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:

Dr. Ken Cavanaugh

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.

Dr. Lee Fergusson

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.”

The blue line above shows the monthly total of violent events for Palestine, Myanmar, and Syria combined from January 2021 to January 2025. The vertical axis (or y-axis) gives the number of events per month. The orange shaded area represents the period of the assembly. The blue line rises rapidly in the months before the assembly and levels off briefly in October–December — then begins a downward trend that continues through the end of the data in January 2025, a highly statistically significant reversal of the trend. The red line in the plot displays the time-varying trend of monthly violence as predicted by the statistical model. 

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:

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.

The Quality Matters annual conference, QM Connect, was held at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Arizona. 

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

Sean Downey, co-chair of MIU’s Art, Consciousness, & Creative Practice department and associate professor of art, has just completed a five-week solo exhibition of new paintings and sculptures at LaMontagne Gallery in Boston. This was his third solo exhibition there.

Pictured above: Slow Learner, 2025, oil on panel, 36 x 48 inches, by Sean Downey

Entitled Motion Pictures, the exhibition opened on October 24, with an opening reception on November 7, and concluded on November 29.

LaMontagne Gallery was founded in 2007 “to create an environment in Boston for the display and sale of emerging contemporary artists.” It features visual, sound, and performance artists based in Boston and beyond.

“Solo exhibitions in contemporary art venues are important milestones for artists, not unlike publishing a book or having research included in a peer-reviewed journal,” Professor Downey says. “This show constitutes the last eighteen months of my studio practice, so it is particularly gratifying to have it on display in a major city and exposed to a national audience.”

The response has been very positive. “The opening and lecture were packed,” Professor Downey says, “and the show has reignited many correspondences and conversations with colleagues at other institutions.”

Next on the horizon? “More work!” he says. “I also hope to continue exploring disciplinary crossover in my practice and integrate more of this interdisciplinary approach into the curriculum of the courses that I teach at MIU.”

Click here to see more of the paintings included in the exhibition.

Click here for Professor Downey’s website.

About Sean Downey

Sean Downey received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and his MFA from Boston University. He has had recent solo exhibitions at Steven Zevitas Gallery (Boston) and LaMontagne Gallery. He has also been included in recent group exhibitions at Richard Heller Gallery (Santa Monica), Abigail Ogilvy Gallery (Boston), the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA (Portland), the Leroy Neiman Gallery at Columbia University (New York City), LaMontagne Gallery, and Park Place Gallery (Brooklyn, New York). He received the Blanche E. Colman Award in 2013, a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in 2014, and was MacDowell Colony Fellow in 2015.

The American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology have just updated their 2025 High Blood Pressure Guideline — and they recognize the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique as an evidence-based method for lowering blood pressure.

This is the first time any meditation technique has been included in an AHA/ACC hypertension guideline. TM may now be recommended alongside lifestyle changes and medical therapy. 

The TM technique is the only meditation procedure cited, with evidence rated moderate to high quality. Other meditation and mindfulness practices were not included due to weaker data.

This AHA/ACC guideline represents the nation’s most authoritative high blood pressure treatment recommendations.

Why this matters: 

This update opens the door for the TM technique to be more widely used in clinics, communities, workplaces, schools, and wellness programs. TM is scalable, low-cost, easy to implement, and can be integrated into primary care, cardiology, workplace wellness programs, schools, and community health initiatives. 

This milestone may mark era of precision public health — one where reducing stress meaningfully reduces cardiovascular risk. 

Companion commentary in top cardiology journal co-authored by MIU’s Dr. Robert Schneider

Robert Schneider, MD, FACC, Distinguished Professor of Integrative Medicine and Health, lead author.

Following the release of the guidelines, a companion commentary in the journal Nature Reviews Cardiology explains the science: TM practice helps lower stress hormones, calm the nervous system, improve autonomic balance, and support healthier heart and vascular function. 

Nature Reviews Cardiology is the world’s highest-impact journal in cardiovascular medicine.

The Nature article, co-authored by MIU’s Dr. Robert Schneider, points out that high blood pressure affects nearly half of U.S. adults and is the leading preventable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke, and dementia.

Keith C. Norris, MD, Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, co-author.

It also highlights psychological stress as a major, modifiable driver of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Chronic stress nearly doubles the risk of heart attack and stroke — similar to smoking or diabetes. Yet despite decades of evidence, stress reduction remains underutilized in prevention strategies.

The Nature article aims to address this.

Drawing on more than 30 years of NIH-funded research at the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, Dr. Schneider and co-authors Dr. Keith Norris and Dr. Robert Brook present Transcendental Meditation as an evidence-based, low-risk intervention that complements conventional lifestyle recommendations by reducing psychological stress.

Robert D. Brook, MD, Professor of Medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, co-author.

“Transcendental Meditation can effectively lower blood pressure, improve cardiometabolic health and might even reduce clinical cardiovascular disease events,” the authors write. “Recognizing Transcendental Meditation within prevention frameworks could transform stress management from a lifestyle option into a core strategy for cardiovascular protection.”

“We wrote this piece to elaborate on the 2025 AHA/ACC high blood pressure guidelines, which include Transcendental Meditation as an evidence-based option for lowering blood pressure,” Dr. Schneider wrote in a first social media post from Nature. “This inclusion reflects more than three decades of research. At the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, our team has conducted NIH-funded mechanistic and clinical trials demonstrating that the Transcendental Meditation technique reduces sympathetic activation, improves metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers, slows vascular ageing, and in several randomized trials lowers the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events.”

“We hope this commentary encourages wider inclusion of mind–body approaches in cardiovascular medicine and stimulates further research on mechanisms, implementation, and precision public health,” Dr. Schneider wrote.

The new national guidelines for high blood pressure

The new guidelines from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology strongly recommend lifestyle changes for all adults to prevent and treat high blood pressure. TM is now listed alongside diet, exercise, weight control, and other healthy lifestyle behaviors, with potential applicability to tens of millions of Americans.

The guidelines state: “In adults with or without hypertension, stress reduction through transcendental meditation may be reasonable to prevent or treat elevated BP and hypertension, as an adjunct to lifestyle or medication interventions.” 

“This is a landmark acknowledgement,” said Robert D. Brook, MD, Professor of Medicine at Wayne State University and past chair of the AHA scientific statement on alternative approaches to blood pressure.

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The banner image is an AI-generated image used for illustrative purposes, not a photo of actual study participants.

Resources

Click here for the comment in Nature Reviews Cardiology, here for Nature’s “Behind the Paper” social media post by Dr. Schneider, and here for the full AHA/ACC guideline.

Doctoral student T.J. Dedeaux-Norris, pursuing a degree in MIU’s EdD program in Education in Transformational Leadership and Coaching, was recently awarded the Rome Prize, one of the world’s most distinguished fellowship programs.

Established in 1921, the Rome Prize is granted by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy, a leading American overseas center for independent studies and advanced research in the fine arts and humanities. Each year the academy selects about thirty innovative American artists, writers, and scholars to study there.

This year there were 990 applicants for the 35 total prizes awarded.

Dedeaux-Norris began the fellowship in September and will be in Rome through next June. The formal title of the fellowship Dedeaux-Norris received is the Jules Guerin | John Armstrong Chaloner Rome Prize Fellow in Visual Arts (2025–2026) at the American Academy in Rome.

This fellowship work will be part of Dedeaux-Norris’s doctoral and dissertation research at MIU.

Dedeaux-Norris is also a tenured associate professor and area head in the University of Iowa’s Department of Painting and Drawing, within the School of Art, Art History, and Design. Dedeaux-Norris came to the University of Iowa after receiving a Master of Fine Arts at Yale University as a Grant Wood Art Fellow in 2016.

Dedeaux-Norris in their studio at the American Academy in Rome. Photo by Jason Šimánek.

What does it feel like to have won this esteemed prize?

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join a community of esteemed artists and scholars from around the world that comes at a critical juncture. It’s a chance to step outside the sociopolitical climate of the United States — and the Midwest in particular — and reflect more deeply on my role as an artistic citizen.

What has it been like to live in Rome on this fellowship these past few months so far?

It’s truly been an incredible experience living and working in Rome. Every day at the American Academy feels like stepping into a conversation between art, history, and spirit. I’m profoundly grateful for this opportunity.

The American Academy in Rome, where Rome Prize recipients reside. Rome Prize recipients receive a fellowship that includes a stipend, room, and board at the Academy.

Tell us more about your project.

My project here, An Emergence in Rome, is both an artistic and educational investigation that directly connects to my doctoral research in the Education in Transformational Leadership and Coaching program at Maharishi International University.

I’m exploring how creative autoethnography and coaching tools can foster authentic leadership and well-being among artists and academics. One of the ways this is manifesting is through a multimedia memoir that has evolved into a podcast, The Emergence Room, where I interview artists, scholars, and thinkers to examine our collective “emergent arcs” of growth and transformation.

My time in Rome has deepened my study of early Christian martyrs like Saints Perpetua and Felicity, who serve as powerful metaphors for conviction, becoming, and self-actualization — central themes in both my art and my research.

What drew you to MIU’s doctoral program in Education in Transformational Leadership and Coaching?

Enrolling in MIU’s program was a response to a personal and professional desire to lead more authentically — integrating my lived experience, artistic practice, and sense of purpose. The program’s Consciousness-Based approach, including Transcendental Meditation and the Science of Creative Intelligence, has profoundly grounded me.

I was particularly drawn to Dr. Mike Zwell, who, like me, is a Yale alumnus. His vision for how transformational leadership can reshape education immediately resonated with me and was a major reason I chose MIU.

“I was particularly drawn to Dr. Mike Zwell, who, like me, is a Yale alumnus. His vision for how transformational leadership can reshape education immediately resonated with me and was a major reason I chose MIU.”

— T.J. Dedeaux-Norris

I’m also deeply grateful to Professor Vicki Alexander Herriott for her mentorship and guidance. In a wonderful synchronicity, I recently discovered that she is the cousin of one of my most influential undergraduate mentors at UCLA — Andrea Fraser, who is also currently a Fellow here at the American Academy in Rome. It feels like an extraordinary blessing to be supported by two brilliant scholars and mentors, each of whom has played such an important role in my academic, artistic, and transformational journey.

I’m continually inspired by my diverse, supportive cohort of fellow students and by our EQ Lab (Emotional Intelligence Lab), where we practice holding space for one another and cultivating authentic presence as leaders.

How has your Transcendental Meditation practice benefited you and your work?

TM has helped me navigate the pressures of competitive academic and artistic environments with greater calm, presence, and clarity. My partner and creative collaborator, Jason Šimánek, who is also currently enrolled in the Low-Residency MFA in Visual Arts program at MIU, and I learned TM together. Sharing this practice has been a meaningful addition to both our creative and spiritual lives, enriching our collaboration and overall sense of balance.

Where do you see things going from here?

Ultimately, my goal is to use the tools and insights gained from this program to design coaching-based, creativity-centered curricula that support artists and educators at all stages of life — helping them cultivate authenticity, resilience, and purpose.

Photo by Jason Šimánek
The American Academy in Rome.

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Banner photograph by Jason Šimánek. American Academy of Rome photo 1, Architectural Digest; photo 2 by CenozoicEra, public domain.

In a thrilling and hard-fought match, the MIU men’s soccer team came away with a 3-3 tie against an experienced William Penn University squad in its final home game of the season at the MIU Unified Field.

Early in the first half, the Pioneers took the lead when Jesse Cano (No. 5, California) scored with an assist from Angel Delgado (No. 16, Arizona). William Penn responded midway through the half with a goal to tie the game and then added another before halftime, taking a 2-1 lead into the break.

In the second half, Nicholas Webster (No. 9, England) brought the crowd to their feet with a spectacular free kick from 30 yards out, leveling the score at 2-2.

Midway through the half, MIU goalkeeper Juan Jose (No. 1, Spain) made a crucial save on a William Penn penalty kick to keep the game tied.

William Penn later regained the lead, making it 3-2, but the Pioneers continued to fight back. After earning a penalty, Nixon Valencia (No. 20, Ecuador) converted to equalize once again.

In the closing moments, William Penn was awarded another penalty, but Juan Jose again came up big for the Pioneers with his second penalty save of the match, preserving the 3-3 draw.

“The team fought extremely well,” said MIU Coach Caio Pereira. “I was very proud of how the team overcame the adversities of having a man down, and I also have to praise Juan Jose’s performance. It was remarkable how he was able to keep us in the game in several occasions and came in clutch with two penalty kick saves to secure our undefeated season at our home field.”

The team travels for a three-day road trip to face Northwestern College (October 9), Morningside University (October 10), and Briar Cliff University (October 11).

The MIU men’s soccer team delivered an exciting performance at home on Wednesday afternoon, September 17, defeating Central College 5-2 at the MIU Unified Field.

More than 80 fans, including MIU faculty, staff, and members of the Fairfield community, were in attendance to cheer on the Pioneers.

The scoring opened with MIU’s Nixon Valencia (No. 20, Ecuador), followed by Jesse Cano (No. 5, California) with another, giving the Pioneers a 2–0 lead going into halftime.

After the break, Central came back to level the score at 2–2, briefly shifting the momentum.

But MIU responded quickly. Bryan Eyiuche (No. 10, England) put the Pioneers back in front. Nicholas Webster (No. 9, England) sealed the victory with two consecutive goals, bringing the final score to 5–2.

With the win, MIU continues to build momentum heading into its next matchup on the road against Grand View University on September 21 at 7:30 pm. The Pioneers return home on September 25 at 5:00 pm.

Assistant Head Coach Caio Pereira

“The guys worked really hard,” said Assistant Head Coach Caio Pereira. “I am very proud of how much they’ve grown in such a short period. I believe we relaxed too much during the game which gave Central the to tie.

“But Bryan and Alvaro along other players were able to lift our intensity up again and fight back for the win, Caio said. “Very happy with the result and the team growth. There’s still a lot to improve, but I trust that we’ll be able to handle the competition.”

Head Coach Ruben Sanchez

“After a series of games building momentum this season, the Pioneer soccer team — led by captain and goalkeeper Juanjo, our first recruited player, and Bryan — finally clicked,” said Head Coach Ruben Sanchez. “Yesterday the players fully aligned their individual identity with the team identity as true Pioneers, enjoying, learning, and growing within the game. A strong start, followed by a terrific showcase of commitment and love for the sport, translated into three beautiful goals and secured our program’s first win against a prestigious Iowa opponent, Central College.”

With their first home performance behind them, the Pioneers continue to build on their season and prepare for the challenges ahead.

The MIU Pioneer men’s soccer team with fans and friends after the Central College game.

MIU ties Southeastern Community College in the season’s first game


The Pioneers home opener, two weeks earlier on September 7, turned into a true event for the Fairfield community, drawing over 100 fans, including MIU students, faculty, and staff, to support the Pioneers.

It was a highly competitive match.

Southeastern struck first to take the lead, but MIU responded with determination. After a sharp assist from Angel Delgado (No. 16, Arizona), Jesse Cano (No. 5, California) delivered the equalizer to secure a hard-fought 1-1 draw.

The match was intense and physical, with each team receiving a red card.

Click here to see drone footage from MIU’s first soccer match of the season, on September 7, against Southeast Iowa Community College, which ended in a 1–1 tie.

Some 24 student athletes were among the crowd of new students that landed on campus last month, bringing the total number of student athletes here to 53. They’re a diverse group, hailing from England, Colombia, Brazil, Spain, the Dominican Republic, the United States, Peru, and Mexico. They join three recently hired coaches and new sports opportunities.

Rubén Sanchez

“These are really exciting times,” says Rubén Sanchez, the director of MIU’s athletics program and head soccer coach.

“After a busy summer, our Pioneer Sports Program at MIU is up and running with a clear vision, a pioneer mindset, and a team that includes Consciousness-Based and industry leaders, staff, coaches, and players,” Rubén says. “We’re creating the foundations that will transform the MIU experience, the Fairfield community, and the way sports are understood in the industry around the world.”

>>Click here to see drone footage from MIU’s first soccer match of the season, on September 7, against Southeast Iowa Community College, which ended in a 1–1 tie.<<

New student athletes

Cesar Israel Sanchez Mendez

Among the new student athletes is Cesar Israel Sanchez Mendez, a men’s soccer player from Alabama.

“I chose MIU because it offers a great opportunity to grow both athletically and academically,” Cesar says. “It has strong values and a community of committed, genuine people. What attracted me the most was its focus on the holistic development — not only shaping athletes but also forming purposeful leaders on and off the field.”

Andrea Iniguez

Andrea Iniguez, a women’s flag football player, came to MIU from Chicago.

“The thing I most like about MIU is the friendly environment, for sure!” Andrea says. “No matter who you pass, everybody is so friendly and always greets you with a warm smile. Everyone here is so unique and different. This is something I found very authentic and special, because you can really find your people here and take something you learnt from them. Exploring myself and being able to play in a sport I’m passionate about has opened a door for me here at MIU.”

New sports

Last year MIU began competing in men’s soccer and men’s tennis. This year adds women’s tennis, women’s flag football, and collegiate (coed) esports.

Women’s flag football has become very popular, rising quickly from a grassroots movement into a competitive intercollegiate sport. Played in a five-on-five format on a smaller field, it’s fast-paced, non-contact, and appealing to student athletes.

Janae Scott, one of the top women’s flag football players in the country, is enrolling at MIU this spring and will play on the team. Janae has been selected to the initial 18-athlete roster for the 2025 USA Women’s Flag Football team that will defend its International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Americas Continental Flag Football Championship, as announced by USA Football.

The NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) officially recognized flag football for both men and women in 2020, and dozens of colleges have launched programs since then, offering scholarships and new athletic pathways for female athletes. Flag football will debut as an Olympic sport at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, with both men’s and women’s competitions.

Esports is huge and growing huger. The National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) has 230 full member institutions. More than 615 colleges and universities compete in NACE Starleague, the largest collegiate esports league in North America, and more than 13,000 esports students compete for a wide range of esports titles. More and more schools are offering esports scholarships and other incentives to attract top gaming talent. Colleges are also building dedicated esports facilities, including gaming arenas and training centers.

New coaches

Three new coaches have joined MIU’s coaching staff, alongside Rubén Sanchez, MIU’s men’s soccer head coach and a founder of the new athletics program at MIU.

Makena Hurse

Makena Hurse is the head coach of women’s flag football. She started playing flag football at 11 and by 22 was running youth and adult leagues. She’s experienced as a player, coach, and referee.

She’s excited to join MIU and share her enthusiasm with college athletes. “Coaching is one of my greatest passions,” Makena says. “It allows me to inspire and guide others toward reaching their full potential. I love seeing growth, both in skills and confidence, and knowing that I played a role in that journey. Being a coach gives me purpose, connection, and the chance to make a lasting impact on people’s lives. I can provide all that with the help of being at MIU.”

Caio Pereira

Caio Pereira is the men’s soccer associate head coach. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he came to the US at 17. As a student-athlete at the College of Idaho, he was the team captain and a two-time All-Conference player.

Before coming to MIU, he was the assistant soccer coach at Indian Hills Community College, where he led the team to National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national appearances, a district championship, five weeks as nation’s number one-ranked team, and where he was voted 2024 NJCAA Midwest Region Staff of the Year.

“Working at MIU is a very amazing opportunity,” he says. “I’m learning a new perspective, and the Consciousness-Based sports methodology is teaching me every day how to become a better professional and a better human.”  

Emilia Katopodi

Emilia Katopodi is the women’s head tennis coach. A former professional tennis player of EthioGreek heritage, she started playing tennis at age four in Addis Ababa, played on Ethiopia’s national team, had the second-highest national ranking, won multiple local tournament wins, and trained internationally at academies in Germany and Spain.

She has worked as an assistant coach for children and teens in summer camps in Ethiopia and as an assistant coach at a tennis academy in Japan.

“I will lead the development of our university’s tennis program with a clear goal,” Emilia says. “To build a competitive and sustainable team capable of joining the NAIA and advancing to higher divisions.”

Eric Enlow

Eric Enlow, the head esports coach, comes with a wide range of coaching and teaching experience. He has coached more than 20 private esports teams. He was the head coach for the Lathrop High School esports team in Fairbanks, Alaska; assistant coach at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa; and a behavioral coach for LCS Proving Grounds, a competitive League of Legends esports tournament designed to spotlight emerging talent in North America.

He was the lead broadcaster for NECC Pokémon Unite 2026, a collegiate-level esports competition hosted by the National Esports Collegiate Conference. He also spent four years as a classroom teacher and four years in the field of mental health and suicide prevention.

“I intend to deploy and adapt to MIU’s powerful coaching methodology to present a powerful message to the community and beyond,” Eric says. “It’s my personal mission to redefine what it means to be an esport athlete.”

Game schedules

Exciting highlights for this year

Major strategic initiatives

Community engagement and events

Athletic and training innovations

Visibility and branding

Reporting by Maria Eduards Rodrigues da Silva, MIU Sports Information & Creative Director

Banner photo by Craig Pearson