Humor as a Coping Strategy for
the Stressors of Academe

As a newbie or veteran professor, do you ever experience stress? There seem to be multiple stressors in our academic careers, such as teaching load, hours of advising, student emails, student requests, publication demands, pressure to obtain external funding, a quadrillion meetings, an endless barrage of tasks, and a frantic pace. Participants pinpoint their specific professional and personal stressors. Although the major ones cannot be eliminated, you have choices in how you respond to them.

Among the many “standard” techniques recommended in the research for managing or reducing stress, participants identify the five most effective and assess their own use of humor in stressful situations on the Coping Humor Scale.

Nearly 50 years of research on the psychological and physiological effects of humor and laughter on stress reduction and stress hormones are summarized and then applied to participants’ lives. Several systematic humor strategies will be described that participants can use daily to cope with their stressors. Participants leave this session with concrete methods to “deal” with whatever or whoever is causing them stress!

This topic is available as a 1-hour keynote or workshop.

To find out more, email Ed Leach or call (480) 705-8200, x233.