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Prof. univ. dr. Anca Munteanu

ETPA - European Transpersonal Psychology Association > Teachers > Prof. univ. dr. Anca Munteanu
Prof univ dr Anca Munteanu
  • Full professor with a Ph.D. at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Sociology and Psychology, West University of Timișoara.
  • President of the European Transpersonal Psychology Association (ETPA, since 2006).
  • Honorary Doctorate (Iași, 2010).
  • Professor Emeritus since 2013.
  • Bologna Professor (2004), awarded by the National Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania (ANOSR).

STUDIES

  • Attended “M. Eminescu” High School in Satu Mare (1962 – 1966).
  • Graduated from “Al. I. Cuza” University in Iași, Faculty of History-Philosophy, majoring in philosophy with a minor in psychology-pedagogy (1966 – 1971), top of her class.
  • Earned a Ph.D. in psychology at “Al. I. Cuza” University in Iași (1981), under the supervision of Acad. Prof. Dr. Vasile Pavelcu.

TRAININGS /SPECIALIZATIONS:

  • a) Long-term:
    • Training program in Transpersonal Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Transpersonal Psychology Institute (Paris, 2002 – 2005), with certification.
    • Training program in Experiential Group Psychotherapy, under the auspices of the Society for Experiential Psychotherapy in Romania (1999 – 2005), with certification.
    • Training program in Transpersonal Psychotherapies, under the auspices of the European Transpersonal Psychology Association (2012 – 2016).

    b) Short-term:

    • Intensive Erasmus programs (Belgium, 2005; Spain, 2009, 2010).
    • Two intensive programs in Integral Psychology and Psychotherapy (with Dr. Laura Boggio-Gilot, from Rome, Italy, 2003, 2004).
    • Four intensive programs in Transpersonal Psychology (with Prof. Dr. Marc Alain Descamps, from Sorbonne University, Paris, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2007).
    • One intensive program in Analytical Psychology and Psychotherapy (with Prof. Dr. Marc Alain Descamps, from Sorbonne University, Paris, 2009).
    • One intensive program in Transpersonal Psychology (with Prof. Dr. Gabriela Mihalache, from the Transpersonal Psychology Institute in Palo Alto, USA, 2009).
    • A continuous professional training program in Experiential Unification Psychotherapy, under the auspices of the Society for Experiential Psychotherapy in Romania (with Prof. Dr. Iolanda Mitrofan, 2009).

PROFESSIONAL CAREER:

  • Between 1971 – 1978, research scientist at the Iași branch of the Institute of Pedagogical Sciences and associate university assistant at “Al. I. Cuza” University in Iași.
  • Between 1978 – 1999, university assistant, lecturer, and university senior lecturer at the Politehnica University of Timișoara, Department of Philosophy.
  • Between 1999 – 2013, full professor at the Faculty of Sociology and Psychology, Department of Psychology, West University of Timișoara.
  • Associate professor at the same faculty (after retirement), since 2013.

AREAS OF INTEREST:

  • Psychology (developmental psychology, psychology of creativity, psychoanalysis, transpersonal psychology, thanatopsychology, etc.),
  • Pedagogy,
  • Philosophy.

PUBLISHING OUTPUT:

  • a). Authored books:
    • Prolegomene to the Science of Education (Timișoara, University Technical Press Center, 1992);
    • Incursions into Creatology (Timișoara, Augusta Publishing, 1994);
    • Stages of Development (Timișoara, Augusta Publishing, 1997);
    • A Beginning Named Freud (Timișoara, Sedona Publishing, 1997);
    • Child and Adolescent Psychology (Timișoara, Augusta Publishing, 1998);
    • Neopsychoanalysis (Timișoara, Augusta Publishing, 1998);
    • The Atlantis Experience. From the Journal of a Creative Group (Timișoara, Augusta Publishing, 2001);
    • Freudian Psychoanalytic Therapy (Bucharest, SPER Publishing, 2002);
    • Psychology of Adult Ages and Senescence (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2004);
    • The Psychology of Ages (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2009);
    • Beyond Freud (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2010);
    • Transpersonal Psychology. Pilgrimage Beyond the Veil (Vol. I, Bucharest, For You Publishing, 2018);
    • Transpersonal Psychology. Pilgrimage Beyond the Veil (Vol. II, Bucharest, For You Publishing, 2021);

    b). Collaborations in collective volumes (selective):

    • Observation, in vol. Understanding the Student (Bucharest, Didactic and Pedagogical Publishing, 1978);
    • Anamnesis, in vol. Understanding the Student (Bucharest, Didactic and Pedagogical Publishing, 1978);
    • The Questionnaire, in vol. Understanding the Student (Bucharest, Didactic and Pedagogical Publishing, 1978);
    • Psychoanalysis in Child Understanding, in vol. Understanding the Student (Bucharest, Didactic and Pedagogical Publishing, 1978);
    • Transpersonal Psychology, a Challenge for the Third Millennium, in Psychology Today (Vol. I, Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 1999);
    • The Tendency Towards New Paradigms, a Dominant in Contemporary Psychology, in Psychology Today (Vol. II, Timișoara, Eurostamp Publishing, 2001);
    • Transpersonal Commitment in Psychotherapy, in Psychology Today (Vol. III, Timișoara, Eurostamp Publishing, 2003);
    • A Space of Synchronicity: Love, in vol. Chance, Luck, Synchronicity (Paris, Trismegiste Publishing, 2005);
    • The Innovations of Transpersonal Psychology Concerning Psychotherapy, in vol. Methods of Healing and Awakening in Transpersonal Psychotherapy (Rome, Satya Editions, 2006);
    • The Formative and Psychotherapeutic Valences of Passage Rites, in vol. New Interrogations in the History of Psychology from the Perspective of Transpersonal Psychology (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2007);
    • The Transpersonal Perspective on Human Suffering or its Transfiguring Resources, in vol. Identity and Integration Through the Transpersonal Way (Timisoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2008);
    • The Psycho-Spiritual Identity of Birth or Its Dual Potential, in vol. Beyond Appearances (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2009);
    • Illness as a Chance or About its Spiritual Message, in vol. Reflections from the Other Side of Knowledge (Timisoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2010);
    • Trauma and Suffering, in vol. Violence, Trauma, Resilience (Iași, Polirom Publishing, 2011);
    • The Role of Music in Stimulating Creative Potential, in vol. Receptive Music Therapy (Constanța, “Andrei Șaguna” Foundation Publishing, 2011);
    • Holistic Education, a Desideratum for Our Time, in vol. Meetings with Profound Reality (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2011);
    • Scientific Avant-Garde, an Antidote Against Great Doubts, in vol. Transpersonal Psychology or the Time of Change (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2012);
    • Sexuality, Opening Towards Transpersonal Experience, in vol. Life, Sexuality, Death (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2013);
    • Holotropic Breathing and Its Wonderful Resources, in vol. Transcendence and Cosmization (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2014);
    • God, the Undying Hope, in vol. Pleading for the Great Alliance Between Science and Spirituality (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2015);
    • The Spirituality of the Child, a Fascinating Universe, in vol. Transpersonal Psychology in Motion (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2016);
    • Prayer, a Path Towards Light, in vol. Transpersonal Psychology, a Science for Our Time (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2017);
    • Archetypes, Revelators of Essences, with Iuliana Costea, in vol. The Spiritualization of the Contemporary Human, an Imperative of Transpersonal Psychology (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2018);
    • Bio-Psycho-Behavioral Characteristics of Adult Ages, in vol. Adult Education (Iași, Polirom Publishing, 2019);
    • Through the Opulent Labyrinth of Dreams, Searching for its Transcendent Message, in vol. Transpersonal Psychology Ascending: Investigations, Discoveries, Applications (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2019);
    • Placebo, an Enigmatic Mechanism of Healing, in vol. Transpersonal Psychology, a Cutting-edge Science (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2020);
    • Education in Kindness, Dimension and Major Desideratum of the Transpersonal Conception of the World and Life, in vol. Education for Kindness, a Necessity for Our Modern World (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2021);
    • Resilience in the Face of Death or About the Praise of Our Inner Hero, with Iuliana Costea and Beatrice Măguran, in vol. Beyond Death (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2023);
    • Spirituality versus Religiosity in the Face of Death, with Beatrice Măguran and Iuliana Costea, in vol. Beyond Death (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2023).

    c). Edited volumes (selective):

    • New Interrogations in the History of Psychology from the Perspective of the Transpersonal Paradigm, with Adrian Jinaru (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2007);
    • Identity and Integration Through the Transpersonal Way, with Iuliana Costea and Adrian Jinaru (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2008);
    • Beyond Appearances, with Iuliana Costea and Adrian Jinaru (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2009);
    • Reflections from the Other Side of Knowledge, with Iuliana Costea and Adrian Jinaru (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2010);
    • Meetings with Profound Reality, with Iuliana Costea and Adrian Jinaru (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2011);
    • Transpersonal Psychology or the Time of Change, with Iuliana Costea and Adrian Jinaru (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2012);
    • Life, Sexuality, Death, with Iuliana Costea (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2013);
    • Transcendence and Cosmization, with Iuliana Costea (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2014);
    • Pleading for the Great Alliance Between Science and Spirituality, with Iuliana Costea (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2015);
    • Transpersonal Psychology in Motion: Projects, Interventions, and Results, with Iuliana Costea (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2016);
    • Transpersonal Psychology, a Science for Our Time, with Teodora Anghel and Iuliana Costea (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2017);
    • The Spiritualization of the Contemporary Human, an Imperative of Transpersonal Psychology, with Iuliana Costea and Teodora Anghel (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2018);
    • Transpersonal Psychology Ascending: Investigations, Discoveries, Applications, with Karina Minda and Teodora Anghel (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2019);
    • Transpersonal Psychology, a Cutting-edge Science, with Karina Minda and Raluca Rotaru (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2020);
    • Education for Kindness, a Necessity for Our Modern World, with Karina Minda and Andrei Radu (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2021);
    • Beyond Death, with Camelia Ana Hanos (Timișoara, Eurobit Publishing, 2023).

TEACHING ACTIVITY:

  • a) Courses taught (after 1989, for students in Psychology and Engineering at undergraduate and master’s levels, selectively):
    • Psychology of Ages; Psychology of Creativity;
    • Fundamentals of Psychoanalysis;
    • Transpersonal Psychology;
    • Pedagogy;
    • Educational Psychology;
    • Thanatopsychology;
    • Performance and Creative Therapy;
    • Developmental Psychology;
    • Events and Blockages in Ontogeny;
    • Prenatal Psychomedical Education;
    • Implications of Psychoanalysis in Family Life;
    • Methods and Techniques for Stimulating Creativity; Experimental Psychology (only in 1991/92);
    • Research Methods and Techniques in Psychology (only in 1995/96);
    • Sophrotherapy (only in 2003/04) etc.

    b) Has published textbooks and manuals for all the courses she teaches.

    c) Initiated for the benefit of students, the ‘Atlantis’ creativity group (1995) and creativity camps, to practically acclimate the knowledge related to the discipline of Psychology of Creativity and to effectively run methods for assessing creative potential.

    d) Supervised numerous bachelor’s and master’s theses and has been a member of numerous doctoral committees.

RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS:

  • a) Research topics (chronologically and selectively): school and career orientation; methodology of scientific research; self-knowledge; development and calibration of psychological tests; stimulating creativity in students; personality-communication relationship; psychological aspects of religiosity in engineering students; the role of sexuality in the dynamics of young couples; the role of psychological factors in the onset and therapy of cancer; implementation of the Basic Learning Problem system in the Psychology specialization; meditation issues; the phenomenon of synchronicity, archetypal dominants of personality; attitudes towards death, etc.b) Scientific contributions (selectively): developed and validated an original, more comprehensive, and nuanced strategy for diagnosing creative potential (1981), which, in line with a personalist orientation, approaches creativity from the perspective of the entire personality, i.e., all experiential factors; was the first Romanian psychologist to introduce, through courses and publications, Prenatal Psychology in Romania (since 1985); introduced the first course in Transpersonal Psychology in a Romanian state university (1999), which she still teaches today; is the author of the first comprehensive treatise on Transpersonal Psychology in Romania (2 volumes, 2018, 2021); since 2013, she has periodically organized, under the auspices of ETPA, and for the first time in Romania, a basic training in Transpersonal Psychotherapies; initiated the “Timișoara Psychology Days” (since 1992, now a tradition through its 11 editions) which represented, for Romanian psychology, severely tested during the dictatorship, the first significant scientific event that annually consolidated the scattered forces of the field.c) Psychodiagnostic tools (selectively): developed and validated a sociometric test for creative attitudes (1974); participated in the national calibration of the Denver Test (under the coordination of Prof. Dr. N. Mitrofan), subsidized by the Sorz Society from the Netherlands (1993/94).

PARTICIPATION AS SPEAKER & ORGANIZER IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC EVENTS:

  • a) National scientific events (selectively):
    • Parental Responsibility from the Perspective of Prenatal Psychology (1992, Timișoara);
    • National Symposium “The Condition of Women and Problems of Young Families,” organized by the Technical University of Timișoara;
    • Perennial Dimensions in Freudian Psychoanalysis (1997, Timișoara);
    • “Timișoara Psychology Days” on “Clinical and Experimental in Psychology” (6th edition), organized by the Faculty of Psychology, “Tibiscus” University;
    • The Contribution of Transpersonal Psychology to the Mapping of Consciousness (2002, Neptun), organized by the Association of Psychologists in Romania;
    • Synchronicity, a Royal Path to the Transpersonal (2004, Călimănești), organized by the Association of Psychologists in Romania;
    • Psychological and Educational Implications of Assisted Human Reproduction (2005, Timișoara), organized by the Timișoara Branch of the Romanian Academy;

    b) International scientific events (selectively):

    • Complex Cancer Assistance (2001, St. Andrews, England), The 15th Conference of the European Health Psychology Society;
    • The Innovations of Transpersonal Psychology Concerning Psychotherapy (2005, Focene di Fiumicino, Rome, Italy), The Annual Conference of the European Transpersonal Psychology Association;
    • The Creative Group, a Plural Chance in Complex Adolescent Assistance (2006, Bucharest), Eastern European Regional Conference, organized by the “Generation” Foundation and collaborators;
    • Prevention, Improvement and Therapy Through the Silva Method (2007, Maastricht, Netherlands), The 21st Conference of the European Health Psychology Society;
    • Configuration of Aggressiveness in Terms of Gender at the Age of Adolescence (2010, Antalya, Turkey), World Conference on Psychology “Counselling and Guidance,” organized by Near East University and collaborators;
    • Scientific Avant-Garde, an Antidote Against Great Doubts (2011, Timișoara), Annual Conference of the European Transpersonal Psychology Association;
    • Aspects of Burnout in Medical Personnel (2013, Bordeaux, France), Conference of the European Health Psychology Society “Well-being, Quality of Life and Caregiving,” with A. Jinaru and I. Costea;
    • Resilience in Cancer or About the Praise of the Interior Hero (2014, Timișoara), The Second World Congress on Resilience “From Person to Society,” organized by the West University of Timișoara;
    • Synchronistic Signs of Love (2016, Venus, Romania), International Conference Eurotas “Love – The Eternal Miracle”;
    • Education for Kindness: A Major Dimension and Desideratum of the Transpersonal Conception of the World and Life (2020, Paris, France), Annual Conference of the European Transpersonal Psychology Association.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:

  • a) National professional affiliations and representations (selectively):
    • Member and Vice-President (2002-2006) of the Association of Psychologists in Romania and member of the Executive Committee (2006-2012);
    • Member of the Executive Committee of the College of Psychologists in Romania (2005-2013) and member of the Commission on Educational Psychology, School and Vocational Counseling (2005-2013);
    • Member of the Executive Council of the Romanian Institute for Adult Education (IREA, 2004-2012);
    • Founding member and President of the Timișoara branch of the Society for Experiential Psychotherapy in Romania (since 1999);
    • Founding member (since 2000) and Vice-President of the Romanian Association of Transpersonal Psychology;
    • Member and Vice-President of the Association of Psychologists from Banat (1995-2003);
    • Member of the Association of School Psychologists (2008-2016);
    • Honorary member in the National Association of Family Psychologists (2008-2016).

    b) International affiliations and representations (selectively):

    • President of the European Transpersonal Psychology Association (ETPA, 2006 – present);
    • Founding member of the Romanian-American Psychotherapy Center (since 1998), together with Prof. Dr. G. Williamson from Chapman University, California, USA;
    • Member of the European “Comenius” Association (2005-2013);
    • Member of the French Transpersonal Association (2002 – present);
    • Member of the European Society of Health Psychology (2001- 2013);
    • Member of the Executive Board of the “Ștefan Lupașcu” Foundation for Science and Culture (1997 – present);
    • Member of the Danube Adria Association for Automation and Manufacturing (DAAAM, Vienna, 2009-2015).

ACADEMIC MANAGEMENT POSITIONS:

  • Dean at the Faculty of Sociology and Psychology, West University of Timișoara (2004-2008; 2008-2012);
  • Registrar (scientific secretary) at the Faculty of Sociology and Psychology, West University of Timișoara (2000-2004);
  • Registrar at the Faculty of Psychology, “Tibiscus” University of Timișoara (1995-2000);
  • Registrar at the Department of Social and Human Sciences, “Politehnica” University of Timișoara (1993–1995).

AWARDS, DISTINCTIONS, AND MEDALS:

  • “Cornel Olariu” Banat Excellence Award for social sciences, economics, and entrepreneurship, Banat Excellence Gala (2020);
  • Goldability, medal of excellence, awarded by the National Association of Family Psychologists of Romania (2014);
  • Honorary Diploma, with a golden jubilee medal on the 65th anniversary of West University of Timișoara (2009);
  • Merit Diploma, awarded by the Council of the College of Psychologists of Romania, for outstanding activity within the leadership of CPR (2009);
  • Diploma of Excellence, with a golden jubilee medal, awarded by the Faculty of Economic Sciences (2007) and Law (2007) at West University of Timișoara;
  • Diploma of Excellence awarded by the Faculty of Music at West University of Timișoara (2007);
  • Honorary Diploma, awarded by “Tibiscus” University of Timișoara, for outstanding merits in the development of that institution (2006);
  • Honorary Diploma, awarded by “Augusta” Foundation Union (1996);
  • Second Prize at the National Phase of the 4th edition of the methodological-scientific event “Creativity and Efficiency in Education,” for the work “Creativity, an Innovative Dimension in School and Professional Orientation,” Iași (1989).

APPRECIATIONS (selective):

  • Prof. Ursula Șchiopu, in the Preface to “Incursiuni în creatologie” (1994, Ed. Augusta, Timișoara, p.10), states: “The dense pages of the work have a remarkable modernity of strategy and approach style… sometimes you even get the impression that the discovery of interdisciplinarity is the hidden path of the work… This work brings together, in a happy synthesis, numerous useful information for professional psychologists, but also for a diverse range of intellectuals.”
  • Psychological Literature (Psyc. Lit.), which reproduces the synthesized information in the PsycINFO(R)Database, information selected from around the world by the American Psychological Association, makes references in 1997 (85964-001 and 42496-001) to her articles: “Prenatal origins of the human psyche” and “Homo creator, a chance for the third millennium,” published in Revista de psihologie (nr.4, 1993) and Revue Roumaine de Sciences Sociales, serie de Psychologie (vol.41, 1997).
  • Morris I. Stein Ph.D., Emeritus, Psychology, New York University, in “Creativity’s Global Correspondents” (in 1998 and 2001), notes the publication of the book “Incursiuni în creatologie” (with the proposed diagnosis strategy), the “Atlantis” creativity group, and the work “Experiența Atlantis. Din jurnalul unui grup creativ.”
  • Prof. Ion Moraru, in the book “Haosul – cosmosul și geniile creatoare” (2005, Ed. Matrix Rom, București, p.15), mentions: “The edifice of creatology was built by five researchers, Paul Popescu-Neveanu, Anca Munteanu, Traian Stănciulescu, Ion Moraru, and Vitalie Belous.”
  • Prof. Ioan Petru, in the work “Coordonate ale filosofiei ieșene, pe parcursul a trei jubilee” (2010, Editura „Ștefan Lupașcu”, Iași, p. 54-55), provides an overview of her professional journey.
  • Prof. Ion Manzat, in the book “Istoria Psihologiei Universale” (2012, Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 2nd edition), analyzes her scientific contribution, at p. 903-905.
  • Prof. Dumitru Constantin Dulcan, in the Preface to the treatise “Psihologia transpersonală. Peregrinaj dincolo de văl” (2018, vol.I, Editura For You, București, p. 7), states: “After a journey of over twenty years, with mind and soul, into the realm of transpersonal psychology, Anca Munteanu writes what can be called a magnum opus. By its scope, by the success of an exhaustive approach to the proposed subject, and by the authentic presentation style, the work falls under the epithet of excellence.”