BELIEFS & PRACTICE
The science of gratitude

IN THE NORTHEAST
• Tal Ben-Shahar is the New York-based author of Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment and has taught a popular introductory positive psychology course at Harvard University. Read a March 10, 2006, Boston Globe article about the class. Contact him through Speaking Matters, 212-725-5547.
• Edward V. Vacek is a Jesuit priest and professor of moral theology at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass. He has written about gratitude and love. Contact 617-492-1960 ext. 212, evacek@wjst.edu.

IN THE EAST
• Tal Ben-Shahar is the New York-based author of Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment and has taught a popular introductory positive psychology course at Harvard University. Read a March 10, 2006, Boston Globe article about the class. Contact him through Speaking Matters, 212-725-5547.
• Mark E. Graham is an associate professor of moral studies and of theology and religious studies at Villanova University in Villanova, Pa. He wrote Sustainable Agriculture: A Christian Ethic of Gratitude. Contact 610-519-4703, mark.graham@villanova.edu.
• Brenda Shoshanna is a New York psychologist, Zen practitioner and author of 365 Ways to Give Thanks: One for Every Day of the Year. Contact 212-288-0028.
• Taz Tagore is the author of Seasons of Thanks: Graces and Blessings for Every Home. She is also founder and executive director of the Reciprocity Foundation, which works with homeless youth in New York. Contact 347-546-2670.

IN THE SOUTHEAST
• Jonathan Haidt is an associate professor of social psychology at the University of Virginia. His research interests are morality and emotion. He can speak about gratitude as a positive moral emotion. He wrote The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. Contact 434-243-7631.
• Lorne Ladner is a Virginia psychotherapist who wrote The Lost Art of Compassion: Discovering the Practice of Happiness in the Meeting of Buddhism and Psychology. He can comment on the significance of gratitude from a psychological and Buddhist perspective. He is former director of the Guhyasamaja Center in Washington, D.C., and teaches there. Contact him through the center, 703-774-9692.

IN THE SOUTH
• David Patterson holds the Bornblum Chair of Excellence in Judaic Studies at the University of Memphis. His book Hebrew Language and Jewish Thought looks at the role of gratitude in Jewish thought. Contact 901-678-2919, dapttrsn@memphis.edu.
• Barbara J. McClure is an assistant professor of pastoral theology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. Her interests include human flourishing and spiritual formation, and she has worked as a pastoral counselor. She can speak to the idea of gratitude and human flourishing. Contact 615-322-2776, barbara.j.mcclure@vanderbilt.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST
• Jack Bauer is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Dayton in Ohio. He researches personal growth and self-identity. He can speak about the role that gratitude plays in determining personal well-being. Contact 937-229-2617.
• Stephen C. Berkwitz wrote “History and Gratitude in Theravada Buddhism.” He is an associate professor of religious studies at Missouri State University in Springfield. Contact 417-836-4147, stephenberkwitz@missouristate.edu.
• Dan P. McAdams is the Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence, professor of psychology and director of the Foley Center for the Study of Lives at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. McAdams’ research examines how people develop their identities, and he has studied “generativity,” adults’ concern for the next generation. His book The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By, which finds personal redemption a major theme in the lives of highly generative people, won several awards. He can speak about the role of gratitude in personality development. Contact 847-491-4174, dmca@northwestern.edu.
• Christopher Peterson is a psychology professor at the University of Michigan. He has studied optimism and differences in how people explain things. He did a study after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to measure American character strengths; it showed that gratitude was one of six virtues, or character strengths, that had risen. Contact chrispet@umich.edu.
• Jay Marshall wrote the 2007 book Thanking and Blessing: The Sacred Art (SkyLight Paths). He is dean of the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Ind., and a Quaker minister. Contact marshja@earlham.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST
• Tatiana Androsov is executive director of Thanks-Giving Square, an interfaith effort in Dallas to promote nationally and internationally the value of giving thanks. It hosts a variety of educational programs. Contact 214-969-1977.
• Joan Borysenko of Colorado is an author and Harvard-trained medical scientist who specializes in mind-body topics. She has written about gratitude. Contact 303-440-8460.
• Edward J. Harpham is a professor of political science at the University of Texas at Dallas. As a political theorist, he focuses on the role of philosophical ideas in the liberal political tradition and in American government. He has written about gratitude within the history of ideas and in the work of the political economist Adam Smith. Contact 972-883-6729, harpham@utdallas.edu.
• Jo-Ann Tsang is an assistant professor in the department of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. She has researched gratitude extensively. Contact 254-710-2259.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• The Very Rev. Alan Jones is co-author of Seasons of Grace: The Life-Giving Practice of Gratitude. He is also an Episcopal priest and dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Contact him through media relations manager Heidi Zuhl, 415-749-6364.
• Sonja Lyubomirsky is a professor of psychology at University of California, Riverside. She studies human happiness. She has researched the effects of “counting one’s blessings” as a way of enhancing happiness. Contact 951-827-5041, sonja.lyubomirsky@ucr.edu.
• Jan St. John is producer and host of Radio Gratitude, a San Francisco based-program that spotlights gratitude and altruism. Contact 415-847-4627, janstjohn@gmail.com.
• Philip Watkins teaches psychology at Eastern Washington University in Cheney. He specializes in gratitude and has researched it. Contact 509-359-6174, philip.watkins@mail.ewu.edu.
• Kelly McGonigal is a yoga teacher with a Ph.D. in psychology. She is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Yoga, Therapy and she has written about yoga and gratitude. Contact kmcg@psych.stanford.edu.