Shane J. Lopez is associate professor of counseling psychology at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, where he teaches courses in positive psychology, psychological assessment, and educational leadership. He also is a Gallup senior scientist, a role through which he consults primarily with The Gallup Education Division and Gallup University. He serves on the editorial board of The Journal of Positive Psychology and on the advisory board for Ready, Set, Learn, The Discovery Channels pre-school educational television programming. nbsp; Through his current research programs, Lopez is examining the effectiveness of hope training programs in the schools (under the auspices of the Making Hope… Happen Program), refining a model of psychological courage, and exploring the link between soft life skills and hard outcomes in education, work, healthy, and family functioning. His books include The Handbook of Positive Psychology (Oxford) and Positive Psychological Assessment: A Handbook of Models and Measures (American Psychological Association Press), both with C. R. Snyder. nbsp; Lopez and his wife, Allison, live with their son, Parrish, in Lawrence, Kansas, where they attempt to live the good life every day and long for the temperate Louisiana winters of their childhoods every February.nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;
C. R. Snyder, Ph.D. (deceased) was the Wright Distinguished Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. Internationally known for his work at the interface of clinical, social, personality, and health psychology, his theories have pertained to how people react to personal feedback, the human need for uniqueness, the ubiquitous drive to excuse transgressions and, most recently, the hope motive. He received 31 research awards and 27 teaching awards at the university, state, and national levels. In 2005, he received an honorary doctorate from Indiana Wesleyan University.nbsp;nbsp; Snyder has appeared many times on national American television shows, and he has been… a regular contributor to National Public Radio. His scholarly work on the human need for uniqueness received the rare recognition of being the subject matter of an entire Sunday cartoon sequence by Gary Trudeau. All of these accomplishments were packaged in a graying and self-effacing absent-minded professor who says of himself, "If you don't laugh at yourself, you have missed the biggest joke of all!"