Joseph E. Aoun, a leader in higher education policy and a renowned scholar in linguistics, is the seventh President of Northeastern University.
President Aoun has strategically aligned the University’s research enterprise with three global imperatives—health, security, and sustainability. Northeastern’s faculty focus on interdisciplinary research, entrepreneurship, and transforming academic research into commercial solutions for the world’s most pressing problems. During President Aoun’s tenure, the University has realized a 189 percent growth in external research funding, along with approximately 1,500 patent applications filed by faculty and students.
This episode of Taking Care is a Q&A with Boston College’s David Blustein, who studies work and psychology – as in, what unemployment means to people, and how our jobs contribute to our mental health. He wrote a book called “The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty," which came out in 2019 – before this pandemic. Blustein talks to Love Letters columnist Meredith Goldstein about how we can take care of ourselves if we’re working, out of work, deemed essential (and in harm’s way), or considering a career change now that the world and our priorities have shifted. Get David's book here.
Meredith Goldstein is an advice columnist and features reporter for The Boston Globe. Her advice column, Love Letters, is a daily dispatch of wisdom for the lovelorn that has been running online and in the paper for 11 years. Her Love Letters podcast will launch its fourth season later this year. Meredith's books include “Can’t Help Myself: Lessons and Confessions From a Modern Advice Columnist”; “Chemistry Lessons," a young adult novel about a teen who tries to use science to manipulate her love life; and “The Singles,” a novel about dateless guests at a wedding. Meredith lives in Boston with a full-size cotton candy machine.
David L. Blustein is a Professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology at Boston College. David is the author of The Psychology of Working: A New Perspective for Career Development, Counseling, and Public Policy and a new book entitled The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty: The Eroding Experience of Work in America. He also has contributed numerous articles and book chapters on psychology of working theory, unemployment, career counseling, career development education, decent work, relationships and work, and other aspects of the role of work in people’s lives.