TRANSPERSONAL AND CONSCIOUSNESS STUDIES
TCS 500: Fundamentals of Transpersonal Studies (3 credits)
This course will provide students with an introduction to the field of transpersonal studies, including its history, major contributors, and philosophy. Students will be introduced to the cross-cultural roots, transformative practices, and psychotherapeutic applications that have informed the field as well as to consciousness research. Required textbooks: Bruce Scotten, Allen Chinen & John Battista, TEXTBOOK OF TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHIATRY & PSYCHOLOGY. Westview Press: 1996. Frances Vaughan & Roger Walsh, PATHS BEYOND EGO. Tarcher: 1993. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 501: Wisdom Traditions: World Religions (3 credits)
This course will provide the student with an overview of the worlds’ wisdom traditions, looking at the universal principles as well as unique contributions of each. Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and indigenous traditions will be explored towards an understanding of how transformative practice has informed the field of transpersonal and consciousness studies. Required textbook: Houston Smith, THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS OUR GREAT WISDOM TRADITIONS. Harper One: New York:1991. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 502: Human Development: Transpersonal Perspectives (3 credits)
This course will provide an introduction to the understanding of human development from a transpersonal perspective. Students will look at the two major theorists in the field. Ken Wilber’s stage model of evolution from sub-conscious to self-conscious to super conscious will be explored as well as Washburn’s spiral understanding of evolution as an interplay between ego and the Dynamic Ground. Required textbooks: Ken Wilber, THE ATMAN PROJECT: A TRANSPERSONAL VIEW OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT.Quest Books: 1980. Michael Washburn, THE EGO AND THE DYNAMIC GROUND: A TRANSPERSONAL THEORY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. State University of New York Press: New York:1995. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 503: Paradigms of Consciousness (3 credits)
This course will look at consciousness studies and how research in the field has served to expand the traditional views of mind, science, and the role of consciousness in world change. Students will explore the origins and evolution of consciousness, altered states and transformative practices as well as consciousness research. Required textbooks: Willis Harman, GLOBAL MIND CHANGE: Noetic Sciences Books: 1998. Robert Ornstein, THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS. Penguin: 1996. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 504:Conciousness and Healing (3 credits)
This course will provide an introduction to the field of consciousness and healing. Students will be introduced to integral medicine, new perspectives on healing and illness, and research in mind-body medicine. Required text: Marilyn Schlitz, Tina Amorook, & Marc Micozzi, CONSCIOUSNESS & HEALING: INTEGRAL APPROACHES TO MIND-BODY MEDICINE. Elsevier Books: 2005. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 505: Creativity and Consciousness (3 credits)
This course will provide an overview of the field of creativity and consciousness studies. Students will be introduced to creativity theory, creativity as a transformative practice, and creativity within spiritual traditions. Required textbooks: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, CREATIVITY: FLOW AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. Harper Perennial. 1997. Peggy Thayer, THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING CREATIVE AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE. Peter Lang: New York: 2003. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS: 513: Creativity Theory (3 credits)
This course explores sources, purposes, and processes of creativity, including traditional as well as transpersonal and spiritual aspect. Attributes of the creative state, creative personality, creative inspiration, creative activity will be considered in the works of such writers as Arieti, Briggs, Gowan, Ghiselin, Koestler, May and Wilber. The student will be invited to survey these works and keep a journal of short essays. The student will choose one theorist to study in depth and write a final 15 page paper for the course. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 514: Creativity as Spiritual Practice (3 credits)
What are the commonalities between the artist and the mystic, creative activity and spiritual practice? Students are invited to consider the creative as universal principle and the practice of art as a manifestation of the spiritual. Journal entries and a final 15 page paper will be required. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 515: Creative Practice Within the Spiritual Traditions (3 credits)
Worldwide creative practice is embedded in the spiritual traditions. Artists within Zen Buddhist, Hindu, Native American, Balinese, Australian Aborigine as well as Jewish and Christian traditions have expressed inspiration in their music, painting, dance, and other expressive arts. This course offers an overview of the traditions. Students will choose one tradition to study in depth and write a final 15 page paper. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 516: Spiritual History of Modern Art (3 credits)
20th Century Western artists have a developed, though often over-looked, spiritual tradition and intention. This course will look at the evolution of this tradition in the West from the beginnings of abstraction in Impressionism and Cubism, to Postmodernism including the work of Kandinsky, Mondrian, Klee, Picasso, Rothko and O’Keefe. Required textbook: Roger Lipsey, THE SPIRITUAL IN 20TH CENTURY ART. Dover: 2004. Wassily Kandinsky, CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL IN ART. Dover: 1977. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 517: Art as Meditation: Practicum (3 credits)
The student will explore the application of their understanding of art as meditation through their own practice of creativity in a chosen medium, visual art, writing, or music. Journal entries as well as a final portfolio of pieces will be required. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
IHS 401: Complementary and Alternative Medicine I (3 credits)
This course provides a thorough, comprehensive and up-to date survey of the theories, principles, practices of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), examining history, theory, principles, scope, research, key players and resources, applied practice/clinical methodologies, the basic economic, institutional and policy developments relevant to CAM, and ramifications for the evolving shape of a mainstream integral – integrative medicine. This is one of the required core courses in the Complementary Medicine generalist program and provides the fundamental grounding in CAM philosophies and practice to contextualize subsequent studies. As it is a core course, it is demanding and time intensive; the learner is advised to exercise prudence if planning to take more than one additional course concurrently. (Instructor: Dr. Christopher Johannes)
IHS 502: The Integral Model and Philosophy of Self, Culture, and Nature (3 credits)
This survey course offers an in depth study of Ken Wilber’s All Quadrants All Levels Model of integral theory and practice. Participants will be introduced to an understanding of the four quadrants, states of consciousness, stages of development, lines of development, and types. Students will be introduced to applications of the integral model to science and religion, world maps of the cosmos, as well as medicine and education. Participants will gain experiential understanding of this model by beginning an integral practice of their own using the guidelines presented. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
IHS 405: Energy Medicine I (3 credits)
This introductory time intensive (reading, audio/video, writing and applied practice), foundational, and experiential course (with external examination of applied component) provides a thorough survey and comprehensive overview of the field of Energy Medicine, including underpinning theory, research, developments, applied practice, and methods of self-care and treatment. The course will provide the student with many core references and resources (and links to these) for the subsequent study, research, and applied work in the field of CAM related Energy Medicine. (Instructor: Dr. Christopher Johannes)
IHS 408: Positive Psychology and Integral Lifestyle (3 credits)
This required multimedia (DVD, CD, readings, visuals) course examines the interface of the rapidly developing field of positive psychology with applied integral lifestyle practices (Wilberian AQAL ILP) toward building and maintaining optimal levels of integral health and well being. Included are Eastern and cross-cultural perspectives on “happiness” and well-being, examination of “the good life”, character strengths and virtues, development of talents and abilities, flow, optimism, hardiness, the role of values, resilience, compassion, gratitude, love, spirituality, service, hope, savoring, transformation of suffering, and ‘all quadrant’ lifestyle practices (experiential component) and ‘positive psychology exercises’ that converge in their importance for Integral Health. Regular experiential exercises are required of the student throughout this course. (Instructor: Dr. Christopher Johannes)
CAM 510: The Embodied Mind (3 credits)
Where is the mind located? Ida Rolf taught that memories are in our muscles, and Candace Pert has found emotions in our bodies' neuropeptides. Ordinarily, the dominant paradigm regards the immune system as a scientific construct that seems distant from our felt experience, as something that cannot be sensed. Somatic therapists know that one way into the immune system is through the contents of the subconscious mind via bodywork. This course considers interaction among experience, memory, imagery, and the body. The course looks at foundational works for Somatic Studies, including the work of Reich, Feldenkrais, Alexander, Grindler, and Selver. The student will be invited to survey these writers and compose short essays on their work. Then the student will choose one theorist to study in depth to write a final 15 page paper for the course. Is the body experienced as a machine, as spirit made flesh, as manifestation of mind? With anatomy as ground, this course surveys the spectrum of experience and the meaning of image. Required reading includes Gorman's Moving Anatomy. Essays and a final 15 page paper will be required. (Instructor: Dr. Lisa Mertz)
CAM 513: Somatics in Multicultural Perspective (3 credits)
(Instructor: Dr. Lisa Mertz)
Whereas the dominant view of the body in European American culture is an egocentric view - individualistic and self-contained - other cultures experience the body as sociocentric - interdependent and permeable. Includes an investigation into contemporary theories of bodywork such as the works of Ilana Rubenfeld and Don Hanlon Johnson. This course provides an overview of cultural experiences of the indigenous body and its relationship to the spirit, and in this context, surveys healing methods such as soul retrieval, spirit extraction, exorcism, and community rituals. An annotated bibliography and a final 15 page paper will be required. This course considers five-element theory, meridians, the concept of Chi, Buddhist meditation, and kundalini yoga. The course also focuses on the work of the Japanese scholar Yasuo Yuasa who shows that Eastern philosophy views mind-body unity as a state to be acquired. He examines mind-body relations on a spectrum from dissociation to integration. Essays and a final 15 page paper will be required. (Instructor: To be Assigned)
IHS 514: Integral Psychology (3 credits)
(Instructor: Dr. Christopher Johannes)
This course provides an defining overview of the Integral Psychology, including it’s theory and principles, underpinning integral model, historical developments, transformational and applied value, interdisciplinary perspective and meaning, imperatives and future directions. (Instructor: To be Assigned)
CAM 551: Spiritual Health and Healing (3 credits)
The objective of this course is to provide students with the opportunity to explore the relationship between spirituality, health, and healing given perspectives from world religions. This course focuses on the physiological, neurological, and psychological effects of healing resulting from spirituality. In addition to topics of interest initiated by the learner, the topics explored in this study include; African, Buddhist, Jewish, Catholic, Islamic, Hispanic-Pentacostal, Christian Science, Nursing, Intercessory Prayer, Neurobiological aspects related to the placebo-effect, and the power of belief. (Prof. Rosemary Cook)
CAM 599: Inner Practicum and Transformational Practice (3 credits)
Master’s students must investigate core aspects of the discipline within the professional environment through close contact with practitioners and "real world" situations. Students should participate in the field study for a minimum of 150 contact hours. The field placement is expected to afford students appropriate practical hands on experience and in-depth knowledge of their areas of practice. Students must prepare a field study proposal according to University guidelines prior to undertaking the course. Under the supervision of assigned instructors, students will select from a range of personal development, growth, and transformative practices (e.g. meditative/ contemplative, art/expressive, interpersonal/psychological, yoga, breathwork, bodywork, cultural expeditions, volunteer service, combinations of these, etc.) and document their experiences on life domains relevant to health, healing, and wellness. The student can choose to undergo these experiences in retreats, intensives, community services, home practices, social gatherings, external trainings, health and wellness centers, spas. Students complete a daily journal and prepare a scholarly paper summarizing their findings for the field study. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 527: parapsychology and Transpersonal Psychology- A Synergetic Understanding of Human Becoming (3 credits)
From the perspective of the new science of energy-information, which Biophonics is, this course formulates a rational understanding of phenomena such as the para- and trans-psychical. To know what the "mystery" could be and, consequently, to know how our becoming (destiny) could be improved represents the synergic psycho-logical "therapy" that the course proposes in practice. (Instructor: Dr. Traian D. Stanciulescu)
TCS 543: Altered States of Consciousness (3 credits)
This course will provide the student with an overview of various states of consciousness, sleeping, dreaming, hypnosis, lucid dreaming, meditation and psychedelic experiences. Required textbook: Charles Tart, States of Consciousness. Backinprint.com: 2001(Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 544: Science and Consciousness (3 credits)
This course will introduce the student to some of the leading thinkers in the field of science and consciousness, Fritjof Capra, David Bohm, Carl Pribram. In their search for meaning and order these scientists bring together the worlds of mysticism, physics and mathematics. Required Textbooks :Fritjof Capra - THE TAO OF PHYSICS: AN EXPLORATION OF THE PARALLELS BETEEN MODERN PHYSICS AND EASTERN MYSTICISM. Shambala: Boston: 1991. Michael Talbot: THE HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE. Harper Perennial: 1996. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 545: Meditative States (3 credits)
This course will be both experiential as well as theoretical in introducing the student to the basic practices of meditation. Students will become familiar with concentrative, mindfulness, as well as insight based meditation practices. Meditative states will be explored and compared from a physiological as well as psycho-spiritual perspective. Required texts: Daniel Goleman: THE MEDITATIVE MIND: THE VARIETIES OF MEDITATIVE PRACTICE. Tarcher: 1996.Michael Murphy & Eugene Taylor: THE PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF MEDITATION: A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH. Noetic Sciences: 1999. Schapiro & Walsh: MEDITATION: CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES: Aldine: New York, 1984. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 546: Synchronicity (3 credits)
Jung first coined the term “synchronicity” to describe the acausal connecting principle or meaningful co-incidence. Students will be asked to keep a synchronicity journal as well as explore the theoretical context of synchronicity as it has been described by Carl Jung, Louisa Von Franz, David Peat, David Bohm and others. Required texts: Carl C. Jung. SYNCHRONICITY: AN ACAUSAL CONNECTING PRINCIPLE. Princeton University Press: 1973. F. David Peat. SYNCHRONICITY: THE BRIDGE BETWEEN MATTER AND MIND. Bantam: New York:1987. Marie-Louise von Franz, ON DIVNINATION AND SYNCHRONICITY: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MEANINGFUL CHANCE. Inner City Books: 1980. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 547: Parapsychology: Mediums and Skeptics (3 credits)
The focus of this course will be on the current state of research in parapsychology, with an emphasis upon research into the phenomenon of life after death, as described by Gary Schwartz in his books "The Afterlife Experiments" and "The Truth About Medium." We will also be looking at related research in telepathy, clairvoyance, and psychokinesis as described by Dean Radin in his books "The Conscious Universe" and "Entangled Minds." In addition we will discuss qualitative approaches to parapsychology research, and examine the arguments of well known skeptics to parapsychological research, including the critical arguments of Ray Hymen. (Instructor: Dr. Elliot Benjamin)
TCS 548: Psychology of Dreams & Dreaming (3 credits)
The focus of this course will be a combined experiential and scholarly study of dreams and dreaming. The main text we will be using is "Private Myths" by Anthony Stevens, which is based upon a Jungian interpretation of dreamwork. Students are expected to keep an ongoing record of their dreams and their interpretations of their dreams throughout the course, culminating in a combined theoretical and experiential final paper that incorprates their personal dreamwork into a Jungian perspective on dreams as described in the Stevens text. (Instructor: Dr. Elliot Benjamin)
TCS 549: Personal Mythology & Dreamworking (3 credits)
The focus of this course will be on a student's deep experiential learning of personal mythology, as described in the book "The Mythic Path" by David Feinstein and Stanley Krippner. Through guided journeys, visualizations, and dreamwork it is expected that students will intensively become aware of the personal myths that have guided them throughout their lives, and open themselves up to formulating new constructive personal myths for the futures they desire. Students will write a descriptive final paper that combines their experiential learnings within the Personal Mythology framework as described by Feinstein and Krippner. (Instructor: Dr. Elliot Benjamin)
TCS 552: Spirituality and Awareness of Cult Dangers (3 credits)
This course is designed to enable students to evaluate the cult dangers as well as spiritual benefits of religious and spiritual groups, especially recently formed spiritual organizations that are currently controversial in regard to their possible cult characteristics. The emphasis will be upon "experiential" valuation, and it is expected that students will be utilizing their experiences in either their own religious backgrounds or preferably their personal explorations of alternative spiritual groups. There will be required readings describing general factors involved with cult dangers of spiritual groups, as well as specific alternative spiritual groups and religious indoctrination. There will also be recommended readings that include cult awareness articles from journals and websites, inclusive of the course instructor’s own work on this topic. (Instructor: Dr. Elliot Benjamin)
TCS 553: Mythology: World Traditions’ Myth and Symbols (3 credits)
This course introduces students to an understanding of myth, symbol and archetype as core elements of cultural and human consciousness. The works of Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung and Mircea Eliade will be explored towards an understanding of their contributions to the field of transpersonal and consciousness studies. Required texts: Joseph Campbell: The Hero With a Thousand Faces. New World Library: 2008. Carl Jung: Man and His Symbols. Dell: 1968. Mircea Eliade: Images and Symbols. Princeton University Press: 1991. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 554: Integral Yoga (3 credits)
This course will look at the contributions of Hinduism, in particular Integral Yoga to the field of Transpersonal Studies. Students will be introduced to the work of Sri Aurobindo the founding father of Integral Yoga whose understanding became the foundation for Wilber’s Integral Psychology. Required texts: Gerog Fuerstein: The Yoga Tradition: It’s History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice: Hohm Press: 2001. Sri Aurobindo: Integral Yoga: Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching and Practice. Lotus Press: 1993. (Instructor: To be Assigned)
TCS 555: Sufism (3 credits)
This course will introduce students to the esoteric teachings of Islam and their contribution to transpersonal practice and understanding. Students will explore the classic works of Indries Shah as well as contemporary Sufi practitioner Reshad Field. Required texts: Indries Shah: Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way: Penguin: 1996. Reshad Field: The Last Barrier: Harper and Row: 1976. (Instructor: To be Assigned)
TCS 556: Christian-Centered Tradition (3 credits)
This course will introduce students to the transpersonal roots of Christian Mysticism through the teachings of Jesus and the practices of the early Desert Fathers and Mothers. Christian methods of meditative prayer and models of consciousness and spiritual development will be identified. Required texts: R. M. French (trans) The Way of the Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way. Quality Paperback Book: 1998. Mathew Fox: Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality. Tarcher Putnam: 2000. Thomas Merton: The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers. Shambala: 2004. (Instructor: To be Assigned)
TCS 557: Kaballah: Jewish Mysticism (3 credits)
This course will explore the contributions of Jewish Mysticism to transpersonal studies. Students will be introduced to the maps of spiritual development found in the Kaballah. Required texts: Daniel Matt: The Essential Kaballah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism. Harper One: 1996. Howard Smith: Let There Be Light: Modern Cosmology and Kaballah. New World Library: 2006. (Instructor: To be Assigned)
TCS 558: Buddhist Psychology (3 credits)
This introduction to Buddhist Psychology looks at the theoretical, experimental, and experiential work of psychologists in Buddhism for insights into the contribution Buddhist understandings have made to the field of transpersonal studies. Required texts: Patrick Gafney & Andrew Harvey, editors: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. San Francisco: Harper: 1994. Stephen Levine: A Gradual Awakening. New York: Anchor Books: 1979. Shunryu Suzuki. Zen Mind, Beginer’s Mind. New York: Weatherhill: 1986. Tich Nhat Hah, The Miracle of Mindfulness. Boston: Beacon Press: 1987. DVD: Jack Kornfield The Roots of Buddhist Psychology. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS 559: Shamanism (3 credits)
This course will explore the teachings and practices of traditional tribal and indigenous cultures and their contribution to transpersonal and consciousness studies.
Required texts: Roger Walsh: The World of Shamanism, New Views of an Ancient Tradition. Llewellyn Publications: 2007. Michael Harner: The Way of the Shaman. Harper One: 1990. (Instructor: To be Assigned)
TCS: 523: Transpersonal Psychotherapy (3 credits)
This course will look at transpersonal perspectives and psychotherapeutic techniques in psychological healing. Students will explore the tradition of transpersonal psychotherapy looking at meditative and spiritual techniques as well as the issues of spiritual emergency and spiritual bypassing. Models of psychotherapy from Wilber, Grof, Assagoli, Almaas, Jung and others will be introduced. Required Textbooks: Brant Cortright: Psychotherapy and Spirit: Theory and Practice in Transpersonal Psychotherapy. SUNY Press: 1997. John Welwood, Toward a Psychology of Awakening, Buddhism, Psychotherapy and the Path of Personal and Spiritual Transformation. Shambala: 2002. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS: 524: Conscious Aging (3 credits)
This course will look at the issues and experience of aging from a transpersonal perspective. Later life was first valued by Jung as the time when the work of individuation would occur. More recently the journey of aging has been honored by Rabbi Shachter and Ram Dass as conscious aging or aging to saging. Required texts: Eugene Bianchi: Aging As a Spiritual Journey. Crossroad: 1997. Zalman Schachter & Ron Miller: From Age-ing to Sage-ign: A Profound New Vision of Growing Older. Grand Central Publishing: 1997. Jane & Peggy Thayer, Elderscence: the Gift of Longevity. Hamilton: 2005. Ram Dass, audiotape Conscious Aging: Sounds True: 2002. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS: 525: Death and Grief: Transpersonal Perspectives (3 credits)
The experience of death and dying becomes a doorway to transpersonal understanding. This course will explore the works of pioneers in the field of death and dying including Elizabeth Kubler Ross and Ron Valle. Required Texts: Elizabeth Kubler Ross: On Death and Dying. Scribner: 1997. Ron Valle and Mary Mohs. Opening to Dying and Grieving: A Sacred Journey. Yes International Publishers: 2006. (Instructor: To be Assigned)
TCS: 526: Mindfulness and Psychotherapy (3 credits)
This course will explore the Buddhist practice of mindfulness and its application as a psychotherapeutic tool in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and psychological un-ease. Students will be introduced to the practice of mindfulness as well as its roots in the Buddhist tradition. Required Texts: Mark Epstein: Thoughts Without a Thinker. Basic Books: 1995. Germer, Siegel & Fulton (editors) Mindfulness and Psychotherapy. Guilford Press: 2005. Thich Nhat Hanh, audio-CD, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy.
2006. (Instructor: To be Assigned)
TCS 528: Psychopathology: Transpersonal Perspectives (3 credits)
This course will introduce students to transpersonal perspectives and alternatives in the treatment of psychopathology. Traditional understandings of anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and other personality disorders will be looked at as well as alternative perspectives on these disorders. Students will explore the use of shamanic practices as well as meditation, witnessing, and other spiritually oriented interventions in the treatment of psychopathology. Required texts: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Treatment Disorders DSM-IV: APA: June, 2000. Moodley & West (editors), Integrating Traditional Healing Practices Into Counseling and Psychotherapy. Sage: 2005. Mijares & Singh (editors), Psychospiritual Clinician’s Handbook: Alternative Methods for Understanding and Treating Mental Disorders. Routledge: 2005. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS: 529: Spiritual Emergence (3 credits)
The growth of transpersonal perspectives and involvement in transformative practices can lead to experiences of personal crisis. This course will explore the experience of spiritual emergency and its understanding as spiritual emergence. Students will be introduced to the work of Stan and Christina Grof, Assagioli, Laing, Perry, Kalweit, Sanella. and others. Required texts: Stan & Christina Grof (editors) Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis. Tarcher: 1989. John Perry: Trials of the Visionary Mind: Spiritual Emergency and the Renewal Process. SUNY: 1998. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
IHS 465: Research Methods in Social Science and Health Sciences (3 credits)
This straightforward and fun course introduces research methods and the entire cycle
of the research process, including conceptualization and ethics, design,
measurement, and analysis providing interactive and web-based learning features. It
is build along the comprehensive web-based guide to conducting research, The
Research Methods Knowledge Base by Trochim & Deonnelly. It covers not only
experimental and quasi-experimental design, but also qualitative approaches, it
gives a solid introduction into the language of research and guides through the
basic statistics. Prerequisites: none. (Instructor: To be Assigned)
RES 504: Introductory Research Statistics (3 credits)
This course covers the basic statistical concepts, theory and methods in statistical
research. Topics include variables, graphs, frequency distributions, measures of
central tendency, measures of dispersion, probability theory, binomial, normal and
Poisson distributions, statistical sampling theory, and statistical decision theory.
(Instructor: To be Assigned)
RES 506: Advanced Research Statistics (3 credits)
This course covers parametric and nonparametric hypothesis testing. Topics include
sampling theory, Chi-square test, least squares regression, correlation theory,
non-linear regression, analysis of variance, Student's t-test, and various methods
in nonparametric analyses. (Instructor: To be Assigned)
RES 508: Qualitative Research (3 credits)
This course provides detailed study of qualitative research methods. Topics survey
historical and theoretical foundations of qualitative research, explore major
qualitative research strategies, and build an understanding of the art and science
of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting qualitative information. The course
provides background on applied qualitative research, the politics and ethics of
qualitative inquiry, and the major paradigms that inform and influence qualitative
research. (Instructor: To be Assigned)
TCS 652: Existential and Phenomenological Research Methods (3 credits)
As an alternative to experimental methods of research, qualitative methods ask what
is experience? Instead of dismissing inner experience as not quantifiable,
existential phenomenological research seeks to explore this ever-changing
phenomenon. Students will be introduced to existential phenomenological perspectives
in psychology as well as methods of research. Students will explore research on such
questions as the experience of forgiveness, being silent, being unconditionally
loved, and being with suffering. Required text: Ron Valle (editor): Phenomenological
Inquiry in Psychology: Existential and Transpersonal Dimensions. Plenum Press: 1998.
(Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS: 653: Transpersonal Research Methods (3 credits)
This survey course offers an in depth study of transpersonal research methods.
Participants survey historical and theoretical foundations of transpersonal
research, explore major transpersonal research strategies, and build an
understanding of the art and science of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting
transpersonal materials. The course provides background on applied transpersonal
research and the major paradigms that inform and influence transpersonal research.
Required textbook: William Braud and Rosemarie Anderson, TRANSPERSONAL RESEARCH
METHODS FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: HONORING HUMAN EXPERIENCE. Sage Publications: 1998.
(Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
TCS: 654: The Experiential Method: Hermeneutic Phenomenology (3 credits)
Human experience is not a fixed object to be tested and quantified but an
ever-changing phenomenon. Can a method of research address human experience on its
own terms, as a lived phenomenon? The Experiential Method, a
hermeneutic-phenomenological method, is an attempt to do this. Students will be
introduced to the Experiential Method developed by James and Sunnie Kidd. Required
text: Experiential Method: Qualitative Research in the Humanities Using Metaphysics
and Phenomenology. Peter Lang: 1991. (Instructor: Dr. Peg Thayer)
|
