We couldn’t imagine back then
what is here now.

In ways that could not have been imagined a few decades ago, the field of complementary medicine now commands more attention by both the consumer and the medical community. Our current trillion dollar healthcare system is undergoing a profound change towards a consumer-driven model based upon choice, results, affordability, and service. Integrating conventional and complementary modalities, this emerging era in healthcare emphasizes prevention, wellness, personal empowerment, and quality of life. Yet some of the greatest change is taking place outside of the healthcare arena, where the principles of wellness, transformative leadership, open communication and healing are affecting workplace culture and business growth.

Looking back on our 30+ year history is both humbling and inspiring. So many people have contributed to the growth and evolution of Tai Sophia Institute. A few of our milestones:

2007

Enrollment in Tai Sophia’s graduate degree programs reaches a new high as does participation in our community wellness programs.

Tai Sophia purchases its 32,500 square-foot building and strengthens its financial position, a move made possible by the confidence placed in the Institute by the Howard County government (which authorized a bond issue for the purchase) and the Institute’s new banking partners, the United Bank and Howard Bank.

Faculty members give keynote talks and lead seminars, including a gathering for healthcare professionals at Schumacher College in England; the American Herbalist Guild Symposium in Columbia, Maryland; Baltimore Bioneers Conference; Complementary and Alternative Medicine Exposition in New York City; and the 25th anniversary celebration of the founding of national acupuncture organizations in Portland, Oregon, where Tai Sophia president Bob Duggan was honored for his seminal role in the development of the profession.

2006

Tai Sophia Institute adopts a new five-year strategic plan, which includes both a new vision and a new mission statement. The Howard County Chamber of Commerce honors the Institute, naming Tai Sophia the Howard County Large Business of the Year; and the Baltimore Daily Record acknowledges the Institute's work at our Penn North Neighborhood Center (part of our Community Health Initiative) with a Health Care Heroes award.

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education grants initial accreditation to Tai Sophia Institute. As well, the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine renews its accreditation of the Institute's Master of Acupuncture degree program for five years, the maximum time period. The Institute honors Jim and Peggy Duke in a ceremony at their "Green Farmacy Garden"; in a life estate arrangement, the Dukes agree that Tai Sophia will inherit this national and natural treasure. The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Tai Sophia hold their second annual retreat, continuing their collaborative venture to improve the American healthcare system.

2005

In the 30th anniversary year, Tai Sophia awards degrees to the first graduates of its Applied Healing Arts program, making this ceremony the first to include graduates of all three master's programs. Other highlights: The Helen M. and Annetta Himmelfarb Foundation awards a $1 million grant to Tai Sophia, the largest donation in Tai Sophia's 30-year history.

The Maryland Higher Education Commission approves a title change for the herbal program to Master of Science in Herbal Medicine. Two thousand people attend the Institute's Second Festival of the Healing Arts. With a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Institute's Penn North Neighborhood Center joins two other organizations in a collaboration that makes services available 24/7 to persons living with drug addictions and HIV/AIDS in Baltimore's inner city.

Tai Sophia expands its partnerships to include both the Wellness Center at Howard Community College (which it helped establish) and the Chopra Institute, hosting the Chopra Center's First Annual East Coast Mind-Body Conference. The year ends with a formal gala, which concludes the year-longSophia's three decades of service.

2004

Tai Sophia graduates its first class of students from the Master of Arts in Herbal Medicine program; furthers its work with the Kennedy Krieger Institute (an internationally recognized facility serving children with special needs); completes an affiliation agreement with the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; secures public policy support to continue its Baltimore inner-city clinic; and, on the passing of Haig Ignatius, M.D., celebrates the life and contributions of a beloved teacher and friend.

2003

At a ceremony in February, the Institute honors ten years of Meridians magazine, subsequently conceiving a new "family" of publications to replace it. Tai Sophia holds its first annual healthcare provider workshop day, which brings together almost 200 healthcare providers. The community celebrates the lives of Pere Claude Larre, Ivan Illich, and J. R. Worsley, all of whom passed away in 2003, commemorating the profound impact these individuals had on the work of the Institute.

2002

The first classes of the new master's programs in Herbal Medicine and Applied Healing Arts begin in January. At the end of April, Tai Sophia Institute moves to a new 12-acre campus south of Columbia in the Montpelier Research Park. The campus opens with a 32,500-square-foot building in a beautiful natural setting. In June, Tai Sophia celebrates the grand opening with a Festival of the Healing Arts.

2001

In November, the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools accepts Tai Sophia as a candidate for accreditation.

2000

As the Institute enters a new era of service, it takes a new name, Tai Sophia Institute, which signals its expanding mission and encompasses its new programs. The name "Tai Sophia" links the Chinese word Tai, meaning "great," and the Greek word for wisdom, Sophia. The new name continues to honor the Eastern healing traditions. Sophia signals the philosophy that underpins every program offered by the Institute.

Development of two new master's programs begins. Simon Mills, one of the world's leading herbalists, is chosen to lead the nation's first Master of Science in Herbal Medicine program. John Sullivan, professor of philosophy at Elon University and cofounder of SOPHIA, is selected to lead the Applied Healing Arts program.

1999

TAI adopts a new mission: "to enable all of us to practice the art of living and the art of dying." The board of trustees approves a plan to build a new campus for the M.Ac. program and to offer new degree programs.

1998

TAI, with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, presents the first of the "Building Bridges" conferences for doctors, nurses, and public health officials.
TAI develops a partnership with Howard County Public School System, including a unique program based on SOPHIA principles for teens identified as "troubled," and programs through which public school students and teachers learn about complementary medicine.

1997

The Community Health Initiative (CHI), which began by treating people with addictions at the Baltimore Detention Center, expands to additional CHI sites, including Penn North Neighborhood Center in inner-city Baltimore.

1996

A new faculty-supervised student clinic opens at Belvedere Square in Baltimore, Maryland, giving clinical students additional treatment opportunities.

1995

A new faculty-supervised student clinic opens in Wheaton, Maryland, giving clinical students in the acupuncture program a space to treat patients in the Washington, D.C., area.

1994

The M.Ac. program moves from one to two intake classes per year (September and January), enabling TAI to double new enrollment from 30 to 70 students annually - more than a 100% increase. SOPHIA is integrated into the core curriculum for all students.

TAI expands both bookstore and library. This exexpansioncreation of the Meeting Point Bookstore Cafe.

1993

TAI launches a new magazine, Meridians, written for patients and practitioners. Led by faculty member Peter Marinakis, the Community Health Initiative (CHI) establishes a pilot program in Baltimore, where TAI students and faculty provide auricular acupuncture to people with addictions at the Baltimore Detention Center.

On PBS, Bill Moyers presents the "Healing and the Mind" series featuring acupuncture and other approaches to healing that recognize the interconnection of body, mind, and spirit.

After reviewing evidence of acupunctures effectiveness, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration reclassifies acupuncture needles as medical devices for "general use" by trained professionals rather than "experimental" devices.

A landmark survey by Harvard professor David Eisenberg, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that one-thirdAmerican adults use some form of alternative therapy.

1992

The board of trustees establishes a mission "to change the experience of personal health in America by the year 2000."

1988

The U.S. Department of Education recognizes NACSCAOM, thus allowing our students to apply for federal financial aid.

1987

At the request of patients, TAI begins SOPHIA (School Of Philosophy and Healing In Action) to teach laypersons the ancient wisdom - rooted in nature - that underpins its master's program in acupuncture.

1986

The Maryland Higher Education Commission empowers TAI to bestow the Master of Acupuncture (M.Ac.) degree.

1985

In May, TAI is the first school accredited by the National Accreditation  Commission for Schools and Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NACSCAOM, now known as ACAOM). 

1981

On June 6, the first TAI acupuncture class begins with 23 members. 

In Baltimore, Maryland, TAI hosts the first of five international conferences on acupuncture. This gathering brings together acupuncture leaders from across the U.S. and is the source point for the meetings that birth the three national organizations formed in 1982 - the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, the Accreditation Commission, and the Certification Commission.

1980

TAI receives approval to teach acupuncture in Maryland from the Maryland State Board for Higher Education (now the Maryland Higher Education Commission).

1978

The college amends its charter, and the name is changed to the Traditional Acupuncture Institute (TAI).

1975

One of the first acupuncture clinics in Maryland, the Centre for Traditional Acupuncture, opens on May 1 in the American City Building in Columbia, Maryland, with practitioners J. R. Worsley, Jack Daniel, Haig Ignatius, Erica Lazaro, and Warren Ross joining the founders.

1974

Tai Sophia originally is incorporated in Maryland as the College of Chinese Acupuncture, U.S., by Institute cofounders Bob Duggan and Dianne Connelly. The new institution is the outgrowth of a program begun in Kenilworth, England, in which U.S. students studied acupuncture with Dr. J. R. Worsley.

1971

Millions in the U.S. become aware of acupuncture as columnist James Reston describes in The New York Times his successful acupuncture treatment following emergency surgery in China.