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California Institute of Integral Studies

California Institute of Integral Studies
The main campus building of CIIS (2020)
TypePrivate university
Established1968; 57 years ago (1968)
PresidentBrock Blomberg
Students1,510
Location
San Francisco
,
California
,
United States
Websitewww.ciis.edu
Sri Aurobindo
Family
Political career
Speeches and books
Teachings
Places
Communities
Disciples
Journals and forums

The California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) is a private graduate school (with limited undergraduate offerings) in San Francisco. Founded in 1968 as the California Institute of Asian Studies (the name was changed in 1980), CIIS has been regionally accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges since 1981. While most programs fall into the general categories of psychology and spirituality, degrees offered range from "Anthropology and Social Change" to "Transformative Leadership" to "Psychedelic Studies." The term "Integral" in the school's name refers to Aurobindo's Integral Yoga (purnayoga), here interpreted as the integration of mind, body, and spirit.

Since 1999, the main location of CIIS has been in the SoMa area, on the border with the Civic Center and Mission districts.[1]

History

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The name "California Institute of Asian Studies" was inspired by that of the American Academy of Asian Studies (AAAS), a study group in Indian philosophy and culture founded 1951 by businessman Louis Gainsborough, with Alan Watts as an early participant. AAAS director Frederic Spiegelberg, a Stanford University professor and Aurobindo devotee, invited Indian philosophy professor and Aurobindo disciple Haridas Chaudhuri to the US, on the recommendation of Aurobindo himself.[2]

Watts established the AAAS as a meeting place for the countercultural movement known as the San Francisco Renaissance. Chaudhuri developed the field of integral counseling psychology, an integration of Indian philosophy with "Western" psychology.[3] Others offering classes and lectures included C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer, Judith Tyberg, Rom Landau, Saburo Hasegawa, G. P. Malalasekhara, and Gi-ming Shien. Graduate students included Michael Murphy and Dick Price, future cofounders of the Esalen Institute; Eugene Rose, the future Orthodox hieromonk Seraphim Rose; Gia-Fu Feng who translated Chinese classics for Watts and would go on to write bestselling translations of the Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi; and leading figures of the Beat Generation including poet Gary Snyder. Price, Feng, and Snyder were among a core group of students that lived at the school. Jack Kerouac visited frequently, and based characters in The Dharma Bums on Watts and Snyder.[4][5]

By 1952 the AAAS was in financial decline, after Gainsborough suffered serious business losses. For support and accreditation, the AAAS entered into an agreement to serve as the graduate school of Asian studies for the College of the Pacific. Spiegelberg stepped down, whereupon Watts operated the school on a shoestring budget for the next four years. The conservative college administration, dissatisfied with Watts' leadership, pushed him out in 1956.[4][5] Due to Watts' departure, a group of resident scholars led by Ananda Claude Dalenberg and including Shien, Feng, and Snyder also left the AAAS to found an intentional community called East-West House. (Kerouac's visits there inspired characters for his books.) Residents included Knute Stiles, Joanne Kyger, and other artists, poets and writers of the Beat Generation. Their lack of interest in the Academy added to the financial strain on the school, which closed within the year.[4][6][5]

Following the collapse of the AAAS, Chaudhuri and his wife Bina established the Cultural Integration Fellowship (CIF), an educational and meditation center based in a house on Fulton Street (across from Golden Gate Park, in the Inner Richmond District), and devoted to Aurobindo's integral philosophy and the practice of Integral Yoga. Between 1968 and 1974, the California Institute of Asian Studies was the educational branch of the CIF. Meanwhile, the East-West House community maintained a connection with Watts, his Beat Zen, and later also Shunryū Suzuki and the San Francisco Zen Center. Esalen would feature seminars by both Chaudhuri and Watts. Murphy and Price first met at the CIF in 1960, despite both having previously attended the AAAS, and Spiegelberg's lectures at Stanford. Murphy had lived at the Sri Aurobindo ashram in India from June 1956 to October 1957, and was now living, meditating, and studying at the CIF house, where he invited Price to room with him. Within a year they established what would become Esalen Institute in Big Sur.[7][6]

Paul Herman continued the work of Chaudhuri and also designed the institute's first graduate degree in Integral Psychology, the Integral Counseling Psychology (ICP) degree, which was established in 1973.[3][8] Spiegelberg served as the institute's second president, from 1976 to 1978. In 1980 the Institute changed its name to the California Institute of Integral Studies, and was granted regional accreditation the following year.

By the mid-1980s, available programs included clinical psychology, counseling psychology, and East/West psychology. Further programs in organizational development, external studies, and a transformation certificate program were launched in 1985–1986. Around this time, CIIS acquired an extensive library as well as the Integral Counseling Center, a community-based service facility that supported the training needs of clinical and counseling students.[8] Obadiah S. Harris served as school president for a few years before succeeding Manly P. Hall as president of the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles (serving there 1990-2017).

In 2008, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that psychology students at the New College of California were transferring to the California Institute of Integral Studies, due to the closing of the former institution.[9]

In 2012, CIIS, with support from the Aetna Foundation, announced that it was introducing its new onsite Health and Wellness Coaching program to San Francisco's Mid-Market District. The program was to be of benefit to children and families living at 10th & Mission Family Housing, a supportive housing project run by Mercy Housing California.[10] In 2013 Jordan[11] published a case report that summarized the experiences from the Integrative Wellness Coaching (IWC) project among homeless and low-income individuals in San Francisco. The IWC model was, at this time, included in the Master of Arts program in Integrative Health Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Philosophical background

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Central to the early history of the institute is a model of so-called integral education. Originally set up to study Eastern culture and philosophy in the beginning of the 1950s,[12] the Institute developed further in this direction with the arrival of Haridas Chaudhuri. Chaudhuri introduced the integral philosophy of Sri Aurobindo as a navigating principle for education and established a perspective that sought a holistic view of the human being; an integration of material and spiritual values; as well as an integration of Eastern and Western philosophies and worldviews.[3][8] By the mid-eighties this model of education was firmly established. In 1985 Voigt[8] reported on the graduate programs at CIIS and elaborated on the experience of integral education at the institute. In the late 1990s, CIIS was one of several institutions in the United States associated with the study of Holism and Consciousness.[13]

There is also a connection between the roots of CIIS and the Human Potential Movement. Among the students who attended the colloquia at the American Academy of Asian Studies in the 1950s was Michael Murphy and Dick Price, founders of the Esalen Institute at Big Sur.[3] According to Gleig and Floress,[14] "one can trace a direct line from Integral Yoga through [the Cultural Integration Fellowship] to two of the major centers of the Human Potential movement and the transpersonal psychology field it birthed: Esalen and California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)."

Gleig and Flores further explain that:

CIIS's distinctive signature is the development of an integral education that combines academic scholarship with spiritual transformation and through its student body, faculty publications, and popular public program it has significantly shaped contemporary East-West spiritualities. As with the other main creative lineage centers – Esalen and CIF – CIIS is committed to a pluralistic spiritual vision and its Aurobindo roots are somewhat hidden.[14]

According to Jim Ryan, CIIS, as developed by the founder (Chaudhuri), "had a very wide academic reach, far beyond its basic East-West philosophy concentration. Theses and dissertations were done over many years on the politics, economics, anthropology, sociology, and area studies of many nations of the world."[15]: 52 

Academics

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CIIS consists of three schools: the School of Professional Psychology & Health, the School of Consciousness and Transformation (mainly humanities subjects), and the School of Undergraduate Studies.[16] In 2015 CIIS acquired a fourth school, the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM), but in 2021 following an external audit the CIIS Board of Trustees decided to close ACTCM by 2024.[17]

The institute offers interdisciplinary and cross-cultural graduate studies in psychology, counseling, philosophy, religion, cultural anthropology, transformative studies and leadership, integrative health, women's spirituality, and community mental health.[18] Many courses combine mainstream academic curricula with a spiritual orientation, including influences from a broad spectrum of mystical or esoteric traditions.

Accreditation and exam pass rates

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CIIS is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission.[19]

In 2018, The Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS), California's state regulatory agency responsible for licensing, examination, and enforcement of Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFTs), released statistics for its January 1, 2018 through June 30, 2018 exam cycle.[20]

The Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) program in Clinical Psychology is not accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). The program received APA accreditation in 2003, but accreditation was revoked in 2011, and CIIS's appeal of the revocation was denied in 2012 on the basis that it was "not fully consistent with the Guidelines and Principles for Accreditation of Programs in Professional Psychology", notably "several requirements in the following areas: Domain B: Program Philosophy, Objectives, and Curriculum Plan; Domain C: Program Resources; Domain E: Student-Faculty Relations; Domain F: Program Self-Assessment and Quality Enhancement."[21][22][23] CIIS applied for APA accreditation in June 2016, but voluntarily withdrew its application in June 2017.[24]

Notable people

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References

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  1. ^ "Map and Directions". www.ciis.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  2. ^ "From the American Academy of Asian Studies to the California Institute of Integral Studies" [1]
  3. ^ a b c d Subbiondo, Joseph L. CIIS and American Higher Education. Integral Review, June 2011, Vol. 7, No. 1
  4. ^ a b c Wilson, Carol Ann (2009). Still Point of the Turning World: The Life of Gia-fu Feng. Amber Lotus Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60237-296-2.
  5. ^ a b c Kripal, Jeffrey John (2007). Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion. The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-45371-2.
  6. ^ a b Morgan, Bill (2003). The Beat Generation in San Francisco: A Literary Tour. San Francisco: City Lights Publishers. p. IX, 151–152. ISBN 978-0872864177.
  7. ^ Kripal
  8. ^ a b c d Voigt, Walt. Bridging East and West in Graduate Education: The California Institute of Integral Studies. The Humanistic Psychologist, 27 Vol. 13, No. 3, Autumn 1985.
  9. ^ Schevitz, Tanya. "Stark lesson as San Francisco college close". San Francisco Chronicle online, June 20, 2008. Retrieved 07 April 2018.
  10. ^ "Wellness; California Institute of Integral Studies, Aetna Foundation Bring Free Wellness Coaching to Supportive Housing Residents in San Francisco". Pediatrics Week; Atlanta [Atlanta]11 Feb 2012: 64.
  11. ^ Jordan, Meg. «Health Coaching for the Underserved». Glob Adv Health Med. 2013 May; 2(3): 75–82.
  12. ^ New York Times Staff. Frederic Spiegelberg, Religion Teacher, 97. The New York Times, 1994
  13. ^ McManis, Sam. "University with a Vision / JFK's holistic studies program attracts devoted students – and strong critics". San Francisco Chronicle online, October 9, 1998. Retrieved 07 April 2018.
  14. ^ a b Ann Gleig and Charles I. Flores (2013), "Remembering Sri Aurobindo and the Mother: The Forgotten Lineage of Integral Yoga" (chapter 2) In: Singleton, Mark; Goldberg, Ellen (2013). Gurus of Modern Yoga. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199938704. OCLC 861692270.
  15. ^ Jim Ryan, "The Complete Yoga: The Lineage of Integral Education" in: Gunnlaugson, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Jonathan Reams, Olen (2010). Integral education new directions for higher learning. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 47–54. ISBN 9781438433509. OCLC 658060931.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "Our Schools - CIIS". www.ciis.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  17. ^ Moan, Rebekah (2023-11-14). "ACTCM Struggles to Do Right by Remaining Students". www.potreroview.net. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  18. ^ Psychology & Psychiatry Journal. "California Institute of Integral Studies Launches Groundbreaking Community Mental Health Program". Psychology & Psychiatry Journal; Atlanta, Feb 2008: 4.
  19. ^ "WASC: Statement of Accreditation Status, California Institute of Integral Studies". Directory.wascsenior.org. 2013-11-14. Archived from the original on 2013-12-06. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  20. ^ "Board of Behavioral Sciences: EXAM RESULTS BY SCHOOL" (PDF). Board of Behavioral Sciences. June 30, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  21. ^ Accredited Programs in Clinical Psychology [2], American Psychological Association. Accessed online January 25, 2013.
  22. ^ CoA Statement and CIIS Response to Revocation of Accreditation "CoA Statement and CIIS Response to Revocation of Accreditation". Archived from the original on 2013-09-15. Retrieved 2013-08-08., American Psychological Association. Accessed online January 25, 2013.
  23. ^ "All Approved Doctoral Programs Listed by Jurisdiction". National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. Retrieved 8 September 2014. This program's accreditation has been revoked. (Under Appeal)
  24. ^ "Programs Applying for Initial Accreditation". American Psychological Association. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
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