March 19 – 21, 2010

Cambridge, MA

To register ONLY for the Keynote Address Click Below

Events

• Daniel Siegel Keynote Address: From Me to We: A New Look at Resilience and Well-Being: Friday, March 19
  ***The Venue of the Keynote Address has Changed to University Hall (Lesley University), 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA***

• Mindfulness in Education Conference: Saturday, March 20

• A Day of Courage and Renewal: Sunday, March 21

Click here to download a flyer of the conference

Mindfulness meditation has been practiced for thousands of years as a way to reduce suffering and cultivate inner peace. Research shows that mindfulness also enhances learning and attention. There is growing interest in the possibility that this ancient meditative practice can support education and learning for both children and adults. Many educational institutions, including UCLA, Stanford, UCSF, and PENN have embraced mindfulness as an educational intervention by introducing it into their curricula and conducting research in the field. This three-day event will explore the uses of mindfulness in education.

Daniel Siegel Keynote Address

From Me to We: A New Look at Resilience and Well-Being

Friday, March 19th 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

University Hall (Lesley University)
1815 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA

Cost $35* (Includes a copy of Dr. Siegel’s new book Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation, Bantam, 2009)

Sponsors: Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values, Lesley University

Questions about the keynote address only, contact Laura Montijo: lmontijo@prajnopaya.org or 617.324.6030×1

Dr. Siegel, clinical psychiatrist, researcher, writer, and award-winning educator, will speak about reflective skills of mindsight and the role their cultivation plays in activating brain circuits that underlie resilience and well-being and empathy and compassion as well.

Dan Siegel, MD, is a clinical psychiatrist, researcher, writer, and award-winning educator. He is currently a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine where he is a Co-Investigator at the Center for Culture, Brain, and Development and is Co-Director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center. He is the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational organization that focuses on how the development of insight, compassion and empathy in individuals, families and communities can be enhanced by examining the interface of human relationships and basic biological processes. He is the author of the internationally acclaimed text, The Developing Mind: Toward a Neurobiology of Interpersonal Experience (Guilford, 1999). His book with Mary Hartzell, M.Ed., Parenting from the Inside Out: How a Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive (Tarcher, 2003) explores the application of this newly emerging view of the mind, the brain, and human relationships. His latest book is The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being (W.W. Norton, 2007) and his next book Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation (Bantam) is due out in December 2009.

Mindfulness in Education Conference

Saturday, March 20th 9:00 am – 4:30 pm

University Hall (Lesley University)
1815 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA

Cost: $80* (includes breakfast and lunch)

Sponsors: Lesley University, Mindfulness in Education Network, Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, Friends Council on Education, Association for Mindfulness in Education, Courage & Renewal Northeast

Questions about the conference only, contact Richard Brady: mindfulnesseducation@rcn.com or 301.651.6118

Mindfulness-Based Education (MBE), a powerful tool to decrease stress, deepen learning, enhance academic performance, and promote emotional and social well-being, is increasingly recognized as essential for students, educators and parents. MBE may help to develop the capacity for attention and awareness, creating optimal conditions for teaching and learning. This day-long conference will include a plenary panel consisting of leaders in the field, interest group break-out sessions, and mindfulness practice sessions.

Conference Schedule

8:30 – 9:00 am Conference registration and breakfast

9:00 – 10:30 Conference opening and Plenary Panel Presentations

10:45 – 12:00 Interactive discussion with panel members

12:00 – 1:00 pm Lunch

1:00 – 2:15 and 2:30 – 3:45 pm Break-out sessions

4:00 – 4:30 pm Conference closing

Break-out sessions tentatively include:

Early childhood education

Teaching young children in elementary school

Teaching children in middle school

Teaching young adults in high school

Teaching university students

Teaching teachers

Research on mindfulness

Developing a personal practice

Integrating personal practice and work

Parenting

Plenary Panel

Sara W. Lazar, PhD, is a neuroscientist in the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. The focus of her research is to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying meditation, both in clinical settings and to promote and preserve health and well-being in healthy individuals. One main focus of her work is determining how yoga and meditation influence brain structure, and how these changes influence behavior. She has been practicing yoga and mindfulness meditation since 1994, and is a Board member of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy.

Amy Saltzman, MD, is a holistic physician, mindfulness teacher, wife and mother. She has been teaching mindfulness for over 14 years. She is the founder and director of the Association for Mindfulness in Education. Her passion is supporting children and adults in discovering the Still Quiet Place within. She has two research studies through the Stanford Department of Psychology: evaluating the benefits of teaching mindfulness to child-parent pairs and to children in elementary school. Dr. Saltzman offers lectures and courses for schools, parenting organizations, and education and medical conferences. She also provides individual mindfulness instruction and holistic medical care to children and adults.

Paul Wapner, PhD, is Associate Professor and Director of the Global Environmental Politics Program in the School of International Service at American University. His books include the award-winning Environmental Activism and World Civic Politics (SUNY 1996) and forthcoming book, Living through the End of Nature: The Future of American Environmentalism (MIT Press 2010). Paul has has developed two courses focused specifically on contemplative practices: “Contemplation and Political Change,” and “The Practice of Environmentalism” and has been teaching a three-week, summer workshop at the Lama Foundation in San Cristobal, New Mexico, titled, “Contemplative Sustainable Design.” Paul has been a Contemplative Mind in Society Fellow and member of the Fetzer Institute-sponsored Inter-generational Mentoring Community.

A Day of Courage and Renewal

Full-day workshop, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

University Hall (Lesley University)
1815 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA

Cost $60* (includes lunch)

Sponsors: Lesley University, Courage & Renewal Northeast, Friends Council on Education

Questions about the Sunday workshop only, contact Lisa Sankowski: lsankows@wellesley.edu or 781.283.2861

In this full-day retreat, emerging from principles described in Parker Palmer’s book The Courage to Teach, participants will engage in a wide range of contemplative practices to explore the inner landscape of the teaching life. Facilitators will support experiences engaging heart and mind in reflection and insight. Individual and group activities will include personal experience, the power of poetry and teaching stories, journaling, and art, as the stimuli for reflection and dialog on our lives and our teaching.

Workshop Facilitators

Sharlene Voogd Cochrane, PhD, is Professor and Dean of Faculty at Lesley University. An educator for over 25 years, her research and writing focus on cultural identity and responses to institutional racism, especially the interplay of gender, race, class and religion in women’s lives. She recently co-taught “Mindfulness and Professional Practice” at Lesley. She has been a Courage & Renewal Facilitator for eight years, facilitating a variety of multi-session and shorter Courage to Teach and Courage to Lead retreats.

Irene McHenry, PhD, is a psychologist, school consultant, author/editor of numerous publications including the 2009 Tuning In: Mindfulness in Teaching and Learning. She consults with organizations nationwide providing professional development and teaching mindfulness for administrators, faculty, trustees and aspiring leaders. Irene is a founder of several schools and initiated the founding of the Friends Council’s SPARC program – Spirited Practice and Renewed Courage, based on Parker Palmer’s teacher formation principles. She is the Executive Director of the Friends Council on Education and Board President for the Council for American Private Education.

Pamela Seigle, MS, is Executive Director of Courage & Renewal Northeast. Based at Wellesley College and built upon the work of Parker J. Palmer, Courage & Renewal Northeast provides retreat-based programs — Courage to Teach, Courage to Lead, and Circles of Trust — to educators and others in serving professions. Pamela is the founder of the nationally recognized Open Circle Program, a social and emotional learning program based at the Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College. She is co-author of the Open Circle Curriculum.

*Additional services charges will be applied.

To register ONLY for the Keynote Address Click Below

Hotel Accommodations: A limited number of overnight accommodations are reserved at the Mary Prentiss INN in Cambridge for $169 + tax/night, including breakfast. To reserve a room and receive the group discounted rate, please call 617-661-2929 before February 1st and mention the Mindfulness in Education Conference. You might also check the Doubletree Guest Suites in Boston (a cab ride away from the events) on www.expedia.com.

A conference sponsored by the Fetzer Institute, in partnership with California Institute of Integral Studies. The Center is a featured education program, offering a pre-conference institute, “The Contemplative Transformation of Higher Education,” and 10 workshops.

February 22-25, 2007
Hotel Nikko | San Francisco, California

Do current education efforts address the whole human being—mind, heart, and spirit—in ways that contribute best to our future on this fragile planet? What steps can we take to make our colleges and universities places that awaken the deepest potential in students, faculty, and staff? This conference for administrators, student life professionals, chaplains, and educators will address the relationships between:

· Curriculum and values
· Intellectual, aesthetic, and moral intelligences
· Technical competency and compassionate action
· Critical reasoning and contemplative inquiry
· Vocation and life purpose

Keynote speakers will include Alice Walker, Parker Palmer, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, Robert Kegan, and Diana Chapman Walsh.

Center workshop leaders include Mirabai Bush, Arthur Zajonc, Andre Delbecq, Deborah Haynes, Mary Rose O’Reilly, Marilyn Nelson, Ed Sarath

Registration begins August 2006. Registration cost: $350 general, $300 for undergraduates.

Partnering Organizations

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco • Associated New American Colleges • Association of American Colleges and Universities • Council of Independent Colleges • League for Innovation in the Community Colleges • National Association of Student Personnel Administrators

August 13-18, 2006
Smith College
Northampton, MA

The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society is pleased to announce a 6-day residential summer session on contemplative curriculum development. This will provide an opportunity for teachers in universities and colleges to research, prepare, and evaluate curricula that integrate contemplative practices into courses in any discipline.

Program Information

Participants will devote the week to rigorous investigation, reflection, writing, and discussion, guided by distinguished scholars and contemplative teachers who have already developed such courses.

There will be sessions on pedagogical issues, including the relation between course content and contemplative practice and the benefits of stabilized attention and other qualities of mind fostered by meditation, as well as on practical issues such as evaluation, grading, instructional techniques, and use of off-site facilities. We will also consider issues such as communicating course intent with colleagues and college administrators. There will be discussions on how contemplative practices in the curriculum are affecting teaching and learning nationwide. Local scholars and contemplative teachers not listed as faculty will visit and engage in the discussions . Each day will also include substantial contemplative practice time, which will introduce participants to practices from a variety of traditions as well as practices that have been adapted successfully for secular classroom settings. And each afternoon will be spent in workshops designed to aid participating academics in the design of a course well-suited to their disciplinary content and familiarity with meditation. The summer session aims to prepare participants to return to their classrooms with a deeper understanding of the practice of contemplative teaching and a fully developed course.

The summer session builds on the work of the Contemplative Practice Fellowship Program, administered by the American Council of Learned Societies and made possible by funding from the Fetzer Institute. These fellowships seek to restore and renew the critical contribution that contemplative practices can make to the life of teaching and scholarship. At the heart of the program is the belief that pedagogical and intellectual benefits will be discovered by bringing contemplative practice into the academy. While contemplative practices are part of all major religious and spiritual traditions, they have also had a place in intellectual and ethical inquiry, including secular educational environments. Contemplative practices are defined in a variety of ways, but they can be broadly understood as methods to develop concentration, deepen understanding and insight, and cultivate awareness and compassion.

We invite participants from the full range of disciplinary and inter-disciplinary perspectives in the arts, humanities, sciences, humanities-related sciences, and social sciences. We are especially interested in the development of courses in which classroom contemplative practices are related clearly to the content of the course itself. Such content-related contemplative practices can lead to genuine insights and deeper appreciation of the material under study.

The Summer Session will be held at Smith College in walking distance of downtown Northampton and easily accesible from major highways and routes.

The cost of the Summer Session is $530, which includes tuition, room, all meals, and a closing banquet.

How to Apply

The Summer Session is open to professors at two and four year colleges, universities and professional schools. Previous experience with contemplative practices is not required but can be helpful.

Deadline for applications is May 3rd, 2006.

To apply, download the application form.
The application is an interactive .pdf file that allows you to type directly on the form. Once you have filled it out, print the form and mail 2 copies to us along with:
1. Your most recent CV
2. A statement of interest, including a brief description of the course you would like to develop (1-3 pages acceptable length)
3. Your experience with contemplative practice, if any

Please note: if you cannot open the application form, you may need to install the Acrobat Reader software, which is available for free.

Mail 2 copies of the completed form and the three enclosures to:

Jennifer Akey
The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
199 Main Street, Suite 3
Northampton, MA 01060
E-mail: jen@contemplativemind.org

Summer Session Faculty Includes

Arthur Zajonc, Professor
Physics Dept., Amherst College
Director of the Academic Program at the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society

Mirabai Bush, Director
the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society

Harold D. Roth*, Professor
Religious Studies & East Asian Studies, Brown University

Kat Vlahos, Assistant Professor
College of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado, Denver

Joanna Ziegler , Professor
Visual Arts Dept., College of the Holy Cross

Other to be confirmed

*not yet confirmed

The Academic Guiding Committee
Sharon Daloz Parks
Associate Director, Whidbey Institute

Deborah Klimburg-Salter
Professor of Art History, University of Vienna

David Scott
Former Chancellor, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

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

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

APPLICATION DEADLINE: MAY 15th

Contemplative Curriculum Development
Summer Session

August 14-20, 2005
Smith College
Northampton, MA

To apply, first download the application form.
The application is an interactive .pdf file that allows you to type directly on the form. Once you have filled it out, print the form and mail or fax it to us along with:
1. Your most recent CV
2. A statement of interest, including a brief description of the course you would like to develop
3. Your experience with contemplative practice, if any

Please note: if you cannot open the application form, you may need to install the Acrobat Reader software, which is available for free.

Fax or mail the completed form and the three enclosures to:

Jennifer Akey
The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
199 Main Street, Suite 3
Northampton, MA 01060
Fax: (413) 582-1330
E-mail: jen@contemplativemind.org

Summer Session Faculty

Arthur Zajonc
Professor of Physics, Amherst College
Director of the Academic Program at the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society

Frederique Apffel Marglin
Professor of Anthropology, Smith College

Mirabai Bush
Director, Center for Contemplative Mind in Society

Andrea Olsen
Professor, Department of Theater and Dance, Middlebury College

Mary Rose O’Reilley
Professor of English, University of St. Thomas

Harold D. Roth
Professor of Religious Studies & East Asian Studies, Brown University

Ed Sarath
Professor of Music and Director of the Department in Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation, University of Michigan School of Music.

Peter Schneider
Professor of Architecture and Chancellor’s Scholar at the University of Colorado

The Academic Guiding Committee

Sharon Daloz Parks
Associate Director, Whidbey Institute

Deborah Klimburg-Salter
Professor of Art History, University of Vienna

David Scott
Former Chancellor, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

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

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