Compassion Institute Trainings

Join Compassion Institute for a two-part workshop, Coming Together as a University Community in Challenging Times. Connect with fellow students, staff, and faculty, to increase individual compassion skills and build community through experiential learning.

Please note this is a (2) part training. Attendees are expected to attend both sessions. The second session will take place on Tuesday, November 19th from 9:00am-1:00pm. Breakfast and Lunch will be provided for attendees. Seating is limited and will be conducted on a first come first serve basis with a wait list being utilized. 

RSVP via eventbrite

Sessions will include small and large group activities and skill-building exercises with practical take-aways. Content will blend elements from contemplative traditions as well as current research in psychology and neuroscience. The first session will focus on foundational knowledge and skills in compassion and common humanity, including group discussion about the rationale for centering compassion as the basis for bridging differences and building community.  The second session will focus on deepening these skills and exploring practical applications for coming together as a community in challenging times. 

Key Learning Objectives:

• Apply the concept of common humanity to enable constructive dialogue between groups with significantly different values, priorities, and/or points of viewer
• Understand the key components of compassion and how to utilize tools that can better cultivate this skill
• Recognize the basic components of mindful awareness and grounding
• Apply the practice of generous listening
• Apply the practice of setting intentions
• Differentiate between empathy, compassion, and empathic distress
• Understand the value of self-compassion for ourselves and in sustaining compassion for others
• Apply the practice of Tonglen or other active compassion practices

Join us on October 22 and November 19 from 9am to 1pm each day to participate in Coming Together as a University Community in Challenging Times.

About the Facilitator: 

Greg Morris has over 30 years of experience in global diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), human resources, marketing, and finance. As a long-time DEIB consultant and executive coach, he has served clients in multiple industries and sectors including technology, life sciences and pharmaceuticals, consumer products, financial services, manufacturing, mining, education, government, and non-profit.  

Building on his experience as a product line manager and his studies and practices in compassion cultivation and mindfulness, Greg helps clients to (1) define compelling business rationales for DEIB that explicitly support overall business priorities; (2) conduct quantitative and qualitative organizational assessments; (3) perform root-cause analysis to illuminate common inclusion challenges as well as challenges that are less intuitive; and (4) define pragmatic strategic plans and tactical solutions that change behavior. He identifies opportunities and solutions for a wide variety of business issues: customer engagement and sales, mergers and acquisitions, recruitment, talent development, engagement, bias, leadership, change management, etc. 

Greg is a certified teacher of Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT), a program developed by principal author, Compassion Institute co-founder Thupten Jinpa, PhD, and Compassion Institute Founding Faculty at Stanford University’s Neurosurgery Department at the request of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Greg serves as a coach to the Compassion Institute Teacher Training program and as a consultant and facilitator for custom programming.  He describes himself as a life-long bridge builder with a passion for helping others find common ground and imagine greater possibilities because of their common ground. His work incorporates traditional facets of diversity such as gender, race, sexual orientation, and physical ability as well as non-traditional facets such as thinking style, communication style, conflict resolution style and cross-functional diversity. 

Greg holds an MBA from Stanford University and an AB in Economics from Princeton University. He has a background in product marketing, including management of a $1 billion+ product line. 

This event is co-sponsored by the Annenberg School for Communication and Penn Social Policy and Practice and is open the Annenberg students, staff, and faculty.