 |
|
|
|
|
|
Board of Advisors
The Board of Advisors possess expertise in fields covering the full range of the foundation's activities and provide guidance on particular projects and larger strategic initiatives.
Thomas Schmidt Eurasia and Australia
Professor of philosophy of religion on the Roman Catholic theological faculty and a principal investigator of the research cluster “The Formation of Normative Orders” at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and Vice Chairman of the German Society for Philosophy of Religion. Schmidt is also a Fellow at the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt and was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies in 2009.
Professor of philosophy of religion on the Roman Catholic theological faculty and a principal investigator of the research cluster “The Formation of Normative Orders” at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and Vice Chairman of the German Society for Philosophy of Religion. Schmidt is also a Fellow at the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt and was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies in 2009. He studied philosophy, theology, and sociology at the Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule St. Georgen and the J.W. Goethe University and received his doctorate from the University of Frankfurt. He is the author of several publications including Scientific Explanation and Religious Beliefs (with Michael Parker) and Religion and the Critique of Culture (with Matthias Lutz-Bachmann). Schmidt served as assistant professor in the department of philosophy at California State University Long Beach and visiting professor at the St. Louis University and the University of Washington in Seattle.
Martin Seligman North America
Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology and director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Seligman received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and graduated summa cum laude from Princeton. He was the director of the Clinical Training Program of the psychology department of the University of Pennsylvania for 14 years and is a past-president of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association.
Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology and director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Seligman received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and graduated summa cum laude from Princeton. He was the director of the Clinical Training Program of the psychology department of the University of Pennsylvania for 14 years and is a past-president of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Seligman’s research includes learned helplessness, depression, optimism, positive psychology, and comprehensive soldier fitness. He is a best-selling author with 25 books translated into more than 35 languages. His latest book is Flourish, published in 2011. Seligman is the recipient of three Distinguished Scientific Contribution Awards from the American Psychological Association, the Laurel Award of the American Association for Applied Psychology and Prevention, and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for Research in Psychopathology. He has also received the American Psychological Society's William James Fellow Award (for contribution to basic science), the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award (for the application of psychological knowledge), and the inaugural Wiley Award of the British Academy for lifetime contributions to psychology in 2009. He holds four honorary doctorates, including The University of Uppsala, Sweden, and Complutense University, Madrid.
Arvind Sharma North America
Born in Varanasi, India, Sharma completed his early education in Delhi. After graduating from Allahabad University, he joined the Indian Administrative Service (I.A.S.) in 1962 and served in the state of Gujarat until 1968. In 1968, he moved to the United States to pursue an advanced degree at Syracuse University, where he obtained an M.A. in economics. He then earned a master in theological studies from the Harvard Divinity School. Sharma was appointed as a lecturer in Asian religions at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, in 1976, while pursuing a Ph.D.
Born in Varanasi, India, Sharma completed his early education in Delhi. After graduating from Allahabad University, he joined the Indian Administrative Service (I.A.S.) in 1962 and served in the state of Gujarat until 1968. In 1968, he moved to the United States to pursue an advanced degree at Syracuse University, where he obtained an M.A. in economics. He then earned a master in theological studies from the Harvard Divinity School. Sharma was appointed as a lecturer in Asian religions at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, in 1976, while pursuing a Ph.D. in Sanskrit and Indian studies at Harvard University, which he obtained in 1978. He moved to the University of Sydney as a lecturer in 1980 and taught there until 1987. In 1987 he joined the faculty of religious studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he currently occupies the Birks Chair in Comparative Religion.