BA in Sustainability ProgramI am very grateful to be part of the Goddard community and to share in the trust and excitement that is part of self-directed learning. It is wonder-full to support the students who are drawn to Goddard in designing studies that embrace multiple dimensions of life and in taking new learning into the world. My own life has brought me to Goddard several times.
I grew up helping in my family’s large organic vegetable garden. I first came to Vermont to go to Goddard, left college after one year, married, and raised and homeschooled my two children K-12. We built our own home, lived off grid, heated with wood, and grew and preserved most of our food. In 1968, I met my spiritual teacher Kirpal Singh, became vegetarian, and began a life long practice of daily meditation, study of spiritual traditions, yoga practice, and travel to retreats in India and the US.
As my kids got older, I went back to college at Goddard and then at other schools where I could design degrees that blended spirituality, psychology, and nature studies. I apprenticed with practitioners of Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Gestalt, and hypnotherapy and spent twenty years in private practice with a focus in holistic health counseling, bodywork, dream analysis, family systems, and conflict resolution. Working with people making major changes in their lives or healing from serious illnesses such as cancer has taught me about the power we have to overcome daunting challenges and take our lives in a new direction.
In 1997, I joined the Goddard faculty and have worked in the BA & MA in Health Arts & Sciences, the BA in Individualized Studies, and the BA in Sustainability programs. I have become increasingly focused in sustainability studies, especially in the areas of climate change, energy efficiency, local food systems, ecological economics, and in general waking from the trance of industrial civilization, remembering that we are part of nature, and building the resilience we need to live on the planet we are changing.
In developing Goddard’s BA in Sustainability Program, I brought speakers such as Bill McKibben and Frances Moore Lappé to the College, and started a sustainability listserv to send weekly news and resources to the Goddard community. Since its formation in 2007, I have chaired the Goddard sustainability committee as we work to increase campus energy efficiency and reduce our carbon emissions with a goal of carbon neutrality by 2020.
Educational
Background: PhD in Consciousness Studies, The Union Institute; MA in
Counseling Psychology, Vermont College; BA in Transpersonal Psychology,
Goddard College.
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Catherine Lowther, PhD, MA