WISR 11th ANNUAL CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

 

Thursday through Saturday, October 24-26, 2019

TRANSFORMING OURSELVES AND THE WORLD:

The Western Institute for Social Research (WISR)
Learning Community in its 45th Year

 

Click here for Conference Schedule with more details (pdf format)

Click here for Registration & Disclosure Form

Request for Donations to Support WISR’s Formal Application and Review for Accreditation

November 12, 2018

Hello WISR Students, Alumni, Board, Faculty and Friends,

This is an update that WISR is making toward great progress toward accreditation, although a positive outcome can never be guaranteed. And, this is a strong appeal to those of you who are able to do so, to donate to WISR before the end of 2018. As many of you recall, we received an anonymous donation (not from me nor any friend or relative) from a member of our community of $15,000 in early 2018. The donation was put in our account right away as an act of good faith, and it was supposed to be matched before the end of 2018, and so far, we have received only $6,000 in matching donations, although in early 2018 several pledged to give more by end of 2018.

Beyond the importance of matching this $15,000, it should be known that while our prospects for accreditation look quite promising, we do have a couple of big financial hurdles in the next 12 months.  First and foremost, we will have to pay about $45,000 in accreditation fees—first, $25,000 to submit our self-study and our online courses for review by DEAC  in early 2019, and then, hopefully $20,000 for a site visit late in 2019.

We have enough in our savings account to pay for half of those costs, and can use most of our $25,000 line of credit with the bank to pay for the rest of the costs.  However, our chances for getting accreditation in the next two years go up considerably if 1) we don’t touch our savings account, and 2) are actually able to increase the $23,000 in savings with another $25,000.  Having nearly $50,000 in savings would be a huge plus in seeking accreditation.

We will be able to do #1 if we get $25,000 in donations in the next two months, and we may be able to do #2 if we get $20,000 in donations in 2019.  In all other respects our finances are very solid, and our student enrollment is beginning to slowly grow—and more, and continued, referrals of prospective students to help us to grow slightly faster will be helpful as well.

While not asking for or expecting any special appreciation, I want to add that this year, as I did the previous year, I have cut my own salary by $26,000 (by 1/3). I say this to emphasize that I believe we are at a crossroads in WISR’s history, and I want to do my part to pitch in—to help sustain WISR for many years to come—even beyond my own lifetime. Further, many individuals among faculty and staff are donating their time. If we all pitch in, our likelihood for achieving accreditation will grow significantly!

All donations, large and small will be appreciated, and because of WISR’s non-profit 501(c)3 status they are likely tax-deductible.

Your contributions of time and energy to participating in our self-study process and outreach to prospective students (groups and individuals) are also greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

John Bilorusky, PhD
WISR President and Member of the Faculty

For more information, please visit our web page on Giving.

10th Annual Conference, October 4-7, 2018

The Future of Transformative Learning at WISR

Building Partnerships Locally and Beyond

 

 Thursday evening, October 4^th
through Sunday afternoon, October 7^th

 Click here for more information

 

SEMINAR AND OPEN HOUSE, Saturday, August 25th

 

STUDENT-FACULTY COLLABORATION IN THE NEW, ONLINE COURSES, AND IN ASSESSING STUDENT LEARNING AT WISR

followed by Open House

Saturday, August 25

10am-12pm

 John Bilorusky, PhD, WISR President and Core Faculty Member

 ~John Bilorusky will present for discussion, strategies to use at WISR to assess student learning, to promote further student learning and provide evidence to external groups, such as an accrediting agency — of the substance, value and multi-dimensionality of student learning at WISR.

This seminar will help students and faculty to collaborate in conducting learning assessments in each course and throughout a student’s studies, and even beyond, in their endeavors as alumni.

~Dr. Bilorusky, will present a theoretical framework for assessing learning, developed out of 40+ years’ of experience in “learning the WISR way.” The presentation and subsequent discussion will include reflections on the strengths and limitations of specific well-defined indicators on the one hand, and textured, complex stories and exemplars of student learning, on the other hand. MFT Students: Attendance at the All School Gathering counts as attendance at an MFT seminar.

~The seminar will also allow significant time to discuss the format and structure of WISR’s new, online courses — some of which are already “live” at:  https://sites.google.com/wisr.edu/lms/home   In order to access, you must each time first sign into your wisr.edu email account!

~~~

OPEN HOUSE at WISR!!

 Refreshments Provided

 Saturday, August 25^th, noon to 4pm

 ~Prospective Students and others interested in learning more about WISR are invited to attend!

 ~We will have updates on plans for online learning with WISR’s pursuit for accreditation.

 ~Alumni, current students, faculty & board are invited to “check in” in person, by Zoom or phone, to share anecdotes and stories about their WISR experience.

~~Contact admin@wisr.edu or john.bilorusky@wisr.edu if you want to attend via zoom or telephone and provide a phone # in case of technical difficulties.

Author Event with WISR/CSSA Faculty Professor Peter Gabel, J.D., PhD. August 24, 6 – 9 pm Santa Rosa

Author Event with WISR/CSSA Faculty Professor
Peter Gabel, J.D., PhD.
at the Arlene Francis Center,
Santa Rosa
August 24,  6 pm – 9 pm

Join Peter Gabel and the Arlene Francis Center in Santa Rosa as Peter shares his newest book
The Desire for Mutual Recognition: Social Movements and the Dissolution of the False Self

Author Peter Gabel examines the struggle between desire and alienation as it unfolds across our social world, calling for a new social-spiritual activism that can go beyond the limitations of existing progressive theory and action, intentionally foster and sustain our capacity to heal what separates us, and inspire a new kind of social movement that can transform the world.

Peter Gabel is the former president of New College of California and was for over thirty years a professor at its public-interest law school. He is a founder of the critical legal studies movement and the Project for Integrating Spirituality, Law, and Politics. Editor-at-Large of the progressive Jewish magazine Tikkun, he is the author of numerous books and articles on law, politics, and social change. Peter is faculty at the Western Institute for Social Research and co-founder with Michael McAvoy of the Center for Social Spiritual Activism (CSSA).

Sat. August 4, 2018 Depression, Part I of II From Major to minor with Ronald Mah, LMFT, PhD

Sat. Sept. 9 Psychopharmacology Part II, 10 am – 12 pm with Karen Wall, EdD, LMFT, new WISR Faculty, Facilitator

As mental health practitioners, our work is to provide services with the goal of helping our client to reduce emotional pain, and to promote psychological growth and healing. Psychiatric medications are increasingly being prescribed by providers who are not psychiatrists; therefore, it is important for non-medical mental health providers, such as therapists, to be familiar with these medications in order to be able to monitor client responses for efficacy and side effects of the medications, and compliance in our clients who are taking these medications.

Regardless of the therapist’s degree of involvement or interest in medication management, the large body of evidence demonstrating the connection between certain mental disorders and neurochemical imbalances has made it important for therapists to be able to address medication-related topics that are directly related to diagnoses and referrals.

Please RSVP by e-mail to karen.wall@wisr.edu orjohn.bilorusky@wisr.edu for the Zoom video conference link and/or phone numbers if you plan to participate by videoconference or phone and provide a phone # in case of technical difficulties.

June is LGBTQI pride month!

This is celebrated in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Manhattan. The Stonewall riots were a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. The Bay area has a plethora of pride events including Frameline Film Festival, Art and Music shows and exhibits, parades, marches, workshops, kids events and so much more Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally. The queer contribution to collective human dignity throughout time has gone largely unseen, undermined and unnoticed. These contributions are critical to societies being humane. Queer communities and especially queer communities of color have worked tirelessly to ensure basic human rights while bearing the brunt of racism and homophobia and/or transphobia.  LGBTQI history month is in October, but June is the month to celebrate, educate and stand in pride for queer communities all over the world.

 Although not in June, there will be a Seminar on Queerness on July 28^th, 2018 10AM facilitated by WISR Doctoral Student Rosa Reinikainen. Come and learn more about queer experience, history, and contribution to the democracy.

For more information, our most recent events flyers can be found here: https://www.wisr.edu/hot-news/

 

WISR’s Annual Conference will be Thursday October 4th through Saturday, October 7th or Sunday the 8th. Save the Date!

May 30, 11 am – 1 pm PST Understanding Race & Law Through Mindfulness May 30th with Rhonda Magee JD

Contemplative Pedagogy: Race, Law and Mindfulness with Law Professor Rhonda Magee and CSSA Founders Peter Gabel and Michael McAvoy

Contemplative Pedagogy: De-Biasing Educational Environments
Understanding Race & Law Through Mindfulness
May 30th with Rhonda Magee JD, Peter Gabel and Michael McAvoy
Free, open to the public and lunch is provided
11 am – 1 pm PST
or online
Log on:https://zoom.us/j/576505422
Or call 408-740-3766, 646-876-9923
or 669-900-6833; Meeting ID: 576 505 422

visit www.socialspiritualactivism.org
The Way of ColorInsight: Understanding Race and Law Effectively
Through Mindfulness-Based ColorInsight Practices
(Georgetown Law Journal of Modern Critical Race Perspectives, Spring 2016)
By Rhonda V. Magee
Introduction
Despite much good effort to the contrary, reports from a wide variety of fields and locations serve daily to remind us that race still matters in America. To many legal scholars,these reports are not only not news but they suggest work that must be done within the legal academy to minimize racial bias within contemporary law. For example, in his groundbreaking Article, Trojan Horses of Race, Jerry Kang highlighted the research identifying and confirming
implicit bias as a pervasive cognitive, interpersonal dynamic, and placed on the research agenda that should follow this revelation scholarship by law professors examining “teaching strategies,”
as well as “debiasing programs, and [educational] environments.”

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