In a widely-publicized peer-reviewed study, MIU researcher Leslee Goldstein and her team demonstrated the power of the Transcendental Meditation technique to transform the lives of underserved women and girls living in urban slums in Uganda.
The study, published in the journal Health Care for Women International, looked at 130 female youth ranging in age from 13 to 26 living in poverty in Kampala, Uganda’s capital and largest city, with four million people.
“They have limited access to education,” Goldstein said. “Many are illiterate. They face economic instability, domestic and community violence, food and shelter insecurity, gender discrimination, and employment challenges. As a result, they have low self-esteem, they can’t cope, and they’re very tired. They feel hopeless.”
After just five months of TM practice, the subjects showed statistically significant increases in self-esteem (a person’s view of their self-worth), self-efficacy (one’s belief in their capacity to complete a task or achieve a goal), and gratitude. They also showed significantly reduced tiredness, alcohol use, worry, and fatigue. The changes most noticed by the participants, their families, and members of the community were improved self-esteem and reduced excessive alcohol use.
At eight months, responding to a short-answer questionnaire, the participants described improved physical health, decreased stress and anxiety, and improved relationships with family members and neighbors.
“I feel much stronger and more confident”
“I have improved in health and mentally, and even other people notice the change in me,” said a 16-year-old subject. “After meditating I feel free, and my ability to do work has increased. I have improved in class performance and my relationships with others have also improved. I can control myself better now.”
“Everything felt so hard before,” a 19-year-old wrote. “I have six sisters and they all have kids. I was tired of struggling on my own, so I, too, decided to get pregnant and go into marriage. I had given up on my goals but that was until I learned TM. Meditation made me strong. It empowered me to realize I can push on in the face of adversity.”
Empowerment from Within
The study authors introduced a new theory of empowerment that they call Empowerment from Within.
“Empowerment cannot be bestowed by others but always must come from within,” the authors write. “Giving a woman food, a sewing machine, or money does not empower a woman. Such gifts may make western donors feel good about themselves, but do not necessarily empower the recipients.”
“Although programs for economic empowerment are critical for women living in poverty,” they write, “Empowerment that transforms women’s lives and society must come from a deep core level within the individual.”
Through the process of transcending, the authors note, TM practice enables individuals to find peace, calm, and resilience deep within — the foundation of personal growth and empowerment.
“Often, young women in developing countries who face similar stressful situations are marginalized as a population and can’t find a way out without assistance and tools to help them,” said Daniela Romagnoli, PhD, from Penn State University and one of the coauthors. “This study brings attention to their plight and offers an evidence-based technique.”
Widespread coverage
The study has received broad media coverage, with stories in News Medical Life Sciences (one of the world’s leading open-access medical and life science hubs), ScienMag science magazine, The Black Examiner (Uganda and East Africa), Bioengineer.org (featuring the latest biotechnology news from around the world), Mirage News (international news publication), ReachMD medical news, Read from Medscape, Global Women’s Health Academy, Head Topics (United Kingdom), and more.
Coauthors of the study are Andra Marie Smith (School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada), Daniela Romagnoli (University Workforce Education and Development, College of Education, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania), and Elissa Katergi (School of Psychology, University of Ottawa).
The research was conducted in collaboration with two other organizations, the African Women and Girls Organization for Total Knowledge (AWAGO) and the Empowered Women community organization.
Funding for this research study was provided by the Rona and Jeffrey Abramson Foundation.
This study on women and girls follows a similar study by Goldstein published in the same journal in 2018 — the first controlled study to demonstrate the effect of TM practice in the daily lives of mothers living in impoverished conditions. The study found significant improvements in self-efficacy, perceived stress, and mental and physical well-being, along with improved health, improved relationships, and increased employment rates. Study coauthors were MIU researchers Sanford Nidich, Rachel Goodman, and David Goodman.
Presenting a range of expression and experimentation in painting, sculpture, ceramics, and installation, MIU’s Wege Gallery will display the work of the six full-time faculty in MIU’s Art, Consciousness, and Creative Practice department.
The opening reception is Friday, September 6, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, in the Wege Gallery, and the show runs from September 6 to October 18, 2024.
Faculty showing their work are Sean Downey, Genevra Daley, Gyan Shrosbree, Susan Metrican, Hilary Nelson, and Jim Shrosbree.
“The group exhibition demonstrates the artists’ commitment to their own practices alongside their teaching at MIU, as well as an on-going dialogue between the artists as colleagues,” Susan Metrican said.
“My recent work is sourced mainly from spaces built in virtual reality,” Sean says. “Using 3d scanning, photogrammetry, and open-source models from museum collections and the internet, I collage disparate sources from my daily life, history, and culture into staged, virtual scenarios.”
Sean is the Department Co-Chair, Associate Professor of Art, and Director of the Low-Residency MFA in Visual Art at MIU.
“I am interested in the everyday, mundane rituals and objects of domestic life and how they speak of the body behind them,” Genevra says.
She is Assistant Professor of Art, Director of the BA in Art Program, and Co-Director of the distance education Art Therapy Specialization at MIU.
“I find my power in clothing,” Gyan says. “My emotional landscape has always manifested in dress. I arrange things in the language of outfits: dressing the canvas/dressing the body.”
Gyan is Associate Professor of Art and Director of the BFA in Visual Art at MIU.
“I am drawn to images and objects that resonate across seemingly disparate cultures and time periods,” Susan says. “As a Thai American raised mostly in the midwest, I am interested in imagery that is “culturally familiar” through its connection to folktales and shared traditions, particularly imagery that evokes a reverence for rural life.”
She is Assistant Professor of Art and Director of the Wege Gallery at MIU.
“My work is built from stuff that probably used to be other stuff,” Hilary says. “Now it looks like it could be something you think you know, but you just aren’t sure. I think about the pieces like b-roll, or like a score to a movie — you listen and all the wonder and melodrama are halfway there.”
She is an Assistant Professor at MIU.
“I work between sculpture and painting, using various materials to navigate the play of an interior landscape with a language of form,” Jim says. “Conditions of working — space, tools, materials, and a visual vocabulary — fluctuate to become an extension of who I am at the moment.”
He is MIU Art Department Co-Chair and Professor of Art.
More than 230 original research studies were submitted to the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions (JCEHP) in 2023. Just 18 were published. And of these, the journal chose a study by Marie Loiselle and her team as the outstanding work of the year.
The journal announced this annual award — the Paul Mazmanian JCEHP Award for Excellence in Research — in a special editorial in its Spring 2024 issue.
The winning study each year is selected based on “the magnitude of the problem, the underlying conceptual/theoretical framework, the methodological quality of the research, and importance to the field,” the editorial explains.
Noting that “burnout is an incredibly important topic,” the editorial gives a detailed summary of the study and its findings and concludes, “Congratulations to the award-winning authors and thank you for your incredibly valuable contributions to the field.”
Reduced burnout, emotional exhaustion, and depression
The study found significantly reduced burnout, emotional exhaustion, and depression among physicians after just four months of Transcendental Meditation practice, compared with controls.
Physician burnout is pervasive and directly affects our health care system’s ability to deliver quality care.
Burnout is pervasive among physicians; more than half of US physicians suffer from it. Burnout is linked to substance abuse, medical errors, and suicide ideation, and more than a third of US physicians are planning to cut back their hours or leave the profession altogether because of burnout. Physician burnout directly affects our health care system’s ability to deliver quality care.
The study by Dr. Loiselle and her team — the first to examine the effects of TM practice on physician burnout — was a randomized controlled trial. Forty academic physicians representing fifteen specialties at a Midwestern metropolitan medical school and its affiliated VA hospital were randomly assigned either to the experimental (TM) group or the control group.
The subjects were assessed using measures of burnout, depression, insomnia, perceived stress, and resilience. These assessments were given at the beginning of the study (baseline) and again one month and four months later.
After four months, the physicians in the TM group showed significant improvements in total burnout and its subcategories of emotional exhaustion and personal achievement, and depression. The control group showed no significant changes.
Dr. Loiselle also conducted two qualitative interviews with each of the subjects, at baseline and again after four months. The results aligned with the quantitative outcomes. At baseline, all the physicians reported classic symptoms of burnout and depression. Four months later, those in the TM group reported relief from these symptoms while those in the control group did not.
“The biggest change is that I am just happier” – physicians’ experiences
During the baseline interviews, one subject, a department chair, described the scope of the problem: “One-third of physicians are depressed — clinically depressed.” A surgeon said: “I cannot pinpoint one person in our department who is happy with current medicine. I honestly do not know a single happy physician attending in here.”
In the exit interviews four months later, most physicians in the control group said their stress or workloads had increased. All described ongoing systemic stress.
“I am more relaxed about things overall, more accepting, calmer, not as revved up by things.”
Meanwhile, the physicians in the TM group described significant improvements. “I am more relaxed about things overall, more accepting, calmer, not as revved up by things,” one of them said in an unprompted response. “I think that is the biggest change.”
“I am more patient with people I work with, or even patients if they are being ridiculous or crazy,” another said. Another reported, “It [TM practice] is getting me more mentally rejuvenated on those days where I am just mentally exhausted.”
“I am finishing things with people because I am a little bit more organized,” another said. “I think that to manage people, you have to be a little bit detached and see the big picture, and I have that ability now.”
More than half reported greater energy and productivity.
“I feel like I have more energy to deal with things,” one said. “I started exercising regularly and I started it because of the meditation,” said another. “This is the first time in twenty plus years I have exercised regularly for more than a week.”
Still another said: “I have gotten a lot more done at work. I have probably written four manuscripts in the last four months. I do not just get into a panic about something that is overdue. I cannot explain it, but I am better. I know what to do to be productive in a day.”
“It has helped me sleep significantly,” one physician said. “Sleep alone would have been enough for this to be worthwhile.”
Said another: “The biggest change is that I am just happier.”
Those in the control group were eligible to learn the TM technique after the end of the study four months later.
Judges for the award, study coauthors
Judges for the annual award — recently renamed the Paul Mazmanian JCEHP Award in honor of Dr. Paul Mazmanian, long-time editor of the journal and “mentor and role model to many in the profession” — included representatives from the journal’s three partnering organizations: the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education, the Alliance for Continuing Education in Health Professions, and the Association for Hospital Medical Education.
Coauthors on the study were Carla Brown, Fred Travis, Gregory Gruener, Maxwell Rainforth, and Sanford Nidich. Dr. Brown is adjunct assistant professor of medical education at the Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago. Dr. Gruener is Vice Dean for Education at the Stritch School of Medicine. Drs. Travis, Rainforth, and Nidich are faculty members and researchers at MIU.
Dr. Loiselle is currently working on a study of rural Lebanese women, where she has found significant improvements in perceived stress, resilience, self-efficacy, and happiness among TM meditators versus the control group.
MIU alumnus Caspar Jung ’15 has been appointed the CEO of Maharishi European Research University (MERU) in the Netherlands — the international headquarters for the Transcendental Meditation organization, a host for assemblies, retreats, and courses, and a center for knowledge.
Caspar hails from a large family of TM meditators. Both his parents and his grandmother are TM teachers, all his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and many of his cousins have learned TM, and many of his family members have worked or are actively working for the TM organization in some capacity. His father was the national director for the Netherlands in the 1980s and early 90s and since 2015 has been the CFO and deputy minister of finance for the international TM organization. His uncle led the Purusha program in Europe for many years and in 2000 became the administrative director at MERU — effectively the position Caspar now holds.
Caspar’s upbringing in such a family laid the foundation for his journey toward spiritual and professional fulfillment.
After attending Maharishi Elementary School in the Netherlands, Caspar went to university to study architecture. While enrolled, he took a one-month break to participate in the Invincible America Assembly in Fairfield, the large group dedicated to long daily TM and TM-Sidhi program practice to accelerate personal development and create peace and harmony in society.
That’s where he discovered Maharishi International University (MIU).
“I appreciated that MIU was a place for self-exploration and that there was time for self-development.”
— Caspar Jung
“I appreciated that MIU was a place for self-exploration and that there was time for self-development,” he said. “I also liked that the block system allows students to try many different subjects in a short amount of time.”
After sampling courses in different majors, Caspar decided to pursue a business degree, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2015.
Caspar then went to work for fellow MIU alum Amit Hooda at his Fairfield-based company, Heavenly Organics. Serving as the operations coordinator, Caspar learned the elements of running a successful business. He helped establish a North America Free Trade Agreement for Heavenly Organics, enabling the company to sell products in Canada and Mexico, and had his first experience negotiating commercial contracts.
Returning to the Netherlands, Caspar joined MERU, initially as a financial analyst before transitioning to a managerial role.
In July 2022, his responsibilities expanded as Dr. Tony Nader appointed a new management board at MERU and picked Caspar to take the reins as CEO.
Helping drive these changes was the TM organization’s goal to empower younger people to assume leadership positions. Today the new MERU management board is comprised of a diverse group of Gen Xers and Millennials.
Reflecting on his experiences, Caspar emphasizes the personal growth he has experienced through his new leadership role. “I’m enjoying taking responsibility and watching myself grow from these experiences,” he says.
Caspar explains that part of MERU’s new plan is to expand the organization into a self-sufficient business, tourism attraction, and modern retreat center. This is being implemented by constructing new residential buildings, an office complex, a wellness resort, and a Maharishi Tower of Invincibility (set to be completed by 2028).
“MERU has unique strengths and opportunities because of its forest location, its importance to the TM organization’s history as Maharishi’s home, and a community of the world’s experts in consciousness. We want to open the door to the public so that people can receive the value that we have to offer.”
This vision for MERU’s future aligns with Casper’s passion for helping people achieve their full potential through inner and outer growth.
“I’m excited about personal development and the search for meaning in life that we all pursue, and I think this pursuit has the potential not just for inner fulfillment but also for professional success,” Caspar says. “I love that Transcendental Meditation has brought me inner peace as well as outer capabilities. It’s given me an advantage, and I think other people could benefit from that same advantage.”
Caspar’s appointment as the CEO of MERU marks a pivotal moment in the TM organization, part of the transition toward empowering a new generation of leaders. As MERU evolves into a comprehensive center for spiritual and personal development, Caspar’s leadership promises to inspire and empower individuals on their quest for achievement and fulfillment.
“I think the India course was a big transformation for the TM organization,” he says. “It showed that we are still capable of gathering a great deal of support both from inside the organization and outside. Now the next step is to materialize that momentum and create lasting structures and groups. I’m optimistic about our capacity and I’m encouraged by our growing momentum —especially the growing number of new people in the administration being mentored by the senior experts.”
Kathrin Gatys traveled all the way from Wolfsburg, Germany, to participate in this summer’s World Peace Assembly, held from July 20 to August 2 at MIU.
“I am so very happy that I could come back to the Golden Dome, after this long time since the pandemic,” Kathrin said. “Being in the Dome in Fairfield doing long meditations with all the others is my favorite place on earth. It gives me the experience of deep, lively silence, so enormously beautiful and huge.”
More than 1,300 people participated in the gathering, both in person and remotely.
At the same time, MIU announced that it will hold four large meditation events each year into the future — two National TM Retreats, one in the spring and one in the fall, and two World Peace Assemblies, one in the summer and one in the winter.
National TM Retreats
TM Retreats, designed for those who practice the Transcendental Meditation technique, offer deep rest through the experience of additional daily meditation along with deeper knowledge of growth of consciousness. MIU held its first National TM Retreat this past spring, from May 25 to June 1. The next will be September 7–14.
World Peace Assemblies
World Peace Assemblies are for those who practice the TM technique along with the advanced TM-Sidhi program. MIU held a similar large World Peace Assembly this past winter, from December 29 to January 12, with approximately 2,000 online and in-person participants. The next will be December 29 to January 12, 2025.
Research over the past 40 years has found that when people practice the TM and TM-Sidhi programs in a sufficiently large group, they measurably improve the quality of life for the whole society, a phenomenon known as the Maharishi Effect. And research is beginning to show that meditation groups can enhance the brain functioning of others, which helps explain how the phenomenon works, creating more positive behavior change in others.
“My wife and I looked forward to MIU’s summer WPA because we knew it would be good for us, our country, and our world,” said Alan Steinberg, a medical doctor in Los Angeles. “We thoroughly enjoyed the winter course. Our experiences were wonderful, leaving us with a blissful glow that was replenished this summer.”
“Some of my deepest meditation experiences have occurred in MIU’s Golden Domes.”
— Ellen Kirisitz
“Some of my deepest meditation experiences have occurred in MIU’s Golden Domes when they’re filled with people practicing these programs,” said Ellen Kirisitz, of Weaverville, California. “But these large group meditation programs also have a profound effect on the environment and collective consciousness. Participating in this World Peace Assembly is a win-win situation: helping to raise our own consciousness while creating coherence for the US and the world.”
“I just love coming back to MIU for WPAs, whenever they are held,” said Mindy Tiberi, from Evanston, Illinois. “The experience of meditation in the dome is so deeply nourishing and profoundly silent. The knowledge meetings are enriching and enjoyable and just being in the Sidha community makes me feel like I have come home to an enlightened family. I am so grateful for this opportunity to have this experience while creating coherence for the rest of the world!”
“We’re committed to offering these four large courses every year, year after year.”
— Tom Brooks
“We’re committed to offering these four large courses every year, year after year,” said Tom Brooks, long-time Vice President of Administration and currently Vice President of Sustainability and Environmental Strategy, who has served as chief administrator for these gatherings. “We know that if we do that, they will continue to gain momentum and grow.”
Are you happy?
Before the Gospel according to John and after the gospel, according to Mark, is the gospel according to Luke. And the 48th verse of the 12th chapter of that gospel says, to whom much is given, much is expected.
Your presence here today, under this magnificent Golden Dome, suggests that all of you have received much in life, including the opportunity and the gift to reflect and to meditate. The first part of that passage in Luke, “To whom much is given, much is expected,” is often quoted, but what’s often left out is the end of that paragraph. It says, the more one has been entrusted, the more one will be expected to repay.
President Hagelin, distinguished leaders, faculty, staff, family, and friends, and especially the 2024 graduating class of MIU, get ready to repay.
Unfortunately, life does not accept Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. In this age of entitlements, bailouts, and struggle, there is great opportunity for all of us in the community of meditators to make a difference, effect change, and exceed expectations. This is especially true in the arenas of scholarship, leadership, and service. All educators will attest to the fact that students will rise or fall to the level that is expected of them.
I was born in a small village town in New York called Brooklyn. Some of you in Iowa may have heard of it. I was the son of West African immigrant parents. My mom was from Freetown, Sierra Leone, and my dad was from Makar, Ghana. My dad would say that I was made in the USA. My dad passed away shortly after I graduated from medical school, and my mom passed away just last year, five days after I retired from the military after 25 years of service in the Navy.
My parents, like most immigrant parents, wanted me to be successful. They had sacrificed much and expected me to be successful, become a doctor or a lawyer. To this day, I still try and make them proud. And so I personally learned lessons about expectations and scholarship, leadership, and service, and I developed a greater and deeper understanding of these through the lives of others.
My scholarship and expectation lesson occurred pretty early. When I graduated from high school, I was prepared to go to college and expected to go to Morehouse, where I was accepted. However, I didn’t have enough money to go, and instead, I went to the State University of New York, SUNY Plattsburgh, a small arts and science college far up north by the Canadian border. I was far away from Brooklyn. It was a blessing. Being so far away from civilization, I didn’t have anything to do, so I studied. You guys can relate.
“Is that the best you can do? Doesn’t the scale go up to 4.0?”
After midterms of my freshman year, I made the Dean’s List and proudly went to flaunt my accomplishment to Tim, the admissions counselor. They accepted me to college at 18 years old, full of hubris. I had a 3.5. I slammed my transcript down on his desk. I expected rose petals to be sprinkled before my feet, but instead he looked at me calmly, shrugged his shoulders, and said, “Is that the best you can do? Doesn’t the scale go up to 4.0?” Infuriated, I left his office and worked even harder. I ended the semester with a 3.8 in my freshman year.
My leadership and expectation lessons occurred some years later. On April 29th, 1992, the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers that were videotaped beating Rodney King, a black man, sparked the LA riots. Fifty-three people died, thousands were injured during six days of chaos, fires, and vandalism that cost the city of LA one billion dollars.
I was 3,000 miles away on the other coast of the country, and tension was very palpable in my community. Emotions were fermenting. In the small college town of Plattsburgh, New York, we reflected on our own individual experiences of injustice growing up in Inner City, New York, and each of us, despite being educated college students, would recall the episodic police harassment we endured in rural Plattsburgh.
“I wasn’t expecting to lead anyone anywhere on that day.”
On the sixth day of the LA riots, over a thousand emotional people gathered for something outside of our small college center. I was called that morning to Miss Janice Saunders’ office, the director of affirmative action. I walked past the gathered movement, and in her office was greeted by campus and community officials who told me I would have to lead the group that gathered outside. I wasn’t expecting to lead anyone anywhere on that day.
My service and expectation lesson occurred even later. After medical school, I joined the Navy, and after general surgery residency, I expected to complete a thoracic surgery fellowship, but the Navy had other plans.
After 9/11, very few surgeons were allowed to go into advanced training and fellowship. Instead, most were deployed, like me. I was assigned to a ship as a ship surgeon. I remember thinking I didn’t join the Navy to go on a ship. I spent 22 months on this ship, and 19 months of those were out to sea. It was the loneliest, most difficult, most stressful time of my life.
Up until that point, it was also the greatest time in my life. I served with 6,000 other volunteers, who all raised their hands, and they were dedicated to a cause and felt the same fears I did.
Years later, I would join thousands of others in a different kind of campaign in the desert of Afghanistan, supporting the Second Marine Expeditionary Forces, Second, MEF. I never expected that on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, after witnessing in real-time the collapse of the World Trade Center, that I would be halfway around the world in Afghanistan, caring for wounded Marines in a tent.
I’ve made lifelong friends in military service and always felt like I was doing my part to preserve the ideals and the freedom of our country that gives its citizens and so many people around the world opportunity.
“Meditation saved my life”
But I want to share how my lessons became a deeper understanding. Meditation saved my life. Meditation saved my life. Let me explain.
When I returned from my deployment in Afghanistan, after taking care of blown-up Marines in a tent, I was in a dark place. While I was in Afghanistan, I would retreat to the tent after our cases. I would journal, I would read. Among my favorite books was the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. I identified with his retreating to the tent after a long day of battle, to reflect, to have gratitude, to write down the wisdom that he was gaining from seeing these atrocities.
When I returned home, I found a TM center in Bethesda, Maryland. I walked in, and I was greeted by a gentle soul called Mario Orsatti, who taught me TM. TM was the beginning of a whole new life. TM has helped me grow, increase my creativity, be a better father, be a better husband, be a better physician, be a better surgeon, and gave me peace.
One of my favorite authors once said, when you pray, you talk to the universe; when you meditate, you listen to the universe.
Last night at the graduation awards ceremony here at MIU, I was so inspired by the talented and gifted students that I’m sure are just representative of the entire class that’s here now and all your alumni in the community of MIU. Meditate and create. It’s a beautiful thing.
“Through meditation, I discovered sort of a practical education.”
My lessons were only the beginning of a deeper understanding. Through meditation, I discovered sort of a practical education. Education is like a garden snake that swallows a chicken egg. It’s in you but takes some time to digest. You know what I mean.
The experiences I had and my expectations were placed into perspective in the areas of scholarship, leadership, and service. I developed a deeper scholarship and expectation understanding.
While studying for my general surgery boards, I came across a quote of a young man from 1880. He was studying at Chicago Medical School. He said, “I’m making fair progress. I think it’s hard work and much study, but I’m up in the front rank and keep neck and neck with the leaders.”
The words of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams resonated with me. He was the first African American to be a fellow and charter member of the American College of Surgery, and among the first surgeons credited with performing successful surgery on the heart decades before cardiopulmonary bypass was even a possibility. His expectations were best summed up in his words: “If you don’t aim at something, you may go seeking, but you’ll come back without a thing.”
“Make sure you aim for something in life.”
Class of 2024, make sure you aim for something in life. Dr. Williams was directly responsible for training an entire generation of surgeons, and influenced hundreds, perhaps thousands, including me, to be clinically excellent. I thought about what Dr. Williams would have said to me if I smugly brought him my 3.5 GPA.
I developed a deeper leadership and expectation understanding by recounting a story. On December 1, 1955, Miss Rosa Parks refused to move and go to the back of the bus. She was subsequently arrested and convicted and became a historic icon.
Shortly after Rosa Parks’ trial and conviction, a young man who had just arrived in Montgomery had left a crowded, angry courtroom and headed to a meeting across town with some community officials. The Montgomery bus boycott was just an embryonic movement, and people were gathered to name a leader for the MIA, the Montgomery Improvement Association.
As soon as nominations were open, Mr. Rufus Lewis said, “Mr. Chairman, I’d like to nominate Reverend M.L. King for President.” Dr. King later wrote about the event in his autobiography: “The action caught me unawares. It happened so quickly. I didn’t even have time to think it through. It is possible and probable that if I had, I would have declined the nomination.”
“I stared out the window to the sea of faces gathered, waiting for something.”
In my moment in 1992 in Miss Saunders’ office, I too passed an angry crowd. I felt tremendous fear and uncertainty. I stared out the window to the sea of faces gathered, waiting for something.
Class of 2024, as Marcus Aurelius said, you have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will always find strength and courage.
I was nominated to lead, and the action caught me unawares. When I answered “Yes” on that day, I did not realize a movement had been started. When Dr. King accepted the nomination in December of 1955, a movement was started that would gain national recognition and change history forever.
I finally developed a deeper service and expectation understanding. In the 1940s, a Jewish psychiatrist was imprisoned in an Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prisoner 119104, and he expected to die. However, over time the doctor began to find meaning in his fellow prisoners’ circumstances. He provided service to his fellow inmates. He encouraged them to have hope, to have hope for the future because they were still alive. He even quoted Nietzsche: “That which does not kill me makes me stronger.” The service he provided to his fellow prisoners undoubtedly helped, but his greatest service was the contribution he made to mankind. Dr. Viktor Frankl, number 119104, gave us logotherapy and the book Man’s Search for Meaning.
“You will find purpose and meaning when you serve others.”
Class of 2024, you will find purpose and meaning when you serve others. You will find purpose and meaning when you serve others. Dr. Frankl helped me to understand that it did not really matter what I expected from life, but rather what did matter is what life expected from me.
Facing Tim’s challenges, leading a Rodney King rally, or serving on the ship or in the desert of Afghanistan was not necessarily what I expected, but it was in those moments in life what life expected of me.
The greatest among us all rise and exceed all expectations because they leave a legacy, they embrace life, they become engaged, and they take on obstacles as opportunities.
“It does not matter what you expect from life, but what does matter is what life expects from you.”
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, Dr. King, and Dr. Frankl all faced circumstances that did not consider what they expected from life, but instead, they all rose to the occasion of what life expected of them. Class of 2024, it does not matter what you expect from life, but what does matter is what life expects from you.
You all have been given the great gift of a consciousness-based education and so much more. Indeed, much is expected of you. You are all expected to exceed expectations. So, as I close, you might say, “Well, how do I exceed expectations?” I’ll give you three steps.
Number one, you will exceed expectations when you dedicate your life to answering life’s most urgent question. Dedicate your life to answering life’s most urgent question. What is that question? The question is, what are you doing for others? What are you doing for others?
Number two, you will exceed expectations when you expect to have challenges and view them all as opportunities and understand that which does not kill you makes you stronger.
And number three, you will exceed expectations when you are all grateful to the people who helped you along the way.
So, class of 2024, let’s start exceeding expectations right now. Please stand and join me in giving your families, friends, faculty, and staff a standing ovation of gratitude.
I guarantee you your parents were not expecting that.
Professor Jacques Barzun, considered among the greatest literary scholars from Columbia University, died at the age of 104. He once said, “In teaching, you cannot see the fruit of a day’s work. It’s invisible and remains so for many years.”
“You are, every one of you, someone’s favorite unfolding story.”
Graduates, I’m going to give you some great advice here. Write to your teachers and mentors and let them know how you’re doing when you leave this hallowed place. Show and tell them of the fruit of their labor. You are, every one of you, someone’s favorite unfolding story. You are. Each one of you is someone’s favorite unfolding story. Tell them how the story’s going.
In this critical time, the world needs consciousness-based individuals to positively change the world. We need you. I especially expect you all to exceed expectations. Congratulations!
MIU’s iconic Golden Dome brimmed with caps, gowns, applause, and cheers on the sunny Saturday afternoon of June 23 as the university celebrated the graduation of 853 students, an all-time record.
This number eclipsed the 732 students who graduated in 2023.
Noted heart surgeon and best-selling author Dr. Hassan Tetteh delivered the commencement address. “You all have been given the great gift of a Consciousness-Based education and so much more,” he told the graduating students. “Indeed, much is expected of you. You are all expected to exceed expectations.”
Of the total number of graduates, 102 students received bachelor’s degrees, 639 received master’s degrees, and eight received doctoral degrees, while 507 students completed their degrees on campus and 239 did so online. Another 94 students graduated with MIU degrees from MIU’s sister institution Maharishi Invincibility Institute in South Africa.
International graduating class
Graduating students represented 66 countries — fully one third of all the countries in the world had students graduating from MIU.
The United States led the pack with 275 graduates. Ethiopia had 122 graduates, South Africa 99, Nepal 75, Mongolia 27, Eritrea 25, Jordan 17, Bangladesh 16, Uganda 15, Egypt 14, Vietnam 14, Morocco 13, and Pakistan 11. Cheers erupted from each national contingent in the audience as these numbers were presented.
And this year, MIU had graduates from six new countries: Angola, Barbados, Cape Verde, Kosovo, Turkmenistan, and the United Arab Emirates.
Family affairs
The brother-and-sister team of Joylyn Ruth-Tobio Stover and Peter Stewart Tobio Stover received Doctorates of Education in Transformational Leadership and Coaching, their spouses and parents joining them in the Golden Dome. This graduation marked the first time that MIU awarded Doctor of Education (EdD) degrees, the outcome of its partnership with Wright Graduate University.
Brother-and-sister duo Bennet and Malena Strauch, from Germany, received bachelor’s degrees, Bennet in mathematics, Malena in art, with both minoring in the Enlightened Leadership program. Malena was the valedictorian and Bennet the outstanding student in mathematics. Their parents, who traveled from Germany to be present, received Enlightened Parents Awards at the Student Awards Ceremony the previous night.
Also graduating together was a husband-and-wife couple from Mongolia, Sukh Erdene Erdenebileg and Todgerel Baalaikhuu, both receiving master’s degrees in computer science.
In other family affairs, the 2024 salutatorian, Jennifer Neuger, is the mother of 2022 salutatorian Katherine Eid-Wild.
And David Orme-Johnson, who graduated with a BA in art, is grandson of founding MIU faculty member Dr. David Orme-Johnson, one of the world’s pioneering and preeminent meditation researchers. During his long tenure with MIU, Dr. Orme-Johnson chaired the psychology department and directed the PhD program in psychology. With more than a hundred published studies already, he is continuing his research on the Transcendental Meditation technique. Dr. Orme-Johnson was present in the audience along with his wife, founding MIU faculty member Dr. Rhoda Orme-Johnson.
This graduating class also showed that age is no barrier to higher education, at either end of the scale.
At age 18 — when many young people are graduating from high school and perhaps thinking about college — Sabrina Cooklin graduated with an MIU bachelor’s of Applied Arts and Sciences, which she took online. And three people in their mid-70s received degrees: Ralph Hearn (73) with a master’s in physics, Svetlana Murokh (74) with a bachelor’s in AyurVeda Wellness and Integrative Health, and Kristen Payne (75) with an MS in Aromatherapy and Ayurveda.
Exceeding expectations – Dr. Tetteh’s commencement address
Dr. Tetteh opened his address by quoting the Biblical verse Luke 12:48, “To whom much is given, much is expected.”
“Your presence here today, under this magnificent Golden Dome, suggests that all of you have received much in life, including the opportunity and the gift to reflect and to meditate,” Dr. Tetteh said.
“Get ready to repay,” he continued. “There is great opportunity for all of us in the community of meditators to make a difference, affect change, and exceed expectations. This is especially true in the arenas of scholarship, leadership, and service.”
Dr. Tetteh recounted his life experiences, including 25 years as a surgeon in the Navy, including deploying to Afghanistan and caring for wounded Marines in a tent.
“Meditation saved my life,” he said. “When I returned from my deployment in Afghanistan, after taking care of blown-up Marines in a tent, I was in a dark place.”
“TM was the beginning of a whole new life,” he said. “TM has helped me grow, increase my creativity, be a better father, be a better husband, be a better physician, be a better surgeon, and it gave me peace.”
“You all have been given the great gift of a Consciousness-Based education and so much more. Indeed, much is expected of you. You are all expected to exceed expectations. So, as I close, you might say, ‘Well, how do I exceed expectations?’ I’ll give you three steps.
“Number one, you will exceed expectations when you dedicate your life to answering life’s most urgent question. . . . What is that question? The question is, what are you doing for others?”
“Number two,” he said, “you will exceed expectations when you expect to have challenges and view them all as opportunities, and understand that that which does not kill you makes you stronger.”
“And number three, you will exceed expectations when you are all grateful to the people who helped you along the way.”
As he closed his address, the audience rose for an extended standing ovation.
For the full text of Dr. Tetteh’s address, click here.
“This is truly a special place on earth” — Malena Strauch delivers valedictorian address
“As we gather to celebrate our achievements and reflect on our journey at Maharishi International University,” said valedictorian Malena Strauch, “I am filled with a profound sense of gratitude and joy. We stand here not only as graduates but as transformed individuals, enriched by the profound education we have received.”
“Our time at MIU has been marked by more than just academic learning. We have immersed ourselves in an environment that values the integration of consciousness and knowledge — studying effectively by deepening our connection to the source of all wisdom and joy.”
“Many of you have heard the quote by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, ‘Life finds its purpose and fulfillment in the expansion of happiness.’ Our journey at MIU has been an exploration of this very principle. We have experienced that the inner expansion of bliss is the foundation of all our outer experiences. This place has helped us to accelerate our personal growth and support our longing to make this world a better place.
“Whenever I would tell my friends back in Germany where this wonderful university is located, they would ask me, ‘Why in the world would you go to Iowa?’ And I would simply respond that this is truly a special place on earth, and I would choose to come here again and again in a heartbeat.”
Jennifer Neuger gives salutatorian address and presents class gift
“I’ve done most of my work online here at MIU, and recently had the privilege of completing my last class on campus,” said salutatorian Jenny Neuger. “It is a true pleasure today for me to see familiar faces from Zoom classes as well as friendly faces from campus, most recently.”
“I love the boxes that we get to build around the accomplishments of our lives. These rites of passage give us an opportunity for a before and an after to really look at what we’ve done. Many of us graduating today began this journey of obtaining a college degree four years ago. Some of us with gray hair have held this dream for much longer. . . .
“We leave this chapter with more wisdom and with a true sense of what we have achieved. . . . With grateful hearts, let us proceed with determination as we move into the future with confidence that we have what it takes to overcome any challenge that comes our way.”
Ms. Neuger announced that the class of 2024 will be gifting MIU with a contribution to a new student gathering, study, and meditation space on campus.
President Hagelin delivers the charge
MIU President John Hagelin delivered the closing charge to the graduates.
“I have the great joy and honor of charging you to go forward with your lives and your efforts to change the world,” said MIU President John Hagelin. “Of all of the wisdom, skills, knowledge, professional and artistic, the most precious gift you have been given through Maharishi’s unique approach to education is that one thing behind your eyes, just behind your mind, which contains the goal of everything you could ever desire in life.”
President Hagelin encouraged the graduating students to make regular transcending a priority in their lives.
“And in the process of life, it will be the measure of your happiness and your success. . . . And I have no doubt . . . that you are serious about changing the world. . . . You’re all about changing the world and frankly rescuing the world from a variety of dangers that I don’t think we’ve ever had before. I know you’re committed to that. Also be committed to that daily dose of retiring into the you inside of you. Get that refreshment, that stability, that foundation, to come out and achieve more, and ultimately achieve everything.”
This year’s annual student satisfaction survey showed high levels of satisfaction with both academics and extracurricular features of the university.
“It was very nice to see that the features that make MIU unique in higher education — the block system, Transcendental Meditation, and Consciousness-based education — were what the students found most satisfying,” said Rod Eason, Vice-President of Enrollment and Student Affairs.
More than 700 students — both on campus and online — participated in the annual survey, the largest response by far in the years the survey has been administered.
“I was particularly pleased that so many students took the time to give honest feedback on their MIU experience,” Eason said. “While the survey data showed a high level of satisfaction overall, students also offered many thoughtful suggestions for improvement. This kind of constructive feedback is exactly what we were looking for and is a big help in our efforts at continuous improvement.”
MIU’s most attractive features
Along with detailed questions about the degree to which MIU met students expectations in different areas (shown in the five charts at the right), the survey asked several narrative-answer questions.
One of those was was, “What is the most attractive feature of MIU for you personally?”
One student responded, “Consciousness-based education and the value MIU places on ensuring students are improving their personal wellness and health alongside their higher education.”
Another wrote: “The sustainable living and regenerative organic agriculture programs were originally the big draw for me. I did not anticipate how much the practice of TM would change my life.”
“I absolutely love the block system,” commented another. “I can be a full-time student, receive federal loans, and still have time for a part-time job and my family.”
Another student replied, “I love the Ayurveda courses. My classmates are great, and teachers really care about me.”
On-campus students noted two areas for possible improvement: more variety in the menu offerings in the dining commons and a wider range of student activities.
The table below shows on-campus and online students’ responses to another set of global questions.
| Area | Percentage responding “strongly agree or agree” |
| Tuition paid is a worthwhile investment | 85% |
| Requirements in my major are clear and reasonable | 85% |
| Maharishi’s knowledge is incorporated into the curriculum in a meaningful and relevant way that enhances the discipline | 81% |
| The faculty care about me as an individual | 83% |
| The quality of instruction in most of my classes is excellent | 86% |
| My instructors challenge me to do my best work | 86% |
| The content of the courses within my major is valuable | 89% |
| I feel welcome to be myself within the culture at MIU | 87% |
| I’ve seen an improvement in my personal well-being at MIU | 88% |
| Overall, I’m satisfied with my experience at MIU | 87% |
| I’m planning on returning to MIU next semester | 88% |
| I would recommend MIU to others | 84% |
Online students’ feedback
With MIU’s online student enrollment burgeoning, the survey results from that group were of special interest.
Online students were asked, “How satisfied are you with the following components of MIU’s online education?” This chart shows their responses:
| Area | Percentage responding “strongly agree or agree” |
| Opportunity for interaction with instructors & peers online | 77% |
| Communication and instructor feedback on assignments | 81% |
| Flexibility of the online learning format | 88% |
| Accessibility to the learning materials (readings, videos) | 88% |
| Support services (tech support, personal counseling) | 73% |
| Free virtual TM retreats for online students | 74% |
A narrative question directed to online students was, “What do you like most about your online education program?”
“That I’m surprisingly able to form close bonds with fellow students,” one student said.
“The flexibility to be a mom and a business owner and be in school full-time,” another wrote.
“How much my professors cared for me!” wrote another. “I had many personal challenges going on in the meantime, and my professors and TAs did everything they could to help me succeed.”
Wrote another: “The sense of community I felt. I almost felt as though I was there in person and fully integrated into this group of warm and welcoming people who were truly and sincerely devoted to each other’s success and wellbeing.”
Thank you to Rod Eason for his help with this story.
The “forever wars” need not go on forever. The path to peace lies in health. And the path to health runs through practical meditation techniques that not only foster individual health but create peace on a broad social scale, through the mechanism known as the Maharishi Effect.
This is the thesis put forward by Dr. Robert Schneider and his coauthors in a perspective article about the Maharishi Effect entitled “Peace Through Health: Traditional Medicine Meditation in the Prevention of Collective Stress, Violence, and War,” recently published by Frontiers, the prominent research publisher and open science platform.
“This is the first time, to my knowledge, that a paper about the Maharishi Effect has been published in a fairly highly respected, mainstream public health and medicine venue,” Dr. Schneider says. Dr. Schneider, MD, FACCD, is Dean of the College of Integrative Medicine, Director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, and Professor of Physiology and Health at MIU.
The paradigm barrier
The first study on the Maharishi Effect was conducted just over fifty years ago, showing reduced crime rate in four US cities where the percentage of the population practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique had reached the one percent threshold, which Maharishi Mahesh Yogi predicted would improve overall quality of life.
Since then studies on the Maharishi Effect have proliferated, expanding the scope of the original study to larger and larger populations, testing the effect in locations around the world, and identifying reductions in many other symptoms of social stress, including infectious diseases, accidents, and drug and alcohol and tobacco use. Perhaps most encouraging have been the studies showing reductions in international terrorism and warfare.
To date nearly sixty studies have been conducted, published in nearly thirty peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly journals.
“And yet, after fifty years and all this research, we still have not seen a large-scale implementation,” Dr. Schneider said. “We think this must be because it’s difficult for many people to understand how the Maharishi Effect works. How can people sitting with their eyes closed in a hotel in Jerusalem, for example, reduce the fighting in the Lebanon Civil War across the border to the north, as happened in that dramatic experiment in 1983? To many people this just doesn’t seem plausible.”
This is because the Maharishi Effect inhabits an entirely different paradigm, a different way of understanding how the world works, Schneider says. “Your paradigm or worldview shapes what you believe is possible and not possible, and in the prevailing materialist or physicalist worldview, this phenomenon is impossible.”
Enter doctors and health professionals — Peace Through Health
Dr. Schneider and company resolved to find a way to penetrate the paradigm barrier, to explain the Maharishi Effect in a way that professionals and policy makers could understand.
Fortunately, new developments in medicine and science have made that task easier. “Science is catching up to the Maharishi Effect,” Dr. Schneider says.
Schneider and his coauthors — Dr. Michael Dillbeck, Dr. Gunvant Yeola, and Dr. Tony Nader — began by framing the Maharishi Effect as part of the “peace through health” movement.
“This movement is gathering strength and attention,” Dr. Schneider says. “Since no one else has solved the war problem, including the prospect of nuclear war, doctors and health professionals have stepped into the game, saying we should do it. Just this past year top medical journals have been advocating for this approach — the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Lancet, and the British Medical Journal.”
It’s well known that wars are catastrophic for health. As Dr. Schneider and company observe in the article:
“War and armed conflicts cause severe damage to public health through widespread injuries, diseases, disabilities, premature deaths, displaced populations, environmental contamination, and often violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Moreover, it redirects crucial resources from health and social services to conflict-related activities, potentially perpetuating further violence.”
“But the converse is also true,” Dr. Schneider notes. “Poor health, particularly mental health, causes wars. That’s the message of the new medicine.”
Currently four major wars are underway, along with a long list of minor armed conflicts. Leading scientific minds consider these conflicts to be “intractable.” The current Israel-Palestinian hostilities, for example, are merely the latest installment in a 75-year conflict.
Looking to traditional medicine
The World Health Organization is also talking about peace through health — with a twist.
“The WHO is saying that not only is war bad for your health, but bad health creates conditions that give rise to war, and therefore the health professions should do something about it,” Dr. Schneider says. “And now they’re saying that since modern medicine hasn’t been successful in addressing this — or in addressing chronic, intractable individual health issues, for that matter — we should look to traditional medicine. Traditional medicine may hold secrets to modern maladies, they’re saying, and it’s cheap and used by billions of people already. So we should investigate it.”
That’s exactly what Dr. Schneider and his colleagues have done.
“We looked into the traditional medicine of India, Ayurveda, where there’s a long tradition of public health for prevention of epidemics and wars,” Schneider says. “Ayurveda describes how to reduce collective violence and prevent wars by managing the minds or consciousness of the people in the affected society. This challenge — known today as public or population mental health — is the theme of the Frontiers issue featuring our paper.”
Population mental health
We traditionally think of mental health as an individual malady. But some physicians have expanded this thinking to include whole societies — an example of how modern medicine is catching up to the theory behind the Maharishi Effect, making it easier to understand.
For example, scientists have developed a classic model called the Epidemiologic Triangle for studying health problems. The model involves three elements: the agent (the microbe that causes the disease), the host (the organism harboring the disease), and the environment (the external factors that enable disease transmission).
Barry Levy, a physician, epidemiologist, and author at Tufts University, has adapted this model to help understand collective violence. In Levy’s model, the host is the people, the environment is the conditions in which people live, and the agent is the machinery of warfare — military, weapons, the military-industrial complex.
“Levy proposes that to prevent war, we need to change the people,” Dr. Schneider says. “This contrasts with conventional approaches — for example, changing the agent by making weapons more or less available or militaries larger or smaller, or changing the environment by providing aid, modifying laws, enhancing security, and so on. The idea of changing the people is a huge step of progress.”
Dr. Schneider and his colleagues take Levy’s proposal another step forward.
“We extend the idea of Peace Through Health by proposing to change people from deep within — to expand their consciousness, literally to change the way their brains function,” Dr. Schneider says. “More integrated and coherent brain functioning will lead to changes in the environment and then to changes in military action — the agent — effectively going around the triangle in the opposite direction.”
Population neuroscience — a breakthrough in public health
The new field of population neuroscience also makes the Maharishi Effect easier to grasp.
“Population neuroscience or collective neuroscience says that our cognitions — our thoughts and feelings — are connected, and we can measure that,” Dr. Schneider says. “In other words, there is such a thing as collective consciousness. We’ve been using this concept all along in describing the Maharishi Effect, but now there’s a growing empirical basis beyond the research on the Maharishi Effect itself.”
“Several Maharishi Effect studies show that group TM practice synchronizes brain activities across individuals,” Dr. Schneider says. “These findings help explain the increased social coherence and reduced stress-related behaviors we see in other Maharishi Effect studies — and they fit right into the new field of population neuroscience, shedding light on how collective meditation can neutralizes social stress, the basis of conflict and war.”
The perspectives of quantum physics and consciousness
The Frontiers paper also points to quantum physics — particularly the phenomena of interconnectedness and nonlocality — that can help explain the Maharishi Effect. “The Maharishi Effect shows that we humans are fundamentally connected at a deep level and that we can influence each other from thousands of miles away,” Dr. Schneider says. “While this idea may seem implausible in classical physics, interconnectedness and nonlocality define the quantum world.”
Finally, the authors describe the emerging understanding that consciousness is not limited to the brain but is an underlying, universal field that underlies the quantum dimension and connects everything and everyone. Dr. Nader’s new book, Consciousness Is All There Is: How Understanding and Experiencing Consciousness Will Transform Your Life, provides perhaps the most thorough and detailed explanation of this to date.
A new model of holistic health, a new paradigm for peace
“Having laid all this groundwork, then we put it all together in a new model of holistic health — the Connectome,” Dr. Schneider says. “Environment-body-mind-spirit/consciousness are all connected. This total health mental model has rarely been presented in our own science.”
In the prevailing paradigm of social science and conflict resolution, the remedies for war typically involve ceasefires, peace treaties, mutual consent, third-party mediation — external actions.
“The practice of group meditation for peace represents a paradigm shift from an external locus of change to an internal one, where cultivating inner peace within individuals can lead to positive outcomes on a societal scale.”
“The practice of group meditation for peace,” the Frontiers article says, “represents a paradigm shift from an external locus of change to an internal one, where cultivating inner peace within individuals can lead to positive outcomes on a societal scale.”
The paper has generated considerable media coverage, especially in India.
“With research on the Maharishi Effect continuing to be published, and with science and medicine gradually catching up to the Maharishi Effect by helping explain the findings, we’re not completely alone in the world anymore,” Dr. Schneider says.
Dr. Schneider and colleagues hope to call attention to the Maharishi Effect among a wider audience — in science, medicine, and public policy.
“If we can provide a comprehensive understanding of the Maharishi Effect, in terms that scientists can increasingly relate to, we can call for courage in overcoming cognitive bias, for making a paradigm shift, and for expanding public health policy to support this promising approach to peace. Maybe it’s time to end the wars.”
* * * * * * *
About the authors
- Robert Schneider, MD, FACC, is Dean of the College of Integrative Medicine, Director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, and Professor of Physiology and Health at Maharishi International University.
- The late Michael Dillbeck had been a professor of psychology and member of the board of trustees at MIU.
- Gunvant Yeola is the principal at DY Patil College of Ayurveda and Research Center, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
- Tony Nader, MD, PhD, MARR, is the director of the Dr. Tony Nader Institute for Research on Consciousness and Its Applied Technologies at MIU, as well as the leader of the worldwide Transcendental Meditation organizations and author of the forthcoming book Consciousness Is All There Is.
Images
- Epidemiologic Triad, “Disease Control and Prevention,” Indiana Department of Correction.
- Population neuroscience, E.B. Falk et al, “What is a representative brain? Neuroscience meets population science,” PNAS, September 11, 2013.
In a move to enhance student learning, streamline the pathway to graduation for its many transfer students, and make MIU even more distinctive among American colleges and universities, MIU has adopted an open curriculum for undergraduate education, effective this fall semester.
MIU joins a small but elite group of schools with open curricula. These include Amherst College, Antioch College, Brown University, Grinnell College, Hamilton College, Hampshire College, and Smith College.
“At MIU we are all about continuous improvement of teaching and learning,” said Chris Jones, past dean of undergraduate studies, professor of education, and part of the ad hoc faculty committee on undergraduate enrollment that advocated for this change. “This represents a significant step forward for our university, one that offers students far more control over their undergraduate education.”
What is an open curriculum?
Schools with an open curriculum do not have a core curriculum, distribution requirements, or general education requirements — that is, substantial course requirements outside the major. Most open curriculum schools preserve the major requirement, but beyond that they give students freedom to choose their coursework, guided by ongoing academic advising.
Why is this a better approach for MIU?
“Above all, receptivity is crucial for learning,” Jones said. “Research and common sense indicate that students are more receptive to knowledge in courses they have chosen for themselves than in courses they’re required to take.”
Another factor is the large percentage of students who transfer to MIU from other schools. “About three quarters of our undergraduate students are transfers,” Jones said. “They may arrive with a year or more of transfer credit, meaning they will not be at MIU for a full four years. We want to ensure they have the simplest possible pathway to graduating, without having to stay longer and incur more debt than necessary.”
Yet another element in the decision is that MIU students are generally older than entering students at other schools. “The average age of our entering freshmen students is thirty-one,” Jones said. “They’ve been out in the working world, and when they come to MIU to finish their degrees, they’re pretty clear about what they want to achieve in their education. We want to make sure they have every opportunity to get what they come for.”
What changed in this transition?
“MIU had a set of general education courses required of all students,” Jones said. “These included courses on physics and consciousness, physiology and consciousness, higher states of consciousness, creative and critical thinking, and math. These courses are all valuable, and our academic advisors will recommend them to students, but students themselves will decide whether they wish to take them.”
An open curriculum eliminates a challenge that typically accompanies core curricula, distribution requirements, and general education requirements.
“Required courses will inevitably have students who don’t want to be there,” Jones said. “This can be a challenge for the instructor and the other students. In an open curriculum, every student in the class is there because they’ve chosen to be there.”
How does this make MIU more attractive to students?
“We have a unique undergraduate student demographic,” said Ron Barnett, MIU’s director of marketing. “They’re older, they’re free spirited, they’re disillusioned with conventional education, and they’re looking for something different, including personal development. That’s why they like our block system and Consciousness-Based education. The open curriculum will appeal to these students.”
Are any courses still required?
“Our academic majors remain in place, with their requirements,” Jones said. “Most open curriculum schools still have majors. Like other schools, we also allow students to design their own major and name it as they wish.”
The introductory course for entering students, “Exploring Consciousness,” remains required. “This course is the gateway into the MIU experience,” Jones said. “This is where students learn the Transcendental Meditation technique and explore the new paradigm of consciousness that MIU is based on. It’s the orientation to MIU’s unique Consciousness-Based approach to education.”
Students are also required to take at least one writing course, or two, depending on their entering skill level.
“It’s typical for open curriculum schools to require a couple of courses like this,” Jones said. “Writing is such a critical skill, even in a digital age, and it’s an important mode of learning in itself.”
And then there’s the venerable Forest Academy program, which takes place during the first two weeks of each semester for on-campus students and twice a year for online students. Students choose from a set of interdisciplinary courses on a range of interesting topics with a focus on the consciousness dimension, and they can participate in a TM Retreat. “Students begin each semester with an inward dive,” Jones said. “Then they return to their studies with greater freshness, clarity, and energy.”
How do you ensure students get the breadth of education and important knowledge that general education requirements, core curricula, and general education requirements aim to provide?
“The key is academic advising,” Jones said. “Open curriculum schools place great emphasis on advising, on guiding students in making the curricular choices that will serve them best. We will do that as well. Students are already highly motivated to get the most from their investment in education, and they are amenable to advising.”
Open curriculum schools also monitor patterns of student enrollment. “One concern is that students might take a lot of ‘easy’ courses or only courses in their comfort zone,” Jones said. “Other schools have found no evidence of this, but we will monitor this closely, as they do.”
What’s the history of the open curriculum in the US?
Most schools using this approach conceived and implemented it in the 1960s and early 1970s. But the principle of “freedom to learn” has a much longer history. Even before the Civil War many top American universities were trying out alternatives to traditional forms of higher education, rejecting existing models in favor of allowing students more choice.
Charles Eliot (1834–1926), the president of Harvard who transformed the school from a regional college into America’s most esteemed research university, “urged that all requirements be abolished, leaving students free to study whatever appealed to them,” according to later Harvard president Derek Bok, in his book Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More.
Brown’s President Francis Wayland recommended in 1850 that “the various courses should be so arranged that, in so far as practicable, every student might study what he chose, all that he chose, and nothing but what he chose.”
At Cornell University, President Andrew White at Cornell was also championing student choice. “The attempt to give mental discipline by studies which the mind does not desire is as unwise as the attempt to give physical nourishment by food which the body does not desire,” he wrote. “Vigorous, energetic study, prompted by enthusiasm or a high sense of the value of the subject, is the only kind of study not positively hurtful to mental power.”
What has been the experience of schools using the open curriculum approach currently?
It’s been very positive.
Brown University organized a project that brought together representatives from eight institutions where such a curriculum had thrived for more than forty years — Amherst College, Antioch College, Hampshire College, New College, Sarah Lawrence College, Smith College, and Wesleyan University, plus Brown.
They met throughout an academic year to identify the values and learning outcomes associated with this educational model and to begin to assess its strengths and weaknesses. In their report they wrote:
“According to alumni interviews and faculty focus groups undertaken as part of this study, students who are granted such freedom display unusual motivation and engagement with their studies and develop independence, self-confidence, and decision-making skills that serve them well in later life. . . . An emphasis on developing the capacity for problem-solving and on promoting creativity, curiosity, and independent thinking is, according to these reports, characteristic of the culture of learning that an open curriculum makes possible.”
The report shows that the open curriculum cultivates the very qualities increasingly needed in the 21st century. It prepares students “to become life-long learners who are energized by novelty and unafraid of the unfamiliar.” It supports students in becoming “versatile, flexible, responsive to change, and comfortable with ambiguity.”
“Rapid development of new technologies calls for nimbleness, adaptability, and even playfulness — an ability to learn quickly new ways of doing things and an imagination for exploring and exploiting their possible applications, finding them not a threat but an occasion for creativity and an opportunity to expand our capacities for expression and discovery. . . . The qualities of mind and character that an education for such a world should cultivate include versatility, flexibility, resilience, and agility. A curriculum designed to develop fearless, independent thinkers and to nurture adventurous spirits would seem especially attuned to its challenges and opportunities.”