Laura Evans
MEDIA, Pa. — Laura Evans, teaching professor of human development and family studies at Penn State Brandywine, recently received a grant through Penn State’s Opportunity Grant Professional Development Program. The program, which just launched and distributed funding for spring 2025, offered $289,183 in grants to 51 awardees, who were teaching and clinical non-tenure-line faculty.
The Opportunity Grant is supporting Evans in a project that allows faculty to explore how instructor flourishing, well-being and experience teaching "HDFS 108: The Art and Science of Human Flourishing" might impact student learning and well-being. As part of a study being conducted by researchers at University Park, Evans and other grant recipients will interview course instructors to more deeply understand their experiences and their role in student outcomes.
The grant also supports Evans’ education and training in contemplative sciences as an instructor of the course so she can share knowledge with her students and colleagues. It funds her enrollment in a two-year intensive Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher training program offered by the Awareness Training Institute and the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkley.
“This grant provides me with an opportunity to both enhance the teaching I already do as well as become certified in a new way of teaching,” Evans said. “I’m honored to have the support to do this and grateful that Penn State created this funding for teaching-line faculty.”
The Opportunity Grant Professional Development Program is supported financially by the Office of the President and is administered by the Penn State Office of Faculty Affairs.
