University News

What happens when art, therapy, and justice meet in one program? Explore how CIIS is shaping the next generation of expressive arts therapists.

At CIIS' 58th Commencement, 267 graduates from a class of 639 crossed the Herbst Theatre stage in celebration, ceremony and community.

At CIIS’ 58th Commencement, the student speaker and the keynote speaker came from different worlds — and arrived at a very similar truth.
 

At the 2026 Scholarship Dinner, CIIS students and donors gathered to celebrate the journeys that generous giving makes possible.

Celebrating the Wisdom of Recent CIIS Commencement Speakers

Groundbreaking clinic delivers affordable, clinically supervised psychedelic therapy while training the next generation of practitioners

CIIS professor Willow Pearson Trimbach and co-author Eva Tuschman Leonard explore how dreams reveal emotional truths that transform psychotherapeutic and spiritual practice.

CIIS marked its 58th anniversary with community-wide celebration, collective art-making, and the President's Service Distinction Awards.

CIIS students and alumni reflect on the moments that changed everything — inside and outside the classroom.

A celebration of healing, community, and ancestral wisdom as CIIS' Division of Community Engagement and Belonging and the Healing Clinic Collective celebrate the Integrated Wellness Fellowship.

What if the questions that draw us to learning could also reshape who we become? Across disciplines and life paths, curiosity emerges as sacred work, an opening into connection, healing, and transformation.

Desire on the Couch is a groundbreaking exhibition at CIIS that reexamines a century of debates over sexuality, desire, and identity—bringing rarely seen archival materials and unheard stories into public view.

A $30,000 grant will establish a faculty research fund at CIIS, creating opportunities for innovative studies in Somatic Psychology and Integral and Transpersonal Psychology.

This fall, 483 new students began their academic journeys at CIIS with hybrid orientation experiences designed for connection and reflection.

At Human + Tech Week in San Francisco, Bruce Alderman of the Blue Sky Leaders program revealed how human wisdom and presence redefine leadership in the AI era.

Professor Emerita Shoshana Simons, who retired from Expressive Arts Therapy this year, delivered the address to graduating students at CIIS’ 57th Commencement.

Integral Counseling Psychology M.A. graduate Marissa Huang gave one of two student speeches at CIIS’ 57th Commencement Ceremony.

B.S. in Psychology graduating student Dominic Bucci delivered one of two student reflections at CIIS’ 57th Commencement Ceremony.

CIIS celebrated the Class of 2025 on Saturday, May 17 at A.C.T.’s Toni Rembe Theater in San Francisco.

CIIS’ new M.A. in Expressive Arts Coaching & Community Building is the first degree of its kind in the U.S.

For the second year, CIIS’ Center for Black & Indigenous Praxis joined Generations, a celebration of Black LGBTQIA+ cultures in the Bay Area.

At each CIIS Open House event, a community panel of faculty and alumni discusses what drew them to CIIS and their experiences at the University.

CIIS Provost Kathy Littles' statement on the importance academic freedom.

CIIS to launch the first-ever undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Psychedelic Studies offering, planned to begin in fall 2025.

CIIS plans to expand its community health services with the launch of a new psychedelics clinic that will provide patients with ketamine-assisted treatments, the first of its kind to be associated with a university in the United States.

The San Francisco Chronicle explores the importance and benefits of colleges and universities with downtown campuses in San Francisco

CIIS was overjoyed to hold its 56th Commencement on Saturday, May 18, 2024. Festivities began at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco with a commencement reception on Mission campus. 

"Continuously weight your heart at every moment. Decide whether or not it is in alignment with other bodies, the planet, and your ancestors. Every moment. Because the world will tell you you’re going in the wrong way and you’re not."

Our Graduating Student Reflection Speech at the 56th Convocation Ceremony of California Institute for Integral Studies

Celebrated author and somatic therapist Resmaa Menakem will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters and deliver the commencement address.

Mike Jung, a Cataloging and Acquisitions Librarian at the Laurance S. Rockefeller Library at CIIS and noted author of children’s books, discusses his selection as a judge for the 2024 National Book Awards

CIIS Professors Jeanine Canty and Leslie Davenport scheduled to speak at Revolution from the Heart of Nature

The 39th annual awards give double honors to the University

The New York Times travels to CIIS to learn more about the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research and the science behind holotropic breathwork. 

Dr. Keller crossed over on the morning following the Winter Solstice as the light and lengthening of days returned to the northern hemisphere.

Dr. Renée Emunah, Founder and Chair of the Drama Therapy program at CIIS, reflects on the second edition of her book, Acting for Real: Drama Therapy Process, Technique, and Performance

Graduate students in CIIS’ Transformative Leadership Master's Program Capture Prestigious ILA Student Case Competition 

Alec MacLeod, long-time CIIS Professor, shares his thoughts about teaching, his students, and reflects on his recent retirement 

Sibling Directors on Drama, Therapy, and Drama Therapy

Coverage of our work healing individuals, communities, and the earth

CIIS’ East-West Psychology and Transformative Inquiry departments put together a week-long period of celebration of conferences, music, theater, film and food.

A Center for Psychedelic Therapies & Research faculty member and student explore the role chaplains are embracing as they provide patients with psychedelic-assisted treatments.

CIIS was overjoyed to hold its 55th Commencement on Sunday, May 14, 2023, the first in-person graduation since 2019. Festivities began at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco with a commencement reception on Mission campus. 

Don Hanlon Johnson, Ph.D., a long-time professor of Integral and Transpersonal Psychology at CIIS, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy. 

An offering by CIIS Student Mia Cruz opened up the 55th Commencement Ceremony of the California Institute for Integral Studies

Keynote Speech at the 55th Convocation Ceremony of the California Institute for Integral Studies

With the rise of psychedelic therapies, NBC news explores who and how will people get trained; CIIS' Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research is at the forefront.

The New York Times showcases how psilocybin combined with therapy is emerging as the most effective "Next Big Addiction Treatment."

Our Graduating Student Reflection Speech at the 55th Convocation Ceremony of California Institute for Integral Studies

"We are proud to continue the tradition of coming together and growing as a community, strengthening our ties and forwarding a relationship of shared respect and understanding."

Dr. Bayo Akomolafe received an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy delivered the Commencement Address at CIIS’ 55th Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, May 14.

A conversation with Mike and Gityjoon Hebel about why giving matters

In this episode, our University’s President Brock Blomberg and Provost Kathy Littles have a unique conversation exploring the present and future of CIIS and what is core to its mission of integral education. President Blomberg and Provost Littles share insights on the current moment at CIIS and beyond, as well as the role higher education plays in our world today. They discuss the creativity, innovation, and expansion required to meet the needs of students and faculty in higher education while responding to trends in an evolving marketplace.

This episode was recorded during an in-person and live streamed event at California Institute of Integral Studies on January 24th, 2023. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

New Chair of School of Undergraduate Studies on the Integral Future

From Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway plays to DEI executive leadership and consulting, Dr. Philip McAdoo cultivates creative futures and more inclusive community.

On May 15, 2022 CIIS welcomed graduates both virtually and on-campus for our 54th Commencement Ceremony

President Brock Blomberg announces that CIIS will double-down on its efforts to make health and safety paramount in the field. 

Watch and listen to the recordings of past years' memorial lectures for David Graeber

Carol Patrice Christ was and will remain one of the foremothers and most brilliant voices of the Women’s Spirituality movement

The CIIS community responds to the passing of the beloved teacher, friend, wisecracker, and wisdom keeper Dr. Steven Goodman

International Students and Stories of Courage, Severance, and Transition

Members of the Council of Sages share CIIS’ worldview and values. (And some of them are very famous.)

Stage Ai's Summer Blossom festival brought CIIS values to life in China through arts, healing, and cross-cultural connection.

Joy DeGruy received her Honorary Doctorate from CIIS at Commencement in May 2015

CIIS is leading cross-cultural collaboration around counseling psychology in China.

A social and emotional art-based research study will be supported