2007

• Co-sponsored the first Abrahamic Task Force meeting at Esalen where strategic planning for its future work was discussed by leading members of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities.
• Traveled to India to explore possible working relationships and projects with the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India and the international city of Auroville. This was the first visit for Dulce Murphy and Michael Murphy’s return visit after fifty years. He gave lectures, worked with members of the organizing committee in Auroville, and collaborated with colleagues on the valuable archives at the Ashram.

2006

• Co-sponsored the Judaism Fundamentalist Conference in September at Esalen Institute, bringing Jewish and other religious scholars and activists together from Israel, the United States and Europe to discuss the motives and historical experiences that have generated aggressive and violent behaviors between various religious and ethnic groups.
• Co-sponsored a reunion at Esalen to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of Esalen Institute’s Soviet-American Exchange Program, now TRACK TWO. Citizen Diplomats from America and Russia gathered to reflect on our shared history and on how the lessons we learned during the 1980s and 1990s might be applied to major conflicts today.
• Chronicled and published “25 Principles” distilled from our work with Russia and the Soviet Union. These principles can be applied to our complex relationships with Islam, with Iran, and with China over the longer term.
• Co-sponsored a Christian Fundamentalism Conference at Esalen Institute in April that brought together scholars, activists, psychologists, ministers and theologians to discuss the religious and political roots of intolerance evidenced by certain forms of Christianity.
• With Esalen’s Center for Theory and Research held the first meeting of our Islamic Outreach program in the home of David Harris in Mill Valley, California, gathering together Muslim and non-Muslim Americans from the San Francisco Bay Area. The gathering included a black American Imam, an Afghan, a Tajik Ph.D. candidate from UC Berkeley, an Iraqi-American journalist, several TRACK TWO board members including chairman of the board Joseph Montville, and other prominent citizen diplomats. The discussion revolved around the need for educating Americans about Islam and led to proposals for an outreach campaign in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and New York City.

2005

• Co-sponsored in September a conference on Islamic religious fundamentalism at Esalen Institute. We brought together scholars, activists, and religious leaders to discuss Islamic fundamentalism in an effort to promote a greater understanding of and to consider responses to the dangerous rise of religious nationalism in the contemporary world. Members of the Islamic community included people from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Egypt, as well as scholars in various relevant fields and the Pulitzer Prize winning writer Lawrence Wright.
• Traveled as a TRACK TWO delegation to Russia with board member Jay Ogilvy, advisor Michael Murphy, and director Dulce Murphy. They met with members of our Russian board of directors, furthered our work with the Luchkov Library of Psychological Literature at Moscow State University, and interviewed over forty people on the future of Russia and China.

2004

• Co-sponsored with CTR the first of five conferences addressing religious fundamentalism bringing together Hindu scholars and activists from Europe, America and India to explore how to respond constructively and creatively to an increasing barrage of hate campaigns, ban movements, and political threats directed against scholars of Hinduism.

2003

• Held a meeting with our Directors and in Moscow at the Literary Gazette Headquarters, September 23-24, 2003. The purpose of the meeting was to assess the state of the US/Russian bilateral relationship. Those in attendance included Vladimir Pozner, Alexander Tsipko, Davlat Khudonazarov, Sergei Kapitsa, Abel Aganbegyan, Valentin Kamenev and Viktor Eryofev from Russia and Dulce Murphy, Michael Murphy, Joseph Montville and Stephan Schwartz from the United States. We explored the importance of setting a constructive policy toward Muslim minorities in Russia and the United States and we searched for ways to address the down turn in Russian-American relations.
• Raised funds to purchase new books and equipment for the Luchkov Library of Psychological Literature at Moscow State University. This made it possible to expand the inventory of books, journals and support technology vital to the library’s expansion. This is Russia’s largest English language psychology library and it is a valuable asset to the university. The TRAC board unanimously appointed Margarita Luchkova, as the director of the Library.
• Sponsored the third tour of the “Ballet Beyond Borders” project which includes leading Russian dancers and members of The San Francisco Ballet, who performed in Santa Fe, New Mexico to sold-out audiences. Two of the pieces were performed and choreographed by principal dancer Yuri Possokhov, formerly of the Bolshoi ballet in Moscow.

2002

• Sponsored a conference at Esalen that was open to interested people outside our project who wanted to meet our Russian and American delegates. These newcomers were encouraged to participate in open discussions, bringing fresh life and new ideas to the table. Current Russian-American issues were discussed, as well as ethnic conflict throughout the world. We continued our pledge to work together to eliminate terrorism, and address Muslim conflicts with the West.

2001

• Sponsored its annual conference at Esalen in early October, soon after the September 11th disaster, with a stimulating group of Russians, Americans and Central Asians. The impromptu focus of the conference was “The world as we know it has changed.” The participants agreed to promote solidarity between Russia and America, address Muslim conflicts with the West, and explore possibilities for long-term Russian-American ventures.
• Participated in the first phase of an exchange of computer technologists and archivists from Russia, at the University of Texas in Austin, and at the headquarters of Abamedia, in Fort Worth, Texas, the home of the Russian Archives Online (RAO).

2000

• Dedicated the Viatcheslav Luchkov Library of Psychological Literature on September 19 at Moscow State University. The American Ambassador James Collins, the President of Moscow State University, and other prominent Russian academicians spoke at the event.
• Organized a lecture by TRAC Board member Mac McQuown at the Academy of the National Economy in Moscow to an important group of Russian Bankers and Investment Specialists.
• Organized lectures led by psychologist and author Gordon Wheeler and Esalen Institute founder and chairman, Michael Murphy to students and faculty at the Moscow State University Psychology Department.
• Helped coordinate the inaugural program to Russia of Students of the World (SOW), a project of Duke University students to immerse themselves as curious, eager and open architects of the future.
• Co-sponsored the third annual TRAC Benefit Conference with the Global Business Network (GBN), a worldwide organization that specializes in futures research and scenario planning. The program theme was “Futures for Russia.” All presentations were filmed for inclusion in the archive of our Historical Reflections Project.

1999

• Developed a project with Abamedia on its Historical Reflections media project, which includes a film interviews with major contributors to Russian and Russian-American oral histories and archival research that will eventually become part of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
• co-sponsored the “Ballet Beyond Borders’ project with the Russian Cultural Fund in Moscow. Leading Russian and American dancers of the San Francisco Ballet toured the former Soviet Union, performing in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Donetsk, Ufa, Kiev, L’viv, Alma Ata, Tallin and Vilnius.

1998

• sponsored the second annual TRAC Benefit Conference. The theme was “Russia in Crisis,” held in Pebble Beach, California.
• Sponsored a summer salon in Moscow at the Kapitsa Dacha (country house) that continued work on the Historical Reflections Project and the Memorial Library of Psychological Literature.

1997

• Began the Historical Reflections Project. Filmed interviews with Russian and Americans who have participated in important ways in the transition from the end of the Cold War to the beginnings of democratic governance and a free market economy.
• Inaugurated the First Benefit Conference week entitled Russian-American Dialogues at Esalen Institute. A highlight was the lecture by Russian scholar Valentin Berezhkov who talked about his personal experiences during World War II. He was Stalin’s interpreter and was present at many of the major meetings of world leaders, including the one in Tehran, with Stalin, Hitler, Roosevelt, Churchill.
• Published the first in a series of monographs entitled Future Scenarios On Russian-American Relations. These scenarios highlight the risks and opportunities inherent in possible post Cold War outcomes for Russia and the United States.

1996

• Sponsored fourteen highly ranked young tennis players from Northern California to the Russian Far East to compete with their counter-parts in Khabarovsk and Vladivostok.
• Conducted a leadership conference at Esalen, Big Sur, California, that developed alternative scenarios for the future of Russian- American relations.
• Initiated a program with Lindisfarne Press to publish English language editions of major Russian philosophers, including Solovyov, Berdyaev and Bulgakov. Nine volumes in this series were eventually published.
• Participated in the Forbes Management Forum of Management and Policy in San Diego, California. Vladimir Pozner, Mark Garber, Jay Ogilvy and Dulce Murphy participated in a panel discussion with several hundred business leaders about Russian-American relations and “Russia: America’s Blind Spot”, the title of Pozner’s speech.
• Established the Library of Psychological Literature at Moscow State University.

1995

• Continued to work with Chernobyl Children's Project. With assistance from TRAC, children from the areas affected by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and American peers worked together to develop new skills, confidence, and lasting personal relationships.
• Sponsored twelve Russian teenage tennis players from Russia’s Far East for tournaments with counterparts from the United States Tennis Association NorCal and the National Junior Tennis League.

1994

• Sponsored an ethnic conflict resolution conference in Washington, DC to influence the political climate in Russia. Civil liberties and civil rights in a democratic society were addressed.

1993

• Hosted a major conference at Stanford University, entitled “Toward the Further Reaches of Sport Psychology,” where prominent coaches, athletes, and sport psychologists from the CIS and the United States discussed current trends in theoretical and applied sport psychology.

1992

• Organized a conference in Moscow to address the resurgence and persistence of neo-Bolshevism in Russian society. Russian and American participants confronted the Bolshevist mentality and discussed ways to alter it to embrace democratic pluralism rather than totalitarianism.
• Played an instrumental role in a conference, held at the Vatican in Rome, to raise awareness of the emotional and physical needs of people with disabilities.

1990

• Conducted the Furth Ruble Prize, an international competition for the best proposal offering a practical solution to the question of ruble convertibility in international trade. Prize recipients were chosen by a panel of Soviet and American scholars that included Abel Aganbegyan, Joseph Brada, Ed Hewett, and Nobel Laureate Wassily Leontief.
• Sponsored the first Russian-American conference on psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), an interdisciplinary field concerned with the relationship between psychological processes and the functioning of the immune system. This conference led to productive Russian-American collaborative research in the field and to a follow-up conference, held in 1991 at Leningrad's Institute for Experimental Medicine.

1989

• Coordinated, in conjunction with the United States-based International Center for Economic Growth and Moscow State University, a conference entitled “Entrepreneurship in the World Economy.”
• Hosted Boris Yeltsin on his first trip to the United States. Esalen arranged meetings for Mr. Yeltsin with President Bush, former President Ronald Reagan, and many leaders in business and government.
• Sponsored a delegation of American Steinbeck scholars with the USSR Union of Writers, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Grapes of Wrath. A film festival, an exhibit of original Steinbeck memorabilia and photographs by Horace Bristol, as well as lectures on Steinbeck’s life and works were held at the Writers Union in Moscow and attended by large audiences.
• Hosted five Soviet specialists in American literature for the 10th Anniversary of the Steinbeck Festival in Salinas, California to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of John Steinbeck’s book The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck visited the USSR during the height of the Cold War and was a favorite writer among Soviet citizens.

1988

• Hosted Academician Abel Aganbegyan for his first visit to the United States as one of Gorbachev’s chief economic advisors. This led to the development of a management-training program in Moscow with senior executives from across the Soviet Union.
• Hosted a second delegation of eminent Soviet writers who toured the United States and met with Susan Sontag, Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut, and other American writers to facilitate the entry of the Soviet Writers’ Union into the International Pen Club, which monitors government censorship and freedom of expression around the world. The Writer’s Union did indeed join the Pen Club as a central event of Soviet glasnost. Esalen and TRACK TWO consider this to be one of their most important contributions to the Soviet Union’s opening to free speech and democracy.

1986

• Co-produced a spacebridge on Chernobyl and Three Mile Island with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the USSR Academy of Sciences, and Internews.
• Hosted a delegation of influential Soviet writers for a tour of the United States, that included Tatanya Tolstoy and the head of the powerful Writers Union.

1985

• Helped create the Association of Space Explorers, the first forum in which Russian and American astronauts and cosmonauts could share their experiences in space and their hopes for the future of space exploration.
• Signed one of the first agreements between an American private-sector group and the USSR Ministry of Health. This agreement has facilitated work in the areas of health promotion, productivity in the work place, and non-pharmacological methods of treating disease and stress.

1983

• Initiated the Erik Erikson Symposia on the political psychology of Soviet-American relations with career diplomat Joseph Montville and psychologists Erik and Joan Erikson. The Erikson meetings resulted in a special edition of the quarterly journal Political Psychology entitled “A Notebook on the Psychology of the US-Soviet Relationship,” Joseph Montville was editor.
• Co-sponsored a conference entitled “Faces of the Enemy.” Speakers, including Sam Keen, Ashley Montagu, Robert Bly, and Soviet diplomat Valentin Berezhkov, discussed the psychology and politics of enmity, propaganda, and projection.

1982

• Pioneered the first spacebridges, allowing Soviet and American citizens to speak directly with one another via satellite communication. These spacebridges inspired subsequent satellite teleconferences between Soviets and Americans, including an ongoing Congress-to-Supreme Soviet teleconference.

1980

• Visited the Soviet Union during the US boycotted Olympic games and gave speeches prior to the Olympics in Tbilisi, Georgia on human potentialities and possibilities for Soviet-American cooperation in various fields.
• Gathered a group of diverse Americans from around the country at Esalen Institute to discuss the worrisome state of the US-Soviet relationship. It was at this historic meeting that the decision was made to found the Esalen Soviet-American Exchange Program. And it was also at this meeting that TRACK TWOs chairman of the board, Joseph Montville coined the term “Track Two Diplomacy,” diplomacy that parallels government diplomacy. Founders of the Exchange Program, Dulce and Michael Murphy, first Executive Director and founder Jim Hickman and founder Mary Payne were in attendance, as well as current board member Jay Ogilvy and advisor John Marks.