All

Sean Doyle

A lawyer for over twenty years, Sean has resolved roughly 10,000 disputes. Through that process, one learns some things about people. You see how they respond under stress or when things are falling apart around them. You see the surprising things people do when they think they are getting what they want and how easily they get distracted from what is in their best interest. Conflict and hardship happen. People can be horribly cruel or cold to one another other. Yet every day, people reach genuine agreement, even over fundamental differences in value. Sean has seen this occur 10,000 times. Regular people quietly overcome challenges and hardships and accomplish extraordinary things. Just beneath notice, friends, lovers, and strangers constantly extend gestures of kindness to one another, sometimes in unexpected moments, in both large and small acts.

Over the years Sean has been fortunate to be able to help asylum applicants fleeing torture, to represent battered women and children, to argue for stronger child protection laws, to advocate for the homeless, to defend individuals’ privacy interests, to fill libraries in rural Costa Rica, and to paint orphanage fences in Guatemala. He is currently a stakeholder in a human rights law firm so that some of the most vulnerable among us receive the care and respect everyone deserves.

An adventure athlete and father of three, Sean works with groups and individuals around living fully and squeezing more joy and meaning out of life. In addition to law, Sean did his graduate training in applied positive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

You can reach Sean via email. Watch for his upcoming book and read more at his website.

Sean contributed a chapter to the each of the Positive Psychology News books, Resilience: How to Navigate Life’s Curves, Gratitude: How to Appreciate Life’s Gifts, and Character Strengths Matter: How to Life a Full Life.

Watch Sean’s TED-x talk, A Beautiful Game.

Sean’s articles are here.

Dave Shearon

Dave is a frequent CLE speaker on the application of positive psychology to law practice and the challenges of being a lawyer. Drawing on extensive background in K-12 policy leadership including service on the school board for Metro Nashville Public Schools, he also speaks, consults, and trains school faculties, school superintendents and coaches on applications of positive psychology in K-12 education.

Since 1987, Dave has led the mandatory continuing legal education program for the state of Tennessee. He has been a national leader in developing improved approaches to managing continuing legal education programs including Form1.org, an online, one-stop system for providers to apply for CLE credit from multiple jurisdictions. Under his leadership, Tennessee conducted the only state-wide, comprehensive speaker evaluation program ever by a mandatory CLE jurisdiction and developed management software now utilized by other states and the American Bar Association. Dave is also actively involved on a national level with efforts to certify attorneys as specialists and with lawyers’ funds for client protection.

Dave received his Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 , his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia in 1979, and his Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Tennessee. He and his wife, Teresa, live in Nashville where he enjoys shooting archery tournaments with his two sons. They are members of Crievewood Baptist Church where Dave served as Church Moderator from 1998 to 2007 and has taught Bible study for both 8th-grade boys and college.

Denise Quinlan

Denise is an experienced facilitator and programme designer with over twenty years experience in management consulting. She has worked with management in the health, banking, engineering, power and state sectors in New Zealand and Europe. Helping people discover their strengths and what makes life worth living for them, is what Denise enjoys most – that and the joy of a good theory.

Denise’s articles are here and here (with Amanda Horne).

Yukun Zhao

Yukun is also an acclaimed author, with two books published in China. He is currently writing a positive psychology book in Chinese based on his MAPP capstone project.

Yukun graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China, and also received Master degrees in Chemistry and Computer Science in the United States. Now he works as a software engineer in the financial sector. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey with his wife and son.

Yukun’s articles in Positive Psychology News Daily are here.

Paki Tandon

Prakriti (“Paki”) Tandon, MAPP ’10, came back to her Alma Mater, the University of Pennsylvania, for her Masters in Applied Positive Psychology after several years in the Media/Television space. Most recently, she was an anchor and producer at CNBC-TV18 in New Delhi, India.

Paki’s capstone research paper involved an exploration of the current state of the Media through a positive psychology lens, and was a call for a higher ratio of healthy forms of television media. The media acts as an integral and highly influential force on our psyche, and we must therefore take great pains to ensure a more balanced combination of positive to negative media (media that contributes to our well-being versus that which has a detrimental effect).

Paki is now working on several projects for the media space. She hopes to fuse her passion for positive psychology with her talents and skills on camera.

Paki contributed a chapter to the Positive Psychology News book, Character Strengths Matter.

Caroline Miller

Caroline’s next book, Authentic Grit, will be published in 2016. Caroline is often featured in national and international media, was the first Positive Psychology expert on satellite radio with her “Positive Tips of the Day” from 2007 to 2009, and was named a Good News Ambassador by the Good News Network in 2012. In 2013 she won the Mentoring Award from the George Washington University Business School, and she often keynotes at conferences and organizations around the world about her personal experiences, and the cutting-edge science of happiness.

Caroline is one of the first 34 graduates of the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania (2006) and is a magna cum laude graduate from Harvard University. She pursues active extracurriculars that embody her character strength of zest, including Masters swimming, rowing, yoga, and the martial arts.

Caroline’s PPND articles can be found here.

Rosie Milner

Rosie has worked as a policy advisor on a range of social and economic policies, both for the British Government and in the NGO sector.

Rosie’s PPND articles are here.

Elizabeth Peterson

She took psychology classes at Harvard while she earned her masters in positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. In the past few years, she has been employed as a psychology research assistant at Harvard and as a social work intern at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Elizabeth’s PPND articles are here.

Angus Skinner

His mother was the first daughter and 8th child of a crofting family on Skye, born in a two-room house and who later crossed the Hindu Kush); his father (from fishing folk) was a surgeon and missionary, building (often by hand) a hospital in Pakistan.

Angus was always involved in Scotland and for 15 years was a senior civil servant and Chief Social Work Inspector. Angus has argued the case for positive psychology in Scotland since 1997. Angus agrees with Martin Seligman that the world is experiencing changes unprecedented since the 15th century and that the paradigm shift that is broadly described as positive psychology has important links back to 18th century Scottish Enlightenment thinking, and especially Adam Smith.

Angus has also been a visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde.

For more detail, see the IPPA bio of Angus Skinner.

Angus contributed two chapters to the Positive Psychology News book, Gratitude: How to Appreciate Life’s Gifts. His PPND articles are here.

Marie-Josée Shaar

After a first career in the fast-paced corporate world, Marie-Josée Shaar, MAPP 2007, founded Smarts and Stamina to promote healthy lifestyles. Like all our regular authors, she has a Master in Applied Positive Psychology, but she is also certified as a Nutrition and Wellness Consultant, a Personal Trainer and a Wellness Culture Coach.

Through research, coaching and teaching, MJ developed a health promotion model that is effective, highly customizable and that limits the amount of self-discipline needed to achieve success. Today she offers wellness workshops to various organizations and continuing education to wellness professionals. She has worked for prestigious wellness companies, Fortune Companies, universities and governmental agencies.

Her book co-written with Kathryn Britton, MAPP, is titled Smarts and Stamina: The Busy Person’s Guide to Optimal Health and Performance, and offers 50 well-researched avenues to better health habits.

Follow her on Twitter for quick wellness ideas and updates via @gotsas, or see www.Facebook.com/SmartsAndStamina to take part in a community of health promoters.

Marie-Josée’s articles are here .

Emma Judge

Emma holds a degree in Software Engineering, a degree in Psychology and a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from UPenn. As well as her work with leading corporations, Emma is also a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the University of East London on the first MAPP program in Europe and is involved in a project in the UK to bring the skills of Resilience to teachers and pupils through the Penn Resilience Program.

Bridget
Grenville-Cleave

Bridget has 20 years experience in business, specialising in organisational and personal change. Her company, Workmad Ltd delivers Positive Psychology and Positive Leadership Masterclasses which provide a balance of research and practical tools for personal and professional development. Bridget is also an accredited Strengthscope assessor.
 

Bridget is a founder member of the International Positive Psychology Association and the Centre for Applied Positive Psychology.
 

Bridget has several publications. She is

• co-author of The Happiness Equation: 100 Factors That Can Add To or Subtract From Your Happiness with Dr Ilona Boniwell
   
• co-author of The Facebook Manager: The Power of Web-based Networking to Transform Your Performance and Career with Dr Jonathan Passmore (UK Amazon link)
   
• chapter contributor to the Positive Psychology News book, Resilience: How to Navigate Life’s Curves and Character Strengths Matter: How to Live a Full Life.
   
• author of Introducing Positive Psychology: A Practical Guide, published in 2012 by Totem Books.

Giselle Nicholson

Giselle holds a Master’s degree in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) with a concentration in Organizational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, and serves as President-elect of the Work Division for the International Positive Psychology Association. She spends her time working and creating in Western Europe and California.

Giselle contributed a chapter to the Positive Psychology News book, Gratitude: How to Appreciate Life’s Gifts.

Giselle’s articles are here.

Iris Marie Bloom

PPND articles by Iris are here.
 

Nicholas Hall, MAPP ’06, is the manager of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Behavioral Lab. He consults on worker satisfaction and engagement, and sits on the advisory board of Omnirisk Management Tools. His research work focuses on work satisfaction, character strengths, and positive psychology, and is published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Formerly, Nick was the founder and Principal of Greenwich Academic Coaching, a private academic coaching and tutoring company. He has taught at the collegiate level and teaches courses in well-being and positive psychology in Fairfield County, CT and Westchester county, NY, including an exclusive two-week summer program for teens on the principles of success.  He has been featured in newspapers throughout CT and NY as an academic coach, and he teaches courses on “The Science of Happiness” (www.happiness-class.com) to adults and to teens. 

Nicholas’ articles are here.