Last month, I introduced the U.S. Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Mental Health & Well-Being. The framework was created to start deeper conversations about change and well-being in the workplace and to foster “research, strategic investment, and broader policy advancement” to create healthy, productive workplaces (p. 9). The framework is divided into five “essentials” for workplace mental health and well-being: protection from harm, connection and community, work-life harmony, mattering at work, and opportunity for growth (p. 10). Each of these five essentials can be applied to academia as a workplace writ large and by institutions individually to promote greater health and well-being for faculty and staff. And since faculty and staff working conditions are student learning conditions, we should take these essentials and this opportunity for conversation around these ideals seriously.
Character (Still) Counts: Moral Injury and the Case for Character Education
Many academic leaders remember the Character Counts! initiative from the 1990s and early 2000s. It was visible in schools and youth programs nationwide, emphasizing as core values the Six Pillars
Teresa Maggard Stephens
June 15, 2026
