The National Institute for Play unlocks the human potential through play in all stages of life using science to discover all that play has to teach us about transforming our world.
 
Council of Advisors

Play is a newly expanding knowledge domain and the National Institute for Play sees itself as a student in this emerging field. We are maximizing our opportunities to learn - and to spread what we learn - by networking with a extensive and growing cadre of scientific experts and professional practitioners of Play. Together, they constitute the NIFP Council of Advisors, chaired by Stanford Professor and neuroscientist, Dr. Stuart Thompson.













Name & Title

Organization & Projects

Role & Area of Work
Bob Allen CEO President and Chief Storytelling Officer of i.d.e.a.s.- a Creative Content Studio. Innovation Consultant, creative artist, studio owner
Gary Avischious Founder, Coaching School Gifted volunteer coach who has developed a “love of the game-keep it playful” web based curriculum for new, largely unskilled parent-coaches. Has enlisted 4,000 participants in a successful pilot project in Colorado. Ready to take this program nationwide.
Marc Bekoff PhD Professor Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado. Ethologist, play theoretician and expert on canine communication and play. Popular and scientific author. Broad contributions in linking “fairness” and handicapping in animal play, and the links between animal play behavior and human play.
Marian Diamond PhD. Professor, Biology, UC Berkeley Pioneer in quantifying enriched (play-based) environments and their specific contributions to animal learning and social behavior. Brings in-depth knowledge of animal and human learning patterns, with enthusiasm for bringing science-based play into public policy.
Fred Donaldson, PhD Experience based theoretician, play practitioner author. World-wide experience playing with gangs, special needs kids, wild animals. Founder of “Original” play.
Scott Eberle PhD Creative Director, VP Strong National Museum of Play Intellectual historian, Vice President for Historical Interpretation and Director of Play Studies, Strong – National Museum of Play, Author A Framework for Interpreting Play that provided the rationale (the Elements of Play – a departure in play theory) for changing the mission of the institution and creating the Strong – National Museum of Play®.
Robert Fagen, PhD Former Professor University of Alaska, Fairbanks Bob Fagen's background in ethology and mathematical biology spans almost a half century. The author of the classic scientific monograph “Animal Play Behavior”, he continues an active scientific career in retirement, writing and publishing technical papers and collecting comparative information on animal play.
Bruce Fitch Executive Director, Outward Bound Wilderness

 Expert in experiential learning, and play
Frank Forencich Play practitioner. Founder & Creative Director Exuberant Animal Play Foundation.
 Has designed many games and activities based on innate human and primate design. Author of "Play as if Your Life Depends on It: Functional Exercise and Living for Homo Sapiens" and "Exuberant Animal: The Power of Health, Play and Joyful Movement" and a newsletter providing games and tips on things practical and playful.
Shervert Frazier, MD Psychiatrist in Chief, emeritus, McLean Hospital, Harvard University Former director NIMH, expert in the causes and prevention of violence. Lifelong student of human learning and play behavior.
Alec Glover Former Chief Executive Officer of Hello Direct, Inc. Gifted in organizational management, Advisor, Board member of profit, non-profit Boards
Jane Goodall, PhD Founder, The Jane Goodall Institute Primatologist, Ethologist, Pioneering observer of Chimpanzee behavior and play. Discoverer of tool use by primates. A member of the NIFP board of directors. The world’s best known woman scientist. Received the UN humanitarian award of the year, 2003
Elizabeth Goodenough Teacher of English and American Literature at Harvard University, Claremont McKenna College and University of Michigan. A scholar in children's studies, she is the founding editor of the Landscapes of Childhood series at Wayne State University Press. She is developing a documentary film for public television, "Where Do the Children Play?"
Roger Guillemin, MD PhD Distinguished Professor, the Salk Institute, National Medal of Science, Nobel Laureate Medicine & Physiology, Neuroendocrinologist. Dr. Guillemin earned the Nobel Prize in Medicine for work which brought to light an entire new class of substances, neurohormones, which regulate growth, reproduction and responses to stress. He founded the laboratory for neuroendocrinology at the Salk institute where he led the research which isolated endorphins, brain molecules known to act as natural opiates. He is also an accomplished musician and artist.
David Kennard IncA (president) Producer-director of “Promise of Play” and many award-winning non-fiction films
Duncan Kennedy Creative VP Innovation, i.d.e.a.s.- a Creative Content Design School. Experienced designer, improvisational comic, artist.
Jeff Lewine, PhD Associate Director The Hoglund Imaging Center. Professor, Neurology Kansas University. Physicist, Researcher and expert in new imaging technologies. Will help craft research protocols and sites for studying the “state” of play.
Alice Meckley, PhD Professor of Education, Millersville College Interest in the relationship of early play and its contributions to cognitive and emotional development. Director of Preschool Learning Center.
Joe Meeker, PhD Professor, Union Institute. Ecologist, Ethologist, Classical Scholar. Author, “The Comedy of Survival”. Expert on the history of the “loss”of adult play with the emergence of the Greco-Roman, Judeo-Christian, Industrial Revolution as mainstream traditions.
Jim O'Shaughnessy A seasoned executive and attorney, he is pioneering the field of corporate intellectual asset management strategies. Jim has earned accolades as a thought and practice leader in the emerging field of intellectual and intangible asset management. A former partner in a national law firm and executive at Rockwell International, Jim is active on both corporate and civic boards of directors.
Jeff Peyton Classroom teacher, developer of Puppetools. Has organized research protocols demonstrating the efficacy of individually motivated playful kid-puppet narrative as optimal learning technique.
Marie Retherford RN,  MFT Systems therapist. Expert in the use of play and games for personal, institutional transformation.
CJ Rogers, PhD, Founder of “Raised by Wolves" Research Center. Psychotherapist, animal behavior ethologist. Has made original contributions noting the importance of play in the establishment of communal social behavior in wolves and its relevance to the evolution of human cooperation.
Robert Sapolsky, PhD Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University. Popular and scientific author. A research neuroendocrinologist, as well as a field ethologist- primatologist studying the effects of stress on Baboon longevity and morbidity.
Allan Schore, PhD Clinical Professor, Psychiatry, UCLA Clinical Professor Psychiatry UCLA Pioneering psychologist and research psychoanalyst, Interdisciplinary expert on attachment behavior, and its links to affect regulation. Has validated hypotheses by brain imaging research. Believes the science of play is open for major research projects. Books by Allan Schore
Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, PhD Professor, of Philosophy, University Of Oregon. An interdisciplinary independent scholar. Her most recent publications include studies of kinesthetic memory, human play, and the roots of morality. Expert in “knowing” through movement, play, dance.
Steve Siviy, PhD Professor, Psychology, Gettysburg College, Animal play experimental psychologist and evolution of play expert. Has quantified effects of play enhancing learning and synaptogenesis in rats.
Victoria Stevens, PhD Psychoanalyst, educator Expert in attachment behavior, transformative effects of analyst-patient attunement. Helped establish and taught at a play-based charter school for disadvantaged kids in LA, with remarkable results
Howard Suber, PhD Distinguished Professor of film, emeritus, UCLA Educator, author, expert in human storytelling, narrative, Renowned for his analyses of what film stories and content change culture
Stuart Thompson, PhD Professor of Biology, Neural Sciences and Humanities,  Stanford University, research neuroscientist, Hopkins Marine Station Neurobiologist active in research on primal development and cellular communication in the nervous system. Sees play as a fundamental and organizing factor in complex brains.
Mindy Upton Founder and Director of Blue Sky Preschool and kindergarten. Has developed highly individualized play, music and storytelling curriculum with long term follow up on “graduates”. Blue Sky is open to continuing long term research examination of its students and graduates.
John Ward Artist, facilitator, organizational play consultant Gifted craftsman, hands-on play facilitator. Understands the importance of object play in brain development
Bowen White, MD Board member, NIFP, corporate consultant, Play practitioner, expert in stress medicine, play as therapy. Author of “Why Normal Isn’t Healthy” .
Frank Wilson, MD Neurologist, Professor Emeritus Stanford University Neurologist, expert on the co-evolution of the hand and the brain with emphasis on play as it relates to the origins of human language problem solving . Author of “The Hand”. In-depth interests in applying contemporary science to educational policy.
Adrienne Zihlman PhD. Professor, Anthropology, UCSC. Expert in the origins of bipedalism, evolution of primate behavior. Widely published author.





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