This past weekend, Dr. Matt Kuiper (Professor of Islam), and Dr. Vadim Putzu (Professor of Judaism), accompanied three of our graduate students, Lindsey Argo, Cameron Enochs, and Kayla Jenkins, and one undergraduate student, Brooke Matejka, to the annual American Academy of Religion Conference - Midwest region. As chair of the Study of Judaism section, on Friday afternoon … [Read more...] about REL Students, Faculty Attend Midwest AAR Conference
by Austra Reinis Dr. Austra Reinis and Dr. Magda Hayton took their REL 100 Introduction to Religion students on an evening field trip to Dinh Quang Buddhist Temple in NE Springfield on February 27. The students saw statues and paintings of a number of buddhas and bodhisattvas. The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, they learned, spent a long lifetime alleviating the … [Read more...] about REL 100 and REL 338 Field Trips!
by Dr. Vadim Putzu Sunday, February 24, I hosted a panel on how to address non-Christians in the classroom and in the workplace as part of a series of initiatives intended to educate about diversity and inclusion, which will continue throughout this semester with a Shattering the Silences evening with the regional representative of the Anti-Defamation League in late … [Read more...] about Fighting Antisemitism: How to Address Non-Christians in the Workplace and the Classroom
There was a large turnout from both the MSU campus and the Springfield communities at the Anti-Semitism Panel last evening, Wednesday, 28 November, in the PSU. Three panelists, Mara Cohen-Ioannides from the English Department, Wes Pratt from the Division for Diversity and Inclusion, and Rabbi Barbara Block from Temple Israel provided remarks while our very own Dr. Vadim Putzu … [Read more...] about Anti-Semitism Panel Encourages Action
Congratulations to MSU Religious Studies alumnus David Armstrong for being awarded the Distinguished Thesis competition! Every year the MSU Distinguished Thesis Award is awarded to one thesis selected from those produced by the over seventy Master's programs across the University. David's thesis, "A Kingdom of Priests and Gods: Angelic and Participatory Deification in … [Read more...] about Congratulations to David Armstrong for Winning the Thesis of the Year Award!