Shane J. Lopez, Ph.D.,Gallup Senior Scientist, is an architect of the Gallup Student Poll. A measure of hope, engagement, and wellbeing, the Student Poll taps into the hearts and minds of U.S. public school students to determine what drives achievement. Dr. Lopez is the director of the annual Gallup Wellbeing Forum, which convenes scholars, leaders, and decision makers to discuss healthcare and global wellbeing. He also serves as the Research Director for the Clifton Strengths School.

Dr. Lopez leads research on the links between hope, strengths development, academic success, and overall wellbeing and collaborates with scholars around the world on these issues. He specializes in hope and strengths enhancement for students from preschool through college graduation, advocating a whole-school strengths model that also builds the strengths expertise of educators, parents, and youth development organizations. Dr. Lopez has provided strengths mentoring to thousands of college students, including academic, career, and life planning, and he advises schools, colleges, and universities on these issues. He is the coauthor of the statistical reports for the Clifton StrengthsFinder and the Clifton Youth StrengthsExplorer.

Dr. Lopez has published more than 100 articles and chapters and seven books, including Positive Psychology: Exploring the Best in People and The Encyclopedia of Positive Psychology. With C.R. Snyder, he published Positive Psychology: The Scientific and Practical Explorations of Human Strengths, which won the Sage Press Book of the Year Award; Positive Psychological Assessment: A Handbook of Models and Measures; and The Handbook of Positive Psychology. With Cynthia Pury, he edited the book Courage, which will be released in 2009.

Dr. Lopez is the past associate editor of the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, an editorial board member of the Journal of Positive Psychology, and an ad-hoc reviewer for many psychology journals. He is a licensed psychologist, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and educational advisor for Discovery Television.

Learn More

• Utah, South Dakota Best Places in U.S. to Lose Your Wallet
• Why Hope Matters Now
• What Leaders Must Do Next
• The Economic Crisis: A Leadership Challenge
• What If the Recession Endures?
• Building Engagement in This Economic Crisis
• The Business Case for Instilling Hope

Related Web Sites

• Clifton Strengths School
• The Gallup Student Poll