Dr. Torgerson received her BS from Regis College in Denver, Colorado and earned her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Utah School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Dr. Torgerson is board certified in Emergency Medicine.

Giri Akkaraju is a Professor in the Biology Department at Texas Christian University. He holds an PhD in Molecular Genetics from the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, and a BSc in Biology from the University of Bombay. His research is focused on understanding the role of inflammation in human health and disease. He is also interested in meditation and its effect on the brain, and on well-being in general. He has participated in several Vipassana meditation courses. He is a member of the TCU Health Professions Advisory Committee and the CALM Studies Advisory Council.

Ariane M. Balizet is Professor of English and Associate Dean for Faculty and DEI in the AddRan College of Liberal Arts at TCU. She is also a registered yoga instructor and has taught yoga in Minnesota, Colorado, and Texas since 2005. She is a member of the CALM Studies Advisory Council.

Her research interests include blood, bodies, and domesticity in the literature of the English Renaissance; intersectional approaches to Shakespeare and adaptation; and histories and theories of girlhood. She is the author of two monographs: Shakespeare and Girls’ Studies (Routledge 2020) and Blood and Home in Early Modern Drama: Domestic Identity on the Renaissance Stage (Routledge 2014). She has also published essays on yoga and postfeminism, the history and cultures of breastfeeding, and has forthcoming articles on trauma-informed pedagogy and teaching intersectional girlhoods in Romeo and Juliet.

Her current book project, Race Games: Identity, Competition, and Play in Early Modern Literature, examines the dynamics of gameplay and colonial competition in the early modern literary Caribbean. Recent classes include Health, Illness, and (Dis)Ability in Shakespeare; Renaissance Girlhoods; Girls’ Studies; Shakespeare and Race; and Love, Sex, and Power in the English Renaissance.

Lydia Mackay is an Assistant Professor of Performance in the Theatre Department at Texas Christian University. She holds an MFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University and a BFA in Theatre from Texas Wesleyan University. In addition to being a Registered Yoga Teacher, she is a member of the Actors' Equity Association, the Society of American Fight Directors, and the Association of Theatre Movement Educators. She is forever nurturing the connections that live between her passions - Education, Performance, Storytelling, Meditative Movement, Dance, Playful Invention, and Empathetic Living

Chuck Dunning (M.Ed., University of North Texas) is the CALM Convos coach and consultant. He began working at TCU in 2000, and has provided assistance to students in career advising, transitional programming, leadership development, and mental health outreach.

Blake Hestir

His teaching and scholarship focus on ancient Greek philosophy, philosophy of mind, philosophy of self, and existential phenomenology, as well as ecology and contemplative studies. He currently teaches introductory courses on Mind Consciousness Self  and The Art and Science of Human Flourishing, as well as Mindfulness and Modern Life. And he offers upper-level courses on Mind Body Ecology, Existentialism, and Self and Selflessness.

Mark Dennis (he/him; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin) is Professor of East Asian Religions in TCU’s Religion Department. He also serves as director of CALM Studies.

Dave Aftandilian (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is associate professor of anthropology and director of the Human-Animal Relationships (HARE) minor at Texas Christian University.

Andrew O. Fort (Ph. D., University of Pennsylvania) is Professor of Asian Religions (emeritus) and a past Green Distinguished Emeritus Tutor at TCU. He founded TCU’s Contemplative Studies initiative in 2012, and has been on the steering Committee of the Contemplative Studies group at the American Academy of Religion.