Does happiness fuel success? Or does being successful make us happier? Paul Billmeyer, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire – Barron County, will tackle those questions and others during his Thursdays at the U presentation, “Seven Principles That Fuel Success,” Dec. 12 at UW-Eau Claire – Barron County.
Paul Billmeyer
Billmeyer’s talk, the final presentation of the fall series, will be from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Blue Hills Lecture Hall in Ritzinger Hall and will be livestreamed at ricelaketv.com.
His presentation is based on ideas from Shawn Achor’s book “The Happiness Advantage: Seven Principles that Fuel Success and Performance at Work.”
Billmeyer has been a student of human behavior for 50 years. After earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology, he enlisted in the U.S. Army for work experience in the mental health field and was able to access the GI Bill to fund his master’s studies.
During his four-year tour of active duty, he worked on locked psychiatric/detox wards, at community mental health centers doing intake work and in substance-abuse programs. After leaving active duty, Billmeyer joined the 467th Psychiatric Detachment in Madison.
During the next 21 years, he completed annual training in the mental health field and, in 1990, his unit (combat stress and psychiatric triage teams) was activated for Operation Desert Storm.
Billmeyer’s civilian careers have included work in the substance-abuse field and 27 years as a probation and parole officer in western Wisconsin. Since 2006, he has taught psychology classes at Chippewa Valley Technical College, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Eau Claire – Barron County.
The Thursdays at the U weekly series is free and open to the public thanks to support from the UW-Eau Claire – Barron County Foundation. Neither seating reservations nor parking permits are needed for in-person attendees.
Although in-person attendance is encouraged, most talks in the series are livestreamed. They also are archived and can be watched later on the Thursdays at the U webpage.
The first presentation of the spring 2025 series will be Jan. 30, with Dr. Oscar Chamberlain presenting “Minnesota’s Flag and Conflicting American Dreams.”
For more information, contact Laura Holden at 715-788-6207 or holdenlk@uwec.edu.
