About Us

CONTACT US

About Us

CONTACT US

President, CEO and Member of the Board of Trustees

Who We Are

CSE’s founding president is Dr. Lisa Miller, Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Miller is a foremost scientist on spirituality across the human lifespan with her work published in leading research journals. She created the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, the first Ivy League graduate program in spirituality and psychology.  She is the author of The Spiritual Child; The New Science of Parenting for Health and Lifelong Thriving, and The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and the Quest for an Inspired Life, which set forth the insights and broad vision that guide CSE.

Dr. Miller launched this educational change project in collaboration with a team of leading academics, master practitioners, and activists. CSE is housed at Teachers College and was founded in partnership with the Fetzer Institute and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. CSE’s research and teaching hub is housed at Teachers College.

“Renewing the

American Democratic Faith”

 

by Steven C. Rockefeller

President, CEO and Member of the Board of Trustees

Who We Are

CSE’s founding president is Dr. Lisa Miller, Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Miller is a foremost scientist on spirituality across the human lifespan with her work published in leading research journals. She created the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, the first Ivy League graduate program in spirituality and psychology.  She is the author of The Spiritual Child; The New Science of Parenting for Health and Lifelong Thriving, and The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and the Quest for an Inspired Life, which set forth the insights and broad vision that guide CSE.

Dr. Miller launched this educational change project in collaboration with a team of leading academics, master practitioners, and activists. CSE is housed at Teachers College and was founded in partnership with the Fetzer Institute and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. CSE’s research and teaching hub is housed at Teachers College.

An Urgent Priority

There is a growing national understanding that success and well-being require a “whole child” approach to education. Social emotional learning, mindfulness, character education, values education, restorative practices, and other related programs seek to address the needs of children in a more holistic way.

Still, national data on youth reveal increasing rates of personal suffering and pathology. Collective understanding of citizenship wanes as does care of the environment. Within the leading whole child movements, in recent years, a question intensifies: How do we strengthen the deep inner core of the child? How do we help children access this inner core to support their sense of meaning and purpose, responsibility for others, and concern for the natural world?

An Urgent Priority

There is a growing national understanding that success and well-being require a “whole child” approach to education. Social emotional learning, mindfulness, character education, values education, restorative practices, and other related programs seek to address the needs of children in a more holistic way.

Still, national data on youth reveal increasing rates of personal suffering and pathology. Collective understanding of citizenship wanes as does care of the environment. Within the leading whole child movements, in recent years, a question intensifies: How do we strengthen the deep inner core of the child? How do we help children access this inner core to support their sense of meaning and purpose, responsibility for others, and concern for the natural world?

The vast majority of efforts to date hinge on implementation of curriculum. Yet, our recent two-year study of 21 highly successful schools found that culture is as essential to learning as curriculum. In fact, culture is the hidden curriculum in all schools. The question is not whether culture impacts education;  it is whether that culture is explicitly and intentionally designed.

The schools we studied have a deliberate blueprint for internal practices that support a culture of whole child development. This was shared whether schools were resource-rich or under-resourced, public or private, urban, suburban, or rural.

Our research further identified 11 elements of this blueprint, which we have termed the 11 Drivers of an Awakened School Culture. These drivers are explored in greater detail in our recent article in the International Journal of Children’s Spirituality and in the forthcoming second edition of The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality.

The vast majority of efforts to date hinge on implementation of curriculum. Yet, our recent two-year study of 21 highly successful schools found that culture is as essential to learning as curriculum. In fact, culture is the hidden curriculum in all schools. The question is not whether culture impacts education;  it is whether that culture is explicitly and intentionally designed.

The schools we studied have a deliberate blueprint for internal practices that support a culture of whole child development. This was shared whether schools were resource-rich or under-resourced, public or private, urban, suburban, or rural.

Our research further identified 11 elements of this blueprint, which we have termed the 11 Drivers of an Awakened School Culture. These drivers are explored in greater detail in our recent article in the International Journal of Children’s Spirituality and in the forthcoming second edition of The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality.

The work of CSE in applying the science of spirituality to K-12 education is informed by the basic and applied science conducted by the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. The Spirituality Mind Body Institute conducts pathbreaking research to understand the brain’s spiritual seat of perception, through which SMBI works to contribute interventions and programs to generate a more loving, spiritually aware, and positive society. Staff and graduates of SMBI apply the science of spirituality in their work with communities, educators, business leaders, organizational and educational consultants, and policy makers to integrate spirituality into corporations, communities, and the military; in mental health and wellness centers; and college campuses. CSE is excited to partner with SMBI in convening the Awakened Campus Summit in April 2022, combining our efforts and our work in supporting emerging adults through integrated campus wellness programs. 

The work of CSE in applying the science of spirituality to K-12 education is informed by the basic and applied science conducted by the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. The Spirituality Mind Body Institute conducts pathbreaking research to understand the brain’s spiritual seat of perception, through which SMBI works to contribute interventions and programs to generate a more loving, spiritually aware, and positive society. Staff and graduates of SMBI apply the science of spirituality in their work with communities, educators, business leaders, organizational and educational consultants, and policy makers to integrate spirituality into corporations, communities, and the military; in mental health and wellness centers; and college campuses. CSE is excited to partner with SMBI in convening the Awakened Campus Summit in April 2022, combining our efforts and our work in supporting emerging adults through integrated campus wellness programs.