Mindfulness Studies

Andrew Olendzki, Professor and Director of the Mindfulness Studies program, is a scholar of early Buddhist thought and practice with a special interest in Buddhist psychology and its relevance to the modern world. Working with both Sanskrit and Pali materials, he explores how the contemplative arts of India and Asia can be understood scientifically, and how the contemporary interest in mindfulness and deeper health can be best informed by the wisdom of ancient traditions.

Prior to joining Lesley he worked for almost thirty years in Barre, MA, first as the original executive director of the Insight Meditation Society and then as executive director and senior scholar at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, where his focus was always upon the integration of academic study with the practice of meditation. During this time he also held recurring adjunct faculty positions at many New England colleges, including Amherst, Brandeis, Harvard, Smith, and Lesley, and was on the faculty at Wesleyan University and Hampshire College. Andrew was also a senior scholar at the Mind and Life Institute, contributing to their Mapping the Mind project, and has been a long-time board member of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy.

Having recently joined the Lesley faculty, he is enthusiastic about helping the Mindfulness Studies program, the first of its kind in the country, to mature and prosper.

Yasemin Isler, core faculty in the Mindfulness Studies program, is a certified mindfulness teacher and educator, writer, grief educator and guide, certified end-of-life (death) doula and integrative thanatologist. With a personal mindfulness practice of 40+ years, and over 1800 hours of extensive professional certification training, she has led numerous programs for wise living with balance, embodied presence, resilience, stress management, and emotional well-being.  Yasemin also teaches courses, including MBSR and MSC, as senior instructor at Center for Mindfulness and Compassion (CHA CMC) and to organizations internationally as senior facilitator and consultant through Potential Project.  

Staying true to the Mindfulness Studies program, Yasemin brings together theory, science and practice of mindfulness, along with compassion and related modalities in context sensitive and accessible approaches to her work. Founder of Center for Mindfulness, Compassion and Community for Grief, she has been offering support and education based on her unique MCCG curricula inclusive of bereavement, all grief and loss, living with illness, caregiving, aging, approaching end-of-life, death and dying. Her motto is Mindful and Compassionate Resilience for every body and across the life span.  

Sensitive to diversity, equity and inclusion, Yasemin’s work has passionately focused on understanding and supporting marginalized individuals and communities, including due to life’s adversities. This foundation continues to guide her work, research and education. An immigrant, she has lived in 3 continents, and is part of a lovingly diverse immediate and extended family. 

Graduate of the Mindfulness Studies program (2018,) Yasemin is an ex-computer engineer, with BS in Computer Science and economics, and a previous career in IT spanning from engineer, architect to team leader. She may be dating herself having worked on mainframe punched cards and assembler language coding, while practicing mindfulness and trying to explain meditation to her colleagues at the time. She is currently pursuing PhD in Human Development and Learning.  

Yasemin is delighted to be joining the faculty at Mindfulness Studies program at Lesley, dedicated to keeping the program unique, meeting the needs of the 21st century education and wisely living on this earth together.  

Certifications include: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Teacher, Mindfulness Medication Teacher (MMTCP,) Mindful Schools Educator, Advanced Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness (ATSM) Provider. Corporate/Organizational Mindfulness Facilitator and consultant, End-of-Life Professional, Integrative Thanatologist.  

Qualifications include: Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) and MSC for Healthcare trained teacher. 

Also Trained In: Path of Freedom Prison Mindfulness. 

Dr. Melissa Jean earned a PhD in Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Management, along with a graduate certificate in Women's and Gender Studies, from Utah State University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley.

She teaches Graduate Academic Writing and Thesis Proposal Seminar for the Mindfulness Studies master's degree program, and advises thesis students on their research-based and creative projects. She also teaches elective and special topics courses in the program, including Mindful Creative Writing and Mindfulness and the Environment.

Mindfulness Studies program founder Nancy Waring encourages students to get to know their own minds. A longtime mindfulness meditator and mindfulness-based stress reduction teacher, Waring is among a growing number of educators focused on contemplative studies. Besides mentoring SDMD students in contemplative subject areas, she designed and teaches the interdisciplinary graduate course, "Mindfulness and Professional Practice." Waring has a particular interest in the effects of meditation on the brain, and studies of neuroscience of meditation.

A life-long learner like many of her students, Waring has wide-ranging scholarly interests, including mind-body matters, the psychology of wellness and illness, integrative and allopathic medicine (particularly brain science and the history of medicine), Buddhism, social justice, women in conflict with the law, literary studies, and creative non-fiction.

Waring's career has spanned academia and journalism; she has been a writer, editor, and writing teacher for 30 years. She served as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Bulletin and deputy executive editor of Hippocrates, a primary care journal for physicians. At Hippocrates, she contributed many feature articles about leaders in mind/body and integrative medicine, as well as allopathic medicine. Formerly a frequent contributor to the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, Waring has also written for The Village Voice, Natural Health, Women and Crime, and Shambhala Sun Magazine. She is currently writing a memoir.

In 1994, Waring helped found a home in Cambridge for formerly homeless women with HIV/AIDS, where she facilitates a weekly support group. She has received several awards recognizing her HIV/AIDS work, including the Cambridge Peace Commission's Peace and Justice Award.

Dr. Armstrong is a Clinical Neuropsychologist with experience in health care, occupational rehabilitation, and education.  Formerly a School Psychologist in New York State, her early interest in students with learning disabilities grew into her fascination with brain and behavior.  While working in corporate educational publishing and student services for the past 15 years, her personal meditation practice evolved and she was drawn to the Mindfulness program at Lesley where she completed the Certificate program in 2014.  

She returned for a professional involvement with the Lesley Graduate Program in Mindfulness Training in the Fall of 2016 as a teaching assistant and became an Adjunct Professor in Summer 2017.  Her personal goals are to further engage in the development of Lesley’s students and in outreach to the broader Lesley and academic community regarding the benefits of this program.  A researcher in her previous academic setting at the University of Rochester (NY) Medical School, she hopes to bring these skills to the Lesley program.  Her current interests include Contemplative Neuroscience, and Mindfulness as applied in medical and educational settings. 

Melinda Franceschini, PhD, DVM, holds instructor certifications in a number of styles of qigong, including Dragon and Tiger qigong.  She holds a diplomate in Asian Body Works Therapy and a certification from the National Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.  Her PhD is in biology, with a focus on stress physiology, environmental endocrinology, and wildlife health.