The Academic Programs at Naropa University

Naropa University sits apart from most schools you'll run into when you start looking at options for higher education, and the range of its academic offerings is a good reason to spend some time reading about it. Every student works through a core curriculum. That means Writing Seminar I and Writing Seminar II, along with a Community-based Learning and Action component that grounds the coursework in something outside the classroom.

Beyond the required pieces, there's room to choose. Students can take on a "First Year Seminar: Self and Community in a Complex World," or go the route of "Contemplative Learning Seminar: Naropa's Roots and Branches" paired with a "Diversity Seminar." The structure leaves space for different starting points rather than funneling everyone through one door.

Three credits of "Artistic Process" are also part of the deal, and this is where the catalog really opens up. You might pick 2-D Design, or Contemplative Comics, or the school's Introduction to Photography. Drawing and Figure Drawing are on the list. So are Sculpture, Painting: Realism, Mixed Media, and Advanced Studio Practice. For students pulled toward performance and movement, there's Warrior Artist, Improvisation, Composition, Acting Studio I, Dance Studio I, and Dance of Africa.

The options keep going. Articulating Sound: Voice & Speech, Acting Ensemble, Dance Ensemble, Verse Interpretation, Prose Interpretation. Courses like Spirituality and Creative Expression and Indian Devotional and Raga Singing reflect the contemplative streak that runs through the place. Ikebana (flower arranging, or Kado) shows up, as does Creative Reading and Writing.

What's listed here is only a slice of what a Naropa student can choose from. The point is less about any single course and more about how much latitude the school hands to the people enrolled in it.