Alexis Harris

Alexis Harris is the Compassionate Schools Project Director and a Research Assistant Professor with the Youth-Nex Center to Promote Effective Youth Development in the School of Education and Human Development. 

 

She is interested in the intersections of developmental science, education science, and prevention science. Her research employs qualitative and quantitative methods to develop a better understanding of how the interactions between developing youth and their school and community contexts influence social emotional development and wellbeing. She has been involved in the implementation and evaluation of multiple intervention strategies to promote social emotional competence and wellbeing and to prevent the negative consequences of stress, including school-based universal social-emotional learning interventions, contemplative/mindfulness-based approaches, and professional development for educators. She received her Ph.D. in 2014 from the Pennsylvania State University, where she developed a contemplative wellness-promotion intervention for educators, the CALM (Community Approach to Learning Mindfully) for Educators program.   

 

Alexis is currently located in Louisville, KY, directing implementation of the Compassionate Schools Project, a partnership with Jefferson County Public Schools. Alexis co-authored Flourish, the compassionate Schools Project Curriculum for elementary schools as well as accompanying teacher resources, practice guides, and student workbooks, She leads training and implementation support for Flourish teachers and schools, professional development supporting educators’ SEL capacities and wellbeing, and an annual retreat for educators in Jefferson County focused on supporting educator flourishing.