Wilmette Institute

The Wilmette Institute was founded in 1995 and "is an educational agency of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States. It offers courses and classes on the Bahá'í Faith and related subjects to anyone interested in taking them. Its purpose is to develop human resources for the benefit of the Bahá'í Faith."

Established in January 1995 by the the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States the Wilmette Institute, "offers academic, professional, and service-oriented courses related to the Bahá'í Faith. The Institute was established a year before the Universal House of Justice sent a series of messages to the Bahá'í world, starting in December 1995, calling on it to establish training institutes and centers of learning."

The Willmette Institute describes describes its primary purpose as purpose as "developing human resources in the Bahá'í community to advance the process of entry by troops (see article Baha'i Faith). It aims to produce teachers and administrators of the Bahá'í Faith of great capacity, capable of demonstrating the Bahá'í truths in their lives as well as by their speech, able to teach Bahá'ís and their friends in classrooms, homes, and other settings."

"The Wilmette Institute seeks to continue to be a trend-setter in Bahá'í education, especially in creating courses for Bahá'ís that are at a university level of rigor and are available for university credit. It also fosters Bahá'í scholarship; develops new, innovative curricular materials; creates high-quality courses on teaching the Faith; and refines Bahá'í concepts of pedagogy."

History of the Institute and its programs

According to their official website, "The Institute's first major decision was to establish a four-year program to raise up diverse, knowledgeable, and articulate teachers and administrators of the Faith. This program—the Spiritual Foundations for a Global Civilization program—seeks to relate the Bahá'í Faith, its community, and its teachings to the world at large. The program teaches Bahá’í topics in the context of related subjects, such as history, philosophy, theology, psychology, sociology, political theory, and economics. Such an academic approach to the Faith was inspired by the following statement written on behalf of the Guardian: "an effort should be made to raise the standard of studies, so as to provide the Bahá’í student with a thorough knowledge of the Cause that would enable him to expound it befittingly to the educated public" (Compilation of Compilations, no. 486). Because of its academic approach, the Spiritual Foundations program seeks to provide its students with the opportunity to obtain undergraduate and graduate university credit every year. The Spiritual Foundations program is the heart of the Wilmette Institute."

Faculty

Faculty of Religion, Philosophy, and Theology

• Muin Afnani
• Ted Brownstein
• Phyllis Chew
• Susan Maneck
• Dann May
• Brian Miller
• Moojan Momen
• Anne Pearson
• Habib Riazati
• Julio Savi
• Michael Sours
• Robert Stockman

Faculty of the Study of Individual Development, Marriage, and Family Life

• Iraj Ayman
• Lily Ayman
• Saba Ayman-Nolley
• Michael L. Penn
• Mary K. Radpour

Faculty of the Study of Governance and Community

• Arash Abizadeh
• John S. Hatcher
• Michael McMullen
• Gayle Morrison

Faculty of the Study of Global Civilization

• Jaleh Dashti-Gibson
• Jena Khodadad
• Brian Lepard
• Iraj Poostchi
• Farhad Saberan
• Robert White (Bahai)

Faculty of Bahá'í History and Scripture

• Iraj Ayman
• Ghasem Bayat
• William Collins
• John S. Hatcher
• Dann May
• Heshmat Moayyad
• Habib Riazati
• David S. Ruhe
• Robert H. Stockman
• Jonah Winters

Skills Development Faculty

• Roya Ayman
• Phyllis Bernard
• Keyvan Nazerian
• Peter Oldziey
• Phyllis Perrakis
• David Rouleau
• Ramsey Zeine

Institute Board

"The Wilmette Institute is coordinated by a Board appointed by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and consisting of Iraj Ayman, Roger Dahl, Nancy Davis, Manuchehr Derakhshani, Betty J. Fisher, Gayle Morrison, Keyvan Nazerian, Mark Rossman, Robert H. Stockman, and Geoff Wilson. The Board meets once every two or three months. It has three officers: a chair (Nancy Davis), a secretary (Robert Stockman), and a treasurer (Geoff Wilson). It in turn appoints task forces, which report to the Wilmette Institute Board: Curriculum, Development, Publicity, and International Relations.

"Robert H. Stockman is the Director of the Wilmette Institute. Omid Nolley is the Wilmette Institute Registrar."

Contact

Web: http://www.wilmetteinstitute.us.bahai.org

Resources and articles

• Full Catalogue of Programs

Related Sourcewatch articles

• Baha'i Faith
• Baha'i Internet Agency