Owsley Brown III
Chair, Compassionate Schools Project
Owsley Brown is devoted to sustaining healthy communities by enhancing cultural, spiritual, and civic life. He is a documentary filmmaker, a director of foundations and nonprofit boards, a student of theology and the spiritual path, and the leader of exploratory projects in community wellbeing. Owsley is also an active fifth-generation shareholder of Brown-Forman, his family’s international spirits and wine company, founded in 1870. Owsley’s films include Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles, Music Makes a City, and Serenade for Haiti. His most recent film, River City Drumbeat, is a timely look at the important power of arts and culture through music in West Louisville.
In his native city and beloved hometown of Louisville, Owsley is known as host and producer of the Festival of Faiths, a founding board member of the Kentucky School of Art and Design, and Chair of the Compassionate Schools Project. Owsley also serves on the boards of the University of Virginia’s Contemplative Sciences Center, Mind and Life Institute, Sustainable Food Alliance, Center for Interfaith Relations, Roxie Theater, and the Tsoknyi Humanitarian Foundation. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.
TEAM ASSOCIATES
- Rhoades Alderson – Public Relations
- Stefanie Baker – Project Coordination
Alexis Harris, Ph.D.
Jefferson County Public Schools, Louisville KY
Alexis Harris is the Health and Wellness teacher at Cane Run Elementary School and directs the Compassionate Schools Project (CSP) in Jefferson County Public Schools.
She has been involved in the implementation and evaluation of multiple intervention strategies to promote social emotional competence and wellbeing and to prevent the negative consequences of stress, including school-based universal social-emotional learning interventions, contemplative/mindfulness-based approaches, and professional development for educators. She received her Ph.D. in 2014 from the Pennsylvania State University, where she developed a contemplative wellness-promotion intervention for educators, the CALM (Community Approach to Learning Mindfully) for Educators program.
Alexis co-authored Flourish, the CSP curriculum for elementary schools and its accompanying teacher resources, practice guides, and student workbooks. Alexis is located in Louisville, KY, where she teaches Flourish and directs the CSP partnership with Jefferson County Public Schools. She leads training and implementation support for Flourish teachers and schools, professional development for educators’ SEL capacities and wellbeing, and an annual retreat for teachers in Jefferson County to support educator flourishing.
Patricia (Tish) Jennings, M.Ed., Ph.D.
School of Education and Human Development and Contemplative Sciences Center, University of Virginia
Tish Jennings is a Professor of Education at the School of Education and Human Development and a member of the Directing Circle of the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia. She is an internationally recognized leader in the field of social and emotional learning with a specific emphasis on mindfulness-based interventions for both students and teachers to promote social and emotional competence, well-being, and resilience leading to improvements in performance. She has lead several federally funded studies to test a mindfulness-based intervention for teachers.
In addition to her research experience, Tish has over 22 years of classroom teaching experience. She founded and directed an experimental school where she developed and field-tested curriculum for children from infancy through 5th grade, applying a variety of contemplative approaches including mindfulness-based and compassion-based practices.
Contemplative Sciences Center, University of Virginia
Joan Bryant is the Program Manager for the Compassionate Schools Project. She contributed to the second edition of the Flourish curriculum and resources for grades K-5 and led development of the Flourishing Students Group, a small group resource. She coordinates program expansion in new districts and participates in CSP Flourish educator workshops in Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, KY.
Joan completed her Ph.D. in counselor education and a master’s in educational and counseling psychology. At Vanderbilt University, she coordinated reading, math and social-emotional learning research projects in Nashville elementary schools and taught as an adjunct instructor in school counseling. Prior to joining CSC in 2021, she served as research associate in the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado Boulder and was engaged in national dissemination of the Botvin LifeSkills Training Program for middle and high schools. Her work focuses on helping to bridge the gap between research and practice by partnering with school districts and communities in accessing and implementing evidence-based programs and practices.
Greg Fischer
Former Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky
As mayor from 2010-2022, Greg Fischer pursued three top goals for his hometown: making Louisville a city of lifelong learning and great jobs, a much healthier city, and an even more compassionate community. Both a businessman and entrepreneur, he brought a data-driven approach to city government with a goal of making it more efficient and accessible—and making sure that every taxpayer dollar was wisely spent.
Patrick H. Tolan, Ph.D.
Youth-Nex Center and School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia
Patrick Tolan is Director Emeritus of Youth-Nex, the UVA Center to Promote Effective Youth Development, and Charles S. Robb Professor in the School of Education and Human Development and in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Science in the College of Medicine. Patrick is the Principal Investigator for the Compassionate Schools Project, serving as its overall director. He is an internationally respected and renowned leader in the field of sound scientific evaluation of youth development and prevention of health problems.
Patrick has influenced his field to focus on how education and health are related and can be simultaneously promoted. He has lead several large randomized control research studies of school and community based programs that have shown important effects for youth behavior, school completion, and family functioning. He led one of the largest school intervention studies of the past twenty years, a $25 million effort over 7 years. He also regularly consults with and speaks to agencies, foundations, and governments on use of evidence-based practices to guide programming. He has published 8 books and over 200 plus scientific articles about promoting successful youth development.
Advisory Board
Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D.
William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, Director of the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, Director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, Founder and Chair of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds; Published books include The Emotional Life of Your Brain.
James Doty, M.D.
Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery at Stanford University, Founder and Director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.
Daniel Goleman, Ph.D.
Psychologist, Science journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships.
Denise Gottfredson, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice and Criminology in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland.
Mark Greenberg, Ph.D.
Edna Peterson Bennett Endowed Chair in Prevention Research and Professor of Human Development and Family Studies and Psychology at Pennsylvania State University, Founding Director of the Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center.
Larry V. Hedges, Ph.D.
Board of Trustees Professor of Statistics, Education, and Social Policy and Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University, Director of the Center for Improving Methods for Quantitative Policy Research at the Institute for Policy Research.
Gilbert Liu, M.D.
Director for the Division of General Pediatrics, Associate Director for the Child and Adolescent Health Research Design and Support (CAHRDS) Unit, Founding Director for the Kentucky Pediatric Alliance to Transform Children’s Healthcare (KPATCH) at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
John Makransky, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology at Boston College and co-founder and guiding contemplative teacher for the Courage of Care Collective and the Foundation for Active Compassion.
Velma Murry, Ph.D.
Betts Chair in Education and Human Development, Professor of Human and Organizational Development, Director, Center for Research on Rural Families and Communities, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University.
Dean Ornish, M.D.
Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, President and Founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute; appointed by President Clinton to the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy and by President Obama to the White House Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health.
Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, Ph.D.
Professor of Human Development, Learning, and Culture in the Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia (UBC). Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership, School of Population and Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia.
Local Community Advisory Team (LCAT)
-
Kristie Adams, M. Ed.
Vice President for Programs and Services, Family Scholar House
-
Muhammad Babar, M.D.
Physician
-
Kevin W. Cosby, D.Min.
President, Simmons College of Kentucky; Senior Pastor, St. Stephen Church
-
Katie Dailinger
Deputy Chief of Staff, Louisville Mayor’s Office
-
Kevin Fields
Chief Operating Officer, Louisville Central Community Centers
-
Ricky Jones, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Pan-African Studies Department, University of Louisville
-
Bill Lamb
President and General Manager, WDRB 41 TV
-
Elizabeth Mays
Outreach Coordinator, Teach Kentucky
-
Marta Miranda
President and Chief Empowerment Officer, Center for Women and Families
-
Barbara Sexton Smith
Louisville City Council
LOUISVILLE / UVA
-
Gabrielle Ayers
Research Coordinator
-
Jennifer Beasley
Implementation Coach
-
Catherine Graber
Implementation Coach
-
Alexis Harris
Project Director
-
Frances Ladusaw
Research Coordinator
-
Kimberly Porter
Research Coordinator
-
Nikki Wolf
Project Associate
CHARLOTTESVILLE / UVA
-
Julia Augenstern
Research
-
Joan Bryant
Program Manager
-
Dr. Carmen Coleman
Chief Academic Officer
-
Robert J. Moore
Chief of Schools
Schools & Principals | CSP 2021-22
-
Tonya Arnold
Fern Creek
-
Darren Atkinson
Fairdale
-
Sheridan Barnett
Hite
-
Donnie Boemker
Stonestreet
-
Mark Boyer
Klondike
-
William Bunton
Wheatley
-
Desiree Bush
McFerran
-
Anna Byrd
Crums Lane
-
Sarah Carmichael-Miller
Frayser
-
Marcia Carmichael-Murphy
Coleridge-Taylor
-
Brandi Carney
Wellington
-
Tamela Compton
Hawthorne
-
Julie Cummings
Eisenhower
-
Alison Dahlgren
Sanders
-
Brian Davis
Coral Ridge
-
Danielle Doelling
Middletown
-
Susan Glenn
Blake
-
Jill Handley
Kenwood
-
Rebecca Haynes
Hawthorne
-
Lawanda Hazard-Irvin
Kerrick
-
Michael Hill
Watterson
-
Jason Hobbs
Cochrane
CHARLOTTESVILLE DISTRICT LEADERSHIP | CSP 2021-2022
CHARLOTTESVILLE CITY SCHOOLS AND PRINCIPALS
- Dina Fricke
Greenbrier Elementary
- Summerlyn Thompson
Johnson Elementary
