Naropa University

New for this Fall! Naropa has approved the transfer of up to 90 credits for undergraduates starting in Fall 2024.

The majority of our undergraduate students begin their college journey at another institution and come to Naropa as transfer students. This new addition will make it possible to continue your education here and complete your degree in as little as one year with the support of our small class sizes, dedicated faculty who are invested in students success, and our commitment to help you find and stay true to your authentic self.

We're excited to become even more transfer friendly and help students cross the finish the line 📚💫 See link below for more transfer student info:

https://www.naropa.edu/admissions-aid/how-to-apply/undergraduate-students/transfer-students/

This month marks 50 years since Naropa's founding in 1974, and we've officially begun our 50th Anniversary celebrations! Read the press release at the link below to learn more about our 50th-annual Summer Writing Program, the upcoming 50th Anniversary event series, and the impact of five decades of this beloved institution. 💜

“At Naropa, we’ve embraced the challenge of redefining education for a precipitous world. Its students explore the depths of their intellect and creativity—harmonizing academia with the generative practice of awareness and imagination to help the world wake up to itself.” - Anne Waldman, Poet, co-founder of Naropa’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and its Summer Writing Program

https://www.naropa.edu/media-resources/press-releases/naropa-university-celebrates-50-years-of-transformative-education/

Here's to the summer solstice today! ☀️ A day where there is more light than dark. In our latest “Beloved Community Newsletter”, this quote by Joanna Macy was shared, and it is inspiring us today.

“If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people, people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear” 💜

“As we reflect on the roots of Pride month and appreciate the determination and resilience of the Stonewall Riots and the tangential branches of revolutionary q***r advocacy, I invite you to utilize this chapter of time to contemplate this intrinsic juxtaposition of Pride Month: a moment of commemoration for all of the q***r bodies, spirits, and people harmed for Being who they are as well as a reminder that Living as you are intended is celebrated.“

- Sawyer First, MA Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling ’25

Naropa is proud to celebrate Pride Month 2024 by honoring the resilience and courage of those who paved the way for our rights and visibility.

Read the full blog post from student Sawyer First with writing prompts, LGBTQAI+ resources, and local celebrations in the Front Range at the link below!

https://www.naropa.edu/blog/pride-month-2024/

“Naropa stands with the millions of Americans who since June 19th, 1865, celebrated Juneteenth, a day of freedom, a step towards reconciliation, and liberation…

Joy is an act of resistance, and in celebrating Juneteenth we are choosing to continue the fight for liberation as a community. This holiday is an opportunity to reflect on the collective journey that America has undergone as a nation built off the shackles of oppression and slavery. Even though slavery has ended, the infrastructures in which this country was born continue to cause oppression, systematic racism and discrimination.”

Read the full statement at the link below where we’ve shared resources and celebrations happening across the front range starting this weekend:
https://www.naropa.edu/blog/celebrating-juneteenth-2024/

Calling all Alums!

Have you heard that Alumnx Reunion Weekend is coming?

This fall, we’re inviting all alumnx from the past 50 years to step back onto Naropa’s campuses and connect with fellow alums, faculty, staff, and current students. This will be the biggest reunion we’ve held and we hope you can make it. The weekend will be full of degree program reunions, networking opportunities, break out group activities, and the return of Sparktalks!

If you’d like to present at Sparktalks where you can share a dynamic presentation or performance with the larger Naropa community then submission deadline is next week, June 15th.

Apply for Sparktalks and RSVP for the weekend at the link below:
https://www.naropa.edu/about-naropa/50-years/alumnx-reunion/

…Ready for it?

Our 50th Anniversary of Summer Writing Program begins this Sunday!

This will be a special and memorable iteration of our cherished, annual 3-week poetry and writing deep dive. The theme—Archive After All—has us diving into the treasure trove of archival artifacts from postwar poetics to counter-culture thought and activity from across the last 50 years. We invite writers, students, thinkers, and performers to join in voicing and creating their own work with us across the next few weeks.

Link to register below:
https://www.naropa.edu/academics/swp/swp-2024/

Step into Café Contemplative for the second iteration of our Mindfulness is For Everyone Series! Naropa Professor Betsy Gonzalez Blohm will present Roots of Liberation: Integrating Ancestral Wisdom and Contemplative Practice for Ecological Healing and Collective Transformation.

In this FREE evening talk, Betsy will share contemplative practices for reconnecting to the roots of our ancestral wisdom. She will also explore the synergy between mindfulness-based approaches and what is needed to support sustainable, life-giving service toward ecological healing and collective liberation.

This series is presented by Naropa Extended Campus and The Naropa Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education.

Details and free registration: bit.ly/cafecontemplative 💫

The 50th Anniversary of Naropa’s Summer Writing Program is coming...

Quite appropriately, the theme is “Archive After All”. Full agenda in the link below, and remember, if you are local and unable to register for the entire event, there are free nightly poetry readings open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays, June 9-29!

Come join us in solidarity.

https://www.naropa.edu/academics/swp/swp-2024/

by Rachel Homer of Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, and Gregory Corso

Naropa StageClip is here!

Students who graduated this May can download a clip of their moment crossing the stage to receive their degree and commemorate this exceptional achievement.

For low-residency and online students, today is the day we celebrate with a Virtual Ceremony & Procession starting at 1:30pm MT. Clips from the virtual procession will be available starting tomorrow 💜

Visit the link below to attend the virtual procession and view clips of each our grads!

https://naropa.stageclip.com/

Join Carole Clements, Associate Professor of Contemplative Psychology at Naropa University, for a critical—and q***r—conversation (and book talk) about s*x positivity and race. This talk will examine how White Supremacy shapes bodies, s*x, and s*xuality through discourse, meaning how we talk or don’t talk about s*x.

June 6 // 6:30 - 8:00 pm MST // Free Live Online

Learn more, register, or grab a copy of "S*x Positivity and White-S*x Supremacy: Ending Complicity in Black Body Erasure" here: bit.ly/S*xPositivityandWhiteS*xSupremacy

We are proud to announce that the new documentary, “The Vow From Hiroshima,” will be launching on local and World PBS stations starting this weekend!

Naropa is serving as an underwriter for the PBS broadcast, supported by The Joanna Macy Center for Resilience and Regeneration, and this partnership underscores Naropa’s and the Center’s commitment to social justice and fostering a more peaceful world, resonating deeply with the film’s themes of nuclear disarmament and responsible stewardship.

Check your local PBS listings for dates and times!

The Vow From Hiroshima | Naropa University “The Vow From Hiroshima” is a poignant documentary that delves into the life of Setsuko Thurlow, a remarkable survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. At just 13 years old when the bomb devastated her city in 1945, Setsuko’s harrowing experience is vividly captured in this intimate portrait. ...

Join us on online this Thursday at 2pm MT with esteemed faculty Dr. Cynthia Drake and Ramon Parish for a sample class for the BA Interdisciplinary Studies program!

As part of our Spotlight Series, they will co-lead a class on Rose and Other Colored Glasses: Adventures in the Spectrum of Knowledge followed by a Q&A to answer any questions about our online or residential BA program.

This will be an interactive class exploring methods and tools for investigating our experience and what we know through our intuition vs messages from media and other sources. Bring an object that represents your passions, a listening ear, and a curious mind.

Register here:
https://loom.ly/rRJ1yrg

Spotlight on: Online BA in Interdisciplinary Studies Join us for our Spotlight Series Virtual Open House as we offer up an engaging program that offers a closer look into our Programs!

Catch our latest episode on the Mindful U Podcast with Mitchie Takeuchi!

Mitchie is the writer and director of The Vow from Hiroshima, a documentary following the life of Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and life-long activist for nuclear disarmament.

In this episode she shares about her life and work, how this film came together, and the impact she hopes it will have on nuclear guardianship.

The film will air on PBS on May 23 at 7pm, so don’t miss it!

You can listen to this episode of Mindful U here:
https://www.naropa.edu/podcast/episode-105-mitchie-takeuchi-the-vow-from-hiroshima/

“This year, as we say, “never forget,” I ask that my Jewish community remembers the pain of genocide so that we ensure it does not happen again to anyone, and step up to our commitment to Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. To my beloved non-Jewish friends and allies, please remember the grief and confusion of your Jewish friends this month. We are dealing with a mountain of complexities about what it means to be Jewish in the world today. Check in on your Jewish friends and ask what we need to feel safe. We need your support.”

- Leah Miller, BA Religious Studies and Psychology

This month we honor Jewish American Heritage month with a blog by student Leah Miller who shares the nuances of her experience and heritage in a thoughtful piece along with resources from the Jewish community.

Read the full blog at the link below:
https://loom.ly/IKm0wMY

Jewish American Heritage Month | Naropa University This month we celebrate Jewish American Heritage month! Read the blog from student, Leah Miller, BA Religious Studies & Psychology.

“The breadth of Asian American and Pacific Islander culture is wide and diverse, and the definition of these ethnicities comes with many questions and exposes the blurry lines of culture. Where does “Asia” end? Where does the Middle East begin? Does it matter? I feel this line in my own body too, as someone with mixed heritage.”

- Luna Rosal, BA INTD ’25

For Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage month, student Luna Rosal wrote a blog piece shareing their own experience of being Pinay (Filipina-American) and examining the beauty and complexity of mixed heritage in a world where lines blur due to migration, colonialization, and cross cultural influence.

Read the full piece at the link below:
https://www.naropa.edu/asian-american-amp-pacific-islander-heritage-month/

Congratulations to our graduates this weekend!

We are so proud of the hard work our students put in to reach this accomplishment and earn their degrees.

It was a great ceremony to celebrate the moment. Highlights from this year’s commencement included a keynote address from Peace Twesigye, director of Buddhist Studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, student musical performance, inspiring student and faculty speeches, and a fun surprise: our graduate speaker Roxana Astemborski rapped her speech and invited the auditorium to dance.

You can watch the whole commencement ceremony here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxiaZA6foX0

The Daily Camera also gave a lovely recap here: https://www.dailycamera.com/2024/05/11/boulders-naropa-university-puts-deep-trust-and-confidence-in-graduates/

“What is the result of broad erasure? As humankind we face significant crisis across the globe if we continue to recognize only one story. To see our challenges and people as one dimensional we will continue to fail to see and perhaps understand the bigger and very complicated picture of us. If we refuse to recognize the social, economic, and political factors that got us here—the cause of our troubles—that limited perspective is our dismissal of potential solutions. If we erase our history, which is truly our collective history, we are leaving out voices that most assuredly would offer us a new and unique outlook.”

Last month we hosted our Peace Cobb lecturer, Rowena Alegría, who is the Chief Storyteller for the City & County of Denver as part of the Office of Storytelling.

Her movement is exciting and inspiring—uplifting the stories and voices of Denver’s diverse communities in order to inform policy and preserve culture. Her work has been noted by officials in other major cities who hope to implement similar departments. At the forefront of Narrative Justice the work is revolutionary and simple: to remember our humanity, histories, and culture as a way forward.

Watch the full lecture at the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvCVUq1xgeg

Join us for The Plasticity of Compassion: From Brain to Body 🧠

A virtual open house and sample class for our Online BA Psychology degree program will be held on Thursday, May 9 at 1:30pm MT with faculty members Carla Burns and Dr. Jordan Qu***ia.

We will explore the intentional cultivation of compassion from a neuroscientific perspective, emphasizing the role of self-guided neuroplasticity, followed by a guided compassion practice that draws on the wisdom of the body and its significance within compassion training.

We hope to see you there!

Register for free at the link below:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spotlight-on-the-plasticity-of-compassion-from-brain-to-body-registration-881482888047

Join us for the next online Spotlight Series event featuring Dr. Sara Lewis, Director of Training and Research for Naropa’s Center for Psychedelic Studies, on Monday, May 6 at 12:30pm MT.

Dr. Lewis will delve into the exciting new minor in Psychedelic Studies, tailored for undergraduates pursuing either a residential or online BA at Naropa. The minor is set to launch in Fall 2024.

She'll illuminate how psychedelic studies resonate with Naropa's commitment to contemplative education, infused with an anti-oppressive and healing justice lens. The minor serves as a starting point for students venturing into this dynamic and evolving field.

We'll wrap up the session with a Q&A. Don't miss out—register using the link below: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spotlight-on-introducing-the-psychedelic-studies-minor-at-naropa-registration-881501553877

Photos from the Electric Black Earth festival this past weekend!

Thank you to the many luminaries, faculty and staff organizers, space holders, and students for co-creating a spectacular event that embodies so many of Naropa’s values, as well as what we hope to keep moving towards in the years and decades to come.

The events included liberatory transmissions, poetry writing for dreaming a new world, ancestral wisdom weaving, non-monetary marketplace and trading, flower mandala making, earth-based rituals, herbalism workshops and more. We can’t wait for next year.

Naropa’s Center for Psychedelic Studies is pleased to announce the launch of our 2024 Psilocybin Facilitator Training Certificate program. Applications open on May 1, and the program will run July to December of 2024.⁣
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The certificate is a 6-month, virtual learning program designed specifically to support education and training for adult use legal psilocybin facilitation under state regulatory models.
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To learn more about the program and sign up for one of our upcoming info sessions here: bit.ly/PFTcertificate

Naropa’s new PFT certificate is an Approved Training Program for Oregon Psilocybin Services (OPS) facilitator training. NCPS is closely monitoring and actively engaged in Colorado’s Natural Medicine Program as emerging regulatory requirements are being finalized, and we anticipate Naropa’s PFT program to be fully compliant with the requirements for facilitator training, which are expected to be signed into law in the summer of 2024.
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Join us on campus for a film screening of The Vow from Hiroshima followed by a Q&A with the film's writer and producer Mitchie Takeuchi on April 24th at 12pm in honor of Earth Justice Week.

This will be the premier screening of this poignant documentary soon to be released through PBS with Naropa’s Joanna Macy Center for Resilience and Regeneration as a featured sponsor.

It follows the life of Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. It is an intimate portrait offering a moving narrative of resilience and determination—chronicling her life-long activism and enduring friendship with second-generation survivor Mitchie Takeuchi.

You can register for the free event at the link below!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/earth-justice-day-film-screening-the-vow-from-hiroshima-tickets-869464871837

The (Original) Tortured Poets Department

Since 1974

Pictured: Faculty members of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa, Peter Orlovsky, William Burroughs, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, and Reed Bye

Join healers of the global majority in forging a just and abundant earth-based future during the Electric Black Earth Festival, April 18-21. A transformative ethno-ancestral futures affair, that will engage you in Black-centric world-building through immersive rituals, rejuvenating rest-shops, and empowering liberatory transmissions.

Inspired speakers, astrological activations, rituals, an interplanetary giving bazaar, Front Line Farming service day, mandala making, an Afro-Surreal Feast: Banquet Beyond Capital, and more. Space is limited so grab your spot for a futuristic journey to the Electric Black Earth Festival, everyone is welcome. Co-sponsored by Embodied Astrology. 🌍

🌌🛸

https://www.naropa.edu/electric-black-earth/

Electric Black Earth is coming.... 👀

Electric Black Earth | Naropa University Experience the Electric Black Earth Festival at Naropa University, a transformative ethno-ancestral futures affair.