1994 Ph.D. Department of Sociology, UNC-CH. Dissertation: Wisdom in the Later Years: A Life Course Approach to Successful Aging.
1987 Diploma. Department of Sociology, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University of Frankfurt/Main (Germany). Thesis: Die Representativität von Umfragedaten – dargestellt anhand des Vergleichs dreier Jugendstudien (The Representativeness of Survey Data. A Comparison of Three Youth Studies).
Grants
Collaborator (PI: Michel Ferrari, Ph.D., University of Toronto): “Wise life management among Iranian immigrants and Syrian refugees” funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Amount: $197,055; Dates: March 2018 – March 2024.
Co-Investigator (PI: Michel Ferrari, Ph.D., University of Toronto): Motivating the Self to Virtue in Western and non-Western Countries: Does Nation or Faith Matter More? Funded by “The Self, Motivation, and Virtue Project” funded by the Templeton Foundation Religion Trust. Amount: $189,995. Dates: September 1, 2015 – December 31, 2017.
Co-Investigator (PI: Michel Ferrari, Ph.D., University of Toronto). A Cross-Cultural Study of Wisdom. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Amount: $74,493. Dates: June 2007 – April 2010.
Co-Investigator: Spirituality and Living Well. Funded by the Templeton Positive Psychology Fellowship Program. Amount: $14,000 plus travel expenses to the Positive Psychology Center in Philadelphia for the Medici II meetings from May 15-July 1, 2005. Dates: May 15, 2005-May 14, 2006.
Principal Investigator: Aging and Dying Well Similarities and Differences. Funded by the Brookdale Foundation and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Department of Sociology at the University of Florida. Amount: $126,260; Dates: July 1999-June 2001.
Principal Investigator: Empirical Assessment of a Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale. Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging (1R03AG14855-01). Amount: $47,187; Dates: August 1997-December 1999.
Principal Investigator: Empirical Assessment of a Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale. Funded by the CLAS Research Initiation Project of the University of Florida. Amount: $11,452; Dates: Summer 1997.
Selected Honors and Professional Activities
2002-present Founding Faculty Member and Member of Advisory Committee, University of Florida Center for Spirituality and Health.
2021-present Member of the Advisory Board, Centre for Wisdom in Leadership, Mumbai, India.
2013-2023 Executive Secretary, Society for the Study of Human Development (SSHD).
2021 Pat Primeaux Best Paper Award for “The Benefits of Wise Organizations for Employee Well-Being” (Monika Ardelt and Bhavna Sharma) at the International Vincentian Business Ethics Conference, DePaul University, Chicago, IL (online), October 21-23, 2021.
2016-2018 Chair, Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Humanities and the Arts Committee.
2016-2019 University of Florida Term Professorship.
2016 Listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America, 70th Platinum Anniversary Edition.
2013 Listed in Marquis Who’s Who in the World, 30th Pearl Anniversary Edition.
2010 Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America
2008 Colonel Allan R. and Margaret G. Crow Term Professor