Naropa Announces Paul Burkhardt as New President

BOULDER, COLORADO—June 5, 2025—Naropa University, the birthplace of the modern mindfulness movement, announced today the selection of Dr. Paul Burkhardt as its new president following a comprehensive national search. Dr. Burkhardt brings decades of academic and administrative experience to Naropa and will officially assume his role on August 1.

The announcement comes as Naropa, a 50-year-old university in Boulder, Colorado, which equally serves a residential and online student community, positions itself for the next chapter of innovation in higher education. Naropa pioneered contemplative education, which integrates mindful practices supporting personal growth with academic training and experiential learning.

Dr. Burkhardt succeeds Charles G. Lief, JD, Naropa’s seventh president, who has served for 13 years. Before being named president, Lief, a nationally known developer of low-income housing and creator of social enterprises, was a lawyer for Naropa and long-time volunteer member of the board of trustees. “My wife Judy, herself a former Naropa president, and I have been part of Naropa University since its founding in 1974,” Lief said. “Naropa’s unique niche is the main reason it continues to thrive at a challenging time for small liberal arts colleges in the U.S. It is exciting that new generations of faculty, staff and executive leadership, grounded in our mission, are bringing wisdom and fresh ideas to Naropa. Higher education in the U.S. is at a critical juncture, and I couldn’t be happier with the selection of Paul as the leader to guide Naropa into the future. I look forward to partnering with him on a successful transition.” “Naropa’s mission and approach to education—rooted in contemplative practice and guided by compassion, critical inquiry and courageous engagement—give me so much hope for the future,” said Dr. Burkhardt. “Naropa invites us to engage the world not with fear or cynicism but bravely with presence, purpose and care, and I look forward to leading with and learning from the wonderful faculty, staff, students and alumni of Naropa who are already living the values of mindfulness, radical compassion and creative expression in their classrooms, communities and careers.”

Naropa worked with executive recruitment firm AGB Search to identify potential candidates. The search committee—consisting of trustees, faculty, students and staff—reviewed and evaluated more than 60 applications, interviewed nine semifinalists and selected three finalists.

Each finalist visited the campuses and met with student, faculty, staff and leadership groups as well as the broader community. The board of trustees received comprehensive feedback from the entire community, including alumni, before conducting final interviews and selecting Dr. Burkhardt.

“The Naropa Board of Trustees has complete confidence in Dr. Burkhardt’s vision, courage and leadership —and in his deep alignment with Naropa’s core values. We are confident he will carry forward Naropa’s legacy of fostering a culture of belonging, embracing our social and ecological interdependence, and working together with our students to create a more just and regenerative world,” said board co-chairs Suzanne Benally and Mark Wilding.

Dr. Burkhardt received his doctoral degree with honors in comparative cultural and literary studies from the University of Arizona. He most recently served as Provost at the University of Olivet in Michigan and, for many years, was the executive vice president and provost at Prescott College in Arizona, an institution that is mission-aligned with Naropa. He’s known for adept handling of student and faculty needs amid periods of rapid enrollment increase and for leading inclusive group processes that reinforce the power of shared governance and effective collaboration among students, staff and faculty. Since 2007, he has worked with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), the largest regional accreditor, serving as an accreditation team member and team chair, as well as a consultant evaluator in dozens of site visits to universities across 19 states, including Colorado, covered by the HLC.

Dr. Burkhardt enters this new role at a time when the higher education landscape is undergoing constant evolution. With Naropa’s leadership team, he will be charged with building a plan that supports student learning in three modalities—residential, low-residency and fully online—and positioning Naropa as a destination university for students from across the globe. Paul is well-versed in transformational partnerships and has built many reciprocal and lasting relationships with schools, community organizations, unions and businesses. He believes such collaborations nurture abundant opportunities and resources for students, staff and faculty, developing leaders for the future that communities want and the planet needs.

As president, Dr. Burkhardt will focus on several key areas:

• Providing future-focused and student-centered leadership that anticipates trends in higher education
• Creating a vision for the future and leading Naropa through necessary and innovative changes to meet the current and future needs of a global student and faculty body
• Empowering an effective leadership team to achieve administrative, academic, research and service goals
• Working with development staff to build a strategic plan for the next decade of fundraising and development
• Collaborating with faculty to create and support an evolving academic plan for Naropa’s future