Susan Burggraf

Professor
Core Faculty

Programs

BA in Contemplative Psychology - Core Faculty

Education

PhD in Clinical Developmental Psychology, Bryn Mawr College
MA in Human Development, Bryn Mawr College
BA, Rosemont College

From the heart

Our students are remarkable - unique, brilliant, creative - and this means being in the classroom here is filled with joy and challenge. I love that Naropa students don't fall asleep in class.

Research summary

My research is focused on Academic Love Stories, a project I'm developing that integrates the development of complexity in adulthood, leadership (Otto Scharmer's Theory U), and contemplative modes of inquiry. The Academic Love Story model encompass students' academic interests, personal journey and spirituality.

Courses taught

Developmental Psychology
Social Psychology
Contemplative Learning Seminar
Academic Love Stories

What book do you find yourself regularly pressing into the hands of students?

Otto Scharmer & Katrin Kaufer's Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System
Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
Jennifer Garvey Berger's Changing on the Job

Describe a moment when you helped a student reach an “ah ha” or transformational moment.

Students seem to reach "ah" and "ha" moments all the time - and who's to say what helped them reach these moments? In the classroom or in one-to-one meetings, there's a synergy of factors made possible by our students' extraordinary capacity for presence and originality.

Coffee or tea?

Tea - licorice mint. I think this is the beverage that the hag gave to the historic Naropa as he set out on his epic journey

What's next?

Let's create an incubator for students' social entrepreneurship projects focusing on social justice, environmental sustainability and adults thriving in a complex diverse world.