Robert Karbelnikoff (Karp)
Robert is a consultant, educator, writer and long-time leader in the sustainable agriculture movement in the US. Robert is the former executive director of the Biodynamic Association in the United States and of Practical Farmers of Iowa. Robert’s writings include:
• Social Justice in the Light of Anthroposophy: An Awakening Call
• Toward an Associative Economy in the Sustainable Food and Farming Movement
• Agriculture and the Sacred, published by Sacred Spirit Books in Journeys and Awakenings, Wisdom for Spiritual Travelers
• A New American Revolution: Associative Economics and the Future of the Food Movement published by Hawthorne Press in Free, Equal and Mutual-Rebalancing Society for the Common Good
Robert has an M.Ed from Iowa State University and has completed a 3-year training in Anthroposophic Psychology. You can learn more about Robert and read many of his writings on his website at www.robertkarp.net
Robert lives in Viroqua, Wisconsin, USA
Mark McGivern
After finishing a bachelor’s degree from Trent University in Ontario in Philosophy and Comparative Development Studies, Mark worked for Energy Probe and Probe International as a researcher assistant. Mark has been a teacher most of his adult life. He taught English at the Toronto Centre for Victims of Torture and other contexts for new immigrants to Canada. After touring Nicaragua with Oxfam Canada in 1985 during the Sandinista Revolution he returned to teach for a year, then taught in Japan and later in Dubai for three years. He was trained as a Waldorf class teacher in 2001 and worked for six years in middle grades in Nelson BC.
He is the author of Tolkien’s Hidden Pictures: Anthroposophy and the Enchantment in Middle Earth, published by Steinerbooks in 2022. At the Rudolf Steiner College Canada Mark mentors adult students in the Foundations Studies Program and is a writer and designer of online courses in anthroposophical topics.
Mark lives in Victoria, BC Canada
Barbarah Nicoll
Anthroposophy has been, and continues to be, my guiding light and source of ongoing inspiration since I first encountered the wisdom of Rudolf Steiner in 1977, when I was enrolled in the Youth Development program at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, Alberta. I have been a student of anthroposophy since, and am grateful for the opportunity for my 3 children attending Waldorf school k to grade 8, of being a Waldorf school coordinator, principal, teacher and board member. I am a member of the School for Spiritual Science, and part of an anthroposophy study group in Nelson that is in its 33rd year.
In the course of my life I have continuously been involved and devoted to research, learning, human development and community engagement. I have started and supported the development of schools, businesses, cooperatives, not for profit organizations, TEDx Talks, international youth exchanges, graduate program development and mentored adult learning at the Masters level since 2013. My current membership in the EdD in Educational & Professional Practice, Waldorf Education program, Antioch University is a continuation of my formal studies.
My background includes a Master of Integrated Arts, Waldorf High School Teacher certification, Social Eurythmy Certificate from Auriel Eurythmy, BA General Studies, Liberating Structures training and practice, Expressive Arts certification, Youth Development diploma from Grant MacEwan College, Improvisation for the Classroom – Paul Sills and The Art of Facilitation Training with Caroline Estes of the Alpha Institute. My current work includes being a foundation studies in anthroposophy mentor with Rudolf Steiner College, Toronto, an adjunct faculty at Antioch University, faculty and lead of the Expressive Arts section at the Transformative Learning Foundation, facilitating Waldorf School Professional Development, and the Anthroposophical Social Justice Project.