Michele Kambolis, Ph.D., of British Columbia, hopes to provide a path for international students to come to Saybrook and thrive.
Saybrook University has created an Alumni Ambassador program to provide guidance for international students and prospective students who are currently studying or are considering studying at Saybrook University. The first to hold this volunteer position is Michele Kambolis, Ph.D., Mind-Body Medicine. Dr. Kambolis is currently in practice as a clinical therapist with a focus on integrative mental health and who frequently incorporates meditation in her therapy sessions. She also teaches Dharma meditation.
Dr. Kambolis discovered Saybrook University through a bit of serendipity when she woke in the middle of the night thinking about a social media post she had seen earlier in the day. When she returned to the post, she saw that the woman was a leader in the in the field of positive psychology as well as a student in Mind-Body Medicine at Saybrook University. At the time she was looking for a Ph.D. program but hadn’t found one that offered what she was looking for. “I found the Saybrook website, and I was really encouraged because it was unlike any other program that I’d ever come across in terms of its humanistic approach,” she recalls. “I applied and 10 days later I was in Seattle starting my student weeklong conference doing my Ph.D. in Mind-Body Medicine. So, a very mysterious flow of events led me there, and I'm grateful that it unfolded in that way.”
Having been a Buddhist since she was 16, Dr. Kambolis focused the research toward her dissertation on long-term meditators. She was grateful for the academic rigor of the coursework because, she says, “It honed my ability to both broaden my interest but also look at my personal interests, and in this case meditation, in a much more objective academic manner.”
Dr. Kambolis credits Devorah Curtis, Ph.D., as an important mentor throughout her time in the program and Luann Fortune, Ph.D., for helping guide her through the process of writing her dissertation. “What stood out for me at Saybrook was this beautiful balance between the rigor of scientific inquiry and humanism,” Dr. Kambolis says.
As Alumni Ambassador, Dr. Kambolis hopes to share her own experience and to learn what resonates for the incoming international students as well as to discover more about what drew them to Saybrook. “I had such an outstanding experience there across all my courses and developed professional connections and personal connections that have endured,” she says. “When you have a very positive experience and it changes the shape of your life and you walk away with a degree of gratitude, you want to share that with others.”
