Guest – Angeles Arrien


Angeles Arrien is an anthropologist, educator, award-winning author, and consultant to many organizations and businesses, including the .
 She lectures nationally and internationally, conducting workshops that bridge cultural anthropology, psychology, and mediation skills.   Requests for her expertise have taken her to Bali, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic), Germany, Ireland, South Africa, and Canada. Her work with multi-cultural issues, mediation, and conflict resolution has been used with the International Rights Commission and the World Indigenous Council. She has also presented her material on the Cable News Network (CNN).

Keynote addresses and presentations include those given at the Gorbachev Foundation State of the World Forum, Wharton Business School, International Women’s Forum, Leadership Institute of Seattle, International Global Learning, American Leadership Forum of Silicon Valley, Kellogg Foundation, Motorola Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Labs, Bob Barkley Foundation, Professional Business Women's Conference, California Judicial Court Family Services, National Organizational Development Network Conference, U.S. Journal Training, Inc., Odwalla, International Association of Public Practitioners, Grupo Femsa / Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezume and Grupo Pulsar (Mexico), and the International Peacemaking Conference with three Nobel Prize winners. 

Within the medical community, Angeles has consulted with Kaiser Permanente Group, Pride Institute of Colorado, California Pacific Medical Center, Sutter Community Hospitals, Planetree Foundation, Columbia Rose Medical Center, and American Association of Critical Care Nurses.

Dr. Arrien has taught in the University of California system at Berkeley, Los Angeles, Irvine, Davis, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco. She is an associate professor at two Bay Area graduate schools, the (CIIS) and the . She co-designed and implemented the Social and Cultural Anthropology Program at CIIS and received their Distinguished Teaching award.  She is also core faculty with the End-of-Life Counselor Training (EOL) program sponsored by connected with Zen Hospice.

She is the founder and president of the Angeles Arrien Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education and Research, and a Fellow at the . Dr. Arrien’s research and teaching have focused on values and beliefs shared by humanity cross-culturally, and on the integration and application of multi-cultural wisdoms in contemporary settings.  She teaches universal components of leadership skills, communication, health care, and education. Her work reveals how indigenous wisdoms are relevant in our families, professional lives, and our relationship with the Earth.

Among her several books, she is the author of The Four-Fold Way™: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer and Visionary, published by HarperCollins, San Francisco and Signs of Life: The Five Universal Shapes and How to Use Them, winner of the 1993 Benjamin Franklin Award. In addition, she has written numerous articles and teaching modules on a variety of topics and has received three honorary doctorates.