Dr. Evans Lansing Smith has degrees from Williams College, Antioch International, and The Claremont Graduate School. He is the author of ten books and numerous articles on comparative literature and mythology, and has taught at colleges in Switzerland, Maryland, Texas, and California, and at the C.G. Jung Institute in Kusnacht. In the late 1970s, he traveled with Joseph Campbell on study tours of Northern France, Egypt, and Kenya, with a focus on the Arthurian Romances of the Middle Ages and the Mythologies of the Ancient World. His areas of emphasis include: Myth in Literature from Antiquity to Postmodernism; Arthurian Romances, and The Hermetic Tradition. He currently teaches: Myth and the Underworld; Alchemy and Hermeticism; Arthurian Romances and the Grail; Folklore and Fairytales; Theoretical Approaches to Mythological Studies; Cultural Mythologies; and Native Mythologies of the Americas.

Dr. Kali Nyima Cape is a historian of religions specializing in Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism, and histories of contemplative literature. In particular, her research highlights the missing history of women in esoteric Buddhism and the evolution of contemplative practices and communities in Tibetan Great Perfection (rdzogs chen). This research shows how mythological narratives and contemplative curriculums shaped communities outside the monasteries. Her current book project, Women in Dzogchen, reveals how innovations in mythology were central to redefining women’s roles as consorts, disciples, and teachers in fourteenth century Tibet. Dr. Cape’s work bridges traditional philological methods with post-colonial and decolonial approaches, demonstrating how mythological literature informs issues of identity and collective transformation. She received her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia. Her research has been supported by the Ford Foundation, Tsadra Foundation, and Fulbright-Hays Fellowship. It has been featured at leading academic conferences and workshops including the American Academy of Religions, the Religion and Sex Abuse Project, the Dzogchen and Tibetan Modernity Conference at Rice University, the International Association of Buddhist Studies, the International Association of Young Tibetologists and many others. This research has been published in academic journals including Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines and the Journal of Dharma Studies. Dr. Cape also serves as a member of the Generative Contemplation Initiative, a group of professors, teachers, and tech innovators addressing critical issues in the past and future of meditation. In the classroom, her emphasis in autoethnography and contemplative pedagogy exemplifies Pacifica’s commitment to bridging academic development with both personal and collective transformation.

Emily Lord-Kambitsch, Ph.D, is a scholar and poet-storyteller, serving as Assistant Professor and Research Coordinator of the Mythological Studies Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Her lifelong exploration of classical mythology is rooted in the study of Greek and Latin language and literature at UC Santa Barbara, University of Oxford, and University College London. At Pacifica she teaches courses in Greco-Roman myth, memoir and self-writing, and dissertation formulation. Her research has recently been published in the Journal of Cognitive Historiography, the Classical Journal, and the edited volume, Depth Psychology, Myth, and Artificial Intelligence: Soul and the Machine. She is currently working on a volume co-edited with Devon Deimler on Carl Jung’s approaches to ancient Mediterranean myth and philosophy.

John Bucher, Ph.D. is a mythologist, storyteller, and writer based out of Hollywood, California. He serves as Creative Director for the Joseph Campbell Foundation and is also an author, podcaster, and speaker. He has worked with government and cultural leaders around the world as well as culturally significant companies including HBO, DC Comics, The History Channel, A24 Films, Atlas Obscura, The John Maxwell Leadership Foundation. He has served as a producer, consultant, and writer for numerous film, television, and Virtual Reality projects. He is the author of six books including the best-selling Storytelling for Virtual Reality, named by BookAuthority as one of the best storytelling books of all time. Disruptor named him one of the top 25 influencers in Virtual Reality. He holds a PhD in Mythology and Depth Psychology and has spoken on 6 continents about using the power of story and myth to reframe how individuals, organizations, cultures, and nations believe and behave.

Allison Claire Davis, MS, LPC, PhD, is an author, scholar, teacher, and maternal mental health counselor whose work explores motherhood, trauma, ecological crisis, and care. She owns Southwest Perinatal Counseling, a perinatal mental health practice serving Texas and Colorado, and is the author of the forthcoming book Mother Juniper: On Matrescence in Ecological Crisis (9th House Press, November 2026). She teaches in the Mythological Studies program at Pacifica Graduate Institute and serve as faculty in the Regenerative Health for a Climate Changing World MA/PhD program at Ubiquity University, offered in partnership with Climate Change and Consciousness.

She holds an MS in Counseling and Development and a PhD in Multicultural Women’s and Gender Studies from Texas Woman’s University. With Kimberly C. Merenda, she is co-editor of Mothering in Climate Change Precarity in North America, a collection under peer review with Texas A&M University Press as part of the Texas Woman’s University Book Series.