For more than 30 years, IHE’s president and co-founder, Zoe Weil, has empowered people of all ages to build a more just, healthy, and peaceful world.
After many years of teaching young people about global ethical issues and inspiring them to become effective changemakers, Zoe and co-founder Rae Sikora launched the Center for Compassionate Living (CCL) in 1996 in Surry, ME. The organization was unique in bringing together human rights, environmental sustainability, and animal protection issues and educating about them in intersectional ways. CCL offered preparation and certification for people wishing to become humane educators, creating and building the field of comprehensive humane education.
CCL developed its groundbreaking Humane Education Certificate Program in 1997. Three years later, the organization affiliated with Cambridge College to offer the first M.Ed. program in humane education in the United States. That same year, CCL became the Institute for Humane Education (IHE) to better reflect its programs and focus.
From 2011-2019, IHE was affiliated with Valparaiso University and expanded its offerings to include an online M.Ed., M.A., M.A.L.S., and Graduate Certificate in Humane Education. In 2013, IHE and Valparaiso University partnered with Saybrook University to enable students who wished to pursue a Ph.D. through Saybrook to specialize in humane education.
Currently, IHE is affiliated with Antioch University and offers M.Ed., M.A. Graduate Certificate, and Ed.D. programs in humane education.
In 2015, IHE began developing a solutionary process to help schools integrate solutionary learning and practices into existing curricula. Currently, IHE’s solutionary approach is being utilized by hundreds of teachers and is serving as the philosophy and framework for San Mateo County, CA, which serves 113,000 students in 23 school districts between San Francisco and Palo Alto. It is also being embedded in the K-12 social studies curriculum in the Oceanside, NY school district.
IHE has been offering acclaimed workshops since its inception both in person and online; and continues to expand its award-winning online resource center.
“We look forward to the day when humane education is so deeply embedded in schooling and learning that it will simply be known as “education,” and schools will, as a matter of course, prepare students to be solutionaries who bring their knowledge and skills to bear to solve the challenges we face in ways that are good for all.”
Zoe Weil
- Key Accomplishments
As we look ahead to the future of humane education, it’s nice to take a look back at how we got started, and how far we’ve come.
IHE HISTORY
1996 - IHE is created
Humane Educators Zoe Weil and Rae Sikora create IHE to propel forward the field of comprehensive humane education and prepare others to be humane educators.
1997 - First Certificate Program in Humane Education launches
IHE launches the first certificate program in comprehensive humane education in the U.S.
2000 - First Humane Education M.Ed.
IHE affiliates with Cambridge College to offer the first M.Ed. in comprehensive humane education in the U.S.
2003 - Our First Graduate
The first student graduates from the M.Ed. program, completing a degree concentration in humane education that remains unique to this day.
2003 - Sowing Seeds
Sowing Seeds Workbook created and Sowing Seeds Humane Education Workshops launched training thousands of people over the next seven years.
2009 - IHE’s comprehensive Resource Center
IHE’s online Humane Education Resource Center receives the Social Psychology Network Action Teaching Award honorable mention.
2010 - TEDx
Zoe Weil gives her first TEDx talk, “The World Becomes What You Teach,” which becomes among the 50 top-rated and most-watched TEDx talks within a year, helping IHE reach a much bigger audience and advancing the goal of educating a generation of solutionaries.
2010 - Most Good, Least Harm
Zoe Weil’s book, Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life, receives the Nautilus silver medal-winner award.
2011 - Expanded Offerings
IHE affiliates with Valparaiso University and expands its offerings to include an M.Ed., M.A., M.A.L.S., and Graduate Certificate in Humane Education.
2013 - A New Partner
IHE partners with the Jane Goodall Institute and HEART to offer the first comprehensive Humane Education conference. The event sells out before the early registration deadline, necessitating a bigger venue at New York University.
2016 - The World Becomes What We Teach
Zoe Weil’s book, The World Becomes What We Teach: Educating a Generation of Solutionaries, is published and becomes required reading in a variety of university teacher education programs. IHE launches a Solutionary Program pilot and showcases student work in New York City.
2017 - Solutionary Summit
IHE hosts the first regional Solutionary Summit sharing the work of middle and high school students in Maine who’ve participated in the Solutionary Program pilot.
2018 - The Second Summit
IHE holds the second regional Solutionary Summit with middle and high school students solving real-world problems.
2018 - Concept into Practice
San Mateo County, CA, serving 113,000 students in 23 school districts, adopts IHE’s solutionary approach as the philosophy and framework for curriculum design and professional development, utilizing Zoe Weil’s book, The World Becomes What We Teach: Educating a Generation of Solutionaries, as the text for teachers.
2019 - Solutionary Guidebook
IHE produces a free, digital Solutionary Guidebook for use by educators and activists across the globe.
2020 - New Affiliation & Offerings
IHE affiliates with Antioch University to offer graduate and doctoral programs; produces another free guide, How to Be a Solutionary, for youth and changemakers; and launches a Solutionary Micro-credential Program for teachers.
2021 - Solutionary Micro-credential Program
IHE launches a 30-hour Solutionary Micro-credential Program (SMP) for teachers to prepare them to integrate solutionary learning into classrooms and curricula.
2022 - Amazon #1 Best Seller
The World Becomes What We Teach becomes an Amazon #1 Best Seller in the Philosophy and Social Aspects of Education.
