Suzanne Benally
BA, English, University of Colorado
MA, Education, University of Colorado
Suzanne Benally has extensive experience in higher education policy, assessment and diversity. Formerly she directed an Institute on Ethnic Diversity at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Ms. Benally has worked with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, as an interim executive director and director of education programs to address the concerns and needs of American Indian education K–12 and post-secondary. Her special interests and research have focused on the relationship between land and place as expressed through written and oral literature. In addition to her many activities, Ms. Benally has a consulting practice that has included work with Foundations including the Ford Foundation, Packard Foundation and James Irvine Foundation. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Western States Arts Federation. Ms. Benally is Navajo and Santa Clara Tewa.
Jeanine M. Canty PhD, California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), Transformative Learning and Change
MA, Prescott College, Cultural Ecopsychology
BA, Colgate University, International Relations
Education, awareness and transformation are revered processes for Jeanine. Her work addresses the ecological crisis through critical thinking, unraveling of worldviews, connecting with all of life and changing our practices to be aligned with ecologically healthy modes of being. Her areas of passion include ecopsychology, consciousness, transformative learning, environmental and social justice and cultural studies. She is interested in the process individuals go through to reach heightened awareness of environmental and social justice. Jeanine is involved with multiple social justice and consciousness–based organizations. Much of her understanding has come through her experience as an African American woman living in privileged communities.
Anne Z. Parker
BS, Conservation of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley
MA, Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University
MA, Geography, University of Oregon
PhD, Geography, University of Oregon
Anne Parker is the chair of the Environmental Studies Department at Naropa University. She has lived, traveled and studied extensively throughout the Himalayas and Central Australia. Before coming to Naropa, she taught geography and international studies at the University of Oregon, was the program director at Interface in Boston, and directed the national Buddhist organization, the Dzogchen Foundation. She has received Fulbright and NSF grants for her work on traditional agriculture in Bhutan, Nepal and India. Anne led wilderness expeditions for many years with the Sierra Club and Marble Mountain Expeditions, and she leads pilgrimages in Tibet, Bhutan and the Himalayan region. Anne has studied and practiced for more than thirty years in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. In addition, she has devoted the last six years to extensive study in European earth-based traditions of wicca, druidry and the art of geomancy. She currently consults and teaches in the European tradition of the Master Builders in the Boulder area and via her website www.latitudewithattitude.com. Her new book Stories from the Origin, a series of stories from her life in Australian aboriginal communities, is available at www.amazon.com. She teaches innovative classes in physical and cultural geography in Naropa University’s BA in Environmental Studies. In the MA in Environmental Leadership she teaches leadership skills, the new science, applied leadership and a wilderness solo course. She is passionate about serving life and renewing our connection and deep reverence for the Earth.
Sherry Ellms
BA, University of California, Los Angeles, Psychology
MA, Naropa University, Environmental Leadership
Sherry Ellms teaches a variety of contemplative practices including meditation and facilitates earth based experiences and their application to leadership, earth stewardship, and personal sustainability. She leads wilderness solos and other nature based programs that facilitate a deep connection with the power and insight of the natural world. For the past 25 years, she has been conducting retreats and teaching meditation in secular settings such as Outward Bound, as well as in spiritual settings throughout out the country. She teaches an on line course, “Meditation for Social Change Leaders” in the Ecopsychology concentration of the Masters in Transpersonal Psychology Program. Sherry is a long time meditation practitioner and student of the University’s founder, Choygam Trungpa. Her master’s thesis was “Tonglen as a Tool for Transformative Environmental Engagement.” In addition to her contemplative scholarship, she served as Naropa University’s Dean of Students for 12 years. She has studied with Joanna Macy and trained at the School of Lost Borders. She is committed to investigating the interdependence of landscape and the psyche and facilitating activities that transform human consciousness.
Mukara Meredith
BA University of New Orleans
MSW, West Virginia University
Mukara Meredith has over 25 years experience teaching, consulting and working with the healing arts. A certified Hakomi Trainer and Therapist, as well as student of the Biodynamic Cranial System, Mukara integrates universal principles of healing into a new model of leadership called MATRIXWORKS. This model allows us to understand groups as living systems and to facilitate the change and transformation inherent in groups. Mukara has been teaching Group Process and Group Dynamics since 1993 as adjunct faculty at Naropa University. She consults internationally with businesses to help teams become more creative and able to function as living systems. Mukara is devoted to the practical application of world wisdom teachings in everyday life.
Susan Skjei
MS, American University
PhD candidate, Fielding Graduate University
Susan Skjei is president of SaneSystems, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational change, coaching and leadership development. Formerly a vice-president and chief learning officer in the high-tech industry, she designs and facilitates participative approaches to strategic planning and organizational transformation. A long-time practitioner of meditation inspired by Naropa’s founder, Trungpa Rinpoche, Susan also teaches meditation workshops for leaders in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Mark Wilding BS, State University of New York and Syracuse University
MA, Naropa University
Mark Wilding
is executive director of PassageWorks, a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming the culture of classrooms, schools and districts so that the inner life of students and teachers is safe, nurtured and welcomed. Mark formerly served as director of Naropa’s Marpa Center for Business and Economics, and has worked in various capacities at Naropa University since 1995, including director of advancement and human resources and systems officer. Mark has taught graduate courses at Naropa since 1997 and assisted with the launch of the MA in Environmental Leadership program in 1995. In 1985, he helped found a public computer software company and served in several roles until he left as president in 1993.
Jeanine M. Canty
Anne Z. Parker
Sherry Ellms
