James O. Pawelski, Ph.D.
is Director of Education and Senior Scholar in the Positive Psychology Center and Adjunct
Associate Professor of Religious Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of
Pennsylvania.
Having earned a Ph.D. in philosophy, he is the author of The Dynamic
Individualism of William James, in which he presents a major new interpretation and
application of the work of this seminal philosopher and psychologist. He has also authored
articles on the history of philosophy and its application to human development. His current
research interests include connections between positive psychology and the various
disciplines in the humanities, the philosophical underpinnings of positive psychology, and the
development, application, and assessment of interventions in positive psychology.
He is
editor of the philosophy section of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Happiness, coeditor of The Eudaimonic Turn: Well-Being in Literary Studies (forthcoming), co-editor of
Touched with Fire: The Poetry of Human Flourishing (in progress), a member of the Advisory
Board of the Ernest L. Boyer Center, and a member of the Editorial Boards of William James
Studies, International Coaching Psychology Review, the Journal of Positive Psychology, and
Psychology of Well-Being. Dr. Pawelski is the founding director of the Master of Applied
Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches
courses on positive interventions and the humanities and human flourishing. A sought-after
international keynote speaker and workshop leader who regularly makes presentations in
Spanish as well as English, he is also the founding Executive Director of the International
Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and a charter member of its Board of Directors.