College of Arts and Sciences

Join us in support of your fellow classmates as they present their capstone projects. Ask questions, pick their brains, and learn something along the way!

Wednesday, April 8th, 6pm
Crawford Hall, Rm A09
Refreshments will be provided

Medha Bhimaraju – Capstone
“Narrating Suffering and Practicing Healing in Zen Buddhist and Charismatic Christian Communities in the United States”

Asha Kartha – Honors Thesis
“Developing in Turmoil: Jewish Identity in Higher Education After October 7th”

Lily Stuart – Honors Thesis
“Gospels for Nonbelievers: Concerts and American Spirituality”

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Religious Studies is offering a new course this Fall 2026, RLGN 225: “Sharp Edges/Tender Bodies: Religion, Health and Resilience,” created and taught by Professor Michele Tracy Berger on Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:30-12:45.

This course examines how women of color understand, negotiate, and practice health through religious belief, spirituality, and embodied knowledge. Through interdisciplinary texts, narratives, and case studies, students explore how faith traditions shape experiences of illness, healing, wellness, activism, and care in the context of race, gender, and power.

This course satisfies the Human Diversity and Commonality requirement and can count toward the Africana Studies Minor.

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Dr. Deepak Sarma, inaugural distinguished scholar in the public humanities, quoted as expert in recent article, “Sarah Huckabee Sanders Leveled This Dig After Restaurant Drama. An Expert Says It’s A Tactic.” (HuffPost, March 23, 2026). Sarma said that ‘Sanders’ statements are a “blatant attempt to gaslight and hijack the narrative.” It’s ‘ironic’ that “MAGA has been a small and borderline group that has commandeered the U.S. government and the media, and has claimed to speak on behalf of all Americans.”’

Read the full article for more.

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Registration for the Fall 2026 semester begins on April 6th, are you ready to beat the crowd and build your dream schedule? Now is your chance to plan ahead; fall courses are officially live on SIS!

See the complete list with descriptions and UGER for all RLGN classes offered, here.

For JWST (and HBRW), visit here.

For AFST, visit here.

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Dr. Deepak Sarma, inaugural distinguished scholar in the public humanities, quoted as expert in recent article, “MAGA Attacks James Talarico Over Views on Christianity. There’s 1 Reason Why, Expert Says.” (HuffPost, March 12, 2026). Sarma said that ‘they believe the right-wing attacks against Talarico are motivated by one reason: “They hope to gaslight Christians across the United States to believe that their views that Christ defended the oppressed is not correct, and that having such beliefs is neither American nor Christian.”’

Read the full article for more.

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Dr. Timothy Beal presents his talk “What’s So Generative About Generative AI?: How and Why the Humanities Have a Future” as part of The Speaker Series 2026 hosted at Penn State on March 5th, 2026.

Timothy Beal is a scholar and writer who explores the dynamic fields of technology, religion, ecology, and AI in the humanities and higher education. A professor of religion at Case Western Reserve University, he studies the spiritual and ethical considerations of the innovations that are shaping our world.

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Prof. Jue Liang has been awarded a Franklin Research Grant (https://www.amphilsoc.org/grants/franklin-research-grants) from the American Philosophical Society in support of her research project “Souls on the Road: Pilgrimages to Tibet in the Chinese Religious Revival.” This book-length project centers around expressions of religiosity found on the two major roads connecting Sichuan Province and Tibet Autonomous Region in China. It queries the act of embarking on the journey itself – on foot, on a bike, driving – as a spiritual pursuit, in the context of the contemporary religious revival in China.

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USA Today reached out to Dr. Jonathan Tan, the Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan Professor in Catholic Studies I, for comment in their recent article, “‘Nationalism on Steroids:’ Trump, Catholics battle over morality” (Jan. 21, 2026). “This is no mere minor statement but a major unanimous statement from all three actively serving U.S. cardinals challenging the trajectory of Trump’s foreign policy and its use of military force — not in self-defense, but for partisan political and economic self-interest,” said Dr. Tan.

Read the full article here for more

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