"I believe that we have not even begun to tap human potentialities, and that by continuing humble but persistent study of human behavior, we can learn consciously to create civilizations within which an increasing proportion of human beings will realize more of what they have it in them to be."
—Margaret Mead

Courses Offered

Common Core Courses
Required for M.A., Ph.D. and Ed.D.

AC 10
Foundations for Learning and Development
8 credits

Every culture throughout time and across the world has a unique understanding of self care and nourishment. Most acknowledge biological elements of self care, such as food and fitness, but few address how we relate to ourselves emotionally. In this AC, students will cultivate an understanding of emotions as the basis for all psychology and key determinants of effective communication and positive self-concept. Students will identify, comprehend, and evaluate a variety of perspectives on elf care and nourishment, including the purpose of emotions and their connection to self-esteem, the origins of limiting beliefs and the power of positive regard, personal responsibility and authorship of life. In applying their knowledge of self care and nourishment, students will lay an essential foundation for personal growth and development, develop a personal stance on self care, experience improved personal quality of life, and support others to better nourish and care for themselves. No prerequisite.

AC 20
Dynamics of Family, Relationship and Intimacy
8 credits

This AC explores and develops new models of family and intimacy that function in an ever-changing, hyper-connected yet fragmented world. Students will encounter a broad range of human and societal development theories; understand how family rules, myths, and beliefs contribute to an individual's beliefs about the world, circumscribe behavior, and create self-fulfilling prophecies; explore attitudes and stereotypes regarding the sexes; apply systems theory to recognize patterns in their relationships with family and others; and orient to developmental principles that can shift families and groups into higher levels of functioning. No prerequisite.

AC 30
Dynamics of Developing and Exercising Personal Power
8 credits

Historically power has been construed as the ability to influence others. This AC examines personal power from an existential point of view, arguing that human beings present false versions of themselves, unconsciously built to cover up their perceived sense of inadequacy. Personal power, therefore, involves breaking through the false self, understanding the development of the unconscious mind from early childhood through adulthood, telling the truth, and consciously choosing to exercise a requisite variety of power. Students will learn to recognize and analyze types, styles, and poles of power (masculine-feminine, receptive-aggressive, active-passive, positive-negative, positional) and synthesize these understandings with principles of existential psychology such as authorship of life, personal choice and responsibility, and here-and now experience. No prerequisite.

AC 40
Human Spirituality and Life Purpose
8 credits

Spirituality is an essential element of the human experience. Whereas religion evokes an organized, bureaucratic image in most minds, the broader field of spirituality understands that even agnostics and atheists have a relationship to the concept in defining themselves as against it. This AC explores how individuals develop spiritual understanding across a variety of religions and locate themselves and their experiences along the range, identifying and exploring spiritual hungers that are cross-cultural, multi-religious, and without borders. Students analyze their gifts and talents, find the commonality of all spiritual hungers, define their relationship to higher purpose and higher power, begin orienting toward principles for a life of purpose and meaning, explore service and contribution, and help others do the same. No prerequisite.

AC 50
Principles and Technologies of Leadership
8 credits

Leadership is typically understood as the ability to effect and manage change in people and organizations. Some people are leaders, it is thought, and others simply aren't. This AC takes as its starting point the truth that one is always leading and proceeds to question how and to what end. Through self-assessment, case studies, theoretical modeling and experience, students will make use of historical and emerging leadership principles and technologies, deepen their understanding of the leadership resources they already have at their disposal, align their leadership aims with higher principles, discover how to be more effective leaders in every area of life, and help others do the same. No prerequisite.

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Doctoral Core Courses
Required for Ph.D. and Ed.D.
Elective for M.A.

AC 60
Scholarly Inquiry & Statistics
8 credits

Students will comprehend and evaluate the benefits of various quantitative and qualitative research modalities (e.g. grounded research) and apply appropriate statistical models to a given research question. They will demonstrate understanding of research design, data collection, data analysis, and interpretation principles through an applied research project that contributes to preparation for dissertation. No prerequisite.

AC 120
Systems Thinking, Design and Intervention
8 credits

By analyzing systems thinking—what it is, how it evolved, and how it is currently practiced — students will understand and use systems theory to intervene and transform individuals, families, groups, and organizations, and help others do the same. They will understand the relationship between culture and systems; know how a system relates to other systems and how information flows within a system; understand the interconnectedness of actions, organizations, and social systems; apply systems thinking to laboratory groups and actual work, family and community scenarios; and use principles, operating agreements, truth-telling, naming belief systems, verbalizing power and control, and other interventions to effect systemic change. No prerequisite

AC 140
Principled Living & Applied Existential Philosophy
8 credits

Developing a practice of creating principles and living toward them is key to actualizing potential. In this AC, students are introduced to principles of being and doing; masculine and feminine principles; and principles of identity formation, transformation, and transcendence. Students will facilitate groups in developing principles and operating agreements, and personally demonstrate intent to live according to principles. Prerequisites: AC30 Personal Power, AC40 Human Spirituality

AC 210
Applied Early Childhood Development
8 Credits

Human development can be limited by unconscious and unnecessary repetition of patterns and behaviors learned in early childhood, or enhanced by successfully resolving early childhood's individuation challenges. In this AC, students will examine principles of Adlerian, developmental, and existential psychology. Students will understand the progressive and regressive poles for each developmental stage, the relationship between stages, likely blocks to progress, and how the three schools of thought are integrated. The experiential component of the AC is a lab in which students deepen their understanding of the typical stages of early childhood, examine how they still apply in the present time, identify and use their primary emotions to be emotionally nourished, and engage to a high level of satisfaction with others and with tasks. Prerequisite: AC10 Self Care and Nourishment

AC 230
Applied Adolescent and Adult Development
8 credits

The development of the individual is a microcosm of the development of humanity and society. In this AC, adolescent and adult development are dealt with through the lenses of Adlerian, developmental, and existential psychology, from adolescent belonging in groups to adult life issues of superiority and authorship. Students become responsible communicators of truth, belong in groups, strive to achieve objectives, and author their own reality in every life area. Prerequisite: AC30 Personal Power

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Elective Courses
Elective for M.A., Ph.D., and Ed.D.

AC 160 & 260
Research Specialization I and II
8 credits each

In these advanced research ACs, students will designate a specific research practice as an AC and work with a faculty member to design a program which includes exploration and practice of the method chosen. Prerequisite: AC60 Research and Statistics

AC 170
Principals and Technologies of Peer Empowerment
8 credits

Leading others to their highest potential requires more than the ability to clearly give an instruction or make a request that can be heard and followed, as traditional sender-and-receiver communication models imply. The overview and depth components of this AC explore the strengths and limits of various communication models, and the experiential component introduces a sophisticated set of communication skills that understands emotions as essential data rather than message-compromising "noise" between sender and receiver, and taps into emotions to empower self and others. In the experiential training, students learn to speak contextually and listen intentionally to maximize growth and learning, personal disclosure, problem solving, and personal development. Prerequisite: Self Care and Nourishment

AC 130
Blocks to Human Potential
8 credits

What psychological theory can explain the feeling many people have that their schedules are more full than ever but their lives are not? What organizational development method can address managers' self-assessment that up to 25% of their time daily is wasted? In this AC, students will comprehend key theories in cognitive, behavioral, motivational, and positive psychology as they relate to behavior change by examining soft addictions: habits that are not intrinsically harmful or dependency—inducing, but which rob people of time, money, and consciousness when overindulged in. Students understand the causes and dynamics of soft addictions; conduct analysis of time, relationship, money, and quality of life lost to soft addictions; take action to satisfy the underlying needs and hungers fueling the soft addictions, and help others do the same. Students will drive behavior change by combining vision with pathways such as effective rewards and consequences. No prerequisite.

AC 150
Group Dynamics
8 Credits

Just as consciousness of one's own emotional currents provides data for more effective behaviors, consciousness of group dynamics and processes allows for intervention and improved group functioning. Using the power of encounter — of naming the dynamics they observe in the here and now — groups can move toward principles of intention, truth, belonging, aliveness and personal responsibility. In this AC, students study the models, mechanisms and dynamics of group formation, operation, and functioning; identify barriers and unconscious strategies people use to sabotage groups and interfere with group functioning, and evaluate strategies and tactics for facilitating conflict resolution in groups. Prerequisites: AC20 Family and Intimacy; AC30 Personal Power

AC 220
Vision in Action: Applied Adlerian Adult Development
8 Credits

This AC allows students to develop a practical vision for their life, as well as immediate goals to guide their growth and development in each of seven areas of life. Students will understand the role of vision in achieving goals and know the vision realization process: conduct an accurate and truthful assessment of the current state, identify problems and root causes, levels of barrier, paths through barriers to the vision, and needs for support. Students use vision to empower themselves, others, couples, teams, groups, and organizations to use vision to facilitate individuals and groups be their best. Prerequisite: AC20 Family and Intimacy

AC 240
Human Motivation and Influence
8 credits

Motivation and influence are the ability to assert one's own will and facilitate others to align with you in action by seeing their own interests as congruent with yours. Students will learn to listen contextually to elicit data, speak and write intentionally for influence and positive movement, and obtain feedback on their communication and impact. This AC will help students elicit others' deepest desires and wants; understand methods of identifying and overcoming objections; deal with passive aggressive behavior; enroll others toward their highest vision of themselves and develop an action plan to facilitate positive movement toward an ideal state. Prerequisite: AC60 Leadership

AC 310
Personal and Professional Coaching
8 credits

In this AC, students learn the core principles and practices associated with effective personal and professional coaching, becoming excellent coaches who operate with mutuality and responsibility to help coachees do their best and achieve their potential in all areas of their life. Students will understand and attend to three dimensions of the coaching relationship: coachee's relationship to self, relationship to coach, and relationship to world. Prerequisites: AC10 Self Care and Nourishment, AC 20 Family and Intimacy, AC 30 Personal Power, AC 110 Peer Empowerment

AC 350
Teaming
8 credits

In this AC, students learn how to build effective teams in which individuals know their gifts, employ them for team benefit, and effectively serve in the roles of producer, task, growth, accountability, administration, marketing, and sustaining. In order to do so, students will examine, biological models of team functioning, conflict styles, structure of mutuality, empowerment roles talent economies, maximizing gifts, use of assignments for behavior change, feedback, dual focus on results and process, time chunking, visioning, and use of celebration and the pleasure/pain principle to monitor and facilitate group formation, resolve conflicts, and drive team outcomes. Prerequisites: AC 50 Leadership, AC 150 Group Dynamics

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I wasn't ever good in school. I limited myself and let others limit me. I didn't think I'd ever have the capacity to learn what I'm learning now. The non-traditional learning atmosphere at WGI is taking those barriers down. I'm not reading and taking a test—I'm engaging in my education and living what I'm learning. There's no excuse for me not to learn!
—Natalie Wing
WGI Masters Student