Naropa University Announces New Contemplative-Based Gender and Women’s Studies Minor in Fall 2009

BOULDER, Colo. (July 17, 2009) —Naropa University is proud to introduce the first contemplative-based Gender and Women’s Studies undergraduate minor in higher education. The new minor arose from a student-led, grassroots initiative that developed into Naropa University’s first fully formed diversity-oriented program.

The Gender and Women’s Studies minor offers an interdisciplinary exploration into both academic and experiential understandings of the ways in which gender permeates fields of study. Through critical analysis of the intersections of Gender and Women’s Studies with issues including race, class, age, religion, sexual orientation and culture, students are able to cultivate a contemplative awareness of their relationship with globally interwoven social structures. The Gender and Women’s Studies minor prepares students to envision and create a world free from all forms of gender oppression.

Naropa University students Dana Henderson and Mel Cody originally conceived the vision of the Gender and Women’s Studies minor to address gender-based oppression and the possibility of liberation through education. Fellow students, staff and faculty shared the women’s vision for Naropa’s participation in cultivating gender awareness, and correspondingly formed the student-faculty committee dedicated to writing the minor’s proposal and supporting an expanding dialogue of gendered experiences. Driven by students’ determined leadership, faculty support and a responsive campus climate, the Gender and Women’s Studies minor will be offered for the first time in fall 2009.

At present the Gender and Women’s Studies minor is currently housed in the Interdisciplinary Studies Department, chaired by Alan Hartway. Gender and Women’s Studies bestows two new courses to the Naropa University curriculum: Intro to Gender and Women’s Studies and Feminist and Queer Methods of Inquiry. To complete the minor requirements students choose two classes from a diverse selection of course offerings. This structure provides the methodological tools for students to distinctively question and change their world as gendered human beings.

Unique to this Gender and Women’s Studies minor is the contemplative gaze, or “an investigation of one’s interiority.” This program not only offers students a rich understanding of the complex gender-based, structural networks which inform their lives, but also invites an opportunity to engage with their heart, mind and spirit in relation to these academic understandings. This form of education allows the student to cultivate internal wisdom while actively engaging in their community, simultaneously evoking internal and external impacts on our world.

Inherent to Naropa University’s core values, the Gender and Women’s Studies minor is a natural extension of Naropa University, both supporting the institution’s foundational principles while also serving as a vehicle into future growth.

For further information please contact the Interdisciplinary Studies department at www.naropa.edu/academics.

Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Naropa University is a private, nonprofit, nonsectarian liberal arts institution dedicated to advancing contemplative education. This approach to learning integrates the best of Eastern and Western educational traditions, helping students know themselves more deeply and engage constructively with others. The university comprises a four-year undergraduate college and graduate programs in the arts, education, environmental leadership, psychology and religious studies.

# # #