This Spring Semester brings the perspective of several fascinating presentations, thesis defenses, and other collegial events. Please check the PIPS and BBC pages for the schedule of upcoming talks. Below is a picture taken after the thesis defense of Christine L. Walters in March 2009.
The new semester is in full swing since classes resumed on August 25. On the previous Wednesday, we had a welcome reception for new and returning graduate students. Here is a picture taken in front of the Department after the reception.
The Department of Religion welcomes two new faculty members for Fall 2008: Kristin Bloomer, our new specialist on Christianity in Asia, and James Frankel, our first specialist on Islam. We believe that with their contributions, we can offer a much wider curriculum for our undergraduate program and enrich our graduate curriculum with new possibilities for the study of Christianity and Islam in Asia. We invite you to visit their individual pages to learn more about them and their academic areas of interest.
At the same time, the Department bids farewell to Andrew Crislip, our specialist in ancient Christianity. For the past five years, Andrew has been an excellent colleague and an inspiring scholar. He enhanced the Department at all levels of the curriculum, in particular by providing our graduate students with a firm grounding in the theory and methods for the academic study of religion. We wish him continued success at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he will join the Department of History.
Faculty
