OpenU Faculty

Elias Bouboutsis An Orthodox pluralist, Dr. Bouboutsis holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. focused in religion and culture from the historic Chicago Theological Seminary (2003). Licensed and ordained in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (1995), he has served both Greek and Antiochian (Syrian) communities of faith across the U.S. Dr. Bouboutsis' clinical work has included the Denver advanced pastoral care residency program, and related behavioral medicine coursework at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (1989). Since 1995, he has served numerous interfaith initiatives, including social advocacy groups for public housing residents and persons living with HIV/AIDS, as a contributor to National Conference for Community and Justice, and as a board member of the Parliament for the World's Religions. He has taught "Debates About God" courses around religion and conflict in the Near/Middle East and Latin America at DePaul University in Chicago, and currently serves as a core professor across disciplines at the Florida Center for Theological Studies. Fluent in Greek, Brazilian Portuguese, liturgical Spanish and English, his current context for community ministry is the Antiochian Orthodox Ermita de Regla shrine in the heart of Little Havana.

Maureen Duffy has been a professor of counseling and family therapy for over twenty years. She graduated from the National University of Ireland, University College, Dublin, with a degree in Social Science and from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida with a Ph.D. in Systemic Family Therapy. Maureen is a Licensed Family Therapist and Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the State of Florida and a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator. She has been in active clinical family therapy and supervision practice for over twenty years. Maureen is on the Editorial Boards of major international journals in the fields of family therapy and qualitative research and is the Co-Editor of The Qualitative Report. She devotes considerable time to mentoring new authors in family therapy and in qualitative research. Maureen has presented her work at major professional conferences regionally, nationally, and internationally. In 2006, Maureen was an invited speaker at the Oxford University Round Table on the Psychology of the Child. She is the author of numerous publications in family therapy and qualitative research and her current interests are in the areas of positive psychology, applications of neuroscience to clinical work with couples and families, neurofeedback, and group behavior in the workplace.

Linda Edge, PhD, MM, MSEd, BSCI, LPCC has been a teacher in a variety of capacities throughout her life. She received a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from The Union Institute and University, a masters in Violin Performance from Northwestern University, a masters in Social Agency Counseling from University of Dayton, and a bachelors in the Science of Creative Intelligence from Maharishi European Research University in Switzerland.

 

Linda?s interest in Eastern philosophy has supported 37 years of exploration into the nature of consciousness. She takes great delight in assisting the everyday unfolding of the soul and has spoken on the Many Faces of Faith, the Chakra System, Moving from Depression to Joy, and Paths of Meditation. Linda has performed as a symphonic musician, has founded a Suzuki Violin School, and has taught Kindermusik to young children. Her psychospiritual research is published in Journal of Transpersonal Psychology and Journal of Humanistic Psychology. She has written a number of articles and brings her creative skills as a writer, musician, and clinical psychologist into her workshops and classes.

 

Edward M. Freeman (Ed) holds the PhD in nursing from the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF-1992), where he completed pre-doctoral and post-doctoral coursework and supervision with philosophers and scientists of Stanford University and UCSF. Subsequent to degree completion, he served as professor of nursing at several national and international universities, earning the tenured rank of professor. Ed has taught in the Great Books tradition, therein leading undergraduate students in survey-seminar courses in ancient, medieval, and modern literature. Fluent in German and English, Ed continues his long career activity in translations, philosophies of religion and science, and theology, which he has combined, by way of prior undergraduate and graduate degrees in the humanities, with nursing and medical sciences as a board-certified nurse practitioner. Ed holds a current position in sponsored-cardiovascular research, publishes and speaks through both invited and refereed media, and serves actively in a leadership role with the International Institute for Human Understanding. Ed makes his home in Miami Beach, where he enjoys life with family, and continues his graduate studies in the Florida Center for Theological Studies of Miami.

 

Sheri Friedman is a professional artist and teacher, who is dedicated to the belief that creative expression is essential to the human spirit. As an artist she believes that the "language" of art is a universal and powerful way to promote human understanding and as a teacher she finds great satisfaction in helping others discover their creative potential. She has many years of experience in teaching students of all levels, with compassion and a positive attitude. She is active in the art community and has a degree in drawing and painting from the University of Florida.

 

Ora Karat MFA views conceptual art making as a collective venture for creating socio-political art forms that communicate inform and educate. She has worked for television programs such as Inside Edition, ABC News, Spielberg Foundation and other world class organization. Additionally, she has won awards for producing documentary videos featuring vocational interactive training and development for multicultural populations in Europe.

 

Magaly Madrid is a certified elementary school teacher and is currently teaching at a public school in Miami. She is the founder and director of the Empathy Project. The Empathy Project is a nonprofit program that offers a bilingual humane literacy curriculum for youth in grades PreK-12.  The Empathy Project has been offered at various schools, after school programs, and summer camps across Miami-Dade County and in Latin America where she has partnered with a nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating poverty and educating impoverish children.  

Magaly is the Board Secretary to the United Nations Association Greater Miami 
Chapter. She is the Chair to the Education Committee working to achieve universal 
primary education for all boys and girls as part of the UN's Millennium Development 
Goals. She is the Program Director of the Healing Species Miami program. The program 
uses the assistance of rescued dogs to teach children empathy, respect, self-esteem, 
and anger management. She is a volunteer grant writer and teacher trainer for 
Alfalit International, an internationally known literacy program working with 
illiterate children and adults throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. 
Magaly is a Certified Humane Education Specialist and has co-hosted a variety 
of parent/teacher workshops.

Michael Malone believes that writing can open our hearts and minds, and that art and creative expression can heal the world. Like yoga, writing inspires union, with ourselves and with others. We simply begin our stretch from wherever we, then breathe, deepen and trust. Oh, yes, and work hard to learn the craft of writing. 

 

Following a 20-year career in journalism, nearly 15 with the Spanish-language news agency, EFE, Michael currently works as a full-time writer with The Children's Trust. Along the writing road, he has published two books for young adults - Between Two Worlds: A Guatemalan Family and A Nicaraguan Family - and a host of magazine articles. Michael has taught writing part-time at FIU for 10 years and has led a number of "Write to the Edge" workshops in the community. Last fall, as part of a National Endowment for the Humanities initiative to promote literacy, he offered a series of workshops with high-school students focusing on Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."       

 

Michael is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), the Association of Writers and Writers Programs (AWP) and PEN.

 

Patricia Munhall, NCPsyA, Ed.D, CHt, CNLP has been a professor for twenty-five years, at Hunter College and Columbia University among other universities and a psychoanalyst for the past 16 years. She received her doctorate from Columbia University, New York and graduated from the Academy of Clinical and Applied Psychoanalysis (formerly PCNJ) and is a licensed and board certified psychoanalyst. She is an international speaker on phenomenology as a research method, psychoanalysis, human understanding, and an author or editor of eleven books and over 60 manuscripts focusing on qualitative research, unknowing, phenomenology and philosophical analysis. Patricia is founder and president of the International Institute for Human Understanding, located presently in Miami where she is currently in private practice.

 

Dr. Joachim de Posada
International Speaker, Author and Consultant
Conferenciante Motivacional, Autor y Consultor
Autor de la columna "Motor de Cambio" en Yahoo LatinoAmerica
Author of the column "Business Intelligence" Business Monday in the San Juan Star
Daily Motivational Capsule in WOSO, only English commercial radio station in PR
Co-Author "Don't Eat the Marshmallow yet: The Secret to Sweet Success in Work and Life". Penguin Group.(International best seller)
Author "How to Survive Among Piranhas: How to get what you want with what you have"
Autor del libro "Sobrevivir entre Piranas: Como conseguir lo que quiere con lo que tiene"
Autor de seis videos de desarrollo personal.

 

Torben Riise - a native of Denmark - has a background in science (PhD in fermentation technology) and management (MBA in business economy) and has held executive positions in several large, international companies in the biotech industry in the past 25 years. He has established business units in every part of the world and been involved in a number of acquisitions of companies in new business areas. In 1992, Torben established his own consulting business. Torben is the founder of Center for Humanism and co-founder of Culture in the City and has a particular interest in the ethics of new technologies and in futures studies.

Kelley Flannery Rowan holds a Masters degree in religious studies from Florida International University and a Masters degree in pedagogy and music performance from California State University. She serves as adjunct faculty in the Religious Studies department of FIU and in the Arts & Philosophy department of Miami-Dade College, North. Before moving to Miami she owned and operated a piano studio in Anaheim, California. Her areas of interest and research include women's issues in religion, Hinduism, sacred ritual music, and Irish mythology. She is a published writer and active speaker in the community, at international conferences, and at academic institutions on a wide range of issues. As an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami she helped develop the adult religious education program and has served as pro-tem minister. She currently serves on the board of the International Institute for Human Understanding.