The Marpa Center and More Than Money Announcement

Naropa University’s Marpa Center for Business and Economics and the More Than Money Institute partner to create Money and Values Program  

BOULDER, Colo. (August, 2006) – The Marpa Center for Business and Economics and the More Than Money Institute announce their collaboration to create the Money and Values Program, beginning in the fall of 2006. This program will be based at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and will expand upon earlier collaboration between the two organizations.

The program is being created in response to the continuing conflict between money and values in business and personal life. While increasing numbers of people and organizations profess a desire to live and operate according to deeper morals, business and leadership seem to be increasingly corrupted and divorced from these standards. The purpose of the Money and Values Program is to enhance the participants' capacity to better clarify, balance, and integrate the four major influences in decision making: the moral, social, personal, and economic.

The Marpa Center will apply its unique approach to transformative learning to the design of the Money and Values Program. This approach, based on Naropa University's thirty-two years of experience in contemplative education, integrates experiential and holistic teaching methods, collaborative learning, creative process, contemplative and reflective practices, and traditional cognitive learning techniques.

The program will be developed over two phases. The first nine-month phase will focus on research, a series of pilot programs, and the development of a comprehensive plan for integrating the discussion of money and values into curriculum at all levels of Naropa University. It will include a six-month training seminar for a small number of Naropa faculty, which will culminate in the development units, modules, and complete course proposals that address pertinent issues. The second phase of the Money and Values Program will include the initial implementation of BA and MA academic curricula, the introduction of new professional development programs, and continued workshops and retreats for the general public. In addition , the Marpa Center will organize a consortium of national and regional organizations to share and expand work addressing the intersection of money and values. The current proposed consortium members are: the Marpa Center at Naropa University, the Project on Civic Reflection, the Center for Courage and Renewal, and the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College. Members of the consortium will work collaboratively to plan programs around money and values, co-host or sponsor events, conduct research, reflect with colleagues, and share results.

The participants in the Money and Values Program will be diverse, including graduate and undergraduate students, professionals seeking continuing education or graduate credit, and the broader public.

The More Than Money Institute is providing much of the funding for the Money and Values Program through a series of grants. The Institute’s executive director Robert Kenny will be a visiting scholar at Naropa University starting in the fall of 2006 and will lead the program. Naropa’s School of Extended Studies, which already provides the Marpa Center with administrative assistance, will be support the program’s development.

The Marpa Center was established in 2002 to integrate Naropa University’s thirty years of experience in contemplative liberal arts education with the contemporary world of business, economics, and work. Its purpose is to cultivate ethical, inspired, and capable leaders who will advance the development of an inclusive, just, sustainable, and prosperous world.