Why is resilience important?
On a small scale, being resilient will enable you to raise your hand in class and risk "sounding stupid." On a grander scale, it will allow you to try something really hard whether or not you're sure you'll do well at it. Ultimately, resilience will allow you to make the most of Stanford's opportunities to learn. The growth and wisdom that can only be achieved by navigating setbacks should not be considered the consolation prize to success, but rather bona fide revenue through which new perspectives are gained and crucial shifts in thinking are heralded. It's not about how how epic your failure, it's about how you get up.
The Resilience Project's Core Ideas
- Learn about learning
- Seek advice
- Get perspective
- Connect with community
About The Resilience Project
The Resilience Project is a collaborative effort of the following offices: Center for Teaching and Learning, Undergraduate Advising and Research, Office of Judicial Affairs, and Career Development Center, Bing Overseas Studies Program, Residential Education, and the Stanford Alumni Association.
The History of The Resilience Project
2015
On April 2, 2016, we presented "Stanford, I Screwed Up" to an overflow audience of ~800 undergraduates, graduate students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members. We expanded our resources beyond the website to include dorm-based workshops, special-focus programs such as"Failure in the Arts," and "Making Major Decisions: How Failure Can Help you Choose a Major".
2014
The Resilience Project Director, Adina Glickman, and Abigail Lipson, Director of Harvard’s Success/Failure project, found The Resilience Consortium, an online compilation of research, tools, and various linked resources. 11 Ivy League institutions sign on as charter members.
Also in 2014 we were formed a Faculty Advisory Group, welcoming Prof. Geoff Cohen, Prof. Carol Dweck, Dr. Ira Friedman, Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann, Prof. Jelena Obradović, Dr. Denise Clark Pope, and Prof. Gred Walton, who offer guidance and feedback, helping set priorities as we move forward.
2013
With support from the Office of the Vice Provost for Student Affairs, The Resilience Project consults with Health Promotion Services’ I-Thrive program to support efforts to develop a peer-led course on student resilience.
2012
The Resilience Project is awarded a $10K grant from the Stanford Associates to bring alumni voices into the collection of videotaped interviews. In a collaborative effort with Freshman Sophomore College Dean Nadeem Hussain and Resident Fellow LaCona Woltmon, and Marlene Scherer Stern from the Career Development Center’s Stanford Alumni Network, five alumni agree to interviews. FroSoCo students Greeshma Somashekar, Justin Lin, Sarah Cabreros, Angela Sy, and Jomar Sevilla interview various alumni and Sharon Barazani interviews President John Hennessy.
2011
The Resilience Project is officially launched at Mid-Year Convocation, a freshman event that was held in the first week of Winter Quarter. Within its first year online, the site receives 10,000 hits.
The Resilience Project, The Career Development Center, and the d.school co-sponsor “Failure By Design” a workshop for undergraduate and graduate students led by Dave Evans that explores how to mine and reframe failure using design thinking.
2010
The Steering Committee surveys hundreds of students asking them to identify Stanford faculty, staff, or alumni they look up to. This becomes our “wish list” and the Steering Committee sets about networking our way into contact with as many on our wish list as we could find. When contacted, virtually everyone is willing to make a contribution. In fact, most not only say yes, they offer the consistent response “which of the many failures I’ve encountered shall I talk about?” Most contributors are willing and able to be interviewed on camera. Others prefer we interview them and write articles based on these conversations, and still others offer their own written essays.
The Steering Committee, after much debate, settles on a name for this initiative. The Resilience Project is born. With support from the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, designer Lina Yamaguchi procures the Resilience Project’s phoenix icon.
Building website and editing film
The first set of videotaped interviews are filmed, directed, and produced by Adina Glickman, the founder and current director of The Resilience Project. After her foray into film production, Adina posts the Project’s initial collection of 11 edited videos.
2009
Abigail Lipson, Director of Harvard's Bureau of Study Counsel, shares her publication "Reflections on Rejections" with Stanford's Center for Teaching and Learning. The booklet inspires Associate Director Adina Glickman to create a resource for the Stanford community aimed at helping them respond productively to academic setbacks.
Steering Committee formed.
- Cari Costanzo, Undergraduate Advising and Research
- Karen Hiramoto Lee, Undergraduate Advising and Research
- Marlene Scherer-Stern, Career Development Center
- Koren Bakkegard, Residential Education
- Jamie Pontius-Hogan, Judicial Affairs Office
- Lee Dukes, Bing Overseas Studies Program
- Solomon Hughes, Undergraduate Advising and Research Athletic Resource Center
Contact Us
Write to resilience@stanford.edu, or contact Adina Glickman, Director of The Resilience Project at adinag@stanford.edu.
