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UF Doctoral Candidate Receives CSI Research Grant
Cheryl Pence Wolf received a Chi Sigma Iota Research Grant for her research study entitled, “Factors of Career Meaning: An Analysis of U. S. Naval Academy Graduates.”
Her dissertation research focuses on the effects of career meaning on professional and personal lives. Career meaning describes an experience with a career that provides meaningful, satisfying, and challenging work that contributes to an overall balanced lifestyle and is aligned with one’s values. It extends beyond the pleasurable aspects of hedonic well-being and integrates more fulfilling and self-actualizing life experiences inherent in eudaimonic well-being. As significant relationships between career meaning, values, satisfaction, and wellness emerged in the research literature, it became important to investigate these further.
Conducting her research with a sample of nearly 700 U.S. Naval Academy graduates from the graduating classes of 1985 through 2010, she reviewed the theoretical perspectives related to career meaning including career development, meaning, values, satisfaction, and wellness; explored the current literature and empirical studies related to career meaning; empirically examined factors underlying career meaning utilizing an exploratory factor analysis; proposed an empirical definition of career meaning that distinguished it from other related concepts; and investigated the age, gender, cultural, and environmental elements that may also be associated with career meaning.
Cheryl obtained her B.S. in Economics from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD; a M.S. in Human Resource Management from Troy University; a M.Ed., Ed.S., and soon a Ph.D., from the UF Counselor Education program. She is a Nationally Certified Counselor and Certified Professional in Human Resources with experience working as a naval officer, human resource professional, financial counselor, crisis counselor, career counselor, and instructor of the University of Florida Career & Lifespan Development course for several years. Her interests lie in career development, work-life balance, meaningful work, and wellness.
