Rate My Professor William Damon

Damon is recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars of human development across the lifespan and has pioneered the scientific study of purpose in life. His research specializations include the development of purpose, integrity, moral commitment, and character in work, family, schools, and personal lives, with recent studies on purpose in higher education, adulthood, families, and youth vocational purpose. Key publications include The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life (2008), A Round of Golf with My Father: The New Psychology of Exploring Your Past to Make Peace with Your Present (2021), Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in Our Homes and Schools (1995, Parents’ Choice Book Award winner), Some Do Care: Contemporary Lives of Moral Commitment (1992, with Anne Colby), Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet (2001, with Howard Gardner and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi), The Power of Ideals: The Real Story of Moral Choice (2015, with Anne Colby), and as editor-in-chief of Handbook of Child Psychology, fifth edition (1998) and sixth edition (2006). His contributions have earned membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2014), National Academy of Education (1999), Fellowship in the American Educational Research Association (2009), and the Kuhmerker Lifetime Career Award from the Association for Moral Education (2020). Damon’s research informs professional training programs in journalism, law, teaching, and business, as well as K-12 and college character education initiatives.