California Institute of Integral Studies

"In the fall of 1950, Stanford University Professor Frederick Spiegelberg was searching for a scholar from India to join him, Alan Watts, and others to help form the faculty of a new and innovative graduate school in San Francisco called the American Academy of Asian Studies. Professor Spiegelberg wrote to the Indian yogi and spiritual philosopher Sri Aurobindo to ask for a recommendation of a person well versed in Eastern and Western philosophies with a deep knowledge of integral yoga. Sri Aurobindo approved the recommendation of Dr. Haridas Chauduri, then chair of the Philosophy Department at Krishnagar College in Bengal. That prompted Professor Spiegelberg to write to Dr. Chauduri to invite him to come to San Francisco and help shape the new academy...

"When he arrived in San Francisco in early 1951, Dr. Chaudhuri, along with his wife Bina, co-founded the Cultural Integration Fellowship (CIF) to promote intercultural understanding and harmony, nonsectarian universal religion, and creative self-development and self-fulfillment.

"As the number of students who wanted to study with Dr. Chaudhuri increased, he founded the Institute in 1968 as an educational branch of CIF. It was later incorporated as an independent, non-profit, non-sectarian graduate school named the California Institute of Asian Studies (CIAS) in 1974, and renamed the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in 1980. Since 1981 CIIS has been accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)."

"CIIS' commitment to quality instruction and innovative research is expressed in the collection of the Laurance S. Rockefeller Library. It offers a universe of online information including thousands of online books, journals, dissertations, and disciplinary databases."

In 2004, Elizabeth J. McCormack, Chair of the Board, and Joseph L. Subbiondo, President of CIIS left the following paid notice in the NYT: "Laurance S. The California Institute of Integral Studies mourns the loss of Laurance S. Rockefeller, its great friend, honorary trustee, visionary advisor, and generous benefactor. The CIIS community will miss him and will always be greatful for his dedicated support and commitment." Another key founder of the Institute was Louis Gainsborough.

Trustees
Accessed October 2011:


 * Prasad Vepa, Chair
 * Ricki Pollycove, Vice Chair
 * Keith Cich, Vice Chair and Treasurer
 * Judie Wexler, Secretary
 * Peter Baumann
 * Shankar Bhattacharya
 * Margy Boyd
 * Lydia Nakashima Degarrod
 * Helen Desai
 * Stuart Diamond
 * Richard Giardina
 * Kishore Kripalani
 * John Paul Lenney
 * Tamar March
 * Elizabeth McCormack
 * Ashok Narsimhan
 * Arvind Peter Relan
 * Sonya Shah
 * Joseph L. Subbiondo
 * Daphne White
 * Zeppelin Wong

Council of Sages
Accessed October 2011:


 * Angeles Arrien, Lauren Artress, Alexander Astin, Helen Astin, Thomas Berry, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Andre Carothers, Carol P. Christ, Ram Dass, Riane Eisler, Duane Elgin, Barbara A. Garcia, Joan Halifax, Michael Harner, Sandra R. Hernandez, Alan Jones, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jack Kornfield, Stanley Krippner, Satish Kumar, John L. Levy, Joanna Macy, Janice Mirikitani, Phillip Moffitt, Jacob Needleman, Vicki Noble, Mayumi Oda, Parker Palmer, Paul H. Ray, Rachel Naomi Remen, Betty Roszak, Theodore Roszak, Rupert Sheldrake, Mimi Halper Silbert, Huston Smith, Greg Steltenpohl, William B. Stewart, Robert A. F. Thurman, Lynne Twist, John Vasconcellos, Frances Vaughan, Alice Walker, Roger Walsh, Marion Weber, John Welwood, Cecil Williams

Affiliates
Accessed October 2011:


 * American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine
 * Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
 * Association of American Colleges and Universities
 * Auroville, India
 * Bioneers
 * Cultural Integration Fellowship
 * Fetzer Institute
 * Gaiafield Center for Subtle Activism
 * Graduate Theological Union Summer Session
 * Institute of Noetic Sciences
 * Kosmos Journal
 * National Association of School Personnel Administrators
 * Open Secret Bookstore
 * St. Anthony Foundation
 * 7th Heaven Yoga
 * Sustainable World Coalition
 * Tamalpa Institute
 * United Religions Initiative
 * UCLA Higher Education Research Institute/Spirituality in Higher Education
 * The Yoga Loft

Core Faculty in the Transformative Leadership MA
Accessed October 2011:


 * Alfonso Montuori, Allan Combs, Daniel Deslauriers, Urusa Fahim, Joanne Gozawa, Constance A. Jones, Jennifer Wells

Key Adjunct Faculty


 * Susan G. Carter, Byron Dan Crowe, Riane Eisler, Roger Harrison, Allan Hunt Badiner, Robert Kenny, Albert Low, F. David Peat, Gabrielle Pelicci, Michael A. Raffanti, Howard Rheingold, Robin Robertson, Kundan Singh, Philip Slater, Russ Volckmann

Contact
URL: http://www.ciis.edu

Related Sourcewatch

 * Lawrence Chickering ‎ - former board member
 * David Ulansey
 * Centre for the Story of the Universe
 * Robert A. McDermott - former president
 * Mary Harris
 * Brian Swimme
 * Darcy Riddell
 * Stanislav Grof
 * Ralph Metzner


 * Charlene Spretnak
 * Meg Jordan
 * David Peat (Canada)
 * Mariana Caplan
 * Suzanne Van Stralen - student
 * Zak Sinclair
 * Jose Luis Stevens
 * Frank Echenhofer