Faculty  

Faculty

The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen, and other visiting Acharyas, all graduates of the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute at Rumtek, share the primary teaching responsibility at Nitartha, while senior lineage-masters Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche provide over-all guidance.

The principal faculty is assisted by senior Western students and translators. For any particular session of Nitartha Institute, the faculty in residence varies.

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Nitartha's President and spiritual director, is acknowledged to be one of the foremost scholars of his generation in the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the founder of Nitartha international, a non-profit educational corporation dedicated to preserving the literary and artistic heritage of the dharma in the East, particularly that of Tibet, and bringing it to the world community. He is a graduate of the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute at Rumtek, Sikkim, India and has completed courses of study in English and comparative religions at Columbia University. He has taught extensively in North America, where he resides, and is extremely skilled in presenting the teachings, in English, in the Western cultural context.

Acharya Tenpa Gyaltsen

Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen excelled in his studies at Karma Shri Nalanda Institute under some of the greatest living masters in the Kagyu lineage. Acharya lives in Boulder, Colorado and serves as a faculty member of the Religious Studies Department of Naropa University, especially teaching in the Nitartha-based Tibetan Tradition graduate courses. Acharya works closely with Ponlop Rinpoche in all aspects of leadership for the Institute, particularly in the design of our curriculum, and, after Ponlop Rinpoche, is the Institute's most important teacher.

In addition to Acharya Lama Tenpa, other Rumtek Acharyas are invited to teach each year at Nitartha Institute by Ponlop Rinpoche.

One of the distinguishing features of Nitartha Institute is that returning students are actively encouraged to teach new students some of the material presented at Nitartha. It is integral to Nitartha that the responsibility for teaching these materials is passed on to Westerners. As such, courses by Western teachers are presented in an engaging and accessible style. Amongst the group of Westerners authorized to teach at Nitartha are these senior teachers and translators:

Karl Brunnhölzl	Dr. Karl Brunnholzl has been a translator and oral interpreter at Nitartha since 2000. He is a principal resource for the content in the Core Curriculum as well as in debate. Karl has received the traditional “dharma tutor” degree from Khenpo Lama Thubten at Germany’s Kamalashila Institute, and works in his daily life as a full time Tibetan to English translator. He is the author of the Madhyamaka compendium, "The Center of the Sunlit Sky", the first in the Nitartha Institute series from Snow Lion Publications.
June Crow	June Crow has been involved with Nitartha Institute since its founding in 1996 and began to serve in the leadership on the Executive Council in 2000. She has been a practitioner for over 30 years, and has been teaching dharma since 1979. She is currently active as a volunteer for the Practice & Study department at the Halifax Shambhala Centre.
Tyler Dewar	Tyler Dewar has been serving as a translator and oral interpreter at Nitartha Institute since 2000. He has enjoyed opportunities to debate intensively in the original Tibetan-language format, and has a passionate interest in the evolution of English-language dharma. A book of his translations, "Trainings in Compassion, Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara" is published by Snow Lion Publications.
Stephanie Johnston	Stephanie Johnston has been a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner since 1985. She started off with Shambhala International and is a student of The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche's since 1996. She has served for almost 10 years as a faculty and board member at Nitartha Institute. She resides at Nalanda West, a center for meditation and study, in Seattle where she also volunteers her time as a graphic designer to Bodhi magazine, a quarterly publication intended as a gateway to the Buddhist science of mind.
Harrison Miller	Harrison Miller has been involved with Nitartha Institute since its founding in 1996, and has been on the faculty since 2002. Harrison has been a student of dharma for over 20 years and is currently the Curriculum Developer and Senior Teacher at the Cleveland Shambhala Meditation Center.
Dr. Joseph Parent	Dr. Joseph Parent received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Colorado. He has taught mindfulness & awareness training and meditation for over 25 years and is the author of the book "Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game" published by Doubleday.
Prof. Linda Patrik	Prof. Linda Patrik is a Karma Kagyu practitioner with Karma Triyana Dharmachakra and Albany Karma Tegsum Choling. She has taught philosophy for 25 years at Union College in Schenectady, NY. Her academic teaching and research focus on cross-cultural humanistic questions in philosophy. She is currently working on a synopsis of Madhyamaka for college students.
Carmen Rumbaut	Carmen Rumbaut joined the faculty of the Institute in 2003. She has been actively involved with Nitartha, both the North American and European programs, for several years, as a student, a teacher, and an editor. Her specialty is logic and debate. Born in Cuba, Carmen holds graduate degrees in both social work and law from the University of Texas at Austin.
Steve Seely	Steve Seely has been involved with Nitartha Institute since its founding in 1996. In 1998, he was appointed Co-director and in 2003 became the Managing Director for the Institute. Steve has taught dharma for over 20 years and completed the traditional Tibetan three year retreat at Gampo Abbey in 1996.
Mark Seibold	Mark Seibold joined the Nitartha faculty in 2005. A member of the Nalanda Translation Committee, he is working on a translation of Mikyö Dorje’s Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas, an extensive commentary on Madhyamaka. He also serves as co-coordinator of the New Haven Shambhala® Meditation Group.
Phil Stanley	Prof. Phil Stanley is head of the Nitartha curriculum department, and has particular responsibility for teaching Tibetan-style debate in English. He has been involved with the Institute since its founding in 1996 and was appointed Co-director in 2000. He is Chair of the Religious Studies Department of Naropa University, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on Tibetan language and Buddhism.
Phil Weber	Dr. Phil Weber has taught on the Buddhist approach to healing at Naropa University for 15 years. He has been a practitioner of Buddhism and medicine for 30 years. Currently, he is a family physician in private practice in Boulder with a particular interest in the integration of Western and Buddhist healing methods.
Scott Wellenbach	Scott Wellenbach has been part of the leadership of Nitartha Institute since its founding in 1996. In 1998, he was appointed Co-director and serves as head of the Translation and Publication Department. A translator of the buddha-dharma from Sanskrit and Tibetan for more than twenty years, and a long-time member of the Nalanda Translation Committee, he served as co-translator and co-editor of the Rain of Wisdom.