John Hooper
Board Member, American Humanist Association
Trustee, The Humanist Foundation
Pronouns: he/him
Email: jhooper@americanhumanist.org
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Availability: Online: any season; In-person: any season except summer
John Hooper, Ph.D. (Carnegie Mellon University) is a retired scientist and industrial research director, having pursued a career in molecular imaging and spectroscopy. Hooper has held local and national leadership positions in organizations involving naturalism, Humanism, and Unitarian Universalist (UU) social action. He is treasurer of the American Humanist Association Board of Directors and chair of that board’s Finance and Strategic Planning Committees; a trustee of the Humanist Foundation; a board member of The Institute for Humanist Studies; chair of the Steering Committee of the Humanist Special Collection at Meadville Lombard Theological School; vice president of the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Chautauqua; and coordinator of the Humanism Initiative at the Chautauqua Institution.
He previously served as a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association Commission on Social Witness; Board Chair of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport, CT; president of the Unitarian Universalist Religious Naturalists; president of the Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association (HUUmanists.org); a vice president of the Westport (CT) Public Library Board; president of the Secular Coalition for America Education Fund, and a trustee and treasurer of the board of the UU Church of the Larger Fellowship. John is a founding member of both the Humanists and Freethinkers of Fairfield County (CT) and the Pittsburgh (PA) Freethought Community, where he served as a board member.
Hooper and his wife, Dr. Gail M. Pesyna, a retired foundation executive, live in Pittsburgh, PA.
Honorarium Terms
Open
Speaking Interests
- Embodied Humanism
- Ways of Knowing in Humanism: Science Is Not Enough
- Humanism as an Interfaith Initiative