Carol Goodman Kaufman is a psychologist and author of Sins of Omission: The Jewish Community’s Reaction to Domestic Violence. She was the founding chair of the Domestic Violence Task Force for the Jewish Community of Central Mass. She is based at the Haddassah Institute at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Sharon Salzberg has taught insight meditation worldwide for more than 30 years. She is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Barre, Mass. Her many books include The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life With Love & Compassion and Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness.

The Public Opinion Project at Harvard University is one of America’s longest and most robust studies of the attitudes of young Americans toward politics and public service. Founded in 2000, the Project is a collaboration between undergraduates and Harvard University Institute of Politics polling director John Della Volpe. Each semester the group develops, conducts and […]

John Makransky is associate professor of Buddhism and comparative theology at Boston College, president of the International Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies, senior adviser and lecturer in Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s Centre for Buddhist Studies in Nepal, co-founder of the Foundation for Active Compassion and of Courage of Care (two socially engaged contemplative organizations), developer of the […]

Paul Wink is a professor of psychology at Wellesley College in Wellesley , Mass. He researches adult development and aging and has studied the effects of religion and spirituality on life development and choices, including religious commitment and altruistic behavior.

Jerome Kagan is the Daniel and Amy Starch Research Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. His research on human temperament has been influential. He spoke about the human moral sense at a 1999 conference on empathy and altruism.

Dr. Gregory Fricchione is an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Mass. He is director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine and an expert on stress and depression. Among his publications are “Illness and the Origin of Caring” in the March 1993 issue of the Journal of Medical Humanities.

Laurie Anne Pearlman co-founded the Traumatic Stress Institute and the Trauma Research, Education and Training Institute, where she still serves as president. She also directs the Clinical Associates Program of the Headington Institute, which offers psychological and spiritual support to relief and development workers around the world. She serves on the practice committee of the American Psychological […]

The Rev. Raymond G. Helmick is an adjunct faculty member in the theology department of Boston College and co-editor of Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Religion, Public Policy and Conflict Transformation. He specializes in studying and mediating international conflicts, including those in the Middle East and Northern Ireland.