People, Places, and Possibilities from My First Months as CEO
By Dana Fulwiler Volk, CEO, IPEN Global
I stepped into the role of CEO at IPEN with a clear intention for my first months: to listen and connect. After two decades working across K-12, higher education, positive psychology, and system leadership – and advocating for positive education in my corner of the world – I had a sense of the energy that exists around this work. However, what these first months have shown me is just how far that energy extends – across continents, timezones, and communities of all kinds. These first months have been a confirmation, and then some, that our ecosystems of education are ready for this movement.
This post is an update, a celebration of what’s possible, and a thank you – because none of it happens without all of you.
People
The warmth of this community has been the defining experience of my first months. From the moment I started, I began receiving emails from educators, researchers, school leaders, and wellbeing practitioners from around the world – expressing excitement for IPEN’s new chapter, sharing what this network has meant to them, and asking how they can contribute. It is one of the great privileges of this role: to be the recipient of so much goodwill and genuine passion for the work.
I often turn to Appreciative Inquiry and this line by its pioneer, Dr. David Cooperrider: “we grow in the direction of the questions we ask.” I will always strive to practice what we promote, leading with curiosity and asking questions about what’s possible. This community shows up the same way. From conversations with board members to community members around the world, the questions you’re asking, stories you’re sharing, and energy you’re bringing are all shining a bright light on possibility – and helping to build what’s next for this community.
That commitment led to our upcoming Global Voices Forums – a live, virtual gathering hosted by myself and Justin Robinson, Treasurer of IPEN. These calls will build on the insights from our recent survey, ensuring that the people who make up this unique global network help shape the direction we take together. Our first two sessions are in June, and we would love to have you join us.
Please register using the links below:
- Option 1: Tuesday, June 9 | 12:00pm ET / 5:00pm BST
- Option 2: Tuesday, June 9 | 6:00pm ET / Wednesday, June 10 | 8:00am AEST
If you haven’t yet completed the IPEN Community Survey, it’s not too late. Your perspective matters and will directly inform our strategy.
Places
I am grateful that technology enables us to connect across the globe, and share our insights through virtual calls and surveys. And, nothing quite compares to in-person connection! One of the unexpected gifts of these first months has been the opportunity to be present in person – in rooms with existing and new friends of IPEN.
In Canada, I returned to speak at the national Mental Health and Wellbeing in Schools Summit in Banff, Alberta, this time as an IPEN representative. One thing I love about positive education is that it’s a big tent – room for researchers and practitioners, independent schools and public systems, policymakers and parents, all working toward the same north star. This event was a reminder of how my home country embodies that beautifully. Canada has a rich, ever-expanding story of embedding the science of wellbeing and human flourishing in schools, with collective energy to formally establish IPEN Canada.
In Greece, I was invited by IPEN board member, Angele Papantoniou, to speak at Play Identity: The International Conference on Play and Education, a three-day gathering of educators, researchers, mental health professionals, parents, and artists exploring play as pedagogy, a right, and a way of being in educational environments. Angele and I spoke on a panel called “Positive Education in Practice” – alongside an inspiring group of Greek positive psychology professionals – resulting in a meeting with Greece’s Deputy Minister of Education and an invitation to submit a positive education pilot proposal. Exciting possibilities unfolding in the birthplace of eudaimonia.
In Italy, IPEN Global is collaborating on an innovative positive education pilot that brings the science of positive psychology into both school and sport environments, two of the most formative spaces in a young person’s life. The partner ecosystem includes public and independent schools, local practitioners, sports clubs, and more. IPEN’s co-founder, Professor Martin Seligman noted that this pilot is pioneering in its approach – and I had the joy of meeting the inspiring people behind it and feeling the momentum firsthand. More to come as this exciting project takes shape.
The spirit of partnership and collaboration I experienced in all of these places is exactly what IPEN is built for – we are stronger together.
Standing at the archaeological site of Aristotle’s Lyceum (School), reflecting on the birthplace of eudaimonia, was a profound moment and reminder of the ancient roots of our work. From Aristotle to Indigenous communities and many cultures around the world, human flourishing has always been a deeply human ideal – and now we also have modern science to support its impact and guide its implementation. Aristotle’s vision of a flourishing life resonates with the frameworks we work with today, including Seligman’s PERMA and the OECD’s Education for Human Flourishing framework. These are enduring ideas experiencing new urgency at a moment when cultivating and celebrating our uniquely human capacities matters more than ever.
Possibilities
In education, we are so often drawn toward the problems – the gaps, deficits, and things that aren’t working. It’s understandable, and the needs and concerns are very real. But what I keep encountering in every conversation is a genuine hunger for possibility and collective hope. A readiness to ask, as Cooperrider invites us, strength-based and possibility-focused questions – and to grow in their direction.
That’s where IPEN comes in. We are here to show what’s possible, and to walk alongside the schools, systems, and communities who are ready to move toward it.
Questions that seem to be surfacing everywhere: what does it actually mean to be human, and what is education’s role in cultivating human flourishing? The rise of AI has elevated these questions considerably. As automation takes on more of what we once thought only humans could do, the things that remain distinctly ours – creativity, empathy, relationships, meaning, the capacity to wonder and to flourish – are being taken more seriously than they have been in a long time.
The research has been building toward this moment for decades. School systems investing in character, wellbeing, relationships, and meaning can see students who are more engaged, resilient, and even achieving better academic outcomes. At the same time, the global conversation is shifting. The OECD’s Education for Human Flourishing framework draws a direct line from Aristotle’s eudaimonia to the classroom of today, describing the goal as nurturing “a suite of distinctive human capacities, that equip us not only to flourish as individuals but contribute to flourishing societies.” Governments are exploring pilots, international bodies are building frameworks, and educators and long-time advocates of this work are finding more doors open.
What excites me is that IPEN sits at the intersection of all of it: the science, practice, policy, and a growing readiness for education that sees the whole person. Those of us who have worked in this space for a while are used to making the case that this matters. What feels different now is that the case is being made for us – by the research, the frameworks, and the energy we’re seeing in rooms around the world. Our job now is to show what’s possible, and move toward it together.
IPEN is bringing together everything we’re hearing and learning into a strategic plan that is ambitious but grounded, and that reflects the diversity and depth of this network.
For now, I want to say thank you for the warm welcome, for the emails and meaningful conversations, for the generosity of your time and ideas, and for your continued belief that this work matters.
It does. And we’re just getting started.
I look forward to connecting with you!
Dana Fulwiler Volk
Share Your Voice and Connect:
- Complete the IPEN Community Survey by June 5
- Global Voices Forum – June 9 | Register for your preferred session:
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