NO reading group this Thursday

[Daniel Preotiuc]

Just a reminder, there will be no reading group this week. The Seligman Lab meeting will be taking place from 3-4:30, see the description below.

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Hi everyone,

I hope you're having a good week.

We have an exciting lab meeting this Thursday! It'll be from 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm in the PPC's non-windowed conference room (as always, Linda will be kind enough to organize light refreshments).

The first 30 minutes of the meeting will be the relatively less exciting part of the seminar -- I will be presenting the latest results from our Positive Education work in Bhutan, India, and Peru. 

We will dedicate the remaining 60 minutes of the meeting to have a conversation with Jon Kirkwood, Virginia Kirkwood, and Diane Tharp (bios attached). 

Jon and his family own and manage a privileged, beautiful property in the Poconos (http://www.shawneeinn.com/), near Philadelphia and New York. After operating the property as a golf and skiing resort using a relatively traditional business model during the last few decades, Jon and his family have decided to adopt a new vision: to use Shawnee as a global hub for well-being.

Below are bullet points summarizing what Jon, Virginia, and Diane will be sharing with our group. The purpose of their visit to our seminar is to explore collaborations with different PPC initiatives (Positive Education, Imagination Institute,  WWBP, Positive Humanities, Positive Health, Positive Neuroscience, etc.). As you will see below, Jon and his group envision Shawnee as a global base for positive studies and practice.

From Jon:

• A description of the asset: the Shawnee Inn http://www.shawneeinn.com/ Why risk changing the status quo?
• Location / proximity to NYC / Phila./ DC, and thereby the world.
• Our enchantment with Positive Education and Resilience / recommendation by Nick Sampson / respect for U Penn
• Feasibility study / 'Britishness' / local need for middle schools
• Family efforts/ relationships: US Peace Corps, www.hands.org, World Education, 'The Great Surge', University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Columbia School of Public Health, Marlborough College
• The inn as an Institute. Post graduates and international students attend to get a one year Masters. A series of ongoing, evolving degree programs across many disciplines: heath and human development, psychology, development, economics, teaching teachers, and training trainers. A 'satellite' campus for a number of different programs and schools.
• Staffed by fulltime academics, plus part time professors or leaders in their fields; focusing on wellbeing in education and resilience in global development (ngos, gov, etc). 
• We can go to scale. Support is growing...
• Addition of private school onsite for empirical application. Blair / BIS nyc / middle school
• This has been done before. The Aspen Institute - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspen_Institute / Chautauqua https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua

This is a unique opportunity to initiate a synergistic relationship between the PPC and Shawnee Group for the years to come. I hope to see many of you there.

Warmly,

Alejandro