Associate Director Leona Brandwene and members of the MAPP team hosted a virtual information session for students interested in the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania. The session provides a brief overview of positive psychology as a field of study and in-depth details about the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program. Also discussed are courses, faculty, and program alumni.
Like many people who complete the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program, Elizabeth Weight (MAPP ’18) says she felt “called” to do so. Elizabeth is the communications director for Utah’s Department of Transportation. She is also a competitive bodybuilder who finds purpose in helping women, especially working moms like herself, feel strong. Elizabeth discovered positive psychology while designing a new employee orientation for her agency and soon realized that the science of human flourishing underpinned the impact she hoped to create in both her professional and personal life.
“In 2012, we started looking at a new educational model. We asked what was most important to students, parents and employers, and what they wanted in their lives. The answer was to be happy, to have happy kids or happy employees. We thought as a university we should approach the topic in a very serious way,” shares Rosalinda Ballesteros Valdes, Vice President of High School Programs for Universidad TecMilenio. After one phone call from the Provost to Martin Seligman, MAPP’s Education Director James Pawelski was soon on a plane to Monterrey to consult with her team.
“I advise my clients to actively manage their energy and emotions during the work day. For me, it’s cat videos that do the trick,” laughs Dr. Nico Rose, Senior Human Resources Director for Europe’s largest media company, Bertelsmann. Though Nico’s perspective may seem unique in the corporate world, it’s exactly what made him the perfect fit for the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program.
“I tried studying wellbeing in an Economics Department, and I felt like an outsider,” shares Eunbit Hwang, a native of Seoul, South Korea. She’s also an aspiring children’s book author with a love of sharp cheddar cheese and a mind for empirical data. “When I joined this Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) community, I finally felt that I belonged somewhere.” Her eclectic interests and enthusiasm for research suited the MAPP program’s combination of rigorous academics and people-oriented ethos.
“One of the great things about Penn is the focus on learning to improve the world in some way,” says John Hollway (MAPP ’18). “Applied learning is an important tenet of the Master of Applied Psychology (MAPP) program at Penn, and it's also something that we focus on at the Quattrone Center.” An organization established to research and redress criminal justice errors, the Quattrone Center applies procedural justice to investigate and improve accuracy and fairness in the system.
Evelina Fredriksson (Master of Applied Positive Psychology ’19) jokes that she “had a really long commute to the MAPP program but it was totally worth it.” She has spent the last five years traveling between Sweden, Cambodia, and Philadelphia.
Christopher Peterson, a founding instructor in the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania, taught in word and deed that "other people matter." To honor the legacy of Chris’ life and contribution to positive psychology, the alumni of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania created a scholarship following in the tradition of Chris’s generosity to students and colleagues.
"Peace is a prerequisite to learning," says Martín Blank, who was awarded the 2018 Christopher Peterson Memorial Fellowship by Penn’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program in recognition of outstanding service to others. "If students come to class angry or stressed out, or if they haven't had breakfast or enough sleep, my job isn't to cram in a math lesson.
“My passion has long been in research,” says Jenn Beatty (Master of Applied Positive Psychology ’18). She is currently a doctoral candidate at Washington University in St. Louis’ psychology PhD program. She designs large-scale immersive interventions to address interpersonal issues around racial bias. Her primary research interests are at the intersection of bias regulation and emotion regulation.
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