Inauguration of Dr. Thomas B. Coburn as President of Naropa University To Take Place November 1, 2003; Inauguration Address to Highlight Naropa's Vision of Contemplative Education and its Relevance for the Liberal Arts.

Business Editors/Education Writers

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 29, 2003

Dr. Thomas B. Coburn will be formally installed as president of Naropa University in a ceremony on Saturday, November 1, 2003, at 2:30 p.m.

The ceremony will take place in the Events Center at Naropa University's Nalanda campus at 63rd and Arapahoe, 6287 Arapahoe, Boulder. Martin W. Janowitz, chairman of the Board of Trustees, will administer the oath of office and present Dr. Coburn with the Naropa sash, the traditional symbol of office at the university. The Sakyong, Jamgon Mipham, Rinpoche, Naropa University's lineage holder and son of the institution's founder, the Venerable Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, will offer a lineage blessing. The Honorable Will Toor, Mayor of Boulder, will offer greetings on behalf of the Boulder community.

Dr. Coburn begins his tenure at Naropa as the university is growing both in terms of the number of students and the number of degree programs being offered. Since its founding in 1974, Naropa's core mission has been contemplative education. In his inauguration address, titled, "Dancing in the Rivers," Dr. Coburn states, "Naropa then and now has its finger on the pulse of something vital, with roots from the distant past and a future that stretches out of sight, over the far horizon, into the future." Dr. Coburn describes the historical context of Naropa's three decades of experience as "living at the confluence of two rivers."

Dr. Coburn identifies one of the rivers as the Buddhist tradition that "has its headwaters in classical India, in the experience of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, 'the awakened one'." The other river in Dr. Coburn's metaphor also "has its headwaters in a distant time and place," and "originates in the eastern Mediterranean in the amazingly creative matrix that was classical Greece. The tradition that was born there we know today as the liberal arts tradition," Dr. Coburn continues. "This river of liberal arts education now finds itself in Boulder, Colorado, vital, alive and, for the past thirty years, merging with the Buddhist river into the experience of Naropa University. Two traditions, both of which have a long history of geographic mobility and of enriching other cultures, have now encountered each other, with unique opportunities for cross-fertilization."

Dr. Coburn explores three implications of Naropa's life at the confluence of these two rivers. The first relates to the recognition "that something revolutionary is afoot in the recent Western openness to what meditation offers." According to Dr. Coburn, what this growing popular attraction to meditation reflects "is a sense that intellect and material possessions are insufficient for living a complete life; there is a hunger for a redressing of the balance, with a greater role for intuition and spirituality." He goes on to state that "When Naropa speaks of balancing inner and outer selves or worlds in the education we offer, it is not just because it is the education best suited to the 21st century--it is also a restoration of liberal arts education to its original aspiration to educate the whole human being."

The second implication relates to globalization. Dr Coburn observes that "The cross-cultural flow of people, of cultures, as well as of capital and markets is now undeniable...and the way we think about these processes is a huge challenge, because of their complexity." Dr. Coburn states that "Diversity education and multiculturalism have had much to commend them, but they assume that the differences between peoples are more noteworthy than their commonalities." Dr. Coburn also says that at Naropa and elsewhere, "The concept of intercultural education is now getting a lot of discussion because it acknowledges that all facets of today's world are dynamic and in flux, because it doesn't privilege the similarities or the differences that exist cross-culturally, and because it captures the texture of life in Boulder and Boston as well as in Cairo and Bangkok." In Dr. Coburn's view, "What is at stake is the single most pressing educational question for the 21st century: How can we help our students, and how can we help ourselves, learn to engage constructively with those who are not like ourselves? The task is urgent in our ever more interdependent, ever more confluent world."

The third implication for Naropa's experience at the meeting of these rivers, according to Dr. Coburn, is to recognize that "These interpenetrating influences and heritages do not simply apply to the world outside us. They are also taking place within each of us." Dr. Coburn concludes: "Thus, it is not just we at Naropa who these days live at the confluence of rivers, in different rivers with different histories. Those rivers flow within us, as well as in the world around us. In these circumstances, it is hard for me to imagine a liberal education that does not attend to the dynamics of our inner lives as well as to the outer world. It is hard for me to imagine a liberal education adequate for the 21st century that is not contemplative."

Dr. Coburn began his duties as president on July 1, 2003, after having spent six years as vice president and dean of academic affairs at St. Lawrence University where he was also the Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies. Dr. Coburn is a renowned scholar and academician in the field of religious studies and is a widely published author specializing in South and East Asia and the Islamic world. He is considered one of the world's leading experts on the Hindu tradition of the great goddess. Dr. Coburn received a doctorate in the comparative study of religion from Harvard University in 1977, a master's degree in the history of religion also from Harvard in 1969, and a bachelor's degree in religion magna cum laude from Princeton University in 1965.

Other events happening during the inauguration weekend include a Faculty Arts Event on Friday evening, October 31, 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. at the Events Center on the Naropa University Nalanda campus, and a Faculty Panel on Contemplative Education on Saturday morning, November 1, 10 a.m. - noon at the Naropa University Performing Arts Center in the university's Lincoln Building, at 2130 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder. For more detailed information on weekend events, please go to www.naropa.edu/inauguration. Journalists wishing to cover any of the inauguration events should contact Sigrid Badinelli at 303-245-4822 or e-mail [e-mail].

Naropa University is the only accredited, Buddhist-inspired university in North America. Founded nearly 30 years ago as a summer institute, Naropa University has grown into a thriving liberal arts institution, comprising a four-year college, numerous graduate degree programs, and the School of Extended Studies, which offers training in professional development, courses for the community, and outreach to diverse populations including a prison education curriculum. Naropa University attracts students from across the globe and serves remote locations with a leading-edge distance education program. In addition, the university runs study abroad programs in Sikkim, the Czech Republic, South India, Bali and Costa Rica. For more information, visit www.naropa.edu.