Parker J. Palmer

Parker J. Palmer, Ph.D., is a writer, teacher, and activist who works independently on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality, and social change. He is also founder and Senior Partner of the Center for Courage & Renewal. Palmer’s work spans a wide range of institutions: colleges and universities, public schools, religious communities and other non-profit organizations, healthcare institutes, and foundations. His publications include ten poems, more than one hundred essays, and nine books: The Promise of Paradox, The Company of Strangers, To Know As We Are Known, The Active Life, The Courage to Teach, Let Your Life Speak, A Hidden Wholeness, The Heart of Higher Education (with Arthur Zajonc), and, most recently, Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit. His work has been recognized with several national awards and ten honorary doctorates. In 2011, Palmer was named an Utne Reader Visionary, one of “25 people who are changing your world.”