When I hold a calligraphy brush, I know I cannot remove my father from my hand. I know I cannot remove my mother or my ancestors from me. They are present in all cells, in my gestures, in my capacity to draw a beautiful circle. — Thich Nhat HanhJean Houston completed her life on May 16, 2026. Her loss is deeply felt at Meridian University, where she served as Chancellor for over a decade. Her vision of human development is woven through the institution — its curriculum, the questions it asks of its students, and the lives her work has touched.On Saturday, July 25, Meridian University gathered Jean's students, colleagues, readers, and friends online to remember her — not in sorrow alone, but in the spirit she modeled so fully: curiosity, presence, and joy.
- Date
- Saturday, July 25, 2026
- Time
- 9:30 AM – 1:00 PM Pacific
- Where
- Online · Free to attend
The Gathering
The morning unfolded across two panels.
Panel I — Remembering Jean
A conversation about the woman herself: the teacher, the storyteller, the friend. Those who knew her reflected on the person behind the work — her presence, her humor, and the way she had of calling forth what was most alive in everyone she met.Panel II — Carrying the Work Forward
A look at the legacy she leaves: her books, her scholarship, and her enduring influence on the Meridian curriculum and the wider fields she helped shape — and what it means to carry that work into the future.The panels were hosted by Peggy Rubin, Aftab Omer, and Melissa Schwartz.Hosts
Peggy RubinMargaret Nash (Peggy) Rubin is a member of Meridian University's Global Advisory Council. She is the founding director of the Center for Sacred Theatre in Ashland, Oregon. From 1987 she was the principal teaching associate of Jean Houston in Dr. Houston's worldwide multicultural transformational work and in her schools of spiritual studies. Together they presented classes, workshops, and trainings throughout the United States and around the world, and on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme in Albania, St. Lucia, Barbados, Kenya, and the Philippines.
Aftab OmerAftab Omer, PhD is the president of Meridian University, which offers degree and professional programs globally, emphasizing the power of transformative learning. He is a sociologist, psychologist, developmentalist, and futurist. Raised in Pakistan, India, Hawaii, and Turkey, he was educated at M.I.T., Harvard, and Brandeis. His publications have addressed transformative learning, dialogic capability, developmental power, cultural leadership, civil society, generative entrepreneurship, and the power of imagination. Formerly the president of the Council for Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychologies, he is a Fellow of the International Futures Forum and the World Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Melissa SchwartzMelissa Schwartz, PhD is the Chief Academic Officer at Meridian University, where she guides integrally-oriented programs in Education, Business, and Psychology. The Director of Meridian's Center for Transformative Learning, Melissa is dually licensed in California as both a psychologist and as a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT). Her research interests are in the areas of adult development, the psychology of women, integral transformative assessment, and the role of culture in transformative learning.
Panelists
Anneloes Smitsman
Anneloes Smitsman is the founder and CEO of EARTHwise, creator of the Elowyn game and the EARTHwise AI Alignment Arena, and co-author of the Future Humans Trilogy with Jean Houston. Together they explored and taught about a new paradigm in human potential, science, civilizational transformation, and evolutionary development.
Elizabeth Austin
Memphis, TN, 1989: Elizabeth Austin, then Betty Hutto, President of The River School, prayed for a role model as she navigated the currents of America’s masculine river towboat industry. She recognized the transcendent answer when Jean Houston and Peggy Rubin brought their weekend workshop to Memphis. Ashland, OR, 2026: Transformation continues.
Lenita Newberg
Lenita Newberg practices psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, and supervises and teaches in the field. She came to Meridian University to grow her leadership as she expanded her professional engagements. Studying with Jean Houston helped broaden her vision and goals. After moving a few years ago, Lenita now lives in a community she shared with Jean.
Lisa Nelson
Dr. Lisa Nelson has worked with Jean Houston’s Social Artistry since 2004. She has mentored students in the Masters in Leadership in Social Artistry Program, in Social Artistry Institutes, and in Train the Trainer programs, including in Nepal, and she has organized Social Artistry Summits and local gatherings in Ashland, Oregon.
Philip Johncock
For three decades, Phil Johncock has advanced Jean Houston's work in Social Artistry. He helped launch the Institute of Social Artistry and, at Jean's invitation, produced the eleventh and final Social Artistry Leadership Institute in 2016. He now facilitates the Jean Houston Foundation's monthly Teaching-Learning Communities and stewards its Game Changer Archive.
Robertson Work
Robertson Work is a nonfiction author and social-ecological activist. He served as principal policy advisor on decentralized governance at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), as professor of innovative leadership at NYU's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and as a regional and country director for the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA). With UNDP, he brought Jean to Albania, St. Lucia, Barbados, Kenya, and the Philippines to lead Social Artistry seminars; with the ICA, he invited her to Venezuela to lead seminars; and at NYU Wagner, he taught Social Artistry in several of his courses. He also brought Jan Sanders to Nepal, where she conducted Social Artistry seminars for twenty years.
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