Purpose
Wilmette Institute offers academic programs and extension courses to upper-division college students, Master’s degree students, and those interested in continuing education to foster scholarship on topics integrating relevant perspectives drawn from the “Framework of Action”.
Mission Statement
An agency of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States.
Equip higher education learners with the capacity to contribute to social transformation and public discourse through distinctive non-degree certificate programs grounded in an evolving Bahá’í framework for collective learning.
Guiding Principles
Human beings are essentially noble; they are capable of building an ever-advancing civilization.
Both science and religion are essential to investigate reality.
Systemic problems require a holistic approach to discover lasting solutions.
Scholarship does not begin and end with words but combines theory and praxis in study, consultation, action, and reflection.
Sustainable social change requires human capacity development, so people become the protagonists of their own material and spiritual development.
Universal peace and justice can be realized through a planetary consciousness of the oneness of humanity and the interconnectedness of the earth and all its inhabitants.
Vision
The Wilmette Institute’s educational framework, pedagogy, and learning processes do not claim to offer simplistic solutions to intractable social challenges. Our approach to transformative education provides learners with opportunities for critical thinking and systems thinking about the root causes of social problems, engaging holistic perspectives on social change that highlight the interconnectedness of issues to find lasting solutions. The framework guides us on a path of continuous inquiry into content and methods that enable faculty and students to draw on humanity’s intellectual and spiritual heritage. On this path of inquiry, we attempt to learn systematically through an evolving, cyclical process of study, consultation, action, and reflection. We seek not only to acquire and deliver knowledge but to generate and disseminate it as a contribution to prevalent discourses in society.
The Wilmette Institute partners with like-minded institutions of higher education interested in entering into a systematic learning process focused on developing the capacity to contribute to prevalent discourses in society and engaging in social action. We work with institutional partners dedicated to longer-term processes of learning rather than sporadic events, and we cultivate inter-institutional relationships that are sustainable and mutually beneficial. Thus far, our experience collaborating with various institutions of higher education demonstrates that much is gained from the cross-pollination of approaches to transformative education and the establishment of a nexus between university initiatives and community organizations.
Social Transformation Certificate Program
The Wilmette Institute’s graduate-level Certificate Program is designed around a set of distinctive learning outcomes that guide the entire curriculum. Individual courses may contribute more to one or another of these outcomes, and many of our extension courses are also developed with these outcomes in mind.
Click the link below to explore the full list of program learning outcomes.