The role of contemplation in human affairs is gradually working its way into higher education. The Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education has been a gathering spot for educators who see “the life of the mind” as something larger than a purely intellectual pursuit. And just recently, Brown University has announced a new academic concentration that they call the Contemplative Studies Initiative.

Speaking with USA Today (June 3, “Contemplating a New Major?”), Prof. Harold Roth says that contemplative studies “looks at human contemplative experience across culture and across time from different perspectives.” The concentration requires courses in cognitive science, religion and philosophy, and concentrators can choose whether to focus their course of study on the sciences or the humanities.