Cara Sidman

Cara L. Sidman began her faculty appointment at ASU leading the development, implementation, and instruction of core curriculum in the College of Health Solutions. While she continues teaching and mentoring in the College core, her focus has narrowed to online experiential well-being courses for undergraduates and teaching assistants.

Dr. Sidman has been developing curriculum, coordinating, and teaching University general education courses for over 23 years in online and in-person delivery formats on a variety of health-related disciplines, including well-being, health promotion, health education, physical activity, exercise science, and lifetime wellness. Dr. Sidman continues to evolve alongside student needs, the landscape of higher education and health professions, and the well-being research, and teaches, mentors, researches, writes, and presents engaging and creative approaches to building social and emotional skills for personal and professional growth and human flourishing.

She has been a faculty lead multiple years to a happiness and well-being study abroad program to the Greek island of Ikaria, one of the world's five longevity hot spots known as Blue Zones. Dr. Sidman's teaching philosophy combines innovative online methods with experiential practices to "gently nudge" students toward their growing edge and maximize their potential. Her well-being philosophy, intimately intertwined with her teaching philosophy, focuses on science-based skills for rewiring the brain, cultivating curiosity, and improving social connection. Lifelong well-being practices at the heart of her teaching and mentoring include self-awareness, mindfulness, effective communication, empathy, creative problem-solving, and social awareness.