Connections For the Community of Sofia University Fall 2012 Becoming Sofia Table of Contents Sofia University Comes Out . 3 All in the Family: Daughter of Former ITP President Joins Board of Trustees . 11 Labyrinth Walk and Ritual Blessing with Ribbon Cutting Ceremony . 4 Life After Sofia: Alumni Spotlight . 12 Community Art Exhibit and Performance Art Program . 5 What IS planned giving, anyway? . 13 California Campus Compact Open House & Breakfast . 5 Saskia Gives Back to Sofia . 14 Convocation with Neal King and Community Panel . 6 Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes . 15 Extending the Vision: From ITP to Sofia . 6 Special Thanks to: Meditation and Teachings of Lama Pema Wangdak . 7 Executive Editor . .. Tracy Byars Copywriters . Kristen Sato, Elaine Schmitz Inauguration Ceremony . 7 Copy Editor . Diana Fleming, Kristen Sato Talk About a Good Read . 9 Design and Layout . Shannon Fries Meet the New Kid on Campus . 10 Photos . Angela Bacca, Colleen Cummins, Heather Hunt, Arielle Rames Dear Colleagues, Wellness (CCHW) now joins us on campus as does the executive staff of Welcome all to a new academic year – a transitional, even California Campus Compact. (Please transformational year. As we evolve out of our history as ITP into our see page 10 to learn more about this future as Sofia University, we reflect back and we look forward. wonderful nonprofit organization.) Our enrollment is approaching 20 times what it was at the time of our As we move forward we are more deliberately embracing our external founding in 1975. It promises to double again in the next five to ten communities, both virtually and face-to-face. We now have the years. At the same time, our core values have not changed. We remain resources and the confidence in our mission to invite broader and a transpersonal institution by any and all definitions of the word. more comprehensive interaction externally than we have before. For most of our history, we have been a somewhat introverted Everywhere I go as president of this remarkable school, I talk about graduate school of psychology. In recent years, we have added graduate who we are and the essential work that we do. There is, without fail, programs in Women’s Spirituality and Spiritual Guidance. Today, recognition of the universality and the true and the sacred that is we are investing unprecedented resources in serving our students, at the heart of who we are as Sofia University. I am deeply honored preparing to offer undergraduate completion programs in multiple to serve as president of this vital and distinctive university at such a disciplines (beginning 2013) and implementing a new “one stop” profoundly transformational period of its development. student services center in the new building. Warm regards, We will unveil our first formal public programs department, inviting the larger community to interact with us in the form of film and lecture series, art exhibits, certificate and licensure courses 2 and more. Finally, our Community Center for Health and Sofia University Comes Out In many ways, Sofia University’s first presidential inauguration was far more than academic pomp and circumstance. The inauguration of Dr. Neal King was a multifaceted celebration, honoring more than 35 years of transpersonal values and whole-person education as ITP, while moving into a bright future as Sofia University. The school has many reasons to celebrate: a new president, a new building, new organizations on campus, and friends and colleagues – old and new – coming together as one diverse, vibrant and thriving community. This is Sofia’s coming out party! A crowded auditorium of guests sat patiently in the dark, anticipating the start of a centuries-old tradition – the inauguration of a university president. The strains of a Japanese flute and boom of a taiko drum announced the processional to Neal King’s investiture as the first president of Sofia University. However, this march of the candidate, honored delegates, and members of the Sofia community was not the true beginning of this ceremony. Inauguration events commenced three days earlier with the consecration of the school’s labyrinth and the university’s mace… 3 Labyrinth Walk and Ritual Blessing with Ribbon Cutting Ceremony On October 17, participants gathered around the recently completed labyrinth on the lawn outside Sofia’s new building. Designed and built by Lars Howlett and “The Door” By Miroslav Holub, Czech Poet Robert Ferre, the Sofia labyrinth is based on classical patterns to create a sacred space for self-reflection. Uniquely adapted and shaped to fit an area set among three Go and open the door. trees, its walkway features six circuits, appropriately representing Sofia’s six pillars of Maybe outside there's whole-person education: the intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual, creative, and A tree, or a wood, relational paths. A garden, Or a magic city. The designers’ initial proposal describes the symbolic value of this project to the Go and open the door. university: “Labyrinths are powerful tools for use in times of transition — this sacred Maybe a dog's rummaging. path will be available to students, faculty, administration, and alumni to walk during Maybe you'll see a face, Or an eye, the school’s re-naming and expansion.” Or the picture Dr. Anne Huffman opened the ribbon cutting ceremony with a poem, “The Door,” by Of a picture. Go and open the door. Miroslav Holub. If there's a fog “Here at Sofia University, we are exploring all of these marvelous possibilities today. It will clear. Go and open the door. We are opening wide the doors of our university, inviting students, faculty, staff, and even if there's only others who share the vision of transpersonal and transformative education to join us the darkness ticking, as we open these doors to this new space.” – Anne Huffman, Ph.D. even if there's only the hollow wind, even if nothing is there, go and open the door. At least There'll be A draught. Translated by Ian Milner and George Theiner “With gratitude I ask Dr . Neal King to cut this ribbon and open the doors to Sofia University,” – Anne Huffman, Ph .D . 4 Community Art Exhibit and Sofia Seminar: Faculty Round Performance Art Program Table on the Meaning of Sofia At Sofia’s Community Art Exhibit and reception, guests were Those in the community are already aware that renaming ITP to welcomed into the new building to browse visual artwork submitted Sofia University has been, perhaps, the most challenging transition by members of the community, as well as tour the layout of the new since Neal King became president. Over the past few months there campus building. Those present at the event commented on the has been a flurry of discussion around all things Sofia, so it was only serendipity of the new building becoming available at just the right appropriate that the inaugural events include a scholarly contribution time, with renovations completed just before inauguration. Features of on the subject. the bright, shiny new space include a 500-seat auditorium, a one-stop Dr. Judy Grahn, co-director of the Women’s Spirituality master’s student services center, and increased classroom and office space – just program, chaired a panel of core faculty members who discussed the a few indicators of Sofia University’s expansion. meaning of Sofia in relation to the university, current times, and the After the reception, the evening concluded with performance art infinite search for wisdom. showcasing the creativity and artistry of the Sofia community. Roopam One of the panel members, Dr. Mark Gonnerman, shared the Sidhu, Maja Apolonia Rodé, Jovelyn Richards, Judy Grahn, and the Tibetan Buddhist perspective of “the perfection of wisdom.” Lunarchy Band presented poems, dramatic representations, and songs Depicted by the feminine goddess Prajnaparamita, her cultivation honoring Sofia and the values of the university. of wisdom leads to awareness of our interrelatedness, thus creating compassion. Dr. Gonnerman noted that Sofia reminds us that this is what we, at the university, are here to do. Dr. Judy Schavrien suggested that there were many ways to study Sofia, resulting in integrating both our inner and outer work for greater wisdom. Kate Wolf-Pizor integrated the comments of the other panelists by pointing out that Sofia is the bridging goddess: both earthly and transcendent. Wolf-Pizor believes that Sofia University means combining science with intuitive, artful inner- California Campus Compact knowing. Certainly the name of the new university, in itself, provokes Open House & Breakfast a contemplation of the transpersonal, as much as the scholarships, programs, and services it will house. The second day of inauguration festivities began with a breakfast and open house hosted by California Campus Compact (CACC), a “To be a part of the inauguration ceremony felt non-profit organization in higher education. Upon invitation from like being a bridge because there have been a lot President Neal King, CACC recently moved their headquarters from of growing pains . My hope is that our community San Francisco State University to the new building at Sofia University. can come together at a deeper level ”. During the event Dr. Elaine Ikeda, CACC’s Executive Director, introduced the organization’s history and mission. Members of the – Cassandra Rae, Residential SLB Chair community were invited to learn more about the organization and its connection to President Neal King, who has been a member of the CACC executive board since 2011. 5 Convocation with Neal King Extending the Vision: and Community Panel From ITP to Sofia Convocation, Dr. King explained, is a time-honored academic As founders of the school, Robert Frager and James Fadiman have tradition where the community comes together to recognize its been an integral part of the ITP and Sofia communities since day common purpose, celebrate accomplishments, and honor faculty, one.