors from a variety of departments teach the LSW course is not only necessary to expand the course beyond the psychology department, but it also allows the teaching of the curriculum through other lenses, e.g., whereas psychologists might teach about anxiety in terms of the body’s fight or flight mechanisms, historians might reference time periods where a society was challenged with, and had to overcome, disasters (e.g., the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the end of apartheid).    

Requirements:  Selected faculty will be required to:

1. Submit a course approval as soon as possible, using the template we developed for PSYC 88.
2. Attend a 5-day training in Summer 2025, and will be compensated $3500 (in summer salary).
3. Teach the LSW course twice during the 2025 – 2026 school year, and will be compensated a total of $3000 (in research funds).
4. Facilitate data collection from students taking their LSW class so the effectiveness of the class can be evaluated (data collection and analysis overseen by the Psychology Department, which has already been performed for PSYC 88, see Frontiers paper).
5. Provide their own data, documenting their experience of the summer training and teaching the course over the 2025 – 2026 school year.
6. Participate in a 1-day conference in Summer 2026, in which the effectiveness data will be presented to UCSD administrators.

Implications for Departments, Faculty and Students:  Note that departments should not be impacted by the LSW program for the following reasons:

1. Above-Load: Professors will be teaching the LSW course “above load” and it should therefore not conflict with their regular teaching assignments.
2. Not Required:  The LSW course is not a requirement of any major or any general requirements, and should therefore not place a burden on faculty, staff or students.
3. Room Availability:  Note that departments may have to help professors find a 1x/week meeting room (if the registrar cannot), but we do expect this to be burdensome.

The Future of LSW.  It is our long-term goal to create a series of “life skills” – and experiential — courses under the LSW umbrella.  Note that the PSYC 88 has a subtitle of “LSW: Compassion for Self and Others”, to denote its focus, whereas other classes might focus on…

1. Building physical health (diet, exercise, sleep, etc.)
2. How to walk a career path (while maintaining balance)
3. Climate change (how to improve, and have a relationship with, the environment)
4. Racial sensitivity (similar to the training programs already available to faculty at UCSD)
5. Sexual health (safety, alternative styles, confronting shame