The late Professor Wolf Wolfensberger (1934-2011) founded and directed the Training Institute for Human Service Planning, Leadership, and Change Agentry at Syracuse University. He devoted his career to improving the lives of people who are devalued in society, especially those with mental impairments, and taught about the most serious and important topics in serving others, including deep moral issues. This Summer Institute is intended to keep alive his teaching on these issues, including by this 3-day workshop, originally developed by Dr. Wolfensberger, and now taught by several of his long-time associates who have studied and collaborated for many years under his direction. In the late 19th - early 20th centuries, a philosophy loosely called “personalism” arose in opposition to totalitarian ideologies, oppressive economies, and other developments that degraded the human person. Dr. Wolfensberger found it of great importance, usefulness, and relevance. He interpreted and synthesized its teachings with special reference to issues that confront us today in human services, and in the larger society. 

The workshop reviews some history of personalism, and presents its major teachings and implications according to eight “themes”: (1) understanding and working with the nature of entities; (2) the primacy of the spiritual; (3) the value of each and every person; (4) the uniqueness of each person; (5) personal freedom; (6) the relational nature of humans; (7) the imperative of personal moral responsibility; (8) “subsidiarity,” i.e., eschewing any more complexity and technology than is necessary.

When: Monday July 21 - Wednesday July 23,  2025
Where: Worcester State University, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Cost: Tuition, Meals, and Room: $700 USD
 

Click HERE to register

Some tuition assistance my be available through SRVIP - to inquire click here.

For more information about the workshop contact:
Jo Massarelli
Massachusetts, USA
jo@srvip.org