2025 Ravenswood Community Forums Presents: Colloquium with Global Positive Psychology Experts Barbara Fredrickson Ph.D. and James O. Pawelski Ph.D.

Hear from renowned Positive Psychology experts Barbara Fredrickson Ph.D. and James O. Pawelski Ph.D.

Light refreshments will be served at 5.30pm for 6.00pm commencement.

Barbara Fredrickson Ph.D.

Visiting Ravenswood from the USA, Barbara Fredrickson Ph.D. is Director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory (PEP Lab) at UNC-Chapel Hill, Founding Co-Chair of the Association of Positive Emotion Laboratories (APEL), and Former President of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). She has also been identified as the 13th most influential psychologist alive today contributing to counselling psychology. Among the most highly cited scholars in psychology, Barbara Fredrickson is most known for her “broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions,” foundational within Positive Psychology for providing a blueprint for how pleasant emotional states, as fleeting as they are, contribute to resilience, wellbeing, and health.

James O. Pawelski Ph.D. 

James O. Pawelski, Ph.D., is Professor of Practice and Director of Education in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the founding director of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program and of the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project, which has been designated a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab. He has published dozens of academic articles and five books, including The Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities, and is the editor of the Humanities and Human Flourishing book series with Oxford University Press. Additionally, he served as the founding executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association and is a past president of the William James Society.