bethcb@jfunders.org

Beth Cooper Benjamin, Ed.D. is a designer and facilitator of civic engagement, leadership, and professional development programming. As Founding Associate Director of the Center for Social Responsibility at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, she developed civic engagement programming for all ages, and over many years at Ma’yan, she created and led the Research Training Intensive, a participatory action research-based social justice leadership program for Jewish teen girls. More recently, Beth served as Director of the Westover Resiliency Project at Westover, a girls' boarding and day high school in Middlebury, CT, where she led a grant-funded initiative to challenge achievement pressure and perfectionism and to foster resilience and well-being among students and adult staff.  She has authored both scholarly and popular articles, including recent publications on teen mental health and challenging achievement culture in independent schools.  Beth received her masters and doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She lives with her husband and two kids in Maplewood, New Jersey.