Since 2012, the University of Minnesota's Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing has hosted wellbeing thought-leaders to inspire and educate the community, organizations, and life-long learners through the Wellbeing Lecture Series.
Past speakers like Brené Brown, Atul Gawande, Dessa, Celeste Headlee, Rhonda Magee, and Jon Kabat-Zinn have explored a range of topics including purpose, vulnerability, food and wellbeing, gratitude, technology, and mindfulness, among others.
Explore wellbeing topics with us through the Wellbeing Series, an opportunity to engage, learn, grow, and enhance your wellbeing.
Register for our 2026 Wellbeing Series Lectures
For questions about the Wellbeing Series or to make disability-related accommodations, please contact the Bakken Center’s community relations and events office at [email protected] or 612-625-8164.
2026 Wellbeing Series
Science-based Strategies for Raising Terrific Kids in Terrifying Times featuring Melinda Wenner Moyer, MA
October 20, Noon to 1:30 p.m. Central | Online via Zoom
In the blink of an eye, children today will be adults facing countless serious threats: climate change, gun violence, political polarization, and disinformation, to name but a few. What can parents, caregivers, and educators do to help kids develop the skills they will need to not just survive, but also thrive, in this complex world?
To find out, award-winning science journalist Melinda Wenner Moyer interviewed hundreds of parenting experts and researchers across multiple fields—psychology, education, information literacy, technology, business, and even addiction. She shared her many discoveries in her new book Hello, Cruel World!: Science-Based Strategies for Raising Terrific Kids in Terrifying Times. In this webinar, she will share key insights from her book. Ultimately, she will argue that while parents today are understandably anxious, there is much room for hope: Even in these uncertain times, we can still teach kids how to take care of themselves, fight for what they believe in, and bridge divides.
About the Speaker
Melinda Wenner Moyer is an award-winning contributing editor at Scientific American magazine and a regular contributor — and former columnist — at The New York Times. She is a former faculty member in NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and the author of two books: How To Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes and Hello Cruel World!: Science-Based Strategies for Raising Terrific Kids in Terrifying Times. She writes the popular Substack parenting newsletter, Now What.