History

The Saybrook University Colleges represent a long and vibrant history as pioneers in higher education and in the disciplines in which they teach. 

Changing people, changing lives. Forty years ago a group of leading psychologists gathered to form the first graduate school centered on the belief that every person is a work in progress and that each of us has the capacity and the responsibility for our own development. These scholars were the founders of the humanistic psychology movement, a school of thought that continues to change global society. They created Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, a rigorous and unique, learner-centered educational environment. To this day, Saybrook University carries on the humanistic tradition as it guides students on journeys of academic and personal growth.

LIOS Graduate College (Leadership Institute of Seattle) was founded in 1969 to preapre women and men to take on effective roles as leaders, ready to assume important roles within organizations, or to work independently as skilled consultants and counselors. For over 40 years, LIOS has been the premier center in the northwest of innovative leadership development through training and education in applied behavioral science and systems theory.

The College of Mind-Body Medicine, while new, builds upon the foundation of Saybrook Graduate School in pioneering new approaches to health and wellness and the work of its Dean, James S. Gordon, MD in pioneering mind-body and integrative medicine. The Center for Mind-Body Medicine was founded by Jim Gordon in 1991, and since then has been teaching thousands to heal the world's millions using the approach to mind-body medicine that makes self-care central to all healthcare in support of personal growth and transformation.

Over their histories, the Saybrook University Colleges have grown to meet the needs of society by preparing scholars and practitioners to take leadership roles in inspiring transformational change. Saybrook scholar-practitioners unite "the library and the street" by relating scholarship and research to action and practice in a wide range of professional contexts.

The Saybrook University Colleges help students join the life of the mind with a lifetime of service. Surveying the world around us, now is the moment when this educational model is essential to meet the challenges of the world's first truly global society.