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Award winning show consulted on by Religious Department’s own, Deepak Sarma

Professor Deepak Sarma, in addition to their University duties, is a cultural consultant for Netflix, Mattel, and Moonbug, and has worked on projects such as “Deepa & Anoop” and “CoComelon Lane”. For the last several years, they consulted on the new YouTube series, “Ghee Happy”, which has just been awarded the 51st Annie Award’s “Best TV/ Media – Preschool” in the field of 2023 animation! The series is a playful reimagining of the Hindu deities as little kids discovering their powers in a deity daycare. Full episodes, shorts, and music videos can all be found at the Ghee Happy Studio on YouTube. From all of us here in the Religious Studies Department, we wish you a warm congratulations, Deepak!

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Applications now being accepted for Inaugural Mandel Fellowships

The college is looking for up to eight first-year students to become inaugural recipients of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation’s Fellowship in the new Experimental Humanities program at Case Western Reserve!

This is a bold initiative to integrate the liberal arts and STEM in order to address the rapidly evolving technological landscape and today’s most pressing societal issues.

Students in this exciting program will blend humanities-oriented critical reflection with hands-on experimenting and skills development in new technologies, enabling them to ask deep questions about the ethical, philosophical and socio-cultural implications of scientific and technological change.

We encourage first-year (2023-24) students who have a passionate interest in this area of study to apply for the Mandel Fellowship by no later than Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024, for a chance to be part of the inaugural class, which begins with the 2024 spring semester.

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“Is there an ordinary state of consciousness?” Deepak Sarma Lecture & Reception

Why do we contrast ordinary states of consciousness with non-ordinary ones? Why do we presume that there are any ordinary or normal states of consciousness? The current curiosity about altered states of consciousness and the therapeutic value of so-called psychedelic substances begs the question of what is considered to be “normal.”

Attendees can expect to question their basic beliefs, and to leave transformed and transfigured.

Click Here to Register

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Dr. Brian Clites, Curran Center Award Winner, Explores Healing Power of Voice

There is healing power in using your voice.

That was one of the lessons of “A Theology of Voice: VOCAL and the Catholic Clergy Abuse Survivor Movement,” an article by Brian Clites, Ph.D., chosen by Fordham’s Curran Center for American Catholic Studies in May as the winner of its third annual New Scholars essay contest.

The article traces the origins of VOCAL (Victims of Clergy Abuse Linkup), which was among the first and most prominent advocacy organizations for American survivors of childhood clergy sexual abuse. It was a predecessor of the currently active SNAP, (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), and was notable, Clites said, because its leaders explicitly recognized the spiritual dimensions of the abuse they suffered, which they called “soul murder.”

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