David Allyn (born April 30, 1969) is an American author, educator, and consultant to nonprofit organizations.

Personal life

Allyn is the stepson of the late John Wallach, founder of the nonprofit organization Seeds of Peace. Allyn graduated from the Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C. He holds a BA from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

and a PhD from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. From 1996–1999, he taught at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. In 2014 he was named CEO of The Oliver Scholars Program. In February 2016 he was elected to the board of trustees of the

National Association of Independent Schools The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a U.S.-based membership organization for private, nonprofit, K-12 schools. Founded in 1962, NAIS represents independent schools and associations in the United States, including day, board ...

(NAIS).

Books and articles

Allyn is the author of four books, including '' Make Love, Not War'' and ''I Can't Believe I Just Did That'', and has served as a faculty member at

and a visiting scholar at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy. His essays have appeared in ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...

'' and other publications. While an undergraduate at

, Allyn co-authored a book on transferring from one college to another. He and his co-author (later wife) were profiled in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' and featured on

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

. He has also published articles in ''Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly'', ''The Journal of American Studies'', '' Teachers College Record'', ''The Advocate'', ''The Washington Post'', ''

The New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in tabloid format, and rea ...

'', ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' and '' The San Francisco Chronicle''. As an expert on the 1960s, Allyn has appeared on Vh1, The History Channel, and CNN.

Plays

Allyn's play, ''Buying In'', was a semi-finalist for the 2017 Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. His play, ''Commencement'', was selected for the Baltimore Playwrights Festival. and won a Writer's Digest award. His play ''Punctuated Equilibrium'' received a staged reading by the Hangar Theatre Lab in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

. His play ''Writers Colony'' appeared in the Fresh Fruit Festival in New York City, and ''Baptizing Adam'' won the James H. Wilson Award for Best-Full Length Play. According to ''The New York Times'', Allyn is "a wicked observer of self-conscious people at their less than best."

Concepts

Allyn's original concepts include " strategic empathy," denoting the deliberate use of perspective-taking to achieve certain desired ends; "mission mirroring," the phenomenon that occurs when mission-based organizations become plagued by the very problems they were created to solve; and "sexual optimism (pessimism)," the view of human sexuality as benign (or dangerous).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allyn, David 1969 births Living people Brown University alumni Harvard University alumni Columbia University faculty American essayists American male essayists American humorists Place of birth missing (living people) American chief executives of education-related organizations Princeton University faculty Georgetown Day School alumni