No matter what a person’s IQ is or what kind of work people are doing, they should be hopeful every day, at least according to Shane Lopez, Gallup senior scientist and business professor at the University of Kansas.
Lopez recently conducted research on how hope influences students’ well-being and achievement, according to high-hope and low-hope groups. The outcome was that the high-hope group worked more effectively than their low-hope peers.
“Investing in the future pays off today,” was the main topic Lopez, a positive psychologist and the world’s preeminent expert on hope, spoke about for the inaugural lecture in the Teachers College Lecture Series on Monday. Around 100 people, including students, faculty and Emporia community members attended the lecture in Webb Hall.
“College students are going through a lot of transitions,” Lopez said. “They are also trying to aim their lives with something meaningful…college is hard mainly because there are always obstacles you have to take. I think college students have to be hopeful to get through the challenging days.”
Lopez said it is hard for students to deal with the college experience and daily life, but there are very hopeful people who are willing to help college students make it through the obstacles in their life. Hope is a “good thing and makes life a little easier and better,” Lopez said.
“Today, I just want to share with ESU and the Emporia community that hope matters,” Lopez said. “We have this kind of quiet yet powerful psychological force that makes a difference in the world if the community and the campus can come together and really work to build hope in the community that all of us can benefit from and make our life a lot better.”
Lopez said faculty can benefit from hope as well.
“The challenges are to make sure that we do a good job presenting not only to our students, but to ourselves as faculty, and to members of the community as well,” said Ken Weaver, dean of the Teachers College. “That’s the goal for this Teacher’s College Lecture Series, to be able to bring ideas to the campus that we can think about and see if we have a better life as a result.”
Rebecca Sparkman, junior sociology major, said that being hopeful every day is delightful. She said she thinks it is easy to be hopeful, but it can be easy not be hopeful as well.
President Michael Shonrock worked with Lopez for the Gallup organization for several years, and he helped bring Lopez to campus for the lecture.
“It’s a great topic, hope,” Shonrock said. “Every organization needs hope…we are looking at hope as a long term investment.”
At the end of the lecture, representatives from both private and public Kansas schools received copies of Lopez’s new book, “Making Hope Happen,” signed by Lopez. His book is also for sale in the Memorial Union Bookstore.
