Marietta, Georgia, December 11, 2020 – Amid a year full of global challenges, 2020 demonstrated the incredible capacity of humanity to show compassion.
The Center for Compassion, Integrity and Secular Ethics (CCISE) at Life University (LIFE) is dedicated to developing and promoting empirically based programs that foster the human values most conducive to individual, social and environmental flourishing through research, dialogue, education and community empowerment.
One of the key programs the CCISE has developed is Compassionate Integrity Training (CIT) – a multi-part training program that cultivates basic human values as skills for the purpose of increasing individual, social and environmental flourishing.
This year, CIT set new records for enrollment and participation, according to Dr. Michael Karlin, LIFE Assistant Professor of Psychology and the Associate Director of CCISE. Although the world’s current state of affairs has brought many opportunities for CIT to expand its reach through virtual avenues, for which they are grateful, they certainly recognize the growing pains that have accompanied their expansion.
- Strengthened CCISE and CIT partnerships with UNESCO MGIEP and the Charter for Compassion.
- Invited to join two global think tanks: UNESCO MGIEP’s Global Collective for SEL and Digital Learning and the Steering Committee of the education initiative Karanga: The Global Alliance for Social Emotional Learning and Life Skills.
- Worked with Compassionate San Antonio to bring CIT to 175 local educators, ranging from Pre-K through higher education.
- Adapted multiple face-to-face CIT courses into online formats to accommodate new requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Created a new fully online CIT Self-Directed Learning (SDL) program, in partnership with UNESCO MGIEP, and launched the course with more than 1,000 participants.
- Created CIT Global Education Network (GEN), in partnership with the Charter for Compassion, designed to support educators from Kindergarten through higher education in their work to bring CIT, ThinkEqual and SEE Learning into the classroom.
- Participated in United Nations Peace One Day 2020, broadcast globally.
- Held first-ever CIT Masterclass for more than 3,500 participants online.
- Expanded CIT to 59 countries, 103 facilitators and 2,207 graduates.
- Created CIT Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts to communicate on a wider scale via social media.
CIT is based on cutting-edge developments in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, trauma-informed care, peace and conflict studies, and contemplative science. The training builds off the expertise of Daniel Goleman (author of the book “Emotional Intelligence“) and Peter Senge, initiatives in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), and other areas of research. The development of CIT has been aided by the collaborative work of a team of experts with both academic and applied backgrounds in these fields.
Although CIT deals with values and concepts, including compassion and integrity, it is based on a secular approach to universal ethics based on common sense, common experience and science, rather than a particular culture or religion. Secular ethics can be useful to people of any or no religious background, while not conflicting in any way in conflict with particular religious values.
By covering a range of skills from self-regulation and self-compassion, to compassion for others and engagement with complex systems, CIT focuses on and builds toward compassionate integrity: the ability to live one’s life in accordance with one’s values with a recognition of common humanity, our basic orientation to kindness and reciprocity.
Founded in 1974, Life University is a health sciences institution most known for its Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) program, the largest single-campus chiropractic program in the world. Undergraduates can pursue 14 undergraduate degrees as well as a pre-chiropractic, degree-seeking pathway. Three graduate degrees are available, encompassing areas of sport health science, clinical nutrition and positive psychology. Some degree programs are offered to distance learners through the College of Online Education.
Life University strives to empower our students to succeed both professionally and personally. At LIFE, we innovate our approach to higher education, while also remaining true to our philosophical commitment to produce informed leaders who exemplify humanistic values in their professions. To achieve this goal, LIFE recognizes and demonstrates its dedication through three official Life University Values: Lasting Purpose, Vitalism and Integrity.
LIFE’s 110-acre campus in Marietta, Georgia, just northwest of Atlanta, is home to more than 2,700 undergraduate, graduate and professional students who come from all 50 United States and more than 45 countries.
For more information about Compassionate Integrity Training, including how to participate in CIT, please visit CompassionateIntegrity.org.
Find out more about LIFE’s Center for Compassion, Integrity and Secular Ethics on the CCISE website at Compassion.LIFE.edu.
For more information about Life University, visit LIFE.edu.
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