MAPPAlum Website FAQ
This website has been growing organically since 2012, and now includes a large number of resources, some meant specifically for MAPP alumni, others open to the general public. The purpose of this set of questions is to help people find their way around.
[Under Construction -- please use the contact form to suggest other questions that you'd like to have answered.]
Questions only with links to answers
Questions for Everyone
Q: What is the driving vision of the MAPP Alumni community?
Q: What are some of the big initiatives of the MAPP Alumni?
Q: Does MAPP have a presence on social media?
Questions especially the General Public
Q: I'm looking for a coach, consultant, speaker, or therapist whose practice is shaped by positive psychology. How do I find a MAPP graduate in my geographic area and/or with a particular expertise?
Q: I would like to invite somebody with positive psychology expertise to speak to my group. How can I find MAPP speakers?
Q: Why would I want to subscribe to the MAPP webinar series?
Q: How do I subscribe to the MAPP webinar series?
Q: I'm a subscriber. How do I find the recordings for past webinars.
Questions for New Alumni
Q: Who are the members of this community?
Q: What can members do that others cannot do?
Q: I am a member. How do I log in so that I can see the information that is available to members?
Q: I’ve logged in, but things look just the same. I am a member, so I should be able to see more stuff. How do I fix it?
Q: How does the MAPP Alumni Association welcome new members to the community?
Q: How can I be mentored by another MAPPster?
Questions for All Alumni
Q: Why are there different types of membership?
Q: OK, I’m sold. How do I upgrade my membership?
Q: What if I don't want to be in the public directory?
Q: How do I augment the information about me in the public directory, and what suggestions do you have to make it a good record for highlighting my accomplishments and interests?
Q: Who is in charge of the MAPP Alumni community?
Q: How can I get involved? (Awaiting statements of purpose from committee chairs.)
Q: How can the MAPP community help me keep up with what's going on in the field?
Q: There is a lot of stuff on this web site. How do I find my way around?
Q: I am an experienced MAPPster. How do I reach out my hand to mentor other MAPPsters?
Questions for Everyone
Q: What is the driving vision of the MAPP Alumni community?
A: To cultivate a network of passionate and compassionate alumni to help foster change at home, within our community, and globally.
As an alumni community of positive psychology practitioners, we choose to deliberately focus our energies on positive change every where we can affect it. We created this vision to guide us into our future and embolden us to use our knowledge and energy to help others. Through the science of positive psychology and with our passionate belief that other people matter we wanted to be much more than a community whose focus is just to make ourselves feel good. We want to make a difference for others. So, we pledge through our vision to help to change the world for good.
Q: What are some of the big initiatives of the MAPP Alumni?
A: Please check out the MAPP Initiatives Page for the current priorities established by the MAPP Alumni leadership and under implementation by dedicated groups of MAPP alumni.
Q: Does MAPP have a presence on social media?
A: MAPP has various accounts, some for internal use only, some for communicating the contributions of members to the rest of the world. These include
- Twitter: @learnpospsych - that listens for accomplishments by MAPPsters and retweets them
- A closed Facebook group that members can use to poll other members of the community for ideas or to share accomplishments.
Questions especially the General Public
Q: I'm looking for a coach, consultant, speaker, or therapist whose practice is shaped by positive psychology. How do I find a MAPP graduate in my geographic area and/or with a particular expertise?
A: The MAPP community maintains a public directory that you can consult to find members of the community who choose to have their information searchable by the public. There are filters at the top that you can use to narrow your search to particular geographies, skills, or interests. If you click on a particular person in the directory, you can see all the information that that person chooses to make public.
Q: I would like to invite somebody with positive psychology expertise to speak to my group. How can I find MAPP speakers?
A: The MAPP community maintains a directory of speakers that we originally put together to be able to recommend each other for speaking engagements. The directory includes topics that are particularly interesting to the speakers. There is also a directory of MAPP online presentations including TEDx talks that you may want to consult.
Q: Why would I want to subscribe to the MAPP webinar series?
A: In order to help members stay current with research going on in the positive psychology field, an alumni committee arranges webinars for researchers who are contributing to the field. Some are experienced researchers, such as Robert Quinn and Jane Dutton from the University of Michigan. Others are emerging Ph.Ds just starting their independent careers. In the hour-long webinars, researchers review some of their recent results and discuss the implications for application. While these are intended primarily for members of the community, we do allow non-members to register for them, either on a single-webinar basis or by subscription for an entire year. Subscribers can attend these webinars without further cost. They also have access to the full set of recordings that have been collected since 2013. As of December 2019, there are more than 40 recordings.
Q: How do I subscribe to the MAPP webinar series?
A: Members of the general public can use the instructions for subscription. Members of the MAPP community get this ability by becoming dues-paying members as described below.
Q: I'm a subscriber. How do I find the recordings for past webinars.
A: Follow the CPE recordings link. This link will require you to log in with the email address and password that you set up when you subscribed.
Questions for New Alumni
Q: Who are the members of this community?
A: All graduates of the Penn Master of Applied Positive Psychology program are automatically members of the Penn MAPP Alumni Community.
Q: What can members do that others cannot do?
A: Once members log into this web site, they can see views that are not visible to people outside the community, such as an internal directory that contains contact information including email addresses of all members. Members receive notifications of events. They will also receive the MAPP NewsBriefs, periodic emails with news of members ranging from academic accomplishments, speeches, applied programs, and family events. Finally they may appear in the public directory that can be searched by potential clients to find people with MAPP degrees in particular fields or geographic areas.
All information in the public directory about a particular member can be edited by the member, as described below.
Q: I am a member. How do I log in so that I can see the information that is available to members?
A: Click on the Log in button in the upper right of your screen. Your userid is your email address. If you have never logged in before or you have forgotten your password, use the Forgot password to get an email that will let you set your password.
Q: I’ve logged in, but things look just the same. I am a member, so I should be able to see more stuff. How do I fix it?
A: Occasionally members sign up for an event using different email addresses than the ones the system knows them by. If your view of the system doesn’t change, either try to log in with another email address that the system may know you by, or use the contact form to ask for help. Just to reassure you: If you are a MAPP graduate, you have a membership.
Q: How does the MAPP Alumni Association welcome new members to the community?
A: In the spring of their MAPP year, the most recent MAPP students are imported into the MAPP alumni website data base. They then receive a welcome email from the MAPP president inviting them to explore the website and update their personal profiles. Their data will not appear in the public directory until they finish their capstones and are officially graduated, but other MAPPsters can see their information, which might lead to interesting contacts. They will also start receiving NewsBriefs and invitations to the continuing professional education (CPE) webinars organized by the alumni. See also the next question.
Q: How can I be mentored by another MAPPster?
A: In the fall after they have graduated, new alumni are invited to participate in the MAPP Greeters program. They will be paired with alumni from earlier years who can help them take the first steps in their post-MAPP lives. This is a short-term program, involving just a few calls. There is also a longer running mentor program. More information about both programs, including how to apply for a mentor can be found on the Mentors and Greeters page.
Questions for All Alumni
Q: Why are there different types of membership?
A: All MAPP graduates are members of the community whether they pay dues or not. Some members choose to pay dues to support the operations and projects of the MAPP alumni community. These initiatives include running the continuing professional education webinar series, keeping this website going with information that is useful to the community, keeping a zoom account that any member can use for MAPP-related business (find instructions here), and offering seed-money grants to members starting new ventures.
Members who choose to pay dues can do so annually ($49.99/year), for 5 years ($224.99), or for their lifetimes ($399). We have a new recurring membership option that allows you to sign up once and renew automatically without having to take further action.
Members who have paid dues are extended certain privileges, such as the ability to see recordings of the 40+ CPE webinars that have occurred since the program started in 2013.
Q: OK, I’m sold. How do I upgrade my membership?
A: Log in, as described above. Click on your name in the upper right corner. Click View Profile. You will see your membership type at the top of the membership details. If you are a Basic member, i.e., one who is not up-to-date on dues, you will see a link that says Change beside your membership type. Click on that link. In the Membership level change panel, select the type of membership you want. You will be led through the process of paying dues.
Q: What if I don't want to be in the public directory?
A: This is an option that about 10% of our members choose for various reasons. It is your choice. If you decide not to be in the public directory, log in, edit your profile, and select the Opt-out choice. You can change your mind at any time. Once you’ve made the change, check to make sure you no longer appear in the public directory. If you do, please use the contact form to ask for help. We are committed to keeping your information private if you choose to opt-out.
Your information will still appear in the internal directory. If you choose to restrict the information that other members can see about you, please use the contact form to get help from the web master.
Q: How do I augment the information about me in the public directory, and what suggestions do you have to make it a good record for highlighting my accomplishments and interests?
A: Log in to the system, click on your name in the upper right, click on View Profile, and then click on the Edit Profile button. All the fields that you can edit will then show up as boxes that you can fill, choices you can select, or images you can upload.
The best headshots are just that: a picture of your face that helps people recognize you, both inside and outside the community. If your upload doesn’t work, the image file size is too large. Reduce the size of the image and try again.
Further directions and suggestions can be found on the Update Your Profile page, including a set of guidelines written by an alumna, Elena Volnova. This page also tells you how to override the default privacy policy associated with certain fields, in case you want to make even less information about you visible to the public.
If you fill in certain fields, such as the title of a book you published, you will automatically appear on pages that highlight MAPP accomplishments, such as the Books by MAPPsters page, the Artlcles by MAPPsters page, and the MAPPsters on Air page.
Q: Who is in charge of the MAPP Alumni community?
A: Every year, the MAPP community elects a board representing the whole community and a two class representatives for each class. Both are shown on the website: Board and Class Representatives. The Board, consisting of executive officers and committee chairs, vote on motions brought by any member to the board’s attention. The class representatives are the two-way conduit between board activity and other members of the community.
Q: How can I get involved? (Awaiting statements of purpose from committee chairs.)
A: We currently have the following committees that would be happy to accept new members. Either contact the committee chair directly, or fill in a contact form.
- Programs – organizes events such as the MAPP Fete, the CPEs, and the spring MAPP Meet-Up events that occur around the world
- Communications: utilizes a variety of channels to enhance alumni engagement and to promote UPenn MAPP brand awareness in the general public.
- Membership:
- Social:
- Website:
Q: How can the MAPP community help me keep up with what's going on in the field?
Keeping up is a goal shared by most of us. Here are some of the actions that the community supports:
- Attend continuing professional education webinars (CPEs) or watch the recordings. MAPP alumni who pay dues are automatically subscribed. MAPP alumni who haven't paid dues can attend specific events at a reduced price relative to the general public.
- Attend the MAPP Fete, an event that precedes the MAPP Summit every year. Organized by two members of the class that just graduated, the fete often helps people who have been away from MAPP catch up on changes in the program. It also helps people form relationships with the new graduates, who often have the most recent information.
- Consult the resources that have been collected from the fetes and summits of prior years. These may include reading suggestions from summit speakers, slides from fete and summit presentations, and sometimes even recordings of parts of the events.
- Review the updated syllabi sometimes offered to the MAPP alumni through by the MAPP program.
Q: There is a lot of stuff on this web site. How do I find my way around?
A. There is a search page that might help you find something specific. There is also a site map that might help you see your way around.
Q: I am an experienced MAPPster. How do I reach out my hand to mentor other MAPPsters?
A. We are so glad you asked! There are two programs that allow experienced MAPPsters to reach out a hand. Here's a link to a description of the MAPP Mentors and MAPP Greeters programs and how to get involved.
