Meet Camphill Academy
Get to Know Us!
The Camphill Academy is the higher education community of Camphill in North America offering programs in partnership with other Camphill communities and affiliated organizations. It provides professional education and certification in Inclusive Social Development with concentrations in Curative Education, Social Therapy, Social Agriculture, and related fields. These practice-integrated courses are embedded in the life and work of participating communities. The Academy also offers continuing education in various areas related to the Camphill Movement’s work.
About Us
The Camphill Academy is an active member of the international network of professional education centers in Anthroposophic Curative Education, Social Therapy and related fields, represented by the Section for Inclusive Social Development. The Academy is dedicated to anthroposophy, the spiritual science founded by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), as the philosophical and methodological basis of its work. It is affiliated with the Anthroposophic Council for Inclusive Social Development in the School of Spiritual Science in Dornach, Switzerland, and its qualifications are recognized by the Council’s International Training Circle.
Field-Based Learning
All full-time programs in the Camphill Academy emphasize emergent field-based learning, embedded in the experience of community life as practiced in the Camphill Movement. They are rooted in rich and diverse practical experiences, which provide the driving force for the educational process and challenge students to ever further growth in personal capacities, practical skills, insight and understanding. Contemplative capacities are cultivated as an essential means for self-education and self-development. The practice of the fine and performing arts permeates all aspects of the learning process, supporting and enhancing the development of practical skills, inter- and intrapersonal capacities, and conceptual knowledge.
In line with the needs of an increasingly fluid 21st Century environment, the Camphill Academy’s view of learning focuses on supporting the transformation of the individual student to a whole, fulfilled human being with the capacity to serve the good as an active agent in the world. Part-time programs, continuing education programs, research and other activities of the Camphill Academy are oriented towards the same goal and principles of emergent, embedded and embodied inquiry and learning, extending possibilities for participation to a wider audience.
The Academy’s academic Inclusive Social Development programs emphasize field-based learning, embedded in the experience of community life as practiced in the Camphill Movement. These programs are grounded in diverse practical experiences that drive the educational process and challenge students to grow in personal capacities, practical skills, insight and understanding. Contemplative capacities are essential for self-education and self-development. The fine and performing arts are integrated into all aspects of learning, enhancing practical skills, inter- and intrapersonal capacities, and conceptual knowledge.
The Camphill Academy focuses on transforming students into whole, fulfilled human beings capable of serving the greater good in the world. Its part-time programs, continuing education, research and other activities follow the same principles of emergent, embedded and embodied inquiry and learning, making these opportunities accessible to a wider audience.
The Camphill Academy also offers shorter, one-off courses and workshops through its Continuing Education Program for people interested in professional development aligned with Camphill’s approach. Many of these offerings are available to the general public.
In addition to its educational programs, the Camphill Academy also supports academic research and collaboration within and beyond the Camphill movement. The Camphill ACademy curates the Camphill Research Network, an online platform for sharing academic research on the Camphill movement, particularly English-language research. The Academy has also partnered with the Camphill Foundation and the International Communal Studies Association through the Camphill Research Symposium, which brings together practitioners and researchers in the field of community building, spirituality, and disability. Members of the Camphill Academy have also served on the editorial board for Anthroposophic Perspectives in Inclusive Social Development, the international professional journal in our field of work published by the Council for Inclusive Social Development. The Camphill Academy also serves as the institutional steward for the Pietzner Art Collection, which includes artwork by Camphill artists such as Carlo Pietzner, George Kalmar, and MC Richards.
For more information about research in Camphill and to view selections from the Pietzner Art Collection, visit the Camphill Research Network.
Our Mission
The Camphill Academy is a community of learning rooted in the life and work of the Camphill Movement in North America. It aims to provide paths of transformative learning that allow individuals to unfold their potential to contribute to the healing of the human being, society and the earth.
Our Vision
Members of the Camphill Academy support each other in the quest for personal growth and transformation through the experience of active service in the context of community living. The Academy strives to fulfill its mission by creating formal opportunities and spaces for learning and schooling within the life of its member communities, including full-time courses of practice- and community-integrated studies in the fields embraced by the work of the Camphill Movement.
All its programs seek to unite knowledge, art and practice through the cultivation of anthroposophy as founded by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) and the approaches to action research, phenomenological study and contemplative inquiry that arise from it. As an expression of the activity of the School of Spiritual Science, the Camphill Academy seeks to be a force for renewal in the context of North American Higher Education.
Our Goals
We use a Strategic Planning process to continually grow and develop our offerings in line with our Mission and Vision. Click here to view the Camphill Academy’s current Strategic Plan.
The Camphill Movement was founded in Aberdeen, Scotland in the 1940s by refugees, including the Austrian physician Karl Koenig (1902-1966), and focuses on community-building and social renewal. Internationally, Camphill has been engaged in inclusive social development, such as curative education, social therapy, since its inception. Educational activities have been a part of the development of the Camphill Movement in North America since the 1960s.
With the spread of the Camphill Movement, professional training in curative education and social therapy became available in North America through the ‘Camphill Seminar’, with courses at The Camphill School (formerly Camphill Special School) in Pennsylvania and Camphill Village USA in Copake, New York. Up until 2004, these were part of the ‘International Camphill Seminar in Curative Education and Social Therapy’, a loosely structured network of professional education embedded in Camphill Communities worldwide.
As this activity began integrating more strongly into local professional and higher education contexts, the Camphill Academy evolved. The two main study centers in North America, the Curative Education Seminar at The Camphill School in Pennsylvania and the Social Therapy Seminar at Camphill Village USA in New York, began to redevelop and expand to include other Camphill communities.
A committee of the Camphill Association in North America, the Regional Adult Education Group, regularly discusses the development of the various adult and professional education activities in the North American Camphill communities. This led to a new curriculum with college credit recommendations for courses with over 100 semester hours, partnerships with degree granting institutions and renewed engagement within the international network of organizations preparing adults for careers in the field of inclusive social development, including curative education and social therapy, and recognition of three consecutive programs with corresponding certification levels.
Initially named the Camphill School of Curative Education and Social Therapy, this North American collaboration has evolved into an accredited postsecondary education institution. Since 2018, the Camphill Academy is a legally independent organization, within the Camphill Movement in North America. Its scope extends beyond its original focus areas to include inclusive social development as a broader field of study with concentrations in curative education, social therapy, social agriculture and biodynamics. The academy fosters and promotes research initiatives, and continues to offer educational and professional development opportunities that meet the diverse needs and interests of those touched by the Camphill Movement. Aligned with the School of Spiritual Science, the Camphill Academy views itself as an active participant in its mission.
Our People
The Academy’s Central Administration team manages administrative functions that extend beyond individual program concerns or are best handled collectively. It includes the Executive Director, the Academic Affairs Coordinator, the Registrar, the Regional Programs Administrator, and the Academy’s Principal Designated School Official (PDSO).
Melody Konderwich
Registrar
Elizabeth Sanders
Executive Director & Director of Research
Eva Lennon
Regional Program Administrator
The Collegium serves as the ‘College of Teachers’ for the Camphill Academy overseeing programs, safeguarding its spiritual integrity in line with the academy’s mission and vision. It provides a venue for further development of this mission and vision through spiritual colleagueship, continuous dialogue, faculty and program development, and practical collaboration among stakeholders in the Academy’s activities.
Sonja Adams
The Camphill School
Penelope Baring
Camphill Communities California
Sumin Dai
Camphill Village Kimberton Hills
Kimberly Dorn
Plowshare Farm
Phil Drake
Camphill Village USA
Jan Göschel
The Camphill School
Jaqueline Gabe
Heartbeet Lifeshareing
Diedra Heitzman
Camphill Village Kimberton Hills
Gaya Mezhlumyan
Camphill Communities California
Joel Park
Camphill Village Copake
River Parker
Program Director
(Heartbeet Lifesharing)
Gleice Paulino da Silva
Camphill Communities California
Becky Rutherford (Emerita)
Camphill Village Kimberton Hills
Elizabeth Sanders
The Camphill School
Stephen Steen
Camphill Village USA
The Camphill Academy’s bylaws establish a Board of Directors elected by the Collegium, consisting of both Collegium members and non-vested Board members. In addition to its fiduciary role, the Board of Directors provides the Academy with access to resources, expertise and relationships to support its growth and development.
Jan Göschel
President
(The Camphill School)
Penelope Baring
Vice President
(Camphill Communities California)
Philipp Jacob
Secretary
(Camphill Communities California)
Sonja Adams
Treasurer
(The Camphill School)
Shelley Burtt
Phil Drake
(Camphill Village USA)
Diedra Heitzman
(Camphill Village Kimberton Hills)
Patrice Maynard
Carla Beebe Comey
(Antioch University)
Jacob Hundt
(Thoreau College)
Program Directors oversee and provide leadership for the operations and development of their programs and safeguard the integrity of the programs in accordance with all established policies, guidelines and agreements. Program Directors guide and facilitate the work of their Core Faculty Groups, and Program Administrators. They represent the Academy to the participating community, partner organization(s), and stakeholders.
Sonja Adams
Program Director
(The Camphill School)
Gaya Mezhlumyan
Program Director
(Camphill Communities California)
Diedra Heitzman
Program Director
(Camphill Village Kimberton Hills)
Phil Drake
Program Director
(Camphill Village USA)
Jacqueline Gabe
Program Director
(Heartbeet Lifesharing)
Kimberly Dorn
Program Director
(Plowshare Farm)
Participating
Communities
Campus communities:
Practicum communities:
Partner Colleges
& Universities
Camphill Academy partners with the Institute for Waldorf Education, Inclusion and Interculturality at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences (Germany), to offer students opportunities to complete bachelor degrees through an integrated pathway that combines periods of study at both institutions.
