General Catalog - John F. Kennedy University

The School of Holistic Studies provides integrative and transformativeacademic programs. We engage students in creative inquiry that fosters self-awarenessand wholeness of being. By linking the personal, spiritual, and cultural aspects of study,we inspire students to understand that the deepest dimensions of personal identity form theessential foundation for meaningful and effective professional activity.The School of Holistic Studies offers innovative degree programs that encourage students topursue higher consciousness in the context of a global culture and a sustainable environment.Students learn to use holistic perspectives, values, and modalities to live personally fulfillingand socially responsible lives, aligning the personal body in conjunction with the worldbody and approaching that conjunction as an arena of soul-making. The School of HolisticStudies provides undergraduate and graduate programs that share a philosophical commitmentto holism. Holism includes a scholarly and experiential approach to the integrationof body, mind, spirit, environment, and culture. The holistic values of interconnectedness,compassion, diversity, imagination, and community service form the basis of our professionaldegree programs. Within the context of holism and East/West philosophicaltraditions, we offer academic degrees in consciousness and transformative studies, integralpsychology, holistic health education, transformative arts, studio arts, and counselingpsychology. Students in our counseling psychology program specializations do their fieldplacement at the Center for Holistic Counseling in Oakland and at external sites throughoutnorthern California. Each degree program shares a holistic approach to the understandingand expression of expanded consciousness.School ofHolistic StudiesThe School of Holistic Studies offers an educational experience that is now considered bymany to be essential for all people since prudent individuals know that to educate peopleproperly requires attention be given to their mental, physical, cultural, and spiritual needs.Students who are drawn to our programs seek a deeper understanding of themselves andothers. They integrate holistic perspectives into their lives and work. They speak of the transformativepower of their education to develop an all-sided body-mind capable of thinkingfreely with the heart and feeling with a conscious and disciplined valuing of experience.All students in the school take core courses that challenge the belief systems through whichthey view themselves, others, and reality itself. Students explore the shift from a linear,mechanistic worldview to one that is holistic, systems-oriented, and cognizant of spirit.The School of Holistic Studies recognizes the human spirit as central to learning. Weacknowledge the spiritual dimensions of reality and support our students with their personalpractices as they strive for fuller integration of their personal and public lives. We recognizethat one’s spirituality involves the quest for inner coherence that leads to intellectual,psychological, social, and bodily well-being. Holistic learning that connects knowledge andskills with personal aspirations for life liberates students from the bondage of thoughtlesshabit and behavior and prevents mechanized thinking that fragments talents. We believethat when education engages the personal aspirations of students, they relate intimately tomaterials of study in terms of their spirit.As Dr. John (Jack) P. Miller notes in The Holistic Curriculum: “A holistic education emphasizesrelationships between thinking and intuition, mind and body, individual and community,personal self and higher self (the spiritual dimension of experience). Holistic education seekstransformation, that is, the continuing growth of the person and society.”