Victor Kazanjian is an educator and activist whose work focuses on the relationship between the "inner dialogue"
in each of us and the "outer dialogue" between and among us. As Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, co-director of the Peace and
Justice Studies Program, and President of Education as Transformation Project at Wellesley College, Victor explores the worlds of
human difference, inviting students into places of encounter and dialogue in which their differences are resources rather than barriers
to relationship and community. His work has helped to catalyze a new national movement to include religious diversity and spirituality
as core competencies in educational programs from grade school through college.
Victor's multi-faith religious and spiritual life program at Wellesley College, [which includes chaplains, advisors and student leaders
for the Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian (Evangelical, Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic,) Hindu, Humanist, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Native
African, Native American, Pagan, Sikh, Unitarian Universalist, Zoroastrian communities as well as programs for and spiritual seekers of all types,]
offers a new vision for religious and spiritual life programs on College and University campuses. His central methodology for creating these
transformational learning experiences is story-telling and story-listening and has been known to use a heavy dose of Coltrane to enhance
this process.
Together with his wife Michelle, Victor travels frequently to India teaching a course called, "Grassroots Development, Conflict Resolution
and the Gandhian Legacy in India." He is the co-editor of Education as Transformation: Religious Pluralism, Spirituality and a New Vision for
Higher Education in America, (New York: Peter Lang, 2000) and Beyond Tolerance: a Campus Religious Diversity Kit,
(Washington: NASPA, 2004) and many articles including most recently "Towards Multi-cultural Learning Communities" in Building the
Interfaith Youth Movement, (New York: Alta Mira Press, 2006) and "Religion, Spirituality and Intellectual Development," in the
Journal of Cognitive Affective Learning, Oxford College at Emory University, Summer, 2005.
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