In our Fall 2026 magazine, we interviewed professor and scholar Danielle Allen. Allen’s work pivots around two interrelated questions: How should I live? And, how should we live? For Allen, these questions are live and pressing, requiring scholarship and on-the-ground testing.

This month we are launching the fall 2026 issue of our magazine, Virtues & Vocations: Higher Education for Human Flourishing. Read some reflections on the issue from Suzanne Shanahan, Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director of the Institute for Social Concerns.

In his article about joy and engineering, Cameron Kim, Assistant Professor of the Practice in Biomedical Engineering and the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies at Duke University, reminds us that curiosity and joy are integral elements to learning. Read more.

In his foundational article, Robert A. Emmons, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of California, Davis, provides a road map to understanding the psychology of joy. He writes, "joy offers a fuller and richer portrait of a person’s capacity to live a life of purpose, meaning, and value, or an experience of “elation of right relation” between ourselves and the world." Read more.

In her welcome letter to the latest issue of Virtues & Vocations: Higher Education for Human Flourishing, Suzanne Shanahan invites us into a conversation about joy.