Faculty

Frank Berliner is a core faculty member in the Contemplative Psychology Department and a psychotherapist and organizational consultant in private practice, specializing in communication training and conflict resolution. Frank has been a student of Naropa’s founder, Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, since Naropa's opening session in summer 1974. He studied the psychology and practice of meditation intensively for four years at the Karme Choling Buddhist Retreat Center, then served three years as national director of Shambhala Training and four years as director and teacher-in-residence of the Berkeley Shambhala Center.

Mariana Caplan
BA, University of Michigan, Cultural Anthropology
MA, California Institute of Integral Studies, Counseling Psychology
PhD, Union Institute and University, Contemporary Spirituality

In addition to her degrees in cultural anthropology, counseling psychology, and contemporary spirituality, Marianna attributes the majority of her education and inspiration to years of research and practice in the world's great mystical traditions, and to living in villages in India, Central and South America, and Europe. She is a counselor, a professor of yogic and transpersonal psychologies, and the author of seven books in the fields of psychology and spirituality, including Halfway Up the Mountain: the Error of Premature Claims to Enlightenment and Do You Need a Guru?: Understanding the Student-Teacher Relationship in an Era of False Prophets.

Dr. Caplan resides in the San Francisco Bay area where she has a private practice in counseling, and teaches at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her web address is: www.realspirituality.com.

John Davis
BA, Wake Forest University
MA, University of Colorado, Boulder
PhD, University of Colorado, Boulder

John Davis is director of the low-residency MA in Transpersonal Psychology program at Naropa. A professor and former chair of the Transpersonal Counseling Psychology department, he teaches transpersonal psychology and ecopsychology. John is the author of The Diamond Approach: An Introduction to the Teaching of A.H. Almaas and entries on Transpersonal Psychology and Wilderness Rites of Passage in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, as well as a number of articles and book chapters on transpersonal psychology, ecopsychology, wilderness rites of passage, and research methods. His primary interest is full human development and self-realization with a special focus on the intersection of spirituality, psychology, and the natural world. In addition to his work at Naropa, John is an ordained teacher of the Diamond Approach of A. H. Almaas and a staff member of the School of Lost Borders, where he trains wilderness rites of passage guides and leads wilderness retreats.

Read John Davis’s article, "An Overview of Transpersonal Psychology." For more information, visit www.johnvdavis.com.

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 twenty-five 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 online course, Meditation for Social Change Leaders, in the Ecopsychology concentration of the MA Transpersonal Psychology Program. Sherry is a longtime meditation practitioner and a student of the university’s founder, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Her master’s thesis was titled "Tonglen as a Tool for Transformative Environmental Engagement." In addition to her contemplative scholarship, she served as Naropa University’s dean of students for twelve 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.

Nancy Jane
BA, French and Education, Lake Erie College
BS, Natural Resources Conservation, University of Massachusetts
MA, Transpersonal Psychology / Ecopsychology, Naropa University

Nancy Jane is an educator, wilderness guide and council facilitator. On staff at the School of Lost Borders in CA, a training center for wilderness rites of passage guides, she leads youth, adult, and elder wilderness solos and has pioneered bringing this work to school settings. She has trained in the way of council with the Center for Council Training, Ojai, CA. For many years a naturalist and forester, Nancy is also an author (Bicycle Touring in the Pioneer Valley), an editor, an instructor of English as a second language, and formerly the director of admissions for a Waldorf school. Nancy has a special interest in working with people in deep ways, by connecting them to nature and furthering personal growth.

Jequita (J.P.) McDaniel
BA, Metropolitan State College, Cultural Anthropology
MA, Regis University, Psychology
Ph.D., Union Institute & University, Psychology/Ecopsychology

JP is a visiting instructor in the low-residency MA program and teaches Ecopsychology and Master's Papers courses. She recently completed her doctorate degree in the new field of Ecopsychology, with her dissertation examining ecological identity influences with natural childbirth. Her interests in ecopsychology are long-standing and include ecological identity development, sense of place, our connection to animals, and also biological and cultural influences of the human relationship with the natural world, including indigenous North Americans’ relationships with nature. She conducts classes and retreats that help reconnect urban dwellers to the natural world, and has been extensively involved with several environmental non-profit organizations. She also facilitates a variety of relationship workshops, emphasizing non-violent communication skills, and adjustment to life's transitions. She recently wrote a children's book about environmentalist Mardy Murie, which is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2010.

Gloria E. Nouel, PhD
BA, Stephen F. Austin University, Psychology
MA, West Georgia College, Humanistic Psychology
PhD, Duquesne University, Clinical Psychology

Dr. Gloria Nouel currently serves as assistant dean for program development and strategic initiatives at Naropa University and as an assistant professor in the Transpersonal Psychology program. She has a PhD in existential-phenomenological approaches to clinical psychology from Duquesne University.

Before coming to Naropa, she served as full-time faculty and program director of the M.S. in Counseling Psychology at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pa, where she also founded and directed the M.A. in Leadership and Organizational Transformation.

The Peace Studies program plans to launch her new course, “Border Studies: Lower Rio Grande Witness Immersion,” spring semester, 2010. Dr. Nouel has a lifelong commitment to—and passion for—interdisciplinary approaches to understanding human experience. She believes that a contemplative approach combined with social awareness and engagement is essential to the personal and social transformation needed at this time.

Dr. Nouel grew up in Venezuela, South America, and spent her childhood and adolescence visiting her mother’s family in Brownsville, Texas, on the US/Mexican border. She has lived in the United States for more than thirty-five years.

Lori Pye
PhD, Pacifica Graduate Institute, Mythological Studies and Depth Psychology

Lori Pye’s background consists of nonprofit executive management and academic instruction. As an environmentalist, Dr. Pye worked with international NGO’s to co-develop the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape Corridor with the Ministers of the Environment from Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador. She has led international conferences on diverse issues as Nature and Human Nature, Changing Perspectives, The Mythology of Violence, and The Aesthetic Nature of Change. Dr. Pye teaches Ecopsychology at the University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB), Ecology Concepts and Applications for Ecopsychology at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, Human Ecology and Sustainable Global Management at Antioch University and Myth, Literature & Religious Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute. She is on the Editorial Board for Ecopsychology Journal. Dr. Pye is the Director for the Institute for Cultural Change at www.instituteforculturalchange.org .

Jan Wall

At Naropa, Jan teaches the Master's Paper Online course. She also teaches at Lesley University, Cambridge, MA. Her courses in the holistic psychology and professional studies programs include transpersonal psychology, a holistic approach to healing, and an introduction to ancient hindu texts. She co-leads summer travel programs exploring sacred places (India, Bali, Ecuador, Tibet, Morocco), contemplative practices and cross-cultural psychology. Jan also co-leads national workshops for therapists, health care professionals and educators interested in holistic principles. She is completing a doctoral program with a focus on transpersonal perspectives, learning and development in higher education.

Stephanie Yuhas, Ph.D. (cand.)
BA, Naropa University
MA, Vermont College
Ph.D.(cand.) University of Denver

After completing a Master’s degree in Ecological Psychology, Stephanie apprenticed as assistant for the Deep Ecology in Context online course for six years and is now teaching the class herself. She is completing her Ph.D. in Religious Studies at the University of Denver where she taught Environmental Ethics in the philosophy department. She is adjunct faculty in Naropa’s Religious Studies department, teaching courses in philosophy of religion and theories and research for the Masters in Divinity program. A Buddhist practitioner for 20 years, she coordinated the in-residence visits of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and Ringu Tulku Rinpoche for several years, as well as the recent visit of HH Karmapa to Naropa. Stephanie studied with indigenous teachers in the Huichol and Lakota traditions and has a continuing interest in indigenous world views. She was coordinator of the Justice and Peace program at Iliff School of Theology focusing on issues of diversity, privilege and environmental justice, and is involved in the Transition movement. Her research interests include religion and ecology, children’s relationship to the natural world, consumerism, politics and the environment, and she is an advocate for cultural change.

site map contact faculty & staff employment