NAROPA UNIVERSITY
BOULDER, COLORADO
The College
Naropa University is a private, nonprofit, nonsectarian liberal arts institution whose core mission is contemplative education. Contemplative education is an approach to learning that integrates the best of Eastern and Western educational traditions to create the ground for exploring ones whole being on the deepest intuitive levels while pursuing rigorous academic study. Its fruition is individuals who know themselves deeply so that they can engage constructively in a world of individuals who are not like themselves.
This educational philosophy offers students a highly individualized, experiential, and transformative learning path that brings both academic rigor and a spiritual component to the students educational experience. This experience lets students be who they are while exploring who they want to be, while developing four basic life skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
The curriculum integrates academic, artistic, and traditional practices for training in awareness to help students cultivate understanding of themselves, their field of study, and the world. As a result, Naropa students are better prepared for the constant challenges and rapid change of modern society. Through disciplines such as sitting mediation, yoga, and tai-chi chuan, students develop mindfulness and awareness and are trained to acknowledge the direct experience of learning, moment by moment. This process brings precision, openness, and kindness to oneself and others; it teaches students how to integrate intellect and intuition; and it encourages the deepening of the confidence, wisdom, and desire to work for the benefit of others. This initiates a lifelong process of creative personal development that goes well beyond the college experience.
Students enjoy an environment of discovery and learning shared between themselves and the faculty. With a dual legacy from both the liberal arts and contemplative practice, a Naropa education offers a dynamic, unpredictable, engaging quality in every class, where real learning and growth are taking place. Naropa undergraduates are independent thinkers, intellectually curious, civic-minded, adventurous, spiritual, and caring. They come from forty-nine states and thirty-two countries and represent a wide range of life experiences, backgrounds, and ages. Of the 1,179 degree-seeking students at Naropa University, 451 are undergraduate students.
Naropa University was founded thirty years ago by Chgyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, a Tibetan mediation master and scholar, whose vision was of a liberal arts institution that would honor and respect the importance of various world wisdom traditions, including his own, and offer an educational experience that integrated knowledge of oneself with knowledge of the external world for a transformative learning path.
Accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools since 1986, Naropa University offers B.A. and B.F.A. degrees through its four-year undergraduate program as well as M.A., M.Div., M.F.A., and M.L.A. degrees through its graduate school.
Location
Naropa University is located in Boulder, Colorado, at the base of the Rocky Mountain foothills and twenty-five miles northwest of Denver. Boulder offers something for everyone and has earned a well-deserved reputation for a great quality of life with a dynamic arts community and many cultural events. Hiking, skiing, and snowboarding enthusiasts have ample opportunity to pursue their sport and recreation activities. Boulder has bike paths all over town, and Boulder public transportation provides a frequent and comprehensive bus schedule throughout the day.
Naropa University has three campuses in Boulder, two of which serve undergraduate programs. The Arapahoe campus is home to undergraduate advising, University administration, a Performing Arts Center, a mediation hall, the Allen Ginsberg Library, a computer center, the Naropa Gallery, student lounges, the bookstore, and the Naropa Caf. The Nalanda campus, approximately 3 miles from the Arapahoe campus, is home to Naropas performing and visual arts programs.
Majors and Degrees
Naropa University offers a B.F.A. in performance and nine B.A. degree programs: contemplative psychology, early childhood education, environmental studies, interdisciplinary studies, music, religious studies, traditional Eastern arts, visual arts, and writing and literature.
The contemplative psychology program integrates Western psychology and Eastern approaches to healing mind and body. Students choose a concentration in body psychology, contemplative spirituality and Western psychology, expressive arts and well-being, psychology of health and healing, or transpersonal and humanistic psychology.
The program in early childhood education nurtures the genuine and compassionate nature of teachers and applies teaching methods drawn from Montessori, Waldorf, and Buddhist traditions and offers apprentice-style internships with master teachers from these traditions.
The environmental studies program joins field science, spirit, and action in a curriculum designed to prepare students for a life of service on behalf of the earth and all its inhabitants. Students use Naropas location in the Boulder bioregion and its diverse range of ecosystems as a resource.
The program in interdisciplinary studies allows students to develop a varied curriculum for a personally directed educational experience. Some recent examples of this major include: building social and political movements; sustainable development and social justice; and gender, power, and sex.
Naropa's music program gives students fundamental training in music theory, improvisation, composition, instrumental and vocal technique, ear training, and music technology as well as the opportunity to study some of the musical and cultural traditions of Africa, Indonesia, Japan, Europe, and America.
The program in religious studies places special emphasis on the role of contemplative practice in the worlds great religions, especially Buddhism, and presents traditions from perspectives sympathetic to the living religious communities themselves.
The traditional Eastern arts program is the only degree program of its kind in the country that combines the practice of sitting meditation with an in-depth study of the philosophy, history, and culture of a body-mind awareness discipline: aikido, tai-chi chuan, or yoga.
The program in visual arts offers studio and academic courses in a variety of the world's artistic traditions, including drawing, watercolor, pottery, painting, color theory, brush stroke, Tibetan thangka painting, calligraphy, book arts, and sculpture.
The writing and literature program offers intensive training in creative writing through small writing workshops, literary studies courses, contemplative practice, a noncompetitive learning environment, and exposure to a range of contemporary writing offered through the Summer Writing Program.
The B.F.A. program in performance is an innovative and exciting new four-year program designed for the student who wants to pursue conservatory-style ensemble training in theater, dance, and voice in an environment that cultivates individual creativity, critical study, and the development of mindfulness and awareness practices. The program also emphasizes community-based outreach, internships, and workshops.
Academic Programs
Undergraduate students spend the first two years at Naropa University in the undergraduate core program. The goals of a Naropa education are global, intercultural, and multicultural awareness; reasoning, valuing, and decision making; historical consciousness; aesthetic judgment; and information literacy, writing, and rhetoric. These goals are accomplished in the core program through a curriculum designed to develop skills in eight basic areas: artistic process; communications arts, complex systems, healing arts, leadership and service, contemplative practices, cultural and historical studies, and world wisdom studies.
For freshmen, the core program begins with the First Year Seminars. This yearlong sequence of course is designed to help students become thoughtful agents in their own education. Taught by core faculty members at Naropa University, First Year Seminars introduces students to the excitement of academic scholarship by allowing them to study with faculty members from different academic departments. Each seminar works to develop the skills of careful, critical reading and thinking; group discussion and collaboration; and writing, information literacy, and oral presentation that are basic to college-level study, regardless of ones area of interest.
Upon completion of 45 to 60 credits in the core program, students declare a major. Students must complete a total of 120 semester credits to earn an undergraduate degree.
Off-Campus Programs
Students at Naropa University have the opportunity to study abroad during their sophomore and junior years and the fall semester of their senior year. Studying and living overseas with Naropa University fosters intercultural competence and critical thinking and lays the ground for compassionate engagement with the world. Currently, Naropa University offers study abroad programs in Bali, Prague, Sikkim, and South India.
Community-based learning at Naropa University is offered through the Universitys Service-Learning Center and provides opportunities for students and faculty members to develop skills for participating in the public life of their communities. Through its emphasis on applied, experiential projects, community-based learning offers Naropa University faculty members and students innovative tools to forward the knowledge of their academic and artistic disciplines, augment student learning, and educate a citizenry to perform the public work of a democracy. The Service-Learning Center also provides AmeriCorps scholarship funds for Naropa students involved in community work.
Costs
Undergraduate tuition for the 200405 academic year was $17,130. Annual fees were $566, and room and board were about $7235.
Financial Aid
Naropa University makes every attempt to assist students who do not have the financial resources to accomplish their educational objectives. Naropa offers institutional grants and scholarships as well as all types of federal student aid. Some financial aid for international students is also available. Approximately 70 percent of Naropa degree-seeking students receive financial assistance in the form of loans, student employment, scholarships, and grants.
Faculty
The Naropa University faculty is distinguished by a wealth of experience in the professional, artistic, and scholastic applications of their disciplines. In addition to the outstanding core faculty, an international community of scholars and artists is consistently drawn to Naropa because of its strong vision and leadership in education. The average class size is 13, and Naropas student-teacher ratio is 12:1.
Student Government
The Student Union of Naropa University (SUN) allows students to participate with faculty members and the administration to ensure that the students' concerns are addressed and to help shape school policy. Through the formation of student groups, SUN takes active steps to ensure an environment of dignity for all Naropa University students.
Admission Requirements
Naropa University seeks students who have a strong appetite for learning and who enjoy experiential education in an academic setting. The Admissions Committee considers inquisitiveness and engagement with the work, as well as previous academic achievement, when making admission decisions. A students statement of interest, interview, and letters of recommendation play important roles in the admissions process. SAT and ACT scores are not required but are highly recommended.
Application and Information
A completed application for admission to Naropa University includes a $50 nonrefundable application fee, three essays, two letters of recommendation, official high school transcripts for freshman applications (0 to 30 credits), and official transcripts from all previous college-level study. Many departments also require supplemental application materials. An interview, either in person or by telephone, is required for all programs, with the exception of writing and literature.
Prospective students are strongly encouraged to visit the University. The Office of Admissions hosts a preview weekend each semester, and guided campus tours are offered throughout the year.
The suggested deadline for receiving completed applications for the fall semester is January 15 and for the spring semester, October 15. Any applications received after the suggested deadline are reviewed on a space-available basis. For additional information, prospective students should contact:
