Welcome to the Inauguration of Dr. Paul Burkhardt as the 8th president of Naropa University! This event is more than a ceremonial milestone—it is a celebration of community, shared values, and collective vision. Together, we will welcome new leadership that honors the spirit of our university while guiding us toward new opportunities for growth and transformation.
May you be warmly welcomed!
Processional
Welcome
Director, Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education
Land & Labor Acknowledgement
Director, Mission, Culture & Inclusive Community
Author, Jungian psychotherapist & leader in the international Jewish Renewal Movement
The Naropa Mandala
Board of Trustees
Faculty
Co-Chair, Student Union of Naropa
Staff
Alumnx
Adjunct Faculty, Yoga Studies
World-Jazz Guitarist
Retired Core Faculty
Executive Director, Xicanx Institute for Teaching & Organizing
Co-Director & Director of Education, BorderLinks
Co-Chairs of the Board of Trustees
President Emeritus
Chair, Creative Writing Programs
Zen Priest & Naropa Trustee
Please join us for a reception at the Nalanda Campus, 6287 Arapahoe Avenue, immediately following the inauguration.
Paul Burkhardt, PhD
President
Dr. Paul Burkhardt begins as President at a time when the higher education landscape is undergoing constant evolution. In his new role, he 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.
Dr. Burkhardt 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. Since 2007, he has worked with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), the largest regional accreditor, as an accreditation team member and team chair, as well as a consultant evaluator in dozens of site visits to universities across 19 states.
Paul is recognized for his 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. Paul is well-versed in transformational partnerships and has built many reciprocal and lasting relationships with schools, community organizations, unions, and businesses. He believes these collaborations nurture abundant opportunities and resources.
EDUCATION: PhD, Comparative Cultural & Literary Studies, University of Arizona (1999); MA, Comparative Literature and Literary Theory, University of Arizona (1993); BA, Summa Cum Laude, Outstanding Graduate in Humanities, University of Arizona (1991)
Charles G. Lief, JD
President Emeritus
Chuck Lief was named the 7th president of Naropa University in 2012, and has a long affiliation with Naropa—first as a student of Naropa’s founder, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, then as a lawyer for the university, and later as chairman of the board.
For most of his professional career, Chuck has been an activist focusing on issues of social and economic justice. He was an early leader in the development of community-based social enterprise, and has led some of the country’s most innovative and successful organizations providing integrated low-income housing, HIV/AIDS health care and social services.
Chuck has served in leadership capacities on numerous boards, and currently serves as the Chair of the Lion’s Roar Foundation board and as a member of the Holistic Life Foundation board.
Charlotte Rotterdam
Master of Ceremonies
Charlotte Rotterdam, MTS, is the Director of Naropa University’s Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education (CACE). The Center serves as a hub for discourse on contemplative teaching and learning, and offers trainings to support the development of contemplative education at Naropa and within the larger field of higher education. For the last three years, Charlotte has directed or served on the planning committee of the Rocky Mountain Dialogues on Mindfulness in Higher Education. Together with 6 other Naropa faculty, Charlotte developed and teaches Naropa’s Mindful Compassion Training, an 8-week public program. She has consulted with several departments at the University of Colorado-Boulder to integrate compassion practices into programs for educators and advisors. An Instructor at Naropa for over ten years, she has taught in the Graduate Religious Studies department and continues to teach in the Core College and the MA Contemplative Psychotherapy & Buddhist Psychology Department. She has presented on contemplative online teaching practices and on the intersection of contemplative practice and social justice work at several conferences.
Charlotte received her Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and is a senior teacher at Tara Mandala Buddhist Retreat Center. Her essays on the intersection of contemplative practice and daily life have been published in Mandala, Lion’s Roar and in an anthology, Fearless Nest.
Seann Goodman
Land & Labor Acknowledgement
Seann Goodman, MS, the Deep Space Wrangler, is a transformative futurist and authentic leader who fuses his corrosive magic with community development, at Naropa since 2012. As Naropa’s Director of Mission, Culture, and Inclusive Community, he’s an amplifier bridging technology, the arts, practice, social-ecological justice and equity. An educator and designer who navigates brave spaces, fostering right relationship and belonging. Seann’s compass is calibrated to personal impact and serving from the ground of collective liberation. Armed with non-violent communication, authentic leadership, and permaculture design, he’s an activist-educator ready to terraform the future. Seann holds degrees in Education, History, and Educational Media Design & Technology.
Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, PhD
Invocation
Rabbi Firestone’s publications include With Roots in Heaven: One Woman’s Passionate Journey into the Heart of Her Faith (Plume,1999) and The Receiving: Reclaiming Jewish Women’s Wisdom (Harper San Francisco, 2003). Her latest work, combining research in depth psychology, neuroscience, and the field of collective traumatology, is highlighted in the award-winning book, Wounds into Wisdom: Healing Intergenerational Jewish Trauma (Monkfish, 2019). She lives with her husband David in Boulder, Colorado.
www.tirzahfirestone.com | @tirzahfire
Regina Smith
The Naropa Mandala
Regina Smith, MFA, MA, is a spirited educator committed to serving the Naropa community in a way that is inspired by poetic vision and grounded in heart-and-body-centered clarity and compassion. She currently serves as the Vice President of Mission, Culture, & Inclusive Community and teaches in both the undergraduate and graduate psychology programs.
Samantha Sanderson
Board of Trustees
Samantha Sanderson, MSW, grew up in Boulder, CO in the 1970s when Naropa was founded and began to develop into a university. She received a BA degree in English Literature from Kenyon College in 1991, and a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Denver in 1997. She moved back to the Bay Area in 1997 and worked for several years as a High School Counselor at Marin Academy in San Rafael, CA.
When her first child was born in 2001, she was able to stay at home to raise him along with her second son born in 2005. For the past sixteen years she has been active on the Board of Trustees and Parent Association (as Secretary, Vice President and President) of St. Paul’s Episcopal School. She also served for ten years on the Board of River of Words, serving as Board President for three years, during which time she helped navigate the transition of the organization from an independent 501C3 to a vital program of St. Mary’s College in Lafayette, CA.
She recently fulfilled a long-time wish to work in an independent bookstore. She enjoys discussing literature, recommending books and brainstorming creative ways to keep independent bookstores alive and well. She also pursues many artistic interests including painting, clay and fiber arts. She is in the early planning stage of a new venture that will combine her passions for books and the creative arts by creating spaces that bring people together for experiences that inspire them, expand their thinking and wake them up!
Anna Dinallo, PhD
Faculty
Dr. Anna Dinallo is cross trained and licensed as a psychotherapist and Doctor of Oriental Medicine. Dr. Dinallo began her teaching career in El Salvador in post–civil war outdoor rural settings, and is deeply inspired by liberation psychology. They implore a contemplative education as a form of social justice work to inspire action oriented pedagogical approaches to counselor education. Some classroom frameworks Dr. Dinallo enjoys implementing include family systems, shamanic attachment work, and Daoist Five Element theory applied to counseling relationships. She is an avid Vedic Astrologer, and her current research includes ketamine assisted psychotherapy, and cross-cultural somatic typologies.
Her intention at Naropa is to create a unified field that is student-centered, compassionate, and a playful learning environment for diverse counselors in training. This year she is teaching Mindfulness, Human Growth and Development, and Jungian Psychology in the MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program, concentration in Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling.
Case Sheppard
Student
Case Sheppard is a double major in Environmental and Religious Studies, is a resident advisor for Naropa student housing, and a co-chair of Student Union of Naropa (SUN). As a non-traditional student, Case brings in her 20-plus years of entrepreneurial and world adventurer experience. She had an international jewelry design company for 15 years, was one of the first female members of the Adventurers’ Club of LA, lived in a van for 2 years, is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, and is an avid long-distance bike packer. Her passions include martial arts, community weaving, performance art, photography, hosting dinner parties, exploring life, sitting in nature, and spending time with her family in the desert. If you need any assistance, someone to listen, or want to connect, please reach out to Case via her email or check out her office hours in the SUN office at the Pavilion on Arapahoe Campus.
Tashi Browder
Staff
Tashi Browder has been at Naropa since 2000 after moving from New York City where she lived for twelve & half years after immigrating from India. She is an ethnic Tibetan raised and schooled in India, where she also taught elementary school for five years before coming to America. In addition to English, she is fluent in Tibetan, Nepali and Hindi.
Currently Tashi serves as the Administrator for Student Success and International Student and Scholar Services within the division of Development, Enrollment and Student Success (DESS). In her role as the Administrator for International Students and Scholar Services, Tashi advises international students on visa and regulatory matters, assists students getting settled in and acclimating to Boulder, and offers support and resources to students experiencing difficulties adjusting to the culture as well as assists academic departments to bring international scholars on campus for short term visits of intercultural exchange.
She finds great fulfillment in her role due to the opportunity it provides to engage with a diverse student body and visitors to campus. She is the point person to ask questions. Outside of work Tashi enjoys quality time with her family and friends.
Arron Mansika
Alumnx
Arron Mansika, MA, aligns the efforts of his professional life with the values of his personal life. He is an accomplished executive director and social entrepreneur.
Arron is the Executive Director of ReGen Brands, an unprecedented education, coalition and financing ecosystem for consumer goods brands supporting regenerative agriculture. Consisting of two nonprofits and a for-profit, Arron and two co-founders have developed the most trusted and followed resource in regenerative CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods), the first dedicated community exclusively for brands supporting regenerative agriculture and the most aligned investor community for regenerative brands.
Previously, Arron served as Executive Director of the Regional Institute for Health and Environmental Leadership (RIHEL), a nonprofit developing and connecting leaders who work collaboratively in diverse sectors to advance the health of people and the environment. Arron oversaw leadership trainings for professionals in the health, environment, public and private sectors in the Rocky Mountain region, with 1,000+ graduates. His tenure 2021-2025 stabilized the organization during multiple unprecedented public health crises.
Arron led Naturally Boulder from 2006–2021. The trade group of 1,000+ companies represented 69,000 employees pursuing a mission to nurture conscious growth, leadership and innovation in the Colorado natural products industry. He co-created Naturally Boulder in 2005, serving on the first board of directors and leading as the inaugural Executive Director. Leveraging that success, Arron co-created Naturally Network, a nationwide organization of interdependent Naturally affiliates with a mission to harness, accelerate and elevate the impact of conscious business practices in the natural and organic products ecosystem.
Arron founded and operated Boulder’s Best Organics, Inc., a pioneering internet-based gift-box company in 2006. The business was named “Colorado Success Story” by the Colorado Small Business Development Center and recognized as “Boulder Valley’s Second-Fastest Growing Company with Sales Under $2M” by BizWest Media. Arron was selected as a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He led the company through a successful acquisition in 2009.
Arron served as Managing Director of the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, an activist-oriented organization rooted in the spirit of unconditional nonviolence and dedicated to radically progressive personal and social change.
Arron is the founder and lead trainer of Mindful Your Business, a professional leadership training organization. The flagship program, Awareness as Advantage, trains Self-, Interpersonal and Market Awareness to expand Emotional, Team and Systems Intelligence. With newly achieved awareness, clients are trained to adapt intelligently – ultimately aligning their intent with their impact.
The most meaningful accolade Arron received is his father-in-law’s declaration that Arron’s a darn comfort zone. He lives in Boulder, CO, with his gorgeous (and word-smithing) wife and their talented, charismatic son.
Sheela Bringi
Musical Offering
Sheela Bringi, MFA, is a sacred music performer, recording artist, and educator. Her Indian vocals, soaring bansuri flute and raga harp have graced 50+ sacred chant and world albums, including the Grammy-nominated Bhakti Without Borders. Her work to bridge the musical worlds of India and America has been profiled by NBC News, NPR, Public Radio International, and others.
Sheela tours internationally and has collaborated with artists including Idan Raichel, Karsh Kale, DJ Drez, Jai Uttal, and many others. Past performances include the Angel City Jazz Festival (Los Angeles), Omega Institute Ecstatic Chant Retreat (Woodstock, NY), Sivananda Ashram Chant Retreat (Nassau, Bahamas), Esalen Institute (Big Sur, CA), Bali Spirit Festival, and others.
Past teachers include Indian maestros Pandit G.S. Sachdev and Ustad Aashish Khan, and Western contemporary greats such as Fred Frith, Cecil Taylor and Meredith Monk. She currently studies Hindustani voice with Sri Subhashish Mukhopadhyay, one of the topmost exponents of the “Kotali Gharana” (a lineage of North Indian classical music).
Sheela’s Indian vocals, bansuri flute and harp have graced 30+ new age and world albums, including the recent Grammy-nominated “Bhakti Without Borders” (Madi Das). Her music can also be heard on numerous independent and major films & TV scores (including “Monkey Kingdom” from Disney Nature and “Mira Royal Detective” on Disney Plus). She has released two albums as a solo artist – “Shakti Sutra” (New Earth Records) and “Incantations” (White Swan). Her work to bridge the musical worlds of India and America has been profiled by NBC News, National Public Radio, Public Radio International, Yoga Journal Magazine, and others.
Elden Kelly
Musical Offering
Guitar virtuoso, improviser, composer and sound innovator Elden Kelly is one of the world’s best kept musical secrets. Audiences of all kinds are engaged by his expressiveness, technique and original thinking. As a solo and collaborative artist, his solutions to the questions offered in the format are engaging and unforgettable, and his contributions deep and far ranging. He also has a strong and haunting vocal style which he incorporates from time to time with great effect. Whether performing his original music or transforming a known theme, it always has the mark of the exceptional.
Sreedevi Bringi
Musical Offering
Sreedevi Bringi, MSc, MA, is a retired core faculty member in Yoga Studies/Religious Studies at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado (1998-2017). A native of South India, she received formal training in yoga, meditation, Sanskrit, and Hindu/yoga traditions from family elders and swamis of ashrams and Vedanta Foundations. Sreedevi took advanced yoga nidra training at the Bihar School of Yoga and has offered yoga nidra classes, intensives and teacher/practitioner trainings for over 25 years. She has also been an invited presenter at several yoga festivals and yoga teacher trainings on topics such as yoga nidra meditation, Vedas, Vedanta, Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras, Sacred Sanskrit for Spiritual Practice, Yoga Philosophy, Goddess Traditions of India, Shiva-Shakti Tantra and sacred Indian texts. Sreedevi is also a contributing author for an anthology textbook entitled, “Beacons of Dharma” (2019), for an invited chapter about Amma, the charismatic ‘hugging saint’ of India.
With graduate degrees in Chemistry, Atmospheric sciences, and Environmental Education, Sreedevi likes to infuse scientific perspectives into Vedanta-Yoga-Tantra teachings and contemplative practices. Her prior teaching careers in Chemistry and Science Education have been at the public school, community college and university levels in Fort Collins, Colorado.
For more information about Sreedevi’s teaching work – including sample guided Yoga Nidra practices – please visit: shakti-institute.com.
Anita Fernández, PhD
Introduction of Paul
Dr. Anita Fernández has been a professor, organizer and teacher educator for over 20 years and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Xicanx Institute for Teaching & Organizing (XITO). She taught at Prescott College for 18 years, where she was the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer and helped to develop and launch the graduate program in Social Justice & Community Organizing – all under the guidance and leadership of Dr. Burkhardt. Dr. Fernández currently serves on the editorial board of Ethnic Studies Pedagogies journal, is a founding member of the Coalition for Liberated Ethnic Studies and has published widely in the areas of decolonizing professional development, Chicanx Studies pedagogy and Ethnic Studies.
Ren Manning
Introduction of Paul
Ren Manning (they/them/elle), MA, is the Co-Director, Director of Education, at BorderLinks in Tucson, AZ, where they build migrant justice movements through place-based popular education. Ren has over 12 years of experience in migrant justice and deportation defense work. Currently they organize with the Defensa & Resistencia Coalition, Tucson Community Rapid Response, and the national UU Solidarity Initiative. Ren graduated from Prescott College with a BA in Social Movement Studies and a MA in Social Justice and Human Rights; during which time they co-founded the Freedom Education Fund, a full ride scholarship for undocumented students. While working as a professor at Prescott College, Ren also conducted research on US involvement in border militarization around the world, and co-founded a drag troupe for queer and trans joy in semi-rural Arizona. In addition to their work on border justice, Ren has participated in movements for Palestinian and global indigenous solidarity as well as several community-based mural projects for social justice. They are an organizer and artist who believes deeply in our collective ability to envision and create a more just world.
Suzanne Benally
Presentation of Sash & Taking of the Oath
Suzanne Benally, MEd, is Navajo and Santa Clara Tewa. She grew up in the community of Shiprock, New Mexico on the Navajo Nation.
Suzanne is the Executive Director of the Swift Foundation, a foundation dedicated to protecting biocultural diversity, regenerative land practices, local economies, and advocating for systemic changes to address the root causes of our ecological crisis.
Suzanne has worked in higher education and the non-profit sector for 35 years. She served as the Executive Director of Cultural Survival, an international Indigenous rights advocacy organization that works to support and advance Indigenous Peoples’ rights, self-determination, land, language, culture, and political resilience. Formerly, she served as the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Naropa University, and was a core faculty member and previous chair of the environmental studies department. Her extensive experience spans positions devoted to social justice, diversity, and equity.
Suzanne currently chairs the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples. She is a cohort member of the Rothko Chapel’s Spirituality and Social Justice initiative to further contemporary understandings about spiritualty and social justice.
Deeply committed to social, environmental and climate justice, her work, passion, and interests center on relationships and interconnectedness between land, spirituality, culture, and people as reflected in narratives and stories past and present. In her work, she draws on her professional experience and cultural background advocating for transformative practices that address issues of racism, equity, justice, and Indigenous Peoples’ rights; and, most importantly, engaging work that draws hope now and for new generations to come. Suzanne lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Mark Wilding
Presentation of Sash & Taking of the Oath
Mark Wilding, MA, is the Executive Director of PassageWorks Institute, a nonprofit that supports K–12 educators with professional development, publications, and curriculum resources. In addition to his administrative duties, Mark teaches courses, facilitates conferences and dialogues, and presents keynotes and lectures. He is the co-author of The 5 Dimensions of Engaged Teaching (2013), a book for K–12 teachers.
Before joining PassageWorks in 2008, Mark was a staff and adjunct faculty member of Naropa University. Mark joined Naropa in 1994, and served as Administrative Director of Environmental Studies, Human Resources Officer, and Director of Advancement. In 2001, Mark helped found and direct Naropa’s Marpa Center for Business and Economics. Mark participated in the startup of a public computer software company in 1985 and served on the board and in several roles until he left as President and CEO in 1993.
Mark is a member of the Advisory Council of Education Reimagined, a national organization committed to accelerate the growth of a transformational, learner-centered education movement.
Valerie Hsiung
Poetry Reading
Valerie Hsiung, MFA, is a poet, interdisciplinary artist, and the author of several poetry and hybrid writing collections, including The only name we can call it now is not its only name (Counterpath, forthcoming 2023), To love an artist (Essay Press, 2022), selected by Renee Gladman for the 2021 Essay Press Book Prize, outside voices, please (CSU), selected for the 2019 CSU Open Book Prize, Name Date of Birth Emergency Contact (The Gleaners), YOU & ME FOREVER (Action Books), and e f g (Action Books). Her writing has appeared in print (The Believer, Chicago Review, The Nation, New Delta Review, Black Sun Lit), in flesh (Treefort Music Festival, Common Area Maintenance, The Poetry Project), in sound waves (Montez Press Radio, Hyle Greece), and other forms of particulate matter. Her work has been supported by Foundation for Contemporary Arts, PEN America, Lighthouse Works, and public streets and trails she has walked on and hummed along for years. Born in the Year of the Earth Snake and raised by Chinese-Taiwanese immigrants in Cincinnati, Ohio, she now lives in the mountains of Colorado where she teaches as Assistant Professor of Creative Writing & Poetics at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa.
Dan Zigmond
Closing Blessing
Dan Zigmond, MFA, was ordained in Soto Zen Buddhist tradition by Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi in 1998 and received Dharma transmission in 2020. He serves on the faculty of the Esalen Institute and is a trustee of Naropa University and the San Francisco Zen Center. A long-time technology executive and data scientist in Silicon Valley, Dan is also Vice President of Data and AI at Headspace. He is the author most recently of the book, Buddha’s Office: The Ancient Art of Waking Up While Working Well (Running Press, 2019).
The Naropa Bow
By no means compulsory, the bow has become a tradition at Naropa University. Students, staff, and faculty find themselves performing the bow countless times while at Naropa, and many find enjoyment and comfort in the growing familiarity that such a ritual can provide when repeated often.
Make a Gift
During this challenging time of policy change and federal financial aid reductions, your support for the Resilient Futures scholarship at Naropa University is more vital than ever. The elimination of Graduate Plus Loans starting in Fall 2026 means that our graduate students will likely have greater financial need.
About Naropa
Located in Boulder, Colorado, Naropa University is a Buddhist-inspired, nonsectarian liberal arts university that is recognized as the birthplace of the mindfulness movement. Naropa offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs that emphasize professional and personal growth, intellectual development, and cultivating compassion.
Academics
Contemplative education brings together the best of Western scholarship and Eastern world wisdom traditions. Therefore, your pursuit of wisdom at Naropa means learning both about academic subjects and about your own place in the world. This innovative approach places Naropa on the cutting edge of the newest and most effective methods of teaching and learning.
Admissions & Aid
If you’re seeking an education that resonates with both personal fulfillment and global impact, Naropa could be your top choice. At Naropa, you will experience a comprehensive curriculum that integrates the best of Eastern and Western educational approaches. Explore how Naropa can fuel your journey of intellectual and spiritual development.
Life at Naropa
Through its incredibly vibrant and welcoming community, “Naropa offers a home for those who aren’t willing to conform to convention—the mystic, the healer, the prophet, the rebel, the artist, the revolutionary, the oddball—those who are incredible contributors to the evolution of society and of our planet.”—Core Associate Professor Zvi Ish-Shalom
The Naropa Difference
How is Naropa different from other universities? At Naropa, a liberal arts education balances rigorous academics with powerful interpersonal skills and self-awareness to educate the whole person. Naropa’s contemplative approach is inspired by Buddhist philosophy and the conviction that we can build a diverse, contemplative, enlightened society when we have transformed education to affirm the basic goodness of every person.
Support Naropa
At a time when the value of higher education is being questioned, Naropa University stands firmly rooted in its mission to create a more just and regenerative world by nurturing insight, awareness, courage, and compassion in its students. By making a gift to Naropa, you play a pivotal role in helping to create the authentic, effective & mindful leaders that the world desperately needs.
Due to adverse weather conditions of high winds and planned power outages, all Naropa campuses will be closed today.
Graduate School of Counseling concentrations listed below will be offering online and low-residency courses to start their programs in January 2026 as well as our Summer 2026 terms.
Beginning a graduate program in Spring 2026 or Summer 2026 means that you will have access to apply for Graduate Plus loans as these loans will be eliminated at the federal level starting in Fall 2026.
Contact Admissions (admissions@naropa.edu) today to learn how you can begin the next step in your graduate education journey.
