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Robin Albertson-Wren

Robin Albertson-Wren is a contemplative practice instructor with CSC. She has been teaching elementary age children for over 20 years in Charlottesville, Virginia where she is a classroom teacher, workshop leader, author, and public speaker.

Joel Anderson

His research interests involve the use of non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, including Healing Touch and other mind-body therapies, to improve patient-reported and patient-centered outcomes in chronic disease populations and the health care setting.

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Thomas Ball

Thomas Ball studied finance and economics at the College of William and Mary and then earned an M.S. in Accounting from the McIntire School of Commerce in 2008. After work experience for an investment banking mergers and acquisitions firm and a large consultancy, he returned to school for a self-directed post baccalaureate pre-med course of study. He volunteered as an EMT for the fire department in his hometown where he meditated on route to respond to 911 calls. During this time, he was fortunate to become a mentee of an Oxford educated minister with knowledge and practice in the contemplative Christian traditions.

Tom Bateman

In his courses on leadership—offered through the McIntire School of Commerce, but a minor open to all students of the University—Professor Tom Bateman contextualizes the oft-used term ‘mindfulness’ through discussing how leaders can make decisions which consider long-term consequences for multiple stakeholders. Pausing and being fully aware of the wide array of all of an organization’s goals and opportunities allows leaders to rationally and proactively make decisions without merely reacting instinctively and without thought.

Dorothy Batten

Ms. Batten is currently the President of the D.N. Batten Foundation and DTMP, LLC, a real estate investment company.

Ben Benson

Ben Benson, Intern with CSC, is an integral part of creating the upcoming Contemplative Commons website.

Rosalyn Berne

In order to combat the overwhelming size of the 350-person Science, Technology, and Contemporary Issues course—as well as the apparent indifference of the majority first-year students—Dr. Berne began introducing contemplative techniques to focus students’ attention on their experience in the here and now. In order to further develop her students’ understanding of how technology is affecting our lives, Dr. Berne combines this contemplative silence with an explicit emphasis on meaning-making which encourages her many engineering students to consider how their work and research can influence the larger society. Dr. Berne explains that this process has helped her to grow as an educator through generating a powerful vulnerability which leaves her open to her students’ particular needs.

Jason Beverage

Jason graduated from the University of Virginia in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.

Nina Brown de Clercq

Owsley Brown III

Owsley Brown is devoted to sustaining healthy communities by enhancing cultural, spiritual, and civic life.

Joan Bryant

Joan coordinates dissemination of the Compassionate Schools Project. She has served as Project Manager in the national dissemination of a social-emotional and substance abuse prevention program for middle and high school students.

John Bultman

John Bultman is the Ashtanga Yoga Program Manager for the Contemplative Sciences Center. He is one of approximately 25 Certified Ashtanga teachers worldwide.

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Aneel Chima

Aneel Chima, PhD, is the Associate Executive Director of the Contemplative Sciences Center.

James Coan

Through training students in the Specific Affect Coding System (the SPAFF), an independently developed research tool for psychologists and neuroscientists—and a tool that functions as a contemplative practice in itself—Dr. Coan is eager to explore the effects of contemplation in a way that is independent of the many cultural trappings associated with it. Although this work is still in its early stages, Dr. Coan especially hopes to analyze how “SPAFF coding”—the focused observation of emotional behavior in others—affects coders themselves in their everyday lives. With this approach, Dr. Coan hopes to broaden common western views of contemplative practice to include concentration, focused attention, and deliberate action—not merely stress reduction.

Elyse Cooner

Elyse offers customized yoga practices that range from restorative to intensive Hatha practices while integrating pranayama and mindfulness techniques.

Geoff Cox

Geoff is is an acupuncturist, meditation teacher, and Integral Coach who teaches embodied leadership through meditation, qi gong, and mindful communication.

Lynne Crotts

After working as an elementary administrator for 12 years, she decided to once again return to the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, where she earned her Ed.D. In the Fall of 2016, Lynne opened her own school, Orion Academy, with a mindfulness foundation in Charlottesville, Virginia. She also teaches “Introduction to Mindfulness” to U.Va. undergraduate and graduate students.

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Ellen Daniels

Ellen Daniels is the Associate Director of Communications for the Contemplative Sciences Center.

Martin N. Davidson

Martin N. Davidson is the Interim Executive Director of the Contemplative Sciences Center and the Johnson & Higgins Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business.

Tim Davis

As Executive Director for Student Resilience & Leadership Development, Tim provides strategic direction on the University’s efforts to foster strengths and build leadership potential in the student community.

Anthony DeMauro

Anthony DeMauro, Ph.D. is the Associate Director of the Dalai Lama Fellows Program and he also serves as Assistant Director of Student Initiatives for the Contemplative Sciences Center.

Kauri Dynes

Kauri is a yoga instructor for the Contemplative Sciences Center’s Night Owl Yoga Class.

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Asa Eslocker

With support from the Contemplative Sciences Center, Asa’s research titled “Landscapes of Longevity” has been investigating physical aspects of landscape that enable healthy communities, as well as the importance of a “sense of place” in fostering mental, spiritual, and social well-being. With research partner Harriett Jameson, this research will culminate in publications and a documentary film scheduled for the spring of 2014.

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Tamara Fischer-White

A PhD student within the School of Nursing and focused within the Center for the Study of Complementary and Alternative Therapies, Tamara’s dissertation project examines the feasibility of using restorative yoga to assist in symptom management for individuals diagnosed with the chronic disease of fibromyalgia. This research creates the cornerstone for her future work in complementary health-enhancing approaches within chronic disease populations.

Dorrie Fontaine

After a transformational experience at the Upaya Zen center funded through the generosity of Tussi Kluge, Dorrie Fontaine—Dean of the Nursing School—introduced the Compassionate Care Initiative to help nursing students, faculty and Medical Center colleagues become better healthcare providers for both their patients and themselves. Through yoga, meditation, and other activities focused on developing mindful awareness, nursing students and others develop the tools to create a compassionate healthcare system with a genuine concern for patient well-being.

Omar Fraire

Omar Fraire is a Mexican artist, scholar and freelance curator. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Composition and Computer Techniques in UVA and working to support CSC’s Contemplative Commons.

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Bryan Garey

He is the Assistant Vice President responsible for both HR Consulting Services and Employee Development. With nearly 20 years of human resources experience, he has worked in higher education as well as in nonprofit and corporate sectors. As a consultant and facilitator, he has worked with individuals and organizations all over the country on strategic planning, assessments, team building, change-management, and other development efforts.

He incorporates mindfulness and yoga into his daily life and has introduced contemplative practices into Employee Development programming available to all U.Va. faculty and staff through the Human Resources Leadership Development Center.

Ellen I. Graves

Ellen I. Graves, M.Ed., is the Research and Special Projects Manager for the Contemplative Sciences Center. She leads the SFI Documentation Project and manages CSC’s new app for UVA students, Flourish@UVA. An alumna of UVA’s School of Education and Human Development, Ellen prioritizes her work of supervising and mentoring students, helping them develop purpose and meaning in their professional lives.

Than Grove

Than Grove is the Digital Technologies Manager and Research Scientist in Religious Studies for the Contemplative Sciences Center.

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Alexis Harris

Alexis Harris is the Compassionate Schools Project Director for the Contemplative Sciences Center and a Research Assistant Professor for the Curry School of Education.

Ira Harris

Dr. Harris brings a passion for understanding a single issue’s multiple perspectives to his self-designed course Critical Thinking on Business Issues—an undergraduate seminar which uses detailed discussions on complex topics to give students practice in the process of thinking deeply and critically. While the belief in the value of critical thinking skills is becoming increasingly evident throughout the business world, universities are not responding quickly to train their students; Dr. Harris and the University of Virginia, therefore, are forerunners in providing students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the skills of critical thinking.

Kevin Hart

Currently teaching a doctoral seminar this semester entitled: "Being and God: Contemplation" and is also writing a book on contemplation.

Catherine Hartshorn

Catherine Hartshorn is an Authorized Level 2 Ashtanga yoga teacher and University of Virginia alumna.

Holly Heilberg

Her personal quiet and reflective experience in re-examining her own life has led her to want to create similar experiences for others at U.Va. Thanks to the continuing support of Human Resources, she offers multiple retreats throughout the year. Employees spend the day at a beautiful and restorative setting (The International Center) and soak in various rejuvenating and reflective “tastings”. These include meditation, journaling, laughter yoga, Nia, guided imagery, music and a creative project. Most recently one participant stated that this experience left her “totally stress free, focused and ready to face the world again”.

Erin Lee Henshaw

Erin Lee Henshaw is an entrepreneur and mindfulness facilitator specializing in trauma-informed yoga, breath work and mindset programs.

Mai Hukuoka

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Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas

Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas is the Research Director for Undergraduate Initiatives for the Contemplative Sciences Center.

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Harriett Jameson

Harriett’s design and research interests include understanding how place works synthetically to foster well-being and incorporating holistic ideas of health—including spiritual, mental, and non-Western concepts—into design and planning. Her current MLA thesis is using the Landscapes of Longevity research to cultivate design strategies for public places that can support healthy aging. She is also a researcher for the Biophilic Cities Project.

Tish Jennings

Jennings is a Professor of Education at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia.

Hiromi Johnson

Hiromi aims to increase awareness of the health benefits of T’ai Chi and Ch’i Kung.

Jason Jones

Jason Jones is Assistant Director of the Office of Diversity and Engagement at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Paul Tudor Jones

Mr. Jones is founder, Co-Chairman, Chief Investment Officer and the controlling principal of Tudor Investment Corporation. Mr. Jones formed Tudor in 1980 and serves as its principal risk taker. Mr. Jones is a global macro discretionary trader and the primary risk taker for the firm’s flagship fund, Tudor BVI Global Fund, and the sole risk taker for Tudor Futures Fund.

Sonia Jones

Sonia Jones is a wellness advocate, impact philanthropist, founder of Sonima Wellness and the health and wellness website sonima.com.

Harry Harding, Jr.

He is Dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, where he has taught advanced courses on leadership theory and global leadership. He is interested in exploring the application of contemplative principles and practices to leadership, particularly in the public sphere.

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Rebecca Kneedler

After being introduced to mindfulness practices through her participation in Jon Kabat-Zinn’s visit to University of Virginia in 2010, Rebecca Kneedler realized that such techniques could have a profound impact on future teachers and educators. In her course Characteristics of Emotional Disturbances and Behavioral Disorders, Dr. Kneedler includes a lengthy section on mindfulness practices, which she hopes will provide her students the tools to help children with behavioral problems, while also protecting themselves from the self-recrimination and blame face by many inexperienced teachers. Through hiring a full-time coordinator, Dr. Kneedler plans to expand the mindfulness programs in the Curry School in the future.

Marty Krasney

Marty Krasney is an educator and organizational executive who served as the first Executive Director of Dalai Lama Fellows, from the its inception until its relocation to CSC.

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Karen Leshner

Karen Leshner is the founder of Intrepid Philanthropy Foundation, a family foundation focused on education in the San Francisco Bay Area. Intrepid’s mission is to identify, recruit, mentor and recognize superior teachers and school leaders.

Adam Liddle

Adam Liddle is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Contemplative Sciences Center and the Associate Editor for the Journal of Contemplative Studies (JCS).

Angeline Lillard

Dr. Lillard's research concerns how children manage to live in pretend worlds as well as real ones and how those worlds effect them. Research on the impact of television on executive function, the transfer of information across the real-pretend boundary, the course of pretending over one's lifetime, how children understand to enter and exit pretend frames, how the brain responds to what is only imagined, and what children know about pretending all fall under this. She also studies Montessori education and its outcomes.

Robin Lilly

Robin Lilly, M.Ed., Certified Yoga Therapist, has been a teacher and yoga practitioner for over 30 years.

Michael Livermore

His primary teaching and research interests are in administrative law, environmental law, cost-benefit analysis and executive review of agency decision-making.

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Fred Maus

Musicologist Fred Everett Maus is interested in musical experience and its relations to contemplation. Recent courses have included material on embodiment in musical experience, therapeutic uses of music, and experimental art influenced by contemplative practices (such as John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Fluxus).

Benita Mayo

Benita Mayo is a CSC yoga instructor.

David Mick

Through his undergraduate seminar Wisdom and Well-Being, David Mick integrates the study of business cases with contemplative practices to explore how we can become mindful and wise leaders. Dr. Mick’s 25-person seminar guides students through a variety of meditation activities and reflective exercises, ending with a Life Envisionment Project which encourages students to actively contemplate how to live a full life professionally and personally in accordance with their values, virtues, and ideals. These efforts allow students the opportunity to explore what it means to live a mindful life and become self-aware of their own innate wisdom.

Polina Mischenko

Polina Mischenko, M.Ed. is a doctoral candidate at UVA’s Curry School of Education. Polina's research focuses on the experiences of teachers delivering the Compassionate School Project.

Jane Muir

Jane currently serves as the Nursing student representative for U.Va. Student Council and is a Trustee for her class.

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Diane Naughton

Diane Naughton is a CSC advisory board member.

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Marga Odahowski

Bringing mindfulness and yoga to the International Residential Collage (IRC) since it's inception in the year 2000, Marga Odahowski has led the way for free weekly yoga, workshops, seminars, academic courses and leadership development based on mindfulness and other contemplative practices. Building a compassionate global living learning community with an emphasis of creating a living space that invites contemplation and providing community courses and events that explore compassion and social change has been the corner stone of Marga work with the IRC community. Incorporating mindfulness and other contemplative practices into academic leadership courses and university leadership programs for over 20 years, Marga introduced mindfulness to the Darden School of Business over 16 years ago has been a mindfulness trainer consultant in the MBA Executive Program.

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Kim Penberthy

Dr. Jennifer “Kim” Penberthy holds the Chester F. Carlson Professorship Chair in Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences at the UVA School of Medicine. She is clinician, researcher, teacher and innovator using contemplative practices to help people who suffer from deep mental suffering, addiction, and chronic medical conditions, such as cancer and lupus.

Chris Peterson

Chris Peterson is a yoga instructor.

Bob Pianta

Robert C. Pianta is Dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. He also holds positions as the Novartis Professor of Education, Founding Director of the Curry School’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (CASTL), Professor of Psychology at the UVa College of Arts & Sciences, and Director of the National Center for Research in Early Childhood Education.

Jason Pickard

“The more access we have to our wholeness, the more fulfilled and successful we become on all levels.” — Jason Pickard

Margaret Plews-Ogan

Dr. Plews-Ogan is an internal medicine physician. Her area of interest is wisdom, in particular how people develop wisdom.

Lili Powell

After teaching the course Management Communication for several years, Dr. Elizabeth Powell of the Darden School of Business became interested in a topic called Leadership Presence, leading her to “wonder if I could develop a course that goes at public speaking and presentation of self in a different way.” Combining techniques from yoga, Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction program, and theater techniques, Dr. Powell created the course Communicating through Leadership Presence for Darden’s Executive MBA program.

Brian Pusser

Brian Pusser is Associate Professor of Higher Education at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia.

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Reuben Rainey

His present courses focus on the design of various types of healthcare facilities and is also engaged in a number of research projects centering on the design of patient-centered medical facilities and healthy neighborhoods and cities. He is especially interested in the use of meditation in medical facilities and the design of the spaces that accommodate it. He has recently completed a study of the design features of an innovative cancer hospital at the University of Florida, Gainesville.

Georgianna Reid

Georgianna is a 4-th year student studying English and sustainability. She serves as the president of Contemplation at UVA, teaches mindfulness, and is happy to meet with anyone in the community who is curious about meditation or contemplation.

Sara Rimm-Kaufman

She has spent the last two decades conducting research on elementary school classrooms with the goal of developing roadmaps for administrators and teachers making decisions for teachers and children. Her research examines the interactions between teachers and children and among the students’ themselves. The work pays close attention to school and classroom experiences that support students’ interest in learning, development of self-control, and social and emotional skills. In particular, she has had a steadfast commitment to examining ways of improving school experiences for students most at risk for school failure.

Jenny Roe

Jenny Roe is the Mary Irene DeShong Professor of Design and Health and the Director of the Center of Design and Health in the School of Architecture, University of Virginia (UVa).

Martha Rouleau

Martha Rouleau is a contemplative practice instructor with CSC. She considers it an honor to be able to practice with others sharing the journey of listening more deeply and compassionately to the true inner wisdom that resides within each of us.

Christopher Ruhm

Professor Ruhm’s recent research has focused on examining how various aspects of health are produced – including the rise in obesity and relationship between macroeconomic conditions and health – and on the role of government policies in helping parents with young children balance the competing needs of work and family life.

Nicole Ruzek

Nicole is the Director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS).

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Victoria B. Saunders

Victoria B. Saunders, Ph.D., has worked for the past 30 years as a professional facilitator, specializing in strategic planning, leadership training and personal development.

Kurtis R. Schaeffer

A graduate of Harvard University's Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies (2000), Kurtis Schaeffer is Professor in the History of Religions section of the Department of Religious Studies, and currently serves as Associate Chairman of the Department.

Anna Schodowski

Anna is Operations Coordinator & Assistant to the Executive Director.

John Schorling

Dr. Schorling is eager to integrate mindfulness practices into his life and work as a physician and educator. He is involved with the Mindfulness Center course Mindfulness for Healthcare Providers. Paired with this course, Dr. Schorling also teaches the course Mindfulness and Motivational Interviewing for students in the University of Virginia School of Medicine, which utilizes mindfulness and contemplative practices. He also teaches the course Mindfulness and the Brain which combines learning about the mechanisms within the brain that are impacted by meditation, and actually practicing meditation and mindfulness in order to experience them.

Sandra Seidel

Sandy Seidel has served as an Association Dean in the Undergraduate Advising Office in the College of Arts and Sciences since 2005. As Director of Studies for the International Residential College, Sandy works with the Principal, the IRC Professorial and Community Fellows and the IRC Council to build a caring and mindful residential community.

Kayti Wingfield Sewell

Kayti is the Director of Advancement for the Contemplative Sciences Center.

Michael Sheehy

Michael Sheehy, PhD, is the Director of Scholarship and Research Assistant Professor

Kelly Slatery

Kelly is a fourth-year student at the University of Virginia majoring in Cognitive Science and East Asian Studies. Kelly works as a student intern at CSC and serves on the board of the student CIO, Contemplation at UVA with the goal of creating a community and culture of contemplation within the undergraduate space.

Kara Snapp

Kara Snapp is a yoga instructor for CSC.

Ian Solomon

Andy Starr

Andy Starr is currently a third year medical student at the UVa School of Medicine. Before returning to school, to pursue his MD he received a Master of Acupuncture degree from the Tai Sophia Institute for the Healing Arts in Laurel, MD in 2008 and then ran a private practice in New York City.

Brad Stoller

Brad focuses on the playfullness in mindfullness, his classes and workshops have people laughing, hugging, (sometimes crying), and always smiling with the realization that innate health is discovered and we all yearn to share with each other.

Edward Strickler, Jr.

Elevates uses of contemplative practices for individuals, groups, and communities struggling together for social change.

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Kim Tanzer

As Dean of the University of Virginia School of Architecture, Kim Tanzer believes that the environment around people—the building, the landscape, and the community—can have a profound influence on their physical and psychological health. In order to better support creating mindful environments which promote health, Dean Tanzer has been central in establishing the Center for Design and Health—an organization within the architecture school whose purpose is to coordinate students’ study of therapeutic environments. In this move, she has been an innovator in the field, extending the art of building healing environments beyond the more traditionally therapeutic buildings like hospitals.

Athreya Tata

Athreya is currently the Co-President of Compassionate Awareness and Living Mindfully (CALM)

Ann Gill Taylor

Professor Taylor has been a faculty member and clinical researcher for more than four decades at the University of Virginia.

Judith Thomas

Judith Thomas is the director of Arts and Media Services for the University of Virginia Library.

Russell Thomas

Russell Thomas is a fourth-year undergraduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Patrick Tolan

Patrick H. Tolan is the Charles S. Robb Professor of Education at the University of Virginia in the School of Education and Human Development, and in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences in the School of Medicine. He is Director Emeritus of the Youth-Nex Center, the UVA Center to Promote Effective Youth Development.

Nicholas Trautz

Trained as a meditation instructor in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Nicholas Trautz has had a central role in leading the contemplative labs for the course Buddhist Meditation where students experiment with a variety of meditation traditions originating in Buddhism, but secularized for a modern context. In addition to weekly practice in the contemplative labs, students are asked to do brief calm-abiding meditations three times a week, while also keeping a journal outlining their experiences and reactions to meditating. Demonstrating the links between creative production and contemplation, these journals have deeply impressed Nicholas and validated the importance of broadening the traditional academic definition of what it means to learn and to know.

Katarina Turpeinen

Katarina works on digital research collaboratives to document and analyze Tibetan contemplative practices.

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Peter Waldman

Jeffrey C. Walker

Jeff Walker is Chair of the Advisory Board for the Contemplative Sciences Center. He is Chairman of New Profit, a social change investment fund and is Vice Chair in the United Nations Envoy’s Office focused on front line health.

Mick Watson

Mick Watson is Director of Operations for the Contemplative Sciences Center.

Sarah White

Sarah recently received her 200 hour yoga teacher certification from Mosaic Yoga in Charlottesville and continues to study and practice the Ashtanga series with her teacher, Jennifer Elliot.

Susanna Williams

Susanna Williams, PhD is Associate Director of the U.Va. Mindfulness Center, where she is a faculty member and teaches several courses. She has a background in health care, and has worked both internationally and domestically in the area of designing and implementing health systems with a focus on full wellbeing, and sees mindfulness as both an entryway and a prerequisite for global development.

Naomi Worth

A current Masters Student in Religion, she studies under several of the Contemplative Science Center's faculty board members, works for the CSC's Ashtanga Yoga program, and teaches yoga at UVa.

Her research interests include Dream Yoga, physical yogic practices that aim at healing and personal development, and philosophy. She hopes to help foster increased communication between Religion, Psychology, Neuroscience, Medicine and Education.

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Zhiwen Xu

Zhiwen Xu recently graduated from the University of Virginia (UVA) with a B.S. in biochemistry and a B.A. in studio art, both received with distinction. She started working with the Contemplative Sciences Center (CSC) during the fall semester of 2022.

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People

A

Robin Albertson-Wren

Joel Anderson

B

Thomas Ball

Tom Bateman

Dorothy Batten

Ben Benson

Rosalyn Berne

Jason Beverage

Nina Brown de Clercq

Owsley Brown III

Joan Bryant

John Bultman

C

Aneel Chima

James Coan

Elyse Cooner

Geoff Cox

Lynne Crotts

D

Ellen Daniels

Martin N. Davidson

Tim Davis

Anthony DeMauro

Kauri Dynes

E

Asa Eslocker

F

Tamara Fischer-White

Dorrie Fontaine

Omar Fraire

G

Bryan Garey

Ellen I. Graves

Than Grove

H

Alexis Harris

Ira Harris

Kevin Hart

Catherine Hartshorn

Holly Heilberg

Erin Lee Henshaw

Mai Hukuoka

I

Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas

J

Harriett Jameson

Tish Jennings

Hiromi Johnson

Jason Jones

Paul Tudor Jones

Sonia Jones

Harry Harding, Jr.

K

Rebecca Kneedler

Marty Krasney

L

Karen Leshner

Adam Liddle

Angeline Lillard

Robin Lilly

Michael Livermore

M

Fred Maus

Benita Mayo

David Mick

Polina Mischenko

Jane Muir

N

Diane Naughton

O

Marga Odahowski

P

Kim Penberthy

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