Naropa University Launches Eight Programs for a More Just & Regenerative World

Spring 2027 degrees invite students to bring their gifts into service through leadership, healing, creative inquiry, and care for the Earth

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Naropa University will launch eight new and redesigned degree programs in spring 2027, deepening its commitment to education in service of a more just and regenerative world. The programs prepare students to meet the challenges of this moment—from social division and ecological uncertainty to the need for compassionate mental health care—with professional skills grounded in contemplative practice.

At Naropa, education begins with the whole person: our capacity to pay attention, enter into relationship, and discover what we have to offer. These new programs extend that approach into fields where both knowledge and presence matter. Students will explore how to build trust across differences, care for people and the Earth, and create organizations and communities that support shared well-being.

“The world needs people who can bring both skill and heart to the challenges we share,” said Paul Burkhardt, PhD, president of Naropa University. “These programs carry our mission forward by preparing students to care for others, strengthen their communities, and imagine new possibilities. Making that education accessible to more people is central to our future.”

Preparing People to Lead, Collaborate, and Serve

The spring programs offer new ways to connect contemplative learning with purposeful work:

• MA in Leadership: Combines contemplative practice, systems thinking, and ethical inquiry to prepare leaders who can navigate complexity, build trust, and guide meaningful change.
• Master of Public Administration: Builds skills in policy, budgeting, and public management, with an internship and capstone grounding learning in service to the public good.
• BA in Leadership: Connects self-awareness with practical skills in collaboration, project management, and community engagement, helping students turn their values into action.
• MA in Cooperative Management: Prepares students to lead member-owned enterprises through cooperative finance, democratic governance, and organizing that supports shared ownership and community well-being.
• BA in Sustainability Studies: Integrates sustainability studies with contemplative inquiry, preparing students to respond to environmental challenges with care for communities and the Earth.
• BA in Integrative Health: Brings together psychology, neuroscience, somatic studies, yoga, and contemplative practice to support a whole-person, trauma-informed understanding of health and well-being.
• MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling & Certificates: Offers a redesigned 60-credit pathway toward professional counselor licensure, with electives or embedded certificates in somatic, dance/movement, nature-based, mindfulness-based, transpersonal, and Buddhism-informed counseling.
• MA in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences: Invites students to weave diverse fields of study, contemplative practice, and original research into a personally meaningful inquiry that crosses disciplinary boundaries.

“We want students to discover the deep gifts they can bring to their communities, and crucially to develop the skills to put them into meaningful practice,” said Jeffrey Pethybridge, Chief Academic Officer. “In part that means learning to listen deeply, exercising curiosity across differences, and connecting personal growth with responsibility for the world we share, and share in making.”

Making this education more accessible is part of the same commitment. Beginning in fall 2026, Naropa lowered tuition for incoming students and held continuing students’ tuition flat for the 2026–27 academic year. Selected programs also make applying easier by removing major barriers in the application process. New accelerated degree pathways allow eligible undergraduates to begin graduate coursework while completing their bachelor’s degree, shortening the path to and cost of a master’s. Online and low-residency study opens more ways to participate for students balancing education with work, family, and commitments to their communities.

The new programs are part of a larger effort to adapt and grow while remaining rooted in Naropa’s purpose. Fall enrollment exceeded expectations, and the university completed its second-highest fundraising year. Together with expanded access and new opportunities for study, this support is helping Naropa carry its distinctive approach to education into its next chapter—rooted in Boulder and reaching students wherever they live.

For program details and application information, visit www.naropa.edu/academics or contact [e-mail].

About Naropa University

Naropa University, nestled in Boulder, Colorado, was established in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Drawing its name and inspiration from the teachings of the 11th-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, this private university stands out distinctly among America’s higher education landscape in its effort to integrate eastern wisdom with traditional western scholarship. Recognized as the pioneering force behind contemplative higher education and the start of the modern mindfulness movement, Naropa University is the sole institution to integrate a university-wide contemplative pedagogical approach.

At Naropa, education transcends the ordinary; the institution embraces the entirety of its students—mind, body and spirit—augmenting traditional methodologies with practices like meditation. Since receiving its accreditation in 1986, Naropa University consistently upholds the exacting standards for quality and accountability set by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). Learn more at naropa.edu.