CSB alumna to speak on Benedictine, Buddhist practices

Lisa Pettitt, a 1989 graduate of the College of Saint Benedict, will present the lecture “Benedictine and Buddhist Practices: How They Influence My Approach to Psychology and Sustainability” at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17, in room 204A, Gorecki Center, CSB.

This event, sponsored by Intercultural and International Student Services and the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, is free and open to the public.    

Addressing the issue of “how we determine our purpose in life and how we might find what guides us to fulfill that purpose,” Pettitt said she will “explore teachings and practices from the Benedictine and Buddhist traditions, the paths they offer us and how they can help us live authentic lives of meaning and service.”

Pettitt, who earned a doctorate in developmental psychology at the University of Denver in 1998, has worked as a researcher at the University of Colorado’s Prevention Research Center for Family and Child Health and as director of accounting and human resources at Efficient Forms, LLC. She has taught college courses, including “Psychology of Women” and “Women and Work.”

A yoga teacher involved in environmental activism, Pettitt was ordained in Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing, homeschooled her three children and describes herself as “a feminist who has learned about disability and self-advocacy from her sister with Down syndrome and anti-racism and intersectionality from wise and generous women of color.”