Valerie Seitz

"For me, there is no separation between my private and work life, my life and my learning. These delineations within conventional universities feel like an artificial framework to me. Within the Gaia University system you can lay your whole life on the table and your entire life becomes your area of study."

"Gaia University is a very special system with a lot of freedom, resonating with my need to think and act on my own—yet when I need support, it is there. At Gaia University, I feel at home. I find it very inspiring— with tons of outlets for my creativity and thinking."

Before joining the pioneering Gaia University International team, Valerie was a student, graduate and then faculty member of the Architecture Faculty at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. She always had an interest in the sustainable aspects of architecture, especially integration of the social dimension.

After completing her MSc thesis on Ecovillage Design, she had the opportunity to design and act as Project Leader for the first ecovillage in the Netherlands Alminde. She worked for the Delft Interfacultarian Research Institute DIOC, that focused on the sustainable urban environment and later began to teach and advise for the department of Environental Urbanism.

In 2005, Valerie moved to Tennessee to manage and instruct at the Ecovillage Training Center based out of The Farm—one of the best known intentional communities in the U.S. Here she met Gaia University founders Liora and Andy, who invited her to join them as a lead person in developing Gaia University. Part of this initial work to launch Gaia University International involved her collaboration with then-ETC Director Jennifer Dauksha English, helping her to establish the first U.S. Gaia University Regional Center—Gaia Southeast (Gaia SEUS) in Middle Tennessee.