Nationally recognized education scholar and reform leader Dr. Pedro Noguera will serve as the commencement speaker for the Class of 2026. The graduation ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 20, beginning at 1:00 p.m., in the university’s iconic Golden Dome and will also be live‑streamed for remote viewers.

As part of the ceremony, MIU’s Board of Trustees will confer upon Dr. Noguera the degree of Doctor of Education honoris causa, in recognition of his lifelong service and leadership in advancing educational equity, engagement, and opportunity for the nation’s youth.

A sociologist whose work has focused on how schools can become more responsive to students’ academic, emotional, and social needs, Dr. Noguera is one of the country’s leading voices on urban education, school reform, and the social conditions that shape student success.

He is currently the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.

The importance of student engagement and well-being

Throughout a career spanning more than four decades, Dr. Noguera has emphasized that academic achievement cannot be separated from student engagement and well-being.

In a recent interview, he noted that schools have “focused so much on measures of student achievement” while overlooking the fact that “the path to achievement is getting kids more engaged in learning.” He has consistently argued that meaningful learning begins when educators connect emotionally with students and inspire them to become self‑motivated learners.

Dr. Noguera has also spoken about the importance of practices that help students develop emotional regulation and inner stability — principles that resonate strongly with MIU’s educational philosophy.

“Transcendental Meditation is one tool that schools can draw upon to help kids get some control of their emotions.”

— Dr. Pedro Noguera

“Transcendental Meditation is one tool that schools can draw upon to help kids get some control of their emotions and bring calm to the individual and by extension the classroom,” he said. He emphasized that “anyone can meditate,” calling it an “incredible resource” in a society that focuses heavily on constant activity rather than cultivating “groundedness and peace of mind before we engage in doing.”

A prolific scholar, Dr. Noguera has written or edited 13 books and has published more than 250 research articles, chapters, and reports. His commentary on education frequently appears in major national media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. He has also served on the boards of numerous national and local education organizations.

“His work exemplifies a commitment to educating the whole person.”

— Dr. Tony Nader

MIU President Dr. Tony Nader said the university is honored to welcome Dr. Noguera. “His work exemplifies a commitment to educating the whole person,” Dr. Nader said. “His vision speaks directly to the kind of graduates MIU seeks to educate — thoughtful, engaged, and grounded individuals prepared to uplift society.”

Members of the MIU community, families, and guests are invited to attend the ceremony in person or via live stream as the university celebrates its graduates and honors a distinguished leader in American education.

Click here for an interview with Dr. Noguera on Enjoy TM News.

* * * * *

Photographs: https://www.pedronoguera.com/.

When the COVID-19 lockdowns gripped Uganda, women in Kampala’s city slums faced an impossible situation: dwindling food, lost work, and rising domestic tensions inside cramped homes.

In that crisis, researcher Leslee Goldstein, PhD, helped evaluate a simple daily practice — Transcendental Meditation — that, according to her newly published peer-reviewed randomized controlled trial, made a measurable difference.

The study, published in February in the journal Health Care for Women International, has received notable attention in online mental‑health and science‑reporting outlets.

In just three months, women who learned TM showed statistically significant decreases in perceived stress, anger, and fatigue, along with improved sleep quality and increased self-efficacy — their belief that they could cope with life’s demands.

“Our results indicate TM doesn’t just help women to manage stress — it helps them to reduce and eliminate it.”

— Leslee Goldstein

“TM significantly helped these women improve their mental and physical health and their ability to cope in this crisis,” Goldstein says. “Our results indicate TM doesn’t just help women to manage stress — it helps them to reduce and eliminate it.”

Years in the making

For Goldstein, the project was the result of more than a decade’s work.

From 2014 to 2023, she served as Consultant and Director of Research for the Rona and Jeffrey Abramson Foundation, working closely with the African Women and Girls Organization (AWAGO), the TM women’s organization in Uganda. “AWAGO’s direct focus on TM programs for women led to the opportunity for me to conduct three studies,” Goldstein says.

Her first study, published in 2018, tracked gains in self-efficacy, perceived stress, and quality of life among mothers living in poverty conditions in the urban slums of Uganda. Her second, published in 2024, focused on female youth, assessing changes in self-esteem, self-efficacy, and gratitude.

This latest study, her third, was prompted by the extremely challenging situation for women in the slums of Uganda caused by the two national lockdowns during the Covid pandemic, which created an urgent national crisis.

“Their circumstances were already demanding,” Goldstein said. “They are mostly mothers struggling to feed and clothe their children and send them to school. Most are the main breadwinners in their families. With the lockdowns, they had the added burden of finding food for survival along with increased domestic violence.”

The study design

The study involved 199 women ages 16 to 73 from urban slums. Of the 199, 96 were randomly assigned to learn TM, while the others were assigned to a waitlist control group. The control group participants were later invited to learn Transcendental Meditation, and all chose to do so.

Goldstein and her team administered a questionnaire at baseline to assess the women’s psychological distress and coping ability in the wake of the lockdowns. They administered a similar questionnaire three months later — and, compared to the control group, found a significant reduction in perceived stress, anger, and fatigue, and significant improvements in self-efficacy (one’s perceived ability to deal with challenging circumstances) and sleep quality.

In a follow-up questionnaire at eight months, participants reported improved physical and mental health, improved relationships with their children and neighbors, and decreased domestic violence. 

Stories of rapid personal transformation

The women’s words bring the data to life. 

“I now have inner peace and self-control,” one subject said. “I feel confident with new situations,” said another. Another said, “We now talk and laugh, which was not the case before meditation.” One mother summed up the transformation: “They even tell me I am the best mother now since I learned TM.” Another woman, reflecting on domestic tensions, said, “The fact that now I have peace of mind, it’s hard for me to pick up a fight.”

Community leaders noticed the same transformations.

“TM has changed these women and girls,” said Fausta Zadoch, local church leader and counsellor who also found fewer women and girls coming in for counseling. “They are now stress-free, and everything is changed and improved, spiritually, financially, and physically. We are grateful for this beautiful program and would like to see this program expand to many communities around the world.”

A team effort

“The results didn’t surprise us,” Goldstein said. “We heard the same outcomes from TM teachers in Uganda and from the many community organizations where TM has been taught. Our goal here was to conduct a professional research study, using a gold-standard randomized controlled design, that would document the benefits of TM for this population.”

“They feel better about themselves. They feel empowered from within, more capable of manifesting a smoother path forward in their lives.”

— Leslee Goldstein

Beneath the statistics is a theory Goldstein has helped refine across these studies: empowerment from within. “TM practice has given them greater inner strength,” she says. “They feel better about themselves. They feel empowered from within, more capable of manifesting a smoother path forward in their lives.”

That empowerment is practical as much as it is personal. “It is critically important for these women to have a tool that they can use themselves, for themselves, by themselves,” she says.

The personal side

Goldstein says she has benefited immensely from this work.

“While working closely with the AWAGO management team, I learned so much about the Ugandan culture, and I watched this organization grow to be one of the biggest and most successful TM Women’s organizations in the world,” she says.

The work often unfolded over Zoom, but the distance didn’t diminish the connection.

“These women became like family to me.”

— Leslee Goldstein

“These women became like family to me,” she says. “My life, my destiny, has been beautifully intertwined with this culture and with these women for so many years. I have experienced great heart expansion and appreciation for the power of our TM programs. I am extremely grateful, blessed, and honored with grace for this opportunity.”

What’s next? Goldstein isn’t slowing down.

“I am continuing to do TM research with women,” she says. “Currently, I am working on a research project with women in Nepal who are mothers of students at a secondary school where all the children learn TM as part of their daily school routine. I am planning another project with colleagues in Uganda to conduct a PTSD study with female refugees.”

* * * * * * *

Funding for the study was provided by the Rona and Jeffrey Abramson Foundation.

Coauthors of the study are Daniela Romagnoli, PhD, and Sanford Nidich, PhD, Director of MIU’s PhD program in Physiology & Health and Director of the MIU Center for Social-Emotional Health & Consciousness.

MIU has announced a multi-year plan to close and redevelop Utopia Park, the longtime mobile‑home community on the north side of campus, with the transition scheduled to unfold in six phases through August 2028.

The decision follows a comprehensive infrastructure review conducted after MIU assumed full management of the property in July 2025. While many of the park’s mobile homes have received interior improvements in recent decades, the underlying water, sewer, and electrical systems — originally installed in 1983 — are now more than 40 years old. City regulations require that all utilities be fully removed and replaced before any new construction can begin, necessitating a complete clearing of the site.

A community with deep roots

Utopia Park was originally built at the end of 1983 as temporary housing for thousands of visitors attending MIU’s historic A Taste of Utopia assembly. Nearly 200 trailers were constructed in just weeks. In the years that followed, the park became an important source of affordable housing close to the Golden Domes for students, faculty, staff, and community members, often serving as a first residence for newcomers to Fairfield.

In May 2022, during the university’s Golden Jubilee celebration, MIU leaders announced plans to redevelop the area as the Global Peace Village. In June 2023, the Global Peace Village was inaugurated with six new townhouses. The event, led by Dr. John Hagelin and Raja Howard Settle, marked the largest step yet in the long-term redevelopment plans. 

Six‑phase closure through 2028

The newly announced transition plan outlines a gradual, two‑and‑a‑half‑year closure intended to give residents time to prepare while allowing crews to safely remove structures and utilities. The phased timeline is intended to create as smooth and supportive a process as possible.

The phases are scheduled as follows:

• Phase 1: February–July 2026 – Rows L and M, plus E21–22 & F21–22
• Phase 2: July–December 2026 – Row J
• Phase 3: December 2026–May 2027 – Rows A, B, & C
• Phase 4: May–October 2027 – Row K 
• Phase 5: October 2027–March 2028 – Rows G, H, & I 
• Phase 6: March–August 2028 – Rows D, E, and F
  

The work will move in a coordinated inward pattern to ensure safe demolition while minimizing disruption.

Support for residents

MIU leadership emphasized that supporting residents throughout the transition is a top priority. University leaders have held two informational town hall meetings to share details, answer questions, and discuss individual needs. Additional sessions will continue throughout the transition period.

To assist older adults in particular, MIU is partnering with Milestones Area Agency on Aging, which will provide one‑on‑one assistance to residents aged 60 and above. Milestones will help individuals review housing options, complete necessary documentation, and access available support services.

Residents can direct questions or request assistance by emailing utopiaparktransitions@miu.edu. MIU has also launched a website — https://utopia-park.miu.edu — to provide ongoing updates, resources, and the latest timeline information.

Redevelopment plans ahead

Once the park is fully cleared and infrastructure replaced, MIU plans to redevelop the property according to Maharishi Vastu architectural principles. Planning for the new construction is in early stages, and university officials estimate that new housing is still several years away.

“Even as we begin the process of renewal, we remain committed to sustaining the spirit of Utopia Park.”

— MIU CEO Bill Smith

“Utopia Park has played an enormous role in MIU’s history,” said MIU CEO Bill Smith. “And we know this redevelopment marks the end of an era. But as we begin the process of renewal, we remain committed to sustaining the spirit of Utopia Park. We are also committed to transparency, thoughtful planning, and support for every resident affected by this transition.”

Drone photography by Ron Wilson

Amine Kouider, chair of the Department of Cinematic Arts and New Media at MIU, recently returned from a wide‑ranging visit to Japan that highlighted growing international interest in Consciousness‑Based Education, creativity, and global academic partnerships.

Pictured above: Welcome party in the office of Dr. Chieko Kato, Chair of the Department of Information Sciences and Arts, Toyo University, Japan.

MIU has a longstanding memorandum of understanding with Toyo University in Japan, a major private university with approximately 30,000 students. Kouider’s visit was designed to strengthen this relationship and explore new areas of cooperation in teaching, cultural exchange, and Consciousness‑Based educational initiatives.

Kouider was invited by two Toyo University leaders — Dr. Kensei Tsuchida, dean of computer science, and Dr. Chieko Kato, chair of psychology, sports science, and statistics. Both are long‑time Transcendental Meditation practitioners (Dr. Tsuchida also practices the TM-Sidhi program), and both have expressed interest in strengthening ties with MIU, including future reciprocal faculty visits.

Kouider spoke to multiple student groups, including a large lecture of more than 100 students on the inner source of creativity. He was also invited to lead a smaller seminar with graduate psychology students, where the discussion focused on Consciousness‑Based Education and the role of developing consciousness in learning and creativity.

During the visit, Kouider met with former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, a longtime supporter of MIU who delivered MIU’s commencement address in 2015. Hatoyama encouraged Kouider to introduce students to meditation during his lecture.

“When you actually meet people at different universities around the world, you see how deeply relevant the knowledge we have at MIU really is.”

— Amine Kouider

“We all closed our eyes together, and there was a very palpable silence in the room,” Kouider said of the student meditation session. “The faculty were deeply appreciative of that moment.”

“When you actually meet people at different universities around the world, you see how deeply relevant the knowledge we have at MIU really is,” Kouider said.

Meeting with Japanese government leaders

Beyond Toyo University, Kouider met with members of Japan’s parliament, the Indian ambassador to Japan and other representatives of the Indian Embassy and Consulate in Tokyo, and municipal leaders in several regions.

In the city of Izumi, near Osaka, Kouider met with the mayor and education officials to discuss the possibility of sister‑city and sister‑school relationships with Fairfield and MIU, as well as introducing consciousness‑based education in local schools.

“Ken Suzuki kept saying MIU is the field of all possibilities,” Kouider said. “His story really reminded me of the kind of graduates we have — people who simply don’t see limits.”” 

— Amine Kouider

Kouider met with several MIU alumni making an impact in Japan, including Kenichi Suzuki, an MIU graduate who helped manage Yukio Hatoyama’s successful prime ministerial campaign and is a senior leader of Japan’s Constitutional Democratic Party and represents the party internationally.

“Kenichi Suzuki kept saying MIU is the field of all possibilities,” Kouider said. “His story really reminded me of the kind of graduates we have — people who simply don’t see limits.”

He met with the principal of a secondary school in Greater Tokyo, Mrs. Shimo-yamada, on how to implement Transcendental Meditation into her school. He also met Ms. Noriko Miyakawa, the noted film editor who worked extensively with film director David Lynch across several major projects.

And he met with Mr. Taihei Takizawa, who wants to help create a Maharishi School in a community in the Yatsugatake mountains in central Japan, west of Tokyo.

The visit included cultural exchanges, such as attending a classical dance performance at the invitation of the Indian Embassy.

And he visited two sacred sites that Maharishi had also visited in Japan. One was the historic Sengen Shrine near Mount Fuji, a Shinto shrine where Kouider and his hosts participated in a traditional ceremony dedicated to peace. The other was to the Sanjūsangendō Temple, home to 1000 Golden Buddhas, in Kyoto.

Reflecting on the experience, Kouider emphasized its broader meaning for MIU faculty and staff. “We get caught up in day‑to‑day responsibilities,” he said, “but this trip reminded me how rare and important this work really is. What we’re doing at MIU matters to the world.”

Coordination by MIU graduate Shizuo Suzuki

Dr. Shizuo Suzuki coordinated Kouider’s visit and itinerary. Suzuki graduated from MIU in 1983 with a degree in education and became one of the most successful Transcendental Meditation teachers in the world.

He became the leader of Japan’s national TM organization and wrote a best-selling book about TM in Japan. He has taught the TM technique to more than 2,000 people, including prime ministers and first ladies, government ministers and members of parliament, a state governor, city mayors, and leading business executives, and he has implemented TM Corporate Development Programs in more than forty companies, including some of Japan’s largest. He is now the Raja or global administrator of the TM organization in Japan.

In 2023, MIU awarded him an honorary Doctor of World Peace degree in recognition of his lifetime achievements.

Over the break between the January and February blocks, Professor Vicki Alexander Herriott took a team of MIU’s Fairfield undergraduates to the University of Central Florida in Orlando to compete in the 2025-26 International Intercollegiate Mediation Tournament, held February 7–9 and hosted by the International Association for Dispute Resolution (INADR).

Pictured above: Professor Vicki Alexander Herriott, Kozbie Lamb, Polo Altynksky-Ross, and Caresse Rodriguez.

The tournament is open to law, graduate, and undergraduate students worldwide. 

MIU’s team consisted of undergraduate students Polo Altynski-Ross, Kozbie Lamb, and Caresse Rodriguez. They competed against 18 other three-person teams from the USA and Singapore over four rounds spanning two days. MIU’s team was the smallest school in the tournament.

Students played the roles of mediators and disputants in cases drawn from real life. Their performances were evaluated by experienced mediators who observed the 90-minute mediation sessions.

MIU came away with two awards:

• 5th-place team award for Mediator — awarded based on the combined performance of a school’s student mediators as they serve in the neutral facilitator role, guiding both sides through the dispute‑resolution process with skills such as listening, neutrality, collaboration with a co‑mediator, and helping the parties move toward mutually acceptable solutions.
• 7th-place team award for Advocate-Client — awarded based on how effectively a school’s advocate‑client pairs work together during mediation, including how clearly they present their side of the dispute, communicate their interests, collaborate as a pair, and engage constructively with the mediator to pursue resolution. INADR scores advocates and clients jointly because their performance is interdependent.

Professor Alexander Herriott receives INADR’s Coach of the Year Award

In the awards ceremony, Professor Alexander Herriott was given the INADR’s Coach of the Year Award in recognition of her service to INADR through the Midwest regional mediation tournaments that she has hosted at MIU and her teaching of the course MGT 484 Mediation and Negotiation over the past 18 years.

“I’m very proud of our team,” Professor Herriott said. “We were one of only four schools that made the semifinals in both categories. This meant that all three team members were very strong as mediators and as advocate-clients. They were all very well prepared and very professional. They were calm, friendly, willing to think outside the box to solve the problem — ideal examples of Consciousness-Based Education.”

“An incredibly meaningful experience”

“Participating in the mediation tournament was an incredibly meaningful experience,” said Kozbie Lamb. “It deepened my understanding of conscious communication and reminded me how powerful empathy and presence can be in resolving conflict. I’m grateful to represent MIU in a space that reflects the principles we study every day.”

“The mediation tournament was an excellent learning opportunity and one of the most meaningful experiences I’ve had so far,” Caresse Rodriguez said. “Everyone brought such rich perspectives and unique skills, and I learned an incredible amount simply by working alongside and observing others in action. As an aspiring attorney, it was my first real opportunity to operate in a simulated professional environment where I could apply theory in real time, think critically under pressure, and better understand what it truly means to advocate, listen, and problem-solve with intention. Overall, the experience reaffirmed how universally valuable these skills are, professionally and personally.”

“We’d recommend this experience to all future MIU students. And anyone else, for that matter — conflict resolution strategies are important for everyone.”

— Polo Altynski-Ross

“It was a pleasure to represent MIU and compete against the other schools at the tournament,” Polo Altynski-Ross said. “Since roughly 90–95% of civil cases are resolved before trial — often through mediation! — it’s a powerful way to settle disputes amicably. It can be nerve-racking to be judged by veteran professionals in the field, but they were very encouraging, and we’d recommend this experience to all future MIU students. And anyone else, for that matter — conflict resolution strategies are important for everyone.”

How a mediation tournament works

At the INADR mediation tournament, student teams participate in simulated dispute‑resolution sessions designed to mirror real‑world mediation practice. Competitors rotate through different roles — mediator, advocate, and client — allowing each participant to experience mediation from multiple perspectives. The event typically includes three preliminary rounds, followed by semi‑final and championship rounds for the highest‑scoring teams.

Mediation rounds are structured to emphasize professionalism, collaboration, and problem‑solving. Students acting as mediators often work with co-mediators from different schools, encouraging cooperation across institutional lines. Judges evaluate them on skills such as listening, clarity, neutrality, teamwork, and their ability to guide parties toward mutually acceptable solutions without being adversarial or inventing facts. 

The focus throughout is on educational growth, ethical practice, and the cultivation of real mediation skills rather than winning at any cost.

When serving as advocates or clients, students present their side of a dispute, communicate interests (not just positions), and work with mediators to explore resolutions. Judges score participants individually and in teams, awarding distinctions for mediator performance, advocate/client pairs, and overall team achievement. The focus throughout is on educational growth, ethical practice, and the cultivation of real mediation skills rather than winning at any cost.

2025 mediation tournament at MIU

Last year’s annual tournament was held at MIU. Twelve teams participated, including a team from Singapore, two teams from Texas, two from Florida, and teams from Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois. Below is the group photo taken at the close of the tournament.

Last June, Fairfield was named one of the Top 7 Intelligent Communities of 2025 by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), an organization dedicated to helping communities around the world build prosperous, inclusive, innovation‑driven local economies by using digital technology to deepen social connection and cultural vitality.

Pictured above: Nahom Abegaze, Bob Ferguson, Margaret Dwyer, and Seth Miller — the team representing Faifield at the ICF Global Summit

Last December, MIU’s Nahom Abegaze was part of the team representing Fairfield at the ICF Global Summit 2025 in Binh Duong, Vietnam — where one community from those Top 7 was selected as 2025’s most intelligent community.

Abegaze is MIU’s Director of Continuous Improvement, working in the Operational Excellence department.

Joining Fairfield in the Top 7 communities were:

• Assaí, Paraná, Brazil
• Bursa, Türkiye
• Hilliard, Ohio, USA
• Durham Region, Ontario, Canada
• Kingston, Ontario, Canada
• Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain.

These seven cities were the finalists in a long process. Each year, the ICF invites cities around the world to submit nominations. They welcome communities of any size — small, midsize, and large. From this pool — as many as 400 cities — they choose 21 semifinalist cities.

And from those 21, they chose the “Top 7 Intelligent Communities.” This was the result of a year-long process of evaluating how communities leverage the six ICF indicators — connectivity, workforce development, innovation, digital inclusion, sustainability, and community engagement — to create long-term vitality.

Notably, Fairfield was the smallest community selected, standing out among cities with populations in the millions.

Last September, as part of selecting a winner, ICF sent a representative to visit and audit each city in person.

At the ICF Global Summit

The ICF Summit in Vietnam, held December 2–3, brought together communities that are advancing innovation, digital infrastructure, sustainability, and inclusive growth, creating space to share learning, forge partnerships, and benchmark progress. More than 600 urban leaders, technology experts, and investors gathered to discuss smart, sustainable, innovation‑driven community development.

During the Summit, each Top 7 city gave a 15‑minute presentation showcasing its intelligent community achievements, including how they have applied the Community Accelerator Strategy.

Fairfield sent four representatives altogether. Along with Abegaze, they included Bob Ferguson, Fairfield City Councilor At-Large; Margaret Dwyer, a longtime community leader and Executive Committee member of the Sierra Club’s Iowa Chapter; and Seth Miller, President of Advocacy & Administration at Cambridge Investment Research.

The top city was selected through jury voting by international experts. And at the closing ceremony, Canada’s Durham Region was officially named Intelligent Community of the Year, succeeding last year’s winner, Curitiba, Brazil. 

Recognition for MIU

“We may not have come up with the top award,” Abegaze said, “but this was tremendous recognition for Fairfield and MIU. Just making the Top 7 was an amazing achievement.”

“The experience exceeded our expectations,” Abegaze said. “We were blown away by how thoughtfully and thoroughly we were hosted — no detail was missed. It was also inspiring to be among the other Top 7 communities and see the innovative work happening around the world.”

The team hhighlighted MIU as Fairfield’s primary educational institution and a key economic driver, supporting Fairfield’s economic stability, workforce development, and long-term vision. “People saw that MIU’s people, programs, and daily operations are part of what makes Fairfield globally competitive,” Abegaze said.

“What stood out most was the rigor of the evaluation,” he said. “Fairfield was assessed alongside cities of three to four million people using technical, data-driven standards — not just narrative or perception. The judges didn’t stop at the data. One came to Fairfield, walked the city, met with leaders and local organizations, and spoke with residents to confirm that the lived experience matched the numbers.”

Just the beginning

Abegaze found being recognized in this way to be both affirming and motivating.

“It’s meaningful to be acknowledged for what Fairfield has already accomplished, and it’s equally energizing to see this as a beginning, not an endpoint,” he said. “There is so much opportunity ahead to continue improving the quality of life in Fairfield, and this recognition encourages us to aim even higher.”

This recognition is more than a “pat on the back,” he said. “It’s an invitation — to stay engaged, to collaborate, and to recognize the collective impact of the work happening every day at MIU.”

Additional reporting by Nahom Abegaze and Samantha Vento.

MIU leaders recently met with top officials from the University of Iowa to explore potential collaborations bridging integrative and conventional medicine. The discussions centered on developing innovative models of team-based clinical care, research, and education.

Pictured above: Dr. Robert Schneider, Dr. Denise Jamieson, Dr. Edith Parker, and Murali Prasanna, cofounder of Total Health Centers LLC.

Dr. Robert Schneider, Director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention and Dean Emeritus of the College of Integrative Medicine, met with Dr. Denise Jamieson, Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean of the Carver College of Medicine, and Dr. Edith Parker, Dean of the College of Public Health.

Dr. Jamieson and Dr. Parker had visited MIU last November for an initial meeting, leading to this recent follow-up in January.

According to Dr. Schneider, the follow-up meeting concentrated on “practical implications and next steps” for collaboration among the UI Carver College of Medicine, the UI College of Public Health, and Total Health Centers — launching soon in Iowa City/Coralville.

“Very open and engaged”

“The University of Iowa leaders are very open and engaged,” Dr. Schneider said. “Our discussions focused on how integrative and systems-based approaches to health care can complement academic medicine and public health. This is an important step toward establishing cross-institutional partnerships.”

The discussions identified three primary domains of potential cooperation: clinical care, education, and research. Dr. Parker proposed that MIU present its work to the College of Public Health faculty as part of a “Spotlight presentation” or other college-wide session designed to highlight shared research and teaching interests.

Meanwhile, Dr. Jamieson connected the MIU team with several key figures at UI Health Care, including the UI Health Care Chief Clinical Strategy Officer and the Associate Dean for Medical Education Integration and Innovation at UI Carver College of Medicine.

These introductions, Dr. Schneider said, will help “explore collaborative care models and educational opportunities for medical and graduate students, residents, fellows, and faculty as well as continuing medical education for practicing clinicians.

Dr. Schneider described the interactions as “constructive and well aligned,” noting that both institutions emphasized the development of “a systems-oriented, team-based model that serves patients and advances the goals of both institutions.”

During the Fairfield visit, the UI delegation learned about MIU’s research on group meditation and its physiological and societal effects.

“These collaborations are about transforming health care — building on MIU’s leadership in whole-person health to create evidence-based models that can reach many people and elevate society’s health.”

— Dr. Robert Schneider

“The visiting leaders of medicine and public health in Iowa were impressed by the scientific foundation of group meditation for individual and collective stress reduction,” Dr. Schneider said. 

He also shared MIU’s recent commentary in Nature Reviews Cardiology, which places the American Heart Association’s recommendation of Transcendental Meditation in a broader scientific context, grounded in decades of NIH-funded research by MIU scientists and collaborators at leading medical centers across the United States.

“These collaborations are about transforming health care — building on MIU’s leadership in whole-person health to create evidence-based models that can reach many people and elevate society’s health,” Dr. Schneider said.

Photo by Craig Pearson

Dr. Anne Dow and Dr. Cathy Gorini participated the Joint Mathematics Meeting, the world’s largest gathering of mathematicians, held January 4–7 in Washington, DC.

The annual meeting, sponsored by the American Mathematical Society in partnership with more than seventeen other mathematics organizations, offers an unparalleled range of research presentations, educational exchange, professional panel discussions, and gathering opportunities for colleagues, collaborators, and students.

Anne presented a paper describing a course entitled “Mathematics for Sustainable and Regenerative Living” that she developed for MIU students in the Sustainable and Regenerative Living major. She also participated in a panel discussion on using modeling in the undergraduate curriculum.

Cathy gave a presentation on the applications of topology in art, illustrating her talk with work from El Greco, Dalí, Picasso, M.C. Escher, and others.

The editor of the journal UMAP (Undergraduate Mathematics and Its Applications) invited Anne to write a paper on the project she described in her talk and submit it for publication.

“Both talks were well-received, with requests for more information,” Anne said. “We also gained highly useful knowledge from other talks and panel discussions about new directions in undergraduate mathematics teaching. We can apply this at MIU to better prepare our students for the job market.”

Dr. Dow chairs the MIU mathematics department. Dr. Gorini is a professor of mathematics and dean of faculty at MIU. She received an Award for Outstanding College Teaching from the Mathematical Association of America in 2001 and has published many articles on mathematics, especially geometry. Her most recent book, published in 2022, is Geometry for the Artist.

Financial support for Drs. Dow and Gorini to participate in this conference came from the Wege Foundation, of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Almost exactly two years ago — from December 29, 2023, to January 12, 2024 — nearly 11,000 people representing 139 countries came together in Hyderabad, India, for a “10,000 for World Peace” assembly.

The assembly had several goals:

• To boost peace and harmony in society during a tumultuous period in history
• To build public awareness of the power of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs to create this effect
• To inaugurate efforts to create several permanent 10,000 groups in India and Mexico.

The assembly may have succeeded in its first goal, according to new peer-reviewed published research. During the two weeks of the assembly, there were sharp, statistically significant drops in political violence across some of the world’s most conflicted nations — confirming a prediction the researchers had publicly announced in advance.

This outcome is known as the Maharishi Effect.

The underlying premise is that large meditation groups reduce social stress, thereby reducing social violence and disorder. According to the theory, the Maharishi Effect becomes objectively measurable when the size of the group equals or exceeds the square root of one percent of a given population. The number 10,000 exceeds the square root of 1% of the world’s population of just over eight billion people.

The research was conducted by Dr. Ken Cavanaugh, Director of Collective Consciousness Research at the Dr. Tony Nader Institute for Consciousness, and Dr. Lee Fergusson, professor of Maharishi Vedic Science, education, and environment, and founding director of the Maharishi Vedic Research Institute in Australia.

This study joins the more than 90 empirical studies conducted on the Maharishi Effect to date.

Focus on world’s most violent countries

To test the prediction, Cavanaugh and Fergusson obtained monthly data on political violence from January 2021 through January 2025 from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) project, a database widely used in conflict research. According to its website, ACLED is “an independent, impartial global monitor that collects, analyses, and maps data on conflict and protest. ACLED provides detailed information to help identify, understand, and track patterns and trends in conflict and crisis situations around the world.”

Cavanaugh and Fergusson began by focusing on the world’s three countries with the most extreme levels of internal disorder and violence. According to ACLED, those countries were Palestine, Myanmar (Burma), and Syria.

Sharp trend reversal and statistical strength

Using state-of-the-art statistical methods, Cavanaugh and Fergusson tracked how monthly violent events changed during and after the Hyderabad assembly. They found that violence across the three countries was rising steeply before the assembly, leveled off around the time of the assembly, and then steadily declined after the assembly, with the decline continuing for another year, through January 2025.

“The data strongly supported the research hypothesis,” Cavanaugh said. “The observed reversal was highly statistically significant, with a p-value of less than 0.001. This means that the chances that this reduction was a fluke are less than one in a thousand.”

Additional data, stronger trend

After the article was published, Cavanaugh and Fergusson expanded the study. They looked at nine additional months of data, through October 2025, and found that the downward trend not only continued but grew stronger — from December 2023 to October 2025, political violence in Palestine, Myanmar, and Syria plummeted 48%.

“This was an even larger and more robust decline than the 29.2% we initially reported,” Cavanaugh said. “A 48% reduction is remarkable in countries that had been experiencing some of the most extreme levels of collective political violence in the world.”

Similar patterns across 30 countries and globally

Cavanaugh and Fergusson expanded the study further still. They looked at the 30 countries with the highest levels of internal political violence, again using ACLED data from January 2021 through October 2025.

They found a similar pattern. Monthly violence climbed steeply through 2023, then flattened out and began to decline after the Hyderabad assembly, with only a brief two-month spike in October–November 2024 when group participation in existing large Super-Radiance groups in India dropped during national holidays.

Overall collective violence across these 30 countries fell by 28.2% between December 2023 and October 2025, a highly statistically significant outcome.

What caused these changes? The need for a new paradigm

“The idea that a meditation group in one location could affect violence worldwide challenges conventional scientific assumptions,” Cavanaugh acknowledges. “The dominant materialistic paradigm of modern science can’t plausibly explain these results. But they are consistent with a new theoretical framework in which consciousness is primary.”

This framework derives from Maharishi Vedic Science and the ongoing work of Dr. Tony Nader, which postulates that “consciousness is all there is.”

“The idea is that large meditation groups enliven the universal field of pure consciousness at the basis of society’s collective consciousness,” Cavanaugh said. “This is the simplest, most parsimonious explanation for the wide range of positive societal changes we observe with the Maharishi Effect.”

“Small islands of coherence”

Situating the findings in a broader scientific context, Cavanaugh cites Nobel laureate chemist Ilya Prigogine, who wrote, “When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.”

“When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.”

— Ilya Prigogine, Nobel laureate chemist

“The assembly of 10,000 for world peace functioned as just such an island of coherence in a world that is clearly far from equilibrium,” Cavanaugh said.​

“These results strengthen the case for establishing permanent 10,000 groups in India and other regions as a practical strategy for reducing violence and enhancing societal harmony,” Cavanaugh said. “The science is clear: When we systematically enliven collective consciousness, we can reverse negative social trends — even in the most violent places on Earth.”​

Groups in India expanding

After the 10,000 for World Peace Assembly, the number of participants in the Yogic Flying groups throughout India continued to expand. Click here for details about the progress on this project. Presenters include:

• Dr. Tony Nader, Patron of Global Super-Radiance, head of the global Transcendental Meditation organizations, and president of MIU
• Dr. John Hagelin, quantum physicist, researcher, and international president of the Global Union of Scientists for Peace
• Dr. Luis Alvarez, operational director of Super-Radiance programs
• Dr. Alison Plaut, founder and director of the Himalayan Devis project
• Dr. Howard Settle, administrative director of global Super-Radiance programs

Roxanna Medeiros, MIU Vice President of Online & Continuing Education, spoke as part of a panel presentation at the recent Quality Matters (QM) Conference, held November 3–5 at Loews Ventana Canyon in Tucson, Arizona.

The annual event brings together educators and instructional designers to share best practices for improving the quality of online courses.

“The goal of our panel,” she said, “was to give institutions tools they can immediately adapt to improve academic integrity, course quality, and student support.”

Drawing on her work as a QM Research Colleague, Medeiros explored two timely topics in her presentation: artificial intelligence (AI) and Social Emotional Learning (SEL).

AI, she explained, can be more than a tool for detecting plagiarism or enforcing rules. “AI should serve as a reflective design partner,” Medeiros said, “helping faculty create clear course navigation, provide scaffolding for learning, and offer constructive feedback — not functioning as a policing mechanism.” Scaffolding refers to structured support that guides students step by step toward mastering complex skills.

“The goal of our panel was to give institutions tools they can immediately adapt to improve academic integrity, course quality, and student support.”

— Roxanna Medeiros, Vice President of Online & Continuing Education

She also introduced SEL, which focuses on helping students develop self-awareness, manage emotions, and build interpersonal skills — abilities that research shows are essential for academic success and well-being.

“SEL isn’t just about emotional support,” Medeiros noted. “It’s about creating clarity, fostering reflection, and ensuring instructor presence. These practices directly impact student engagement and retention in online environments.”

Her session offered practical strategies for embedding SEL into course design, such as adding well-being check-ins, reflective activities, and clear communication from instructors. She also shared approaches for building faculty AI literacy — helping educators understand how to use AI responsibly and design assessments that emphasize authenticity and meaningful application rather than rote memorization.

Audience members responded enthusiastically, especially to the integration of AI literacy, authentic assessment, and SEL-informed design. Several attendees expressed interest in MIU’s holistic approach to quality and asked follow-up questions about its instructional design practices.

Medeiros emphasized that MIU’s involvement in Quality Matters benefits the university by keeping it aligned with national standards for online learning, strengthening faculty support, and increasing visibility in global conversations about quality and integrity in education.

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Banner photo by JC Cervantes on Unsplash. Loews facility photo https://www.loewshotels.com.