Amar Mmoud (graduate teaching associate, SASSDA), Jeremy Risinger (assistant director of Academic and Career Success, CPDC), Dawn Smith-Sherwood (director of Liberal Studies/Crimson Core and First Learning Year, professor of Spanish, LLW), and Michelle Tweardy (field-based instructor, CWE) presented on UNIV 101 First Learning Year (FLY) at the inaugural Bowling Green State University Life Design Convening, held May 14–15, 2026, in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Attended by representatives from 25 US institutions of higher education as well as two international universities, the inaugural Life Designing Convening at BGSU featured concurrent sessions, interactive workshops, and an opportunity to engage with New York Times bestselling coauthor Bill Burnett (Designing Your Life, 2016). The gathering also provided more than 120 college-level life design practitioners with an opportunity to work together to plan next steps for the movement.
Mmoud, Risinger, Smith-Sherwood, and Tweardy each completed the Stanford University “Designing Your Life” studio and, in fall 2025, served as instructors of the inaugural general offering of UNIV 101, in which life design is featured as part of the course.
From left: Michelle Tweardy, Amar Mmoud, Dawn Smith-Sherwood, and Jeremy Risinger