California Institute of Integral Studies - History

History

In 1949, San Francisco businessman Louis Gainsborough invited Professor Frederic Spiegelberg of Stanford University to start a graduate school in San Francisco on Asian studies. Spiegelberg accepted and in turn invited to the faculty Alan Watts, whose writings helped bring Zen to the West; and Haridas Chaudhuri, an Indian philosophy professor who introduced the teachings of Sri Aurobindo to the West. Together they formed the American Academy of Asian Studies (AAAS) in 1951. Colloquia at AAAS attracted many of the leading figures of the San Francisco Renaissance of the period and sparked wide interest in Asian art and spiritual practices, putting the Academy at the cutting-edge of Western absorption of the culture and spiritual practices of the East. Among the attendees were Michael Murphy and Dick Price, later the cofounders of Esalen Institute; and poets Gary Snyder and Kenneth Rexroth, both of whom translated and were influenced by Asian literature. The Academy became affiliated with the University of the Pacific (then the College of the Pacific) in 1954. That affiliation continued until 1959, when the Academy once again became independent, until its closing in 1968.

In 1968, Haridas Chaudhuri founded a university to continue the work of AAAS, the California Institute of Asian Studies. The initial curriculum in Eastern traditions was consolidated into the program in Asian and Comparative Studies, while new programs started up in expanded areas. The Institute began offering programs in psychology with a spiritual and/or holistic perspective, starting with the program in Integral Counseling Psychology in 1973. Additional programs were added in East-West Psychology, Social and Cultural Anthropology (now Anthropology and Social Change), and Clinical Psychology (offering the PsyD degree). Haridas Chaudhuri died in 1975, after which his widow, Bina Chaudhuri, joined with Spiegelberg to guide the Institute. Reflecting the growing diversity of its academic programs, the Institute changed its name from "Asian" to "Integral" Studies in 1980. The following year, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accredited California Institute of Integral Studies.

In the 1990s, under the presidency of Robert A. McDermott (the author of books on Sri Aurobindo and Rudolf Steiner), CIIS significantly expanded its programs after receiving funding from Laurance S. Rockefeller. During this period, the Institute started one of the first online PhD programs, in Transformative Studies. New programs also included MA/PhD programs in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness; and in Women’s Spirituality. Master’s programs were added in Drama Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy, Somatic Psychology, and Integrative Health Studies. A Bachelor of Arts Completion program also began at CIIS during this period.

Under President Joseph L. Subbiondo, who began his tenure in 1999, the Institute has expanded both its offerings and its enrollment, now over 1,400 students. During his tenure, the Institute has added MA programs in Community Mental Health and Transformative Leadership. New MFA programs were founded in Writing and Consciousness; and in Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Studies.

Today the Institute continues as a center for innovative thought and practices in transpersonal psychology, activist spirituality, the philosophy of sustainability and ecology, women’s spirituality, drama therapy, and many other fields.