The Humanist Institute is a training program for leaders within the humanist, and secular humanist movement. Purpose and organization The Humanist Institute offers several kinds of educational programs to the humanist community. These programs range from a two and a half year graduate certificate program, one day training seminars, and online courses. The Institute operates as a 501c3, educational organization. THI is an affiliate of the American Humanist Association with an independent Board of Directors, Executive Director, Co-Deans, and staff. The mission of THI is to be the leading center for humanist education serving all branches of humanism. The vision of THI is to provide educational opportunities that serve humanist and secular communities in world where humanism is widely accepted and respected life-stance. History The Institute was founded to educate and train effective leaders, organizers, and advocates for a variety of organizational settings, including within the humanist movement itself. The idea for the Humanist Institute originated in Pittsburgh in 1976 and was the brainchild of Paul Beattie, a Unitarian Universalist minister. In August 1982, Rabbi Sherwin Wine organized a gathering of forty-five humanist leaders at the University of Chicago [where] the North American Committee for Humanism [NACH] was formed with Rabbi Wine as president. This new alliance was a response to the urgent need to defend humanism against the assaults of its enemies and to find an effective way to bring the message of humanism to a wider public. It was at this meeting that the Humanist Institute was voted to be established. It was at this meeting that NACH founded The Humanist Institute. The founding members of the institute were Khoren Arisian, Paul Beattie, Ed Ericson, Paul Kurtz, Howard Radest, Lyle Simpson, and Sherwin Wine. Sherwin Wine served as the founding president with Howard Radest as the founding Dean. They were soon joined by feminist humanists Miriam Jerris and Jean Kotkins. Each of the original founders were themselves either leaders or founders of other humanist or humanistic organizations such as: the Society for Humanistic Judaism, the Council for Secular Humanism, the American Ethical Union, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the American Humanism Association. In March 1984, The Humanist Institute was launched. The first class with students from the AEU, AHA, UUA, and SHJ gathered in New York at the Ethical Culture center for the first seminar with Howard Radest as mentor. It was the first trans-denominational, trans-humanist organization program