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Taos Institute
Founded	1991
Founder	Harlene Anderson, David Cooperrider, Kenneth Gergen, Mary Gergen, Sheila MacNamee, Suresh Srivasta, and Diana Whitney
Location	Taos, New Mexico;
Website	www.taosinstitute.net

The Taos Institute is a non-profit educational organization, concerned with the social processes essential for the construction of reason, knowledge, and human value. The institute is engaged in exploring, developing and disseminating ideas and practices that promote creative, appreciative and collaborative processes in families, communities and organizations around the world.

Overview

The educational ends of the organization are achieved through conferences, workshops, publications, a PhD program, a distance learning program, newsletters, and web-based offerings. These activities function at the interface between the scholarly community and societal practitioners primarily from communities of mental health, social work, counseling, organizational change, education, community building, gerontology and medicine. Their endeavors are the ways in which scholarly research can enrich professional practices, and practices can stimulate scholarly inquiry.

History

The Taos Institute was founded in 1991 by a group of scholars and practitioners exploring the potentials of social constructionist ideas for generating and informing societal practices. The founders included Harlene Anderson, David Cooperrider, Kenneth Gergen, Mary Gergen, Sheila McNamee, Suresh Srivastva, and Diana Whitney. Primary attention was focused at that time on organizational development and family therapy, with practices of appreciative inquiry and co-constructive practices of therapy prevailing. The name of the Institute was derived, in part, by the fact that one of its founders, Diana Whitney, lived in Taos, New Mexico, and provided a geographic center for possible meetings. In addition, however, the locale was rich in multi-cultural, artistic, and spiritual traditions, and blended these traditions with a promise of new horizons. In 1992, the Institute held its first international conference in Taos. Since this early period Institute activities have expanded in many directions. In addition to annual conferences, many of which have been in partnership with universities and other institutes, a program of workshops was initiated. The workshops were facilitated by the development of an Associates wing of the Institute, including scholars and practitioners sharing in the interests of the Institute. There are presently over 130 Associates representing 17 nations. Among the Associates are Sara Cobb, Susan Levin, Peter Lang, Peter Whitehouse, Karl Weick, Barnett Pearce, Robert Neimeyer, and Ron Chenail. Among the Honorary Associates are listed Tom Andersen, Warren Bennis, Jerome Bruner, Lynn Hoffman, Peggy Penn, Theodore Sarbin, John Shotter, and Michael White. With the collaboration of the Associates, the Institute went on to develop a publishing company (Taos Institute Publications), a distance learning program (in conjunction with the Houston-Galveston Institute), and a PhD program (in collaboration with Tilburg University in the Netherlands). The Institute also serves as the home for the electronically distributed, Positive Aging Newsletter. Most of the founders remain on the Executive Board, but have since been joined by Dawn Dole, Robert Cottor, Sally St. George, Jane Magruder Watkins, and Dan Wulff. Because of its widely distributed activities, the Institute now functions as a virtual as opposed to a geographically centered organization.

v t e Animal testing
Main articles	Alternatives to animal testing Animal testing on invertebrates Animal testing on frogs Animal testing on non-human primates Animal testing on rabbits Animal testing on rodents Animal testing regulations History of animal testing History of model organisms IACUC Laboratory animal sources Pain and suffering in laboratory animals Testing cosmetics on animals Three Rs Toxicology testing
Testing on	Frogs Invertebrates Primates Rabbits Rodents Syrian hamsters
Issues	Animal rights Animal welfare Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act Biomedical Research Great ape research ban International primate trade Laboratory animal allergy Pain and suffering in laboratory animals
Controversial experiments	Britches Brown Dog affair Cambridge University primates Monkey Drug Trials Pit of despair Silver Spring monkeys Unnecessary Fuss
Companies	Charles River Laboratories Fortrea Inotiv Jackson Laboratory Nafovanny
Groups and campaigns	Anti-Vivisection Coalition Americans for Medical Progress AAAS AALAS Animal Free Research UK ALF Boyd Group Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing Cruelty Free International PETA ALF Foundation for Biomedical Research National Anti-Vivisection Society New England Anti-Vivisection Society Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Primate Freedom Project Pro-Test SHAC SPEAK Speaking of Research Stop Sequani Animal Testing Research Defence Society Understanding Animal Research
Writers and activists	Colin Blakemore Carl Cohen Gill Langley Ingrid Newkirk Neal D. Barnard Jerry Vlasak Simon Festing Tipu Aziz
Legislation	Animal testing regulations Animal Experimentation Convention 1986 (Council of Europe) Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (UK) Animal Welfare Act 1999 (NZ) Animal Welfare Act of 1966 (US) Directive 2010/63/EU (EU)

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Overview

History

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