Mahasukha Kula Retreat Scholarship Program

Management Team

There are three groups responsible for the governance and management of the Mahasukha Kula Retreat scholarship Program.

• I) As a program of the Asian Classics Institute of Los Angeles, the MSK Retreat scholarship program is governed by the ACI-LA Board of Directors, which holds the final decision making authority and oversight responsibility for administration of the scholarship fund.
• II) The MSK Retreat scholarship Board is responsible for the day-to-day management, coordination, and implementation of the scholarship program. The scholarship Board is accountable to the ACI-LA Board for ensuring the scholarship program is managed in accordance with its mission. The scholarship Board is comprised of the following three individuals:

  • Jesse Fallon, President

    Jesse Fallon spearheaded the creation and development of the Mahasukha Kula Retreat scholarship Program and has served as its President since inception. Jesse is the Spiritual Advisor for ACI-Cape Ann, and provides spiritual guidance to the dharma community as a whole and to individuals who wish it. He is dedicated to serving others, in and out of retreat, through his teaching (including teaching individuals and families how to integrate retreat into their spiritual practices), advising, and leadership of the retreat scholarship program.

  
  

  • June Maker, Vice-President

    June Maker’s main role as Vice President of the Mahasukha Kula Retreat scholarship Board is to coordinate the process of reviewing applications and awarding scholarships. June has a breadth and depth of scholarship program experience, including developing criteria, recruiting and selecting a review committee, facilitating the reviews, facilitating decision-making, and deciding on levels of funding, for such institutions as the University of Arizona, the National Association for Gifted Children, the State of Illinois, and the US Department of Education’s Office for Gifted and Talented Children. She wants to use her extensive experience with awarding fellowships and grants to help in funding others’ retreats and to help retreatants in as many other ways as possible.

  
  

  • Gail Thompson, Treasurer

    Gail Thompson participated in the formation of the Mahasukha Kula Retreat scholarship Program and currently serves as its Treasurer. Prior to her early retirement several years ago, she worked for twenty years in the Financial Division, Cash Accounting Department, of a major U.S. insurance company where she was responsible for balancing the company’s bank statements. As a second career she has chosen human service and works as a home health aide. She strives daily to become an enlightened being for the benefit of all beings.

  
  
• III)The MSK Retreat scholarship Committee, comprised of six individuals, manages the process of reviewing scholarship applications and awarding scholarships to recipients for the four intake periods per year. This is a formal review and decision making process based on the guidelines and criteria outlined on the “scholarship” tab.

History

When the retreat program started in early 2008, it was conceived along with the idea that  a number of Buddhist students would all be doing retreat at one physical location together along with the ACI-LA Spiritual Director, Venerable Sumati Marut.  There was also the idea that many students, including the Spiritual Director,  would be doing a traditional, three-year Buddhist great retreat.   Money raised during this first period of the program was always for the purposes of  supporting the retreatants themselves.

Since April 2009, the retreat program has shifted the method, but not the intention, of these original ideas. The scholarship program is still for the purposes of supporting qualified practitioners to complete extended retreats.  However, those retreats will now be occurring wherever the individuals can find suitable places, spread potentially across the United States and even the world.  Also, retreat scholarships through this program are now open to people who are proposing a minimum retreat length of at least three weeks, as long as they meet the other requirements.