Curriculum Vitae

In 1990 she founded the not-for-profit organization, The Foundation for Human Potential, of which she is the Executive Director. For the Foundation, Ms. Shindler has conceived and directed 7 international symposia to date. The symposia explore the nature of creativity by examining the relationship between brain function and learning from an interdisciplinary perspective. The symposia attract eminent guest faculty in such fields as neuroscience, education, psychology, learning disabilities, cultural anthropology, sports, the arts and others, all of whose abilities and personal attitudes in their work sustain and inform an interdisciplinary approach. The symposia presented until 2002, have taken place at The Art Institute of Chicago. The topics have been Art and the Brain (1988); Music and the Brain (1992); Dance, Sports, Movement and the Brain (1995), Emotional Intelligence, Education and the Brain (1997), Learning and the Brain: Myths and Realities (2000); and Passion on the Job: The Brain and Innovation in the Workplace (2002). The most current symposium, Mental Health and the Brain: Implications for Lifelong Learning (2007), occurred at Northwestern University in Chicago. The goal of the work of The Foundation for Human Potential is to stimulate interdisciplinary research to broaden the base of knowledge of brain function and learning.

The basis for Shindler’s research interests and the symposia is the widely-acclaimed book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences by Professor Howard Gardner of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She was invited to write an article on her work for the 1997_Encyclopaedia Britannica Medical and Health Annual and has collaborated on several articles in neuroscience journals. She teaches the work of Howard Gardner at the Graham School of the University of Chicago.

During late 1998/early 1999, Ms. Shindler briefly joined the staff of the University of Illinois, Chicago, and Department of Psychology where she assisted in a research project on social and emotional learning in schools worldwide. In 1996, The Foundation for Human Potential presented a lecture by Professor Ellen Winner of Boston College and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, entitled Gifted Children: Myths and Realities, the title of Professor Winner’s book. The program was sponsored by Northwestern University.