2011-12: Health, Wellness, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Through a campus-wide online vote, Santa Monica College students, faculty, and staff, chose as our 2011–12 Global Citizenship theme, Health, Wellness, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Click here for a complete report on the results of the vote.

Here is how we have initially set up our theme:

Health is a centerpiece of the United Nationsʼ efforts to promote human development, and modern society has made profound strides in fighting infectious disease and raising life expectancies around the world. Yet we still find the provision of care and the promotion of healthy living to be a perennial challenge, one that knows no boundaries but nonetheless reveals gaping inequities within and between countries worldwide. Moreover, even when physically healthy, we struggle to feel truly well; despite living (on average) longer and more comfortable lives than countless generations of human beings before us, a true sense of happiness and well-being often eludes us. What does it mean to be healthy? What does it mean to be happy? And how can we get there?

For additional ideas and resources related to our theme, follow our Global Citizenship blog at globalsmc.tumblr.com, or use any of the following quick links to track by hashtag: #HEALTH, #WELLNESS, #HAPPINESS

Common Books

To facilitate campus-wide discussion and curriculum integration of this year's theme, the SMC Department of English has chosen a pair of books for our annual common read: a classic work of 20th-century fiction, and a recent bestselling work of non-fiction.

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