California Institute of Integral Studies?
April 27, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Filed Under Academic, Buddhism
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I have been focused on the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) as the main place to do my PhD. This is largely because Dr. Richard Payne is there and he is one of the few scholars in Japanese Buddhism of the esoteric sort (Shingon, in his case) in the United States.
There is another school in the area that has a PhD program that focuses on Buddhist Studies. That is the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). They actually teach Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese there as well (and require at least one of these for the degree).
One of the things that I’ve been reevaluating is my idea for a dissertation topic. I’ve been batting around the idea of focusing more on the experience of Buddhists in America, especially esoteric Buddhists (which are largely Vajrayana practitioners). This is an area of focus for one of the main professors at CIIS. CIIS also costs an amazingly smaller amount that GTU (around $21,000 a year for PhD versus the $48,000 a year at GTU) and inducts in either Spring or Fall.
What this all means is that if I decided to go to CIIS and was accepted for an application in the next six months, I could start this coming January instead of eight or nine months later at GTU, and it would cost about half as much.
I am unsure about the intellectual or academic rigor of the CIIS program though. It is a small school and, like Naropa, in a way, comes from a background emerging from the mists of the 60s. It also has a fairly small academic staff, which gives less diversity for the work there. There are only four main professors in the “Asian and Comparative Studies” department. Additionally, part of the point of a PhD is who you study with and I would enjoy working with Dr. Payne at GTU. It is conceivable that I could get a good PhD and improve both my academic work and grounding in Buddhism working at CIIS as well. It is really hard to say.
The handbook for the program that I am looking at is available online as well for those interested in looking at it.
So, this leaves me with a bunch of questions but I also have friends who have either attended CIIS or have worked with academics from the school. If people have any thoughts on the school and its programs, I would love to hear them.
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7 Responses to “California Institute of Integral Studies?”
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All original work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
You’ve already mentioned that the academic job prospects are iffey at best, but the prestige of the school has a lot to do with how good or bad those prospects are. On the other hand, a Naropa-type school is as good or better if one is looking to become a Buddhist author, do psychology or therapy with a Buddhist approach, or something of that nature. Some doors open wider and others start to close, like every other decision we make.
It is more the academic rigor that I’m worried about with the program at CIIS.
Hey Al, here’s my two-pennies.
First, my impression is that CIIS is more for those interested in “practical-” (fill in the blank). The blank could be “theology,” “psychology,” whatever; but the bottom line is that their program is geared more toward putting our academic/spiritual knowledge to WORK. For better or worse.
Second, last spring I presented a paper at a conference at Berkeley and in the audience were some grad students from CIIS. One of them, somewhat jokingly, said that the impression that people at CIIS have of the GTU is that the GTU is this “stuffy, serious, academic” place, and that CIIS is… well, not more “lax” necessarily but at the very least not as “ivory tower.” I found this comment to be really really funny because I’ve always felt that the GTU is decidedly NOT stuffy and serious and that if you were to put it on an academic spectrum, it would be less stuffy than, say, a Cal or Stanford; but not as “fluffy” as Naropa.
So take from that what you will.
Oh, and I will say (to plug my alma mater), one of the benefits of the GTU is the ability to cross-register at Cal and get some really serious academic stuff under your belt. (Or at the least use their libraries.)
Thanks for the feedback, Scott. Given what you and some others have said, I expect that I’ll still be applying to GTU. I just wish it wasn’t so bloody expensive.
I’ve spoken to a professor of Jewish Studies who teaches at SFU in social settings (a housewarming and the seder that I went to the other day). Whenever I make a mention of GTU in chatting with him, he starts rubbing his fingers together making the “money” mudra that we all know. He thinks that the school is way too expensive (for him or others).
Out of curiosity, where are you getting the $48000 a year figure up there? Are you talking about tuition plus living expenses? Or just tuition? The info on the GTU website says ~24k a year. Not cheap, I’ll grant, but not that much more than CIIS which lists ~20k on their website. Unless I’m looking at outdated stuff. What do I know. (All I know if that now that I’m not a student, they’re gonna want all those pesky loans back. Drats!)
Also, you really can’t start at the GTU in the spring? I could have sworn I saw an announcement once for “mid-year” orientation or something. I could be way wrong. And I’m of course playing by rules that were set when I started, i.e., eight years ago. So they’ve no doubt changed.
Doh, I must have misread the last time I looked at tuition. That is a big difference!
You’re right. It is about $12K a semester. I must have done the math for the two years of residency and then got it mixed up with the cost of a single year.
As to GTU in the Spring, no. I confirmed this on their site and I’m pretty sure that I asked Richard when I had lunch with him last. They only induct in Fall for the PhD program. It is either for the Master’s Degree.
Ah, I must have seen something for MA students. Oh well. At least the money is less.