California Institute of Integral Studies
Faculty Member, Transformative Studies
Professor/Department Chair
About
Alfonso Montuori is Professor and Department Chair of the Transformative Studies Ph.D. and Transformative Leadership M.A. at California Institute of Integral Studies. A graduate of the University of London, he is the author of several books and numerous articles on creativity and improvisation, complexity, and education. Alfonso also consults with organizations and individuals on creativity and professional and personal development.
Born of an Italian father and Dutch mother, Alfonso grew up trilingual (because his parents insisted on speaking to him in their mother tongue), and spoke five languages by age 12. He was born in Holland, and grew up living in Lebanon, Greece, and England before coming to the United States in 1983. In London Alfonso worked as an interpreter for Scotland Yard and as a professional musician on saxophone and flute, making numerous recordings with his own band and as a session-man, and gigging extensively throughout England for several years. Today, Alfonso continues his passion for music through his collaboration with his wife, the jazz singer Kitty Margolis, as producer of her award-winning recordings. He is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (The Grammys).
Alfonso has taught at the College of Notre Dame, the Saybrook Institute, and South-Central University in Changsha, Hunan Province, in the People's Republic of China, where he developed and taught the first course in management and organization theory. In 2003-2004 he was Wiepking Distinguished Professor in the Fine Arts department at Miami University. His books include Evolutionary Competence (Gieben, 1989); From Power to Partnership (co-authored with Isabella Conti, Harper San Francisco, 1993); Creators on Creating (co-edited with Barron & Barron, Putnam, 1997); and Social Creativity, vols. 1-2 (co-edited with Ronald E. Purser, Hampton Press, 1999). Alfonso was a 2006 San Francisco Library Laureate. He has written articles in publications such as Academy of Management Review, Human Relations, Journal of Management Education, Pluriverso, and Journal of Humanistic Psychology. His translations include Constraints and Possibilities (Gordon & Breach, 1996) by Mauro Ceruti; Solidarity or Barbarism: A Europe of Diversity against Ethnic Cleansing (Peter Lang, 1997); and The Narrative Universe (Hampton Press, 2002), both by Gianluca Bocchi and Mauro Ceruti.
Alfonso has consulted on executive and management development and creativity and innovation with numerous international corporations, including Procter & Gamble, Network Appliance, Training Vision (Singapore), Pacific Bell, Stentor Group (Canada), Kaiser Permanente, Interstate Insurance, Omnitel-Olivetti (Italy), ENEL (Italy), U.S. Department of Labor, University of Missouri Kansas City, Nestle Beverage, Pilkington Barnes Hinde, 3Com, Progressive Insurance, and others.
Alfonso started, and is General Editor of, Advances in Systems Theory, Complexity, and the Human Sciences at Hampton Press, which has published important works by Gregory Bateson, Gianluca Bocchi & Mauro Ceruti, Edgar Morin, Ervin Laszlo, and other leading thinkers; he is Associate Editor of World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution; and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Transformative Education; Tamara: The Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Theory; Pluriverso (Italy); Narrare il Gruppo; Integral Review, Integral Leadership Review, and Elites (Italy). Alfonso is also a member of the General Evolution Research Group.
Contact Information
http://www.ciis.edu/faculty/montuori.html
CIIS
1453 Mission St.
San Francisco
CA 94103
USA
415.871.9979
amontuori
