Welcome. This section of our website is dedicated to highlighting, supporting and celebrating diversity at the Institute. When we speak of diversity at ITP, we are referencing our community's deep commitment to developing and maintaining an environment where all members of the community are valued and respected regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic status, religion, age, physical ability, medical condition, or political orientation.
Read the Diversity Action Team's Latest Newsletter!
Diversity at ITP is supported on multiple levels by committed action. For example, faculty must demonstrate highly developed awareness and skills in diversity/cultural competency. We routinely provide training, either on campus or through participation in off-site training programs and workshops for faculty, students, and staff. We have initiated a major project designed to facilitate the inclusion of literature representing diverse perspectives into our courses and to ensure that diversity issues are explicitly addressed in course work.
The Tom Potterfield Scholarship Fund is for students from diverse economic and cultural backgrounds and have awarded 14 such scholarships over the past two years.
ITP co-sponsored a major conference with the Association of Transpersonal Psychology in February 2010 where north/south perspectives on the field were prominently discussed. In addition, the school sponsors two resource centers that routinely bring culturally diverse programming to the Institute: The World Wide Learning Exchange (WWLE) and the Center for the Sacred Feminine (CSF). Recent examples include: talks exploring the work of Ibn Arabi, considered the most influential "transpersonal psychologist" of Islamic civilization, a talk on Vedic Psychology with Dr. Anuradha Choudry, a presentation on The Village Goddess of Orissa, India and a program on The Movement of Chakras from the Diaspora to Africa and Within, drawing on Eastern, Cuban and Congolese influences.
Here is more information about our Diversity Scholarship.
The key elements of diversity at ITP are:
- Cultural competency, defined as a set of cultural behaviors and attitudes integrated into the practice methods of a system, agency, or its professionals that enables them to work effectively in cross-cultural situations.
- Compassion: Strive to more fully understand our own and others' differences and develop compassion both for ourselves and for others who hold a voice different from our own.
- Mindfulness: Strive to develop deep awareness of the variety of ways we differ and the multitude of perspectives within ourselves and our community.
- Discernment: Strive to discern the unifying and diversifying energies within self and community, and how those energies manifest in a healthy way.
- Appreciation of Difference: Strive to honor each unique, emerging voice within ourselves and within the community.
Finally, ITP sponsors a Diversity Action Team (DAT) and a Diversity Committee (DC).
The Diversity Action Team is a cross-constituency diversity-focused advisory and support committee consisting of students, staff, and faculty. They assist the administration and community in their awareness of ITP's diversity and appreciation of diversity. The DAT does this through acting as sponsors for events, dialoging with the administration about diversity matters, and working on strategic projects. They meet every two weeks during the residential academic year. New members are welcome.
The Diversity Committee (DC) is a student-run committee of students and invited non-student members. They focus on events and sometimes work with the DAT on concerns. They also meet every two weeks but at a different time. There is often direct and indirect dialogue between the two committees and some students are members of both.
