NDSU professor of psychology and Challey Institute faculty fellow Clay Routledge has been invited to be a visiting faculty fellow at Harvard University and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute starting in August. He will work in the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard in Boston, and travel to Washington, D.C., to work on research as needed with AEI. AEI is a respected public policy think tank.
“I am very excited about this opportunity to work with some amazing scholars at Harvard and AEI, and to represent NDSU and the Challey Institute,” said Routledge.
Routledge is a leading expert in existential psychology, which involves questions and anxieties humans struggle with concerning meaning, mortality, freedom, uncertainty and order. His research focuses on things like the feeling of purpose in life, a sense of personal agency and having meaningful social relationships. He’s found that when people view their lives as meaningful and purposeful, they are more self-disciplined, goal-focused and able to persevere when facing difficult life challenges.
“I am developing a new area of study that I call existential economics. This focuses on how existential health relates to economic variables such as work motivation and participation, career goals, innovation and entrepreneurship, financial planning and consumer behavior,” said Routledge. “During my yearlong sabbatical, I will be studying many of these relationships and how they apply to pressing societal concerns.”
Routledge also is currently working with the Archbridge Institute, an organization dedicated to lifting barriers to human flourishing through rigorous academic and public policy research. He will contribute to a symposium at the University of Chicago in which he and a group of economists will discuss a more holistic approach to promoting economic mobility and human flourishing.
“The work Clay is doing is a great representation of how we’re addressing real-world problems to improve people’s lives,” said John Bitzan, Challey Institute director. “The Challey Institute will greatly benefit from Clay’s collaboration with other world-class researchers and the connections he will make.”
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