Biography

Robert W. Roeser is currently the Bennett Pierce Professor of Care, Compassion and Human Development at Penn State University. His Ph.D. is from the Combined Program in Education and Psychology at the University of Michigan (1996), and he holds master's degrees in religion and psychology, developmental psychology and clinical social work. He has been a United States Fulbright Scholar in India twice; a William T. Grant Faculty Scholar; and the Senior Program Coordinator for the Mind and Life Institute (Boulder, CO). Dr. Roeser’s scholarship is focused on schools as key cultural contexts of human development, and the use of contemplative practices in education for administrators, teachers, staff, and students. His laboratory at Penn State is devoted to the study of the effects of mindfulness and compassion with regard to improving health, wellbeing, teaching and learning; and in fostering an equitable and compassionate culture in education and beyond.

Mark Greenberg, Ph.D. holds The Bennett Endowed Chair in Prevention Research in Penn State's College of Health and Human Development and he is the Founding Director of the Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development. He is the author of over 300 journal articles and book chapters on the development of well-being, learning and the effects of prevention efforts on children and families. He is a Founding Board Member of the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL). He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society from the American Psychological Association (2016). One of his current interests is how to help nurture awareness and compassion in our society.

Patricia (Tish) Ann Jennings, M.Ed., Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Education at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. She is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of social and emotional learning and mindfulness in education with a specific emphasis on teacher stress and how it impacts the social and emotional context of the classroom. Dr. Jennings led the team that developed CARE for Teachers, a mindfulness-based professional development program shown to significantly improve teacher well-being, emotional supportiveness and sensitivity and classroom productivity in the largest randomized controlled trial of a mindfulness-based intervention designed specifically to address teacher occupational stress. Dr. Jennings is leading the development of the Compassionate Schools Project curriculum, an integrated health education program designed to align with state and national health and physical education standards. She is Co-Principal Investigator on a large randomized controlled trial being conducted in Louisville, KY to evaluate the curriculum’s efficacy.

Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia and Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership – an interdisciplinary research institute in the Faculty of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Iowa and completed her postdoctoral work as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Fellow in the Clinical Research Training Program in Adolescence at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. Dr. Schonert-Reichl’s research focuses on identification of the processes that foster children’s positive human qualities such as empathy, compassion, altruism, and resiliency. She is the recipient of the 2015 Joseph E. Zins Distinguished Scholar Award for outstanding research on social and emotional learning (SEL), and the 2009 Confederation of University Faculty Associations BC's Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award in recognition of her sustained outstanding contributions to the community beyond the academy through research over the major portion of her career.

3-099 - Developmental Applications of Mindfulness in Schools

Session Type: Invited SRCD Salon

Sub Unit

• Invited Program on Behavioral Science & Public Policy

Moderator

• Robert W. Roeser, Pennsylvania State University

Panelists

• Mark T. Greenberg, Pennsylvania State University

• Patricia (Tish) Ann Jennings, University of Virginia

• Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, University of British Columbia