Positive Psychology and MAPP at Penn: Doing that Namedropping Thing

Actually, I should be busy writing on my MAPP final papers right now. But then, taking short breaks is supposed to help your mind stay fresh, right?

By now, a lot of people that have read my blog also contacted me to ask about my MAPP experience. Obviously, it´s not that easy to tell a story of 10 months in a few sentences. Hey, that´s why I started this blog in the first place…* There´s also been some questions about the tuition – and to be honest, it´s not exactly a bargain. I could have not taken part without some generous support from my employer (or rather: my boss). But hey – Penn belongs to the Ivy League and that comes with a price tag.

If you´d like to know why I am convinced that it was worth each and every penny (and much more…), please read my blog front to back. Otherwise, you might be convinced by the sheer (work-)force of people that you’ll  have the pleasure and honor to learn from. So here is the name-dropping list. Please note that the guest lecturers and assistant instructors will vary from year to year (C = core faculty; G = guest lecturer; A = assistant instructor that has taught part of a class at some point):

• Roy Baumeister, Professor of Psychology at Florida State University, author of Willpower and >500 other books and research articles (G)
• Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology at Yale, author of Just Babies, his research has been published in “Nature” and “Science” (G)
• Dan Bowling,  Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law School, Visiting Scholar at Penn, and former SVP Human Resources at Coca-Cola (A)
• Lisa Buksbaum, CEO and Founder of NFP Soaringwords, former marketing executive (G)
• Art Carey, Columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Pulitzer Prize winner for team coverage of the Three Mile Island disaster (G)
• Ellen Charry, Professor of Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, author of (among other books) God and the Art of Happiness (G)
• Jer Clifton, Ph.D. student at the Positive Psychology Center, former manager at Habitat for Humanity (A)
• David Cooperrider, Professor or Organizational Behavior at Case Western Reserve University, “inventor” of Appreciative Inquiry (G)
• Jonathan Coopersmith, Chair of Musical Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music (G)
• Angela Duckworth, Professor of Psychology at University of Pennsylvania, “inventor” of Grit (C)
• Jane Dutton, Professor of Business Administration at University of Michigan, one of the world´s foremost authorities on Positive Organizational Scholarship (G)
• Johannes Eichstaedt, Ph.D. student at the PPC, first German MAPP alumnus (A)
• Chris Feudtner, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania (G)
• Barbara Fredrickson, Professor of Psychology at University of North Carolina, “inventor” of the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (G)
• Jane Gillham, Professor of Psychology at Swarthmore College, co-author of The Optimistic Child (C)
• Adam Grant, Professor at Wharton Business School, author of Give and Take (G)
• Jonathan Haidt, Professor for Ethical Leadership at Stern School of Business, author of The Happiness Hypothesis (G)
• Rosie Hancock, Career Coach and Executive Consultant (A)
• Margaret “Peggy” Kern, Postdoctoral Fellow at Penn, Stats Wizard and my capstone project supervisor (C)
• Emilia Lahti, “Queen of Sisu” (and overall awesomeness)  (G)
• Ellen Langer, Professor of Psychology at Harvard, one of the world´s foremost experts on mindfulness (among other things) (G)
• Dan Lerner, Instructor at New York University and Personal Coach (A)
• Mark Linkins, (among other things) Lead Consultant for Educational Practices at the VIA Institute on Character (G)
• Meredith Myers, Full-time Lecturer at Wharton and Ph.D. student at Case Western Reserve University (C)
• Ryan Niemiec, Education Director of VIA Institute on Character, author of Positive Psychology at the Movies (G)
• James O’Shaughnessy, Managing Director of Floreat Education, former Director of Policy and Research for Prime Minister D. Cameron  (G)
• Ken Pargament, Professor of Psychology at Bowling Green University, author of Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy (G)
• James Pawelski, Director of Education at the Positive Psychology, MAPP´s “Master of Ceremony” (C)
• Isaac Prilleltensky, Dean of the University of Miami School of Education (G)
• John Ratey, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, author of Spark (G)
• Tom Rath, Senior Scientist and Advisor to Gallup, author of (among other books) How full is your Bucket? (G)
• Amy Walker Rebele, Positive Psychology Educator (A)
• Robert “Reb” Rebele, Positive Psychology Educator and Consultant (A)
• Karen Reivich, Co-Director of the Penn Resiliency Project, author of The Resilience Factor (C)
• Ann Roepke, Ph.D. student at Penn´s Positive Psychology Center (G)
• Paul Rozin, Professor of Psychology at Penn, one of the leading experts on the psychology of food (G)
• Esa Saarinen, Professor of Applied Philosophy at Aalto University one of Finland´s foremost philosophers  (G)
• Judith Saltzberg-Levick, Instructor at Penn, Psychologist specialized in CBT (C)
• Barry Schwartz, Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College, author of The Paradox of Choice  (G)
• Charles Scudamore, Vice Principal at Geelong Grammar School, Australia (G)
• Martin Seligman, Professor of Psychology at Penn, “Spiritus Rector” of Positive Psychology (C)
• Andrew Soren,  Leadership Coach and Consultant (A)
• Karen Warner, CEO at executive coaching firm “Tangible Group” (A)
• Chandra Sripada, Professor of Psychiatry at University of Michigan (G)
• Daniel Tomasulo, Psychologist, Author, Columnist, author of Confessions of a Former Child (A)
• George Vaillant, Professor at Harvard Medical School, former Director of the Harvard Grant Study (G)
• Lea Waters, Professor of Psychology at University of Melbourne (G)
• Amy Wrzesniewski, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Yale, one of the leading experts on job callings and meaningful work (G)
• David Yaden, Ph.D. student with Martin Seligman  (A)

That´s value for money…

*And to become super-duper famous, of course…