Work with thought leaders and academic experts in mindfulness

I am the inaugural Chair and Professor of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at Gonzaga University and Editor of the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. I was Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Denver from 2006-2019. I served as department chair, associate chair, and director of graduate studies at the University of Denver.  <br> In 2003 I graduated from the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with an emphasis in Performance Studies, and a secondary concentration in queer Latina/o literature and performance.  Prior to earning my doctorate at UNC-CH, I finished undergraduate and master's degrees in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication and Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University. I have published articles in several journal including Text and Performance Quarterly, Critical Studies in Media Communication, Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, The Communication Review, Communication, Culture, and Critique, Journal of Communication Inquiry, Voces: A Journal of Chicana and Latina Studies (Now Chicana/Latina Studies), Latino Studies, Review of Communication, and the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. My book Latina/o Communication Studies: Theorizing Performance was published by Peter Lang in 2007 as part of the series on Critical Intercultural Communication edited by Dr. Thomas Nakayama. In 2015 I published Monstrosity, Performance, and Race in Contemporary Culture. I have also co-edited several books. I was awarded the 2009 Lilla A. Heston Award for Outstanding Research in Oral Interpretation and Performance by the National Communication Association. In 2009 I was presented with the Out Through the Mind Award for tenure track faculty at the 4th Annual LGBTQIA Gala at the University of Denver.  In 2010, I was selected by the Latina/o Communication Studies Division and La Raza Caucus of NCA as the Latina/o Communication Studies Scholar of the Year. The same year I was also given the Outstanding Faculty Award by the Center for Multicultural Excellence at the University of Denver. In 2014 I was awarded the Provost's Champion of Change Award for my Social Activism and Advocacy for Inclusive Excellence at the University of Denver. I received the Lambda Award for outstanding contributions to the LGBTQ community from the Caucus on Gay and Lesbian Concerns of the National Communication Association in November 2017. I received the Francine Merritt Award from the Women's Caucus on NCA in November 2018. I received the 2018 Outstanding Article Award, Feminist and Women’s Studies Division of the National Communication Association for “From Failure to Allyship to Feminist Solidarities: Negotiating Our Privileges and Oppressions Across Borders,” a Presidential Citation for Exceptional Commitment to Social Justice and Activism within the National Communication Association, and the 2018 Monograph of the Year Award, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Communication Studies Division of National Communication Association for “Queer Utopias and a (Feminist) Iranian Vampire: A Critical Analysis of Resistive Monstrosity in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night,” co-authored with Shadee Abdi and published in Critical Studies in Media Communication. In November 2019 I received the Faculty Mentorship Award from the Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division of the National Communication Association.

Dr Nora S Vyas is an Associate Professor in Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Kingston University. She joined Kingston University in 2012, and previously held a Senior Lecturer position at Middlesex University. Dr Vyas completed her PhD in psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), University of London in 2008. Following her PhD, she worked at the Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institutes of Health (Washington DC, USA) as a Lindemann Trust Fellow (English-Speaking Union), preceded by a Fulbright Distinguished Fellowship in 2010. Dr Vyas teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level in child/adolescent and adult mental health, health psychology, and clinical/cognitive neuroscience. Her research focuses on using clinical, cognitive, and imaging techniques to study individuals with serious mental health problems such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. She applies these skills in other fields such as oncology and mindfulness. Her research specialism is early-onset psychosis, and she has published her work widely.

Norman Farb, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga, where he directs the Regulatory and Affective Dynamics laboratory (www.radlab.zone). He studies the psychology of well-being, focusing on mental habits, such as how we think about ourselves and interpret our emotions. He is particularly interested in why people differ in their resilience to stress, depression, and anxiety. Prof. Farb's work currently explores online training to support wellbeing, as well as neuroimaging to understand how emotional reactions predict mental health over the lifespan.

Professor Lyubomirsky’s research interests include well-being, happiness, self-regulation, and talents. She is widely published, with well over 100 articles and chapters and four books, The How of Happiness (Penguin, 2007), The Myths of Happiness (Penguin, 2013), The How of Happiness Workbook (Penguin, 2008), and Designing Your Life (Avery, 2016). Professor Lyubomirsky has received numerous awards for her work, including the American Psychological Association’s Positive Psychology Prize (2015), the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award (2009), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2008-2009). She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association.

Eve Ekman, PhD, MSW, is a postdoctoral fellow in Integrative Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Having obtained her master’s in Social Work from UC Berkeley in 2006, she later went on to earn a doctorate in Social Welfare, Public Health and Psychology at UC Berkeley in 2014. Eve has a broad range of experience in the health and wellness field, including her current position as the Well Being Lead Health Team at Apple. Eve is also an instructor of Contemplative Science Curriculum at UC Berkeley, where she teaches and promotes the intersection of science and contemplative practices.

Christian Waugh, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology at Wake Forest University, NC, is an expert in the study of stress resilience, emotions, and effective coping habits. His research features resilience as the result of stress, trauma, and the ability to experience positive emotions in times of stress. Dr. Waugh has been twice honored for teaching excellence at Wake Forest, is a professional speaker, and has published several dozen scientific articles.

Dr. Aminda O’Hare is the Director of Neuroscience and an associate professor of Psychological Science at Weber State University in Ogden, UT. She specializes in teaching topics in affective and cognitive neuroscience both in the classroom and in her research lab. The CAPES Lab (Cognitive and Affective Psychophysiology and Experimental Science Lab) is particularly interested in how training in mindfulness practices alters emotion-cognition interactions in the brain. Aminda is an advocate for incorporating practices of wellbeing and healthy habits of mind into higher education for all participants in campus communities (i.e., students, staff, faculty). Aminda loves the outdoors, being in the mountains, spending time with her husband, and being with her dogs and cats.