Dr. Kim Schonert-Reichl

D

r. Schonert-Reichl is an award-winning teacher and has been internationally recognized for her collaborative work that translates research into practice. In 2009, the Confederation of University Faculty Association awarded her with its highest Distinguished Academic Award: the Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award. In 2006, Dr. Schonert-Reichl served on the organizing committee for the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for the Vancouver Dialogues. She also chaired a dialogue between the Dalai Lama and leading educators, researchers, and policy makers on the themes of cultivating compassion and educating the heart.

For more than 20 years, Dr. Schonert-Reichl’s research has focused on the social, emotional, and moral development of children and adolescents with a particular emphasis on identifying the processes and mechanisms that foster children’s positive human traits, such as empathy, compassion, and optimism. Schonert-Reichl is currently investigating the effectiveness of classroom-based universal SEL promotion programs—including the Roots of Empathy and MindUp, a program that integrates social and emotional learning and mindfulness-based education. She is also conducting interdisciplinary research in collaboration with neuroscientists and psychobiologists, examining the relation of executive functions and biological processes to children’s social emotional development. Schonert-Reichl serves on several national and international advisory boards, including the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Research Advisory Group, and she is an advisor to the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education.

Kim received her M.A. from the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. She was a National Institute of Mental Health Postdoctoral Fellow in the Clinical Research Training Program in Adolescence at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry. Prior to her graduate work, she was both a middle school and high school teacher.

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