Heart-Mind 2015: Speakers

Kimberly Schonert-Reichl

Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, Ph.D., is an award-winning teacher, researcher and professor at the University of British Columbia. For more than 20 years, Kim’s research has focused on the social and emotional learning (SEL) and development of children and adolescents. She is current Interim Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership at UBC.

Alexandra Samuel

Alexandra Samuel has been involved in social media long before it had a name. From her unique perspective as an educator, an entrepreneur and a blogger, she continues to chart social media's potential for political, social, personal and business change better than almost anyone else. Alexandra authors her own blog (alexandrasamuel.com), as well as the Work Smarter with Social Media series for the Harvard Business Review Press.

Amori Mikami

Dr. Amori Mikami is an Associate Professor and researcher in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Her current research has been focused on the impact of digital communication on teen relationships. She has found that, because of teens’ abilities to navigate digital tools, their relationships remain rich and healthy overall. Most of her work is related to ways in which supportive classrooms and home environments can help children make friends. Dr. Mikami’s special interests include design and evaluation of interventions that train teachers and parents in strategies to assist children with peer problems.

Deborah MacNamara

Dr. Deborah MacNamara is on Faculty at the Neufeld Institute and presents, teaches, and writes on all facets of child and adolescent development based on the relational-developmental approach of Gordon Neufeld. She is also in private practice where she offers counselling services to parents and professionals in making sense of learning, behavioural, and developmental issues in kids. Deborah is a dynamic teacher, researcher and an experienced counsellor who makes developmental science come to life in the everyday context of home and classroom.

Hannah Berry

Hannah Berry is an award winning spoken word poet and musician, and an avid writer and reader. Always in pursuit of a more balanced life, she loves to explore ways of educating herself and others in creative and fulfilling ways, such as through poetry.

Jennifer Shapka

Jennifer Shapka is an Associate Professor in Human Development, Learning and Culture within the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education at the University of British Columbia. She is trained in the area of developmental psychology and is particularly interested in the identification and explanation of contextual factors contributing to the developmental well-being of adolescents. Her current research is focused on exploring the impact of what it means to grow up in an information age, with specific interest in the online risks associated with cyber-bullying, as well as privacy-related concerns due to the over-disclosure of personal information online.

Peter Senge

Dr. Peter Senge is an American systems scientist who is a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute, and the founder of the Society for Organizational Learning. His lectures, delivered around the world, translate the abstract ideas of systems theory into tools for better understanding of economic and organizational change. Dr. Senge is the author of the seminal systems management book, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, and recently co-wrote with Daniel Goleman, The Triple Focus: A New Approach to Education, which explores ways to integrate social and emotional thinking in education.

Rob Roeser

Robert W. Roeser, Ph.D., is a prominent American psychologist who focuses on issues of human development and education - specifically, ways in which organizational features of schools, classroom teaching practices, and qualities of teachers affect the social, emotional and identity development of adolescents and emerging adults.

EDUCATING THE HEART