Karen E. Bohlin

Karen Bohlin, EdD is Director of the Practical Wisdom Project at the Abigail Adams Institute and Research Affiliate at the Human Flourishing Program.

With more than two decades of leadership and teaching in both secondary and higher education, Dr. Bohlin's work explores the intersection of practical wisdom and leadership for flourishing. Former head of Montrose School and executive director of Boston University's Centre for the Advancement of Character, Dr. Bohlin is author or co-author of numerous publications including Building Character in Schools (Jossey-Bass 1999)Teaching Character Education Through Literature: Awakening the Moral Imagination (Routledge 2005)/Educando el carácter a través de la literatura (2020); Happiness and Virtue: Beyond East and West: Toward a New Global Responsibility (Tuttle 2012); Citizenship and Higher Education (Routledge, 2005); Stress Tests of Character; The Courageous Dialogue Toolkit: Practical Wisdom for School Leaders (2021); "Educating the Heart: Why Poetry Matters” in Educating for Character Through the Arts (Routledge, 2023).

She developed the The Practical Wisdom Framework™, a theoretically-grounded leadership intervention and teaches it in her executive education program Practical Wisdom for Agile Leadership. Senior Scholar at Boston University's Center for Character and Social Responsibility, she is also founder and director emerita of the LifeCompass Institute, a lab school community of practice. 

Bohlin has served as an educational advisor at the state, national and international level and led professional education programs worldwide. She is co-architect of the National Schools of Character Program and co-founder and advisor to the Kern Partners in Character and Educational Leadership (KPCEL), a network of over 30 institutions serving both K-12 and higher education.

External link: Personal Website