Joelle Adams

PhD Student

Biography

Joelle Adams is an experienced educator and researcher who takes a scholarly approach to personal and professional growth. She has taught a range of university and college courses, and conducted pedagogical research in Canada, the UK, and California.

Joelle is currently studying for her PhD in Applied Transpersonal Psychology through the Alef Trust/Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, with a focus on faculty wellbeing. She also holds a BA in English with a Certificate in Writing from the University of Western Ontario in Canada and an MA in Professional Practice in Higher Education from Bath Spa University in the UK. Joelle teaches English Composition and Literature at Santa Monica College in California and is a certified coach.

In addition to her academic pursuits and exploring states of consciousness, Joelle enjoys yoga, midcentury design, 20th century literature, NFL football (go Niners!), hiking/walking, travel, running, photography, strong British tea, clever comedy, a good autumn coat, cooking, connecting with her global network of friends, and laughing so hard that her sides hurt.

PhD research

Joelle’s project is about applying transpersonal psychology to wellbeing for faculty members (lecturers/tutors/researchers) in higher education. Her intention is to help her colleagues who work in higher education transcend the limitations of their egos to have a little more ease and fun.

The overarching question is “How can I help faculty members in higher education liberate themselves to reclaim energy, connection, meaning, and joy?”. The secondary questions are about the efficacy and participants’ experiences of the interventions designed to encourage liberation.

This is an action research project, in which Joelle offers educational development interventions (coaching/workshop/online class) to faculty in higher education. She plans to enquire about the effectiveness and reasons for effectiveness (or not) using semi-structured interviews. The interventions will be constructed using the “conscious education” framework for faculty wellbeing that she has been developing, which is partly inspired by the transpersonal coaching method pioneered by Jevon Dängeli of the Alef Trust.