Carleton Convo with Marc Schulz | October 31, 2025

Marc Schulz, associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development and Bryn Mawr psychology professor, delivered Carleton’s convocation on Friday, October 31, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. In his address, “The Good Life: Lessons for Living from the World’s Longest Study of Well-Being,” Schulz will share insights from his work with the Harvard Study of Adult Development, as discussed in his New York Times best-selling book, The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness.

Schulz has served as the associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development since 2014. The study, which began in 1938, now spans two generations and more than 700 families. With the central focus of the study being human flourishing, Schulz’s expertise on “the good life” is considerable. This is well-demonstrated in his acclaimed book, as well as his speaking career, which helps make accessible key insights from the psychological study — and posits that the key ingredients to happiness may be closer than we think.

Beyond his work with the Study, Schulz is a professor of psychology on the Sue Kardas PhD 1971 Professorship at Bryn Mawr College and serves as the director of the College’s data science program. Across his work, he focuses on human connection and the consequences of emotional stress in the context of development and life transitions across adulthood. He is the author of numerous academic publications and the co-editor of multiple books. His essays on human connection and well-being have appeared in popular press outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Big Think, and CNBC.

Although Schulz has described himself as a shy and somewhat introverted child, these qualities, paired with his lifelong curiosity, have played crucial balancing roles in his career path. In an episode of The Proof podcast, Schulz reflected on how he found his intellectual happy medium between in-person psychological analysis and more academic work with the Harvard Study of Adult Development. 

Schulz completed his BA in sociology at Amherst College, his PhD in clinical psychology at the University of California–Berkeley, and postdoctoral fellowships in clinical and health psychology at Harvard Medical School.

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations