Teaching Faculty and Advisors
Course Directors
Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Psychiatry
University of California, San Francisco
Chair of Mental Health Council of CCHE
Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry
University of California, San Diego
Co-Chair of Mental Health
Council of CCHE
Professor at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing
University of California, Davis
Clinical Neuroscientist, Contemplative Researcher, Climate Educator
Lecturers
Adam Aron, PhD
Professor in the Department of Psychology
University of California, San Diego
Leader of UCSD Green New Deal
Author of The Climate Crisis Textbook
Ayisha Siddiqa
Climate Activist
Climate Advisor to UN Secretary General
Time Magazine Woman of the Year, 2023
Benjamin Franta, JD, PhD
Senior Research Fellow in Climate Litigation
Founder of Climate Litigation Lab
University of Oxford
Lawyer, Historian,
Physicist
Britt Wray, PhD
Director of Community-Minded Interventions for Resilience, Climate Leadership and Emotional Wellbeing (CIRCLE)
Stanford School of Medicine
Author of Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety
Clover Hogan
Corrina Gould
Tribal Chair of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan
Co-Director for The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust
Dan Siegel, MD
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Founding Co-Director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center
University of California, Los Angeles
David Sherman, PhD
Professor in the Department of Psychology
Director of the Social Climate Science Lab
University of California, Santa Barbara
Founder of Idea Architects
Co-Author of The Book of Joy, The Book of Hope, and upcoming “Will We Be Okay?”
Dekila Chungyalpa, MA
Director of the Loka Initiative, Center for Healthy Minds and Healthy Minds Innovation
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Gayle Karen Young, MA
Organizational Development Leader
Former Chief Culture and Talent Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation
Greg Dalton, MIA
Producer and Host of Climate One from the Commonwealth Club
Climate Change Expert
Jade Sasser, PhD
Associate Professor in the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies
University of California, Riverside
Author of On Infertile Ground
Host of the Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question podcast
James Baraz, MA
Founding Teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center & One Earth Sangha
Co-Author of Awakening Joy
Jamie Bristow, MSc
Policy Development at Inner Development Goals
Former Director of The Mindfulness Initiative
Jhanisse Vaca-Daza, BA
Senior Program Officer and Freedom Fellowship Director, Human Rights Foundation
Co-Founder of Ríos de Pie
Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD
Developer and Founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Professor of Medicine Emeritus
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Julia Olson, JD
Founder and Executive Director, Our Children's Trust,
Lead Counsel on Youth Climate Litigation
Time 100 Leaders in Climate
Juliann Allison, PhD
Course Lecturer
Associate Professor in the Department of Gender & Sexuality Studies
University of California, Riverside
Author, Oxford Handbook of Energy Politics
Karen O'Brien, PhD
Professor in the Departments of Sociology and Human Geography
University of Oslo
Author of You Matter More Than You Think: Quantum Social Change for a Thriving World
Katharine Wilkinson, PhD
Executive Director and Co-Founder of The All We Can Save Project
Co-Host of A Matter of Degrees Podcast
Krista Tippett, MDiv
Thoughtleader, Peabody Winner, National Humanities Medalist
Host, On Being Podcast and Public Radio Program
Author of Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art
Kritee Kanko, PhD
Climate Scientist, Buddhist Zen Priest, Educator
Founding Spiritual Director of Boundless in Motion
Lilian Cheung, ScD
Lecturer and Director of Health Promotion & Communication
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Department of Nutrition
Author of Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life
Maria Teresa Kumar, MPP
Founding President and CEO of Voto Latino
MSNBC Contributor
Mark Coleman, MA
Founder of Awake in the Wild, Co-Founder One Earth Sangha
Founder of the Mindfulness Institute & Mindfulness Based Nature Awareness
Author of Awake in the Wild
Ofosu Jones-Quartey, BA
Rebecca Solnit, MJ
Author, Thought Leader, Historian, Activist
Co-founder of #NotTooLate Climate Movement
Project
Author of Not Too Late
Rhonda Magee, MA, JD
Professor, School of Law
Founder, Center for Contemplative Law & Ethics
University of San Francisco
Author of The Inner Work of Racial Justice
Rick Hanson, PhD
Senior Fellow, Greater Good Science Center
UC Berkeley
Founder of the Global Compassion Coalition
New York Times Best-Selling Author
Sander van der Linden, PhD
Professor of Social Psychology in Society
University of Cambridge
Author of Foolproof: Why We Fall
Susan Bauer-Wu, PhD, RN
Non-Profit Leader, Clinical Scientist, and Mindfulness Teacher
Former President, Mind & Life Institute
Author of A Future We Can
Tiokasin Ghosthorse
Founder, Host, and Executive Producer of First Voices Radio
Guest Faculty Member at Yale University’s School of Divinity, Ecology and Forestry
Valentin Lopez
Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band
Native American Advisor to the University of California, Office of the President
UC Faculty Class Leaders
Alison Holman, PhD
Professor at the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing
University of California, Irvine
Expert on Effects of Disasters on Health
Anna Epperson, PhD
Assistant Professor of Health Psychology
University of California, Merced
Mandy Frazier, MS
Ph.D. Candidate in the Graduate Group in Ecology
University of California, Davis
Cassandra Vieten, PhD
Clinical Professor at the Centers for Integrative Health in the Department of Family Medicine
University of California, San Diego
Cindy Wong, PhD
Adjunct Faculty, Lecturer: Global and Community Health
University of California, Santa Cruz
Daniel Mello, PhD
Non-Senate Faculty of Psychology – School of Social Sciences, Humanities, Arts
University of California, Merced
David Presti, PhD
Professor in the Department of Neuroscience
University of California, Berkeley
Dhakshin Ramanathan, MD
Associate Professor In Residence, Psychiatry
University of California,
San Diego
Elissa Epel, PhD
Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Psychiatry
University of California,
San Francisco
Chair of Mental Health
Council of CCHE
Emeran Mayer, MD
Professor, Department of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles
Founding Director of UCLA Brain Gut Microbiome Center
Author of Mind-Gut Connection, Expert on Interactions with Exposome
Jennifer Jay, PhD
Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department
University of California, Los Angeles
Director of Center for Environmental Research and Community Engagement (CERCE)
Juliann Allison, PhD
Associate Professor in the Department of Gender & Sexuality Studies
Director, Global Studies, Chair of Sustainability
University of California, Riverside
Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry
University of California, San Diego
Co-Chair of Mental Health Council of CCHE
Ken Hiltner, PhD
Professor in the Department of English
Director of the Environmental Humanities Center (EHC)
University of California, Santa Barbara
Larisa Castillo, PhD
Associate Professor, Humanities Core Program
School of Humanities
University of California, Irvine
Magy Seif El-Nasr, PhD
Professor and Department Chair of Computational Media
University of California, Santa Cruz
Mennatullah Hendawy, PhD
Research Fellow & Visiting Scholar in Computational Media
University of California, Santa Cruz
Oladele Ogunseitan, PhD
Distinguished Professor of Population Health & Disease Prevention
University of California, Irvine
Philippe Goldin, PhD
Course Co-Director
Professor at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing
University of California, Davis
Clinical Neuroscientist, Contemplative Researcher, Climate Educator
Steve Wheeler, PhD
Professor in the Landscape Architecture Program of the Department of Human Ecology
University of California, Davis
Summer Gray, PhD
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
University of California, Santa Barbara
Vickie Mays, PhD
Distinguished Professor of Psychology, & of Health Policy & Management
Director of the UCLA BRITE Center for Science, Research & Policy
Senior Fellow, Center for Health Policy Research
University of California, Los Angeles
Yassi Eskandari, Esq.
Director of the Center for Equitable Environmental Sciences
University of California, Santa Barbara
Mindfulness Instructors
Certified Mindfulness Meditation
Teacher and Ecotherapist
Nature Meditation Teacher
Life, Nature, and Climate Engagement Coach and Mindfulness Teacher
University of California, Santa Cruz
Psychotherapist & Certified Mindfulness, Meditation, Compassion and Self-Compassion Facilitator
University of California, Los Angeles
Cheryl Shah, BS
Certified MBSR Facilitator & Certified MSC Facilitator
University of California, San Diego
Christy Peterson, JD, MAPP
Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher
University of California, Santa Barbara
Nature Meditation Teacher
University of California, Riverside
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
University of California, Santa Barbara
Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher
University of California, Los Angeles
Gail Wright, MD
Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher
University of California, Santa Cruz
Jennifer Jacobs, BA
Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher
University of California, Davis
Kazumi Igus, MA
UCLA Mindful Awareness Center-Trained Meditation Facilitator
Mindfulness Director, Instructional Coach, and Environmental Science Teacher
University of California, Los Angeles
Kyyio Cecil, MA
Certified Meditation Teacher & Nature Meditation Teacher
University of California, San Francisco
Nichol Chase, ERYT-500, YACEP, TSM, BM
Certified Meditation Teacher
University of California, San Francisco
Nico Cary, BA
Mindfulness Teacher
University of California, Los Angeles
Richard Hunt, PhD
Certified Mindfulness Teacher
University of California, Riverside
Robert Lurye, MEd
Certified Mindfulness Teacher
University of California, Riverside
Rose Nisker, BA
Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher
University of California, Davis
Shannon Jordan, MS
Workplace Program Co-Director
Certified MBSR Teacher
University of California, San Diego
Toni Martinez, MA
Mindfulness-Based Licensed Mental Health Therapist
University of California, Irvine
Course Staff
Elena Fromer, BS
Course Director
University of California, San Francisco
Jillian Grialou, MPH
Course Staff
University of California, San Francisco
Lucy Kho, BS
Course Staff
University of California, San Francisco