As with football or violin practice, young people could gain versatile life skills through routine contemplative training. CSC’s Director of Research Michael Sheehy examines teaching contemplation in the classroom in an article for the magazine Psyche.
This fall 2024 semester, the Contemplative Sciences Center and partners will pilot select activities for UVA students and the general public; and host several academic classes. The building will not have public business hours but will be open during that programming. The Contemplative Commons' official public grand opening will be spring 2025 (stay tuned!) Piloted programming includes drop-in opportunities for students as well as events that are open to the public including Meditation from the Dell.
The Good Life Political Project at UVA's Karsh Institute of Democracy invites students from all backgrounds and with a diverse range of views and experiences to apply for the Student Dialogue Fellowship, which will convene multiple cohorts of UVA undergraduate and graduate students for a monthly dinner series in the fall of 2024. Dialogue Fellows will have the option to continue their engagement with the program into the spring of 2025, where they will contribute to the development of the program’s future iterations and will have the opportunity to collaborate with thought leaders at the University.
The Tiny Blue Dot Foundation announced the funding of twelve neuroscientific research projects related to “The Science of Perception Box.” CIRCL, CSC's Contemplative Innovation + Research Co-Lab, is among the awardees along with collaborators at Northwestern University for their study, "Transformative Benefits of Contemplative Sleep Practices and a Novel Pathway to Deliver Benefits to the General Public."
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has designated Flourish: The Compassionate Schools Project Curriculum as a Promising Program for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). Flourish is one of 14 programs in the 2024 review cycle selected for inclusion in the CASEL Guide to Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs.
The April 2024 Newsletter includes "A Conversation with the Dalai Lama," Contemplative Commons News, JCS Series: “What is Contemplation;" New Student Advisors; Tom Tom Festival Panels; Video: What is a Psychedelic Experience?
UVA Today highlighted From Fear to Action: Thriving in a Changing Climate, a talk hosted by the University of Virginia’s Environmental Institute and Contemplative Sciences Center with Britt Wray, a Stanford University researcher focused on the intersection of climate change and mental health — Febr
Channel 29 News interviews Britt Wray after her talk hosted by UVA’s Contemplative Sciences Center, Environmental Institute, and Public Service Pathways.
CSC Staff toured the site of the Contemplative Commons, a 57,000 square-foot complex of indoor and outdoor spaces that will bring together students from across UVA for participatory forms of deep learning.
“I always had that dream that I want to work in the villages in my home state, but when I got there I started developing this fear of ‘Can I really sustain in this kind of work?’” Shrutika Silswal told The Daily Progress.
On behalf of the staff and advisory board of the Contemplative Sciences Center, we express our profound sorrow for the loss of a precious life during the construction of the Contemplative Commons building on Tuesday, March 14, 2023.