About the Program

The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society believes that a fully democratic society requires a system of higher education that trains students for reflective insight as well as critical thinking. We believe that the cultivation of mindfulness amid the busy-ness of contemporary life can open up the possibility for developing new wisdom through introspection, to complement existing intellectual and analytic undertakings. We also believe that contemplative practices can help shape the direction of social action, contributing to an integration of the ethical and the political, the spiritual and the practical; the undergraduate college is one place where these issues can and should be thoughtfully explored.

In academia, contemplative practices have rarely been explored for their impact on the development of thought or pedagogy. Through the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education, our retreats, the Contemplative Practice Fellowship Program, and annual Summer Sessions on contemplative curriculum development we hope to establish the ground for examining contemplation in modern western culture and in other periods and cultures.

If you would like information on the Academic Program or the Contemplative Practice Fellowships which this web site does not provide, please contact Beth Wadham at beth(at)contemplativemind.org.

 

Program Staff

Mirabai Bush
Associate Director and Senior Fellow,
The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society

Sunanda Markus
Fellowship Program Coordinator,
The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
fellowships(at)contemplativemind.org

Beth Wadham
Academic Program Associate,
The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
beth(at)contemplativemind.org

Arthur Zajonc
Director,
The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
Professor of Physics, Amherst College

 

The Academic Program Committee

Sharon Daloz Parks
Associate Director
Whidbey Institute

 

Deborah Klimburg-Salter
Professor of Asian Art History
Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Documentation of Inner and South Asia
University of Vienna

 

Joan Konner
Professor and Dean Emerita
Columbia Graduate School of Journalism

 

David K. Scott
Former Chancellor
University of Massachusetts at Amherst

 

Honorary Members:

Brian Stock
Professor of Literature
University of Toronto

 

Steven Rockefeller
Professor Emeritus
Middlebury College

 

Robert A. F. Thurman
Professor of Indo-Tibetan Studies
Columbia University