Indiana University Vol. 24/No. 2 • Spring 2006

From the chair Recurring cycles charactize department’s activities I write from the center of a whirlwind “Sustainability: The Campus-Community new graduate students. This year five new created by the tail end of another busy Connection.” This year’s speakers included doctoral students join us: Joy Brennan, semester. It is hard to believe that one Bloomington City Council President Andy Nicole Karapanagiotis, Barbara Krawcow- more year is coming to a close, but the Ruff and Councilmember Dave Rolo, icz, Yamine Mermer, and Brad Storin; and bare trees on campus provide testament who spoke on “Sustainable Bloomington: one new student has entered our master’s to the passage of time. When the semester Adapting Our City for a Green Future,” program: Cheryl Cottine. We also held a began these same trees were adorned with and Peter Bane, a master permaculture welcome-back party for our energetic under- robust green foliage that shaded the newly teacher, who spoke on “Education from a graduates, which was organized by our new returned students from an intense sun. Permaculture Perspective.” Five workshops undergraduate adviser and communications As we approached midterm, their leaves explored new urbanism, youth activism, officer, April Lane. Having received both turned brilliant shades of red and gold, transformative language, urban agriculture, her BA and MA from our department, April and the students stretched out in the direct and transportation for the new century. knows our world well. sunshine to enjoy their beauty. Then, finals We began our departmental celebrations With a mixture of sorrow and delight, were upon us, and campus emptied as ev- this fall in the glass atrium of the IU Art the department is preparing for another eryone scattered for winter break. The tall Museum with a welcoming party for our (continued on page 2) silent sentinels guarded the campus until the students returned and began to move toward the new growth that lies ahead. Recurring cycles characterize much Mary Jo Weaver to retire in May 2006 of our life here at Indiana University. I hile we wish Mary Jo Weaver prepared for my third year as chair after Wthe very best for a well-deserved another busy summer, highlighted with retirement, Sycamore Hall will not be a 10-day backpacking trip in the high the same without her! Weaver, esteemed country of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in scholar and innovator of courses such as California after finishing the manuscript for Star Trek and Religion, will retire this my forthcoming book on the Yamuna River May after 31 years at Indiana University. of India. I participated in yet another excit- In keeping with departmental tradi- ing permaculture course at the Lazy Black tion, Weaver will give a public lecture, Bear retreat in the middle of the Hoosier titled “As Much Fun Learning as National Forest, where students studied Teaching,” at 4 p.m. in Woodburn Hall design systems for creating sustainable hu- 101, on Friday, April 7, followed by a man communities that are in harmony with reception to mark her retirement at 5 their natural environment. And I traveled p.m. The lecture location will be posted to Santa Fe, N.M., to help plan another soon on the our Web site (www.indiana. Bioneers Conference (www.bioneers.org). edu/~relstud), and, following the Bioneers is a global educational forum to lecture, the reception will be held in the showcase practical and visionary solutions University Club of the Indiana Memo- for restoring the Earth and its people. IU rial Union. Mary Jo Weaver was one of 17 sites this year to host live Please mark your calendars for this ing from out of town. Please call (800) downlink satellite conferences that broad- very special event — all are most wel- 209-8145 to make your reservation and cast the inspirational national program from come! A block of hotel rooms has been mention the religious studies/Weaver San Rafael, Calif., and included local talks reserved at the Indiana Memorial Union retirement event. Rooms will be held and workshops. This was IU’s third Bloom- on campus for those who will be travel- until March 23, 2006. ington Bioneers Conference, focusing on 1 of Jan Nattier and John McRae, who are have joined us as adjunct members of the From the chair leaving IU to take up permanent research Department of Religious Studies. Edward (continued from page 1) positions in Japan. They will be missed Linenthal, who received a PhD in religious monumental retirement this spring. On sorely, but we wish them well in their new studies from the University of California– April 7, 2006, we will celebrate the long academic adventure on the other side of the Santa Barbara, has published several books and illustrious career of Mary Jo Weaver, a Pacific. on American religions and is currently the renowned scholar of American religions, on Although we are losing a few distin- editor of the Journal of American History. the occasion of her retirement at the end guished members of the department, the Edward Watts, who received a PhD in of this academic year. Mary Jo will give a remaining faculty members have been very history from Yale University, is a specialist public lecture at 4 p.m. on April 7 titled, productive. I count amongst our faculty’s in the religions of late antiquity and has “As Much Fun Learning as Teaching.” Her publications 12 books that either were published widely in this area. Moreover, talk will be followed by a reception in the published within the last year or are cur- we continue to be active in our searches University Club. Please plan to join us for rently in press. Many of these will be listed for new faculty. At this point in time, I can what promises to be a memorable event. in the “Faculty News.” I am also delighted say nothing definitive about some exciting See our Web site for further information. to announce that two professors in the developments under way, but watch for It is with a degree of sadness that I also Department of History word in the summer 2006 newslet- inform you of the departure ter about new faculty hires. I close as I prepare to travel to India to conduct preliminary re- search for my next book project on tree shrines and to see my daughter Meagan, an IU religious studies major who is currently spending the year in Banaras, India, on a University of Wisconsin program. Before I leave, I want to encour- age you all to stay in touch with the department. — David Haberman

David Haberman, first row, third from right, with the 2005 per- maculture class as they prepare to depart for Hoosier National

Bioneers 2005

2 Faculty news

Faculty news David Brakke has become the editor of the Department welcomes Lisa Sideris Journal of Early Christian Studies, which is sponsored by the North American Patristics he Department of Religious Studies is thrilled to welcome a familiar face back Society and published by Johns Hopkins Tto IU! Lisa Sideris earned her PhD in our department in 2000 and returned in University Press. In the summer of 2005, 2005 as religious studies faculty. Before coming back to IU, Sideris taught at Pace the editorial office moved to IU from Duke University for one year and at McGill University for three University, and doctoral candidate Ellen years. Sideris’s research interests lie at the intersection of Muehlberger now serves as the journal’s religion, science, and environmental ethics. She is especially editorial assistant. In June 2005, Brakke interested in locating common ground between religious and gathered with other scholars of early Egyp- evolutionary accounts of nature and natural suffering, as well tian monasticism at Yale University to begin as the current controversies surrounding evolutionary theory, a long-term project of editing the discours- such as “intelligent design.” She has recently completed an es of Shenoute of Atripe, who led the large edited collection of interdisciplinary essays on the life and White Monastery in Egypt from about 385 work of Rachel Carson. Sideris will be teaching courses for to 465 C.E. Shenoute’s numerous works, the department on environmental ethics, medical ethics, and which survive fragmentarily in the original evolution and ethics in the coming months. Lisa Sideris Coptic, provide some of the most exten- sive and vivid evidence for monastic life in this early period. In October 2005, Brakke Studies, Indiana University (2005). In munities,” Early Medieval China workshop, gave a paper titled “Care for the Poor and 2005 he published “The Meanings of Columbia University, December 2005; Fear of Poverty: Monastic Cultivation of Cuisines of Transcendence in Late Classi- and in early January 2006 he traveled to Economic and Spiritual Vulnerability in cal and Early Medieval China,” T’oung Pao Singapore to deliver a paper at a confer- Fourth-Century Egypt” at a conference 91 (2005):1-57; “Living off the Books: ence on early medieval Chinese religion on Wealth and Poverty in Early Christian- Fifty Ways to Dodge Ming [Preallotted and thought. In addition, Campany was ity, hosted by the Stephen and Catherine Lifespan] in Early Medieval China,” in The elected in 2005 to serve another term (after Pappas Patristic Institute, Holy Cross Magnitude of Ming: Command, Allotment, having served two terms in the 1990s) on Greek Orthodox School of Theology, in and Fate in Chinese Culture, C. Lupke, the board of directors for the Society for Brookline, Mass. At the annual meetings of ed., University of Hawaii Press, 129- the Study of Chinese Religions, the main the American Academy of Religion and the 150; “Long-Distance Specialists in Early international professional society in the area Society of Biblical Literature in Philadelphia Medieval China,” in Literature, Religion, of Chinese religions. Campany is serv- in November 2005, he appeared on two and East/West Comparison: Essays in Honor ing as the director of graduate studies for panels: an AAR panel that reviewed Eliza- of Anthony C. Yu, Eric Ziolkowski, ed., the department and has coordinated the beth A. Clark’s new book, History, Theory, University of Delaware Press, 109-124; and process by which faculty in the Depart- Text: Historians and the Linguistic Turn, “Eating Better than Gods and Ancestors,” ment of Religious Studies have crafted a and a panel in the SBL that discussed the in Of Tripod and Palate: Food, Politics, and new doctoral program in Chinese religions themes of “boundaries, identity, and ortho- Religion in Traditional China, ed. Roel (description available on the Department of doxy” in early Judaism and Christianity. Re- Sterckx, Palgrave Press, 96-122. He has Religious Studies Web site at www.indiana. ligion and the Self in Antiquity, a book that recently had “Secrecy and Display in the edu/~relstud). Brakke co-edited with Steven Weitzman Quest for Transcendence in China, ca. 220 David Drewes presented a paper titled and former colleague Michael Satlow, was B.C.E.-330 C.E.,” in History of Religions “Dharmabhanakas in Indian Mahayana” in published by in 45.4, accepted for publication in May 2006. November 2005 in Philadelphia at the Amer- October 2005. This book takes issue with Campany has also delivered several invited ican Academy of Religion annual meeting. scholars who argue that the self was born in talks this past year, including, “‘Religion(s)’ Constance Furey’s first book, Erasmus, the modern West and instead explores how in Early Medieval China,” presented at Contarini, and the ancient Mediterranean religious communi- conference “‘Religion’ in China: Rethink- Religious Republic ties imagined the human self in relation to ing Indigenous and Imported Categories of Letters, appeared God and others. It grew out of a confer- of Thought,” Fairbank Center, Harvard with Cambridge ence on this theme held in Bloomington in University, May 2005; “Two Religious University Press September 2003. In addition to co-editing Thinkers of the Early Eastern Jin: Ge Hong this past Septem- the volume, Brakke contributed a chapter and Gan Bao in Multiple Contexts,” Work- ber. She’s spending called “Making Public the Monastic Life: shop on the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420 this year working Reading the Self in Evagrius Ponticus’ C.E.), Fairbank Center/Harvard-Yenching on her next project, Talking Back.” Brakke is currently serving Institute, Harvard University, May 2005; Religious Relation- as vice president of IU’s chapter of Phi Beta “Adepts and Their Communities (pre- ships in Devotional Kappa and next year will serve as president. 350 C.E.),” New Perspectives on Daoist Poetry: Gender and Rob Campany, newly appointed direc- Religion: A Symposium in Celebration of Genre in Renais- tor of graduate studies, was the recipient of The Taoist Canon: A Historical Compan- sance England, while a research fellow and the Trustees Teaching Award for Teach- ion to the Daozang, University of Chicago, visiting assistant professor at the Women’s ing Excellence, Department of Religious October 2005; “Adepts and Their Com- (continued on page 4)

3 of Religion in the Roman World Section, annual meeting of the American Oriental Faculty news Philadelphia, in November 2005, and for Society in Seattle in March and at the trien- (continued from page 3) “Families –– A Useful Category in Early nial World Sanskrit Conference in Edin- Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Christian Studies?” at the annual Meeting burgh, Scotland, in July. She has organized Divinity School. Her most recent publica- of the Society of Biblical Literature, Early a panel of her collaborators working on tion is “Invective and Exposure in Erasmus, Christian Families Group, Philadelphia, grammars produced in other Indian sectar- More, and Luther” in Harvard Theological in November 2005. He gave two campus ian traditions for the 2006 AAR as well. Review (October 2005), and her article presentations of “The Canonization of the Students in her honors section of R153 this “The Utopia of Desire in Aemilia Lanyer’s Bible” at the Campus Skeptics Alliance in fall spent the semester working on group Poetry” has been accepted for publication September 2005, and he hosted an Un- inquiry projects, exploring various aspects in a special issue of The Journal of Medieval dergraduate Religious Studies Association of Asian religions. Some of the groups and Early Modern Studies, to appear in fall Movie Night in October, which featured chose to explore Asian religions in Indiana, 2006. She recently presented another paper “God and Politics — The Battle for the visiting such sites as the Sikh Gurdwara on Lanyer, a 17th-century English poet, Bible.” in Indianapolis and the two local Tibetan at the Group for Early Modern Cultural Nancy Levene was a respondent at a Buddhist centers for lengthy conversations, Studies in San Antonio. During the spring symposium on Shinran in comparative con- while one group interviewed a local Jain semester, she will present papers on her text at Colgate University this past summer. family to see how the commitment to non- current research at Harvard, Vanderbilt, This fall, she wrote a review of two books violence plays out in the daily lives of Jains. Brown, and the Renaissance Society of on Spinoza for the Association of Jewish The work of these students resulted in the America. Studies Review. In December, she was chair production of two DVDs that she will be David L. Haberman has been editing and respondent on a panel titled “On the able to use in future classes, as well as some his manuscript River of Love in the Age of Intersection of Theory and Practice: a Con- tasty snacks they served to the class. She Pollution: The Yamuna River of North- versation about Justice amongst Scholars, incited and chaired IU’s first-ever graduate ern India, which is slated for publication Rabbis, and Activists” at the Association student panel at the annual Conference on this spring by the University of California of Annual Meeting. In South Asia held at the University of Wis- Press. He has begun work on his next book the spring, she will have an article and a consin–Madison in October. (IU religious project, which is a study of tree shrines in response to another article published in a studies students Carole Barnsley, Patton northern India. He delivered a plenary ad- special issue of the Journal of the American Burchett, and Aimee Hamilton-Schwartz dress titled “The Path of Devotional Yoga: Academy of Religion on the topic of “The were joined by IU political science student Loving Service to Rivers and More” at the Future of the Study of Religion in the Shanna Dietz for a stimulating panel that First International Green Yoga Conference, Academy.” generated some enthusiastic discussion.) held in September 2005 in Santa Cruz, Rebecca Manring’s first book, Recon- Richard Miller delivered the lecture Calif. In October 2005, he was the featured structing Tradition: Advaita Acarya and “The Ethics of Preventive War” for the speaker at Miami University’s annual cel- Gaudiya Vaisnavism at the Cusp of the Sturm Dialogue with Henry Shue of ebration of Mahatma Gandhi. The title of 20th Century, was published by Columbia Oxford University at Bucknell University his talk was “Gandhi and Deep Ecology.” University Press in in May 2005. He continues to work on Bert Harrill’s new book, Slaves in the June 2005, and it his manuscript, “9/11, War, and Moral New Testament: Literary, Social, and Moral is already receiving Memory.” He has published “Role Respon- Dimensions, Min- favorable attention sibility in Pediatrics: Appeasing or Trans- neapolis: Fortress in her field. She vis- forming Parental Demands?” in Ethical Press, 2006 (340 ited India over the Dilemmas in Pediatrics: Cases and Com- pages, cloth and winter break (along mentaries, ed. Lorry R. Frankel, Ammon paper) came out with her husband) Goldworth, Mary V. Rorty, and William A. in October 2005. to present copies Silverman (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni- He also published of the book to the versity Press, 2005), 21-29; “On Making a an article, “The many colleagues in Cultural Turn in Religious Ethics,” Journal Apostle Paul on the and around Kolkata of Religious Ethics 33 (September 2005): Slave Self: An In- who helped with 409-43; and “Rules” in The Oxford Hand- terpretation of Ro- the research. Her “Catalogue of the Su- book of Theological Ethics, ed. Gilbert Mei- mans 7,” in Reli- kumar Sen Manuscript Collection,” which laender and William Werpehowski (New gion and the Self in includes a succinct description of the state York: Oxford University Press), 220-36. Antiquity, edited by David Brakke, Steven of many libraries in India as well as of this Miller is also teaching a new course in the Weitzman, and Michael Satlow (Blooming- specific and very important collection, will department: the first half of a two-semester ton: Indiana University Press, 2005). He be out by the time you read this. She has survey, From Christian Ethics to Social participated in a roundtable discussion of begun work on a collaborative project with Criticism. And, in his capacity as director of his new book at the 60th General Meet- a number of other religious studies scholars the Poynter Center, he is directing a new ing, Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, on the uses and roles of sectarian gram- interdisciplinary faculty seminar, focusing Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Witten- mars in India. Her contribution will be a this year on “Nature in the Scientific and burg, Halle, Germany. A conference grant detailed analysis of Jiva Gosvamin’s “Gram- Moral Imagination.” to attend the meeting was awarded by the mar of the Nectar of the Lord’s Name,” a Lisa Sideris recently completed four es- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 17th-century Sanskrit grammar in which says for four books/anthologies, all of them August 2005. He was a panelist for “Reas- all of the rules are expressed in Vaishnava on themes of religion, evolution, and envi- sessing Social Status in the First-Century terminology. She has already presented two ronmentalism. One is a chapter in a forth- Assemblies” at the annual Meeting of the papers on this project, and she expects to coming Oxford Handbook of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature, Archaeology present on further aspects of the text at the (continued on page 5)

4 Student Notes

Graduate news Ellen Muhlburger presented her paper “The Angelic Life Revisited” at the Ancient Studies Colloquium at IU. She was also awarded a College of Arts and Sciences Travel Grant to go to the Society for Bibli- cal Literature meeting in Philadelphia. Aimee Hamilton-Schwartz organized a panel called “South Asia Power Relations: Religious and Political Perspectives” for the 34th Annual Conference on South Asia at the Center for South Asia at University of Wisconsin–Madison in October 2005 and presented her paper, “The Meaningful Body: Ascetic Practice of Kanpatha House- holder Yogis.” She was awarded a College of Arts and Sciences Travel Scholarship for this paper presentation. Undergraduate news Department of Religious Studies faculty and students mingle at the Undergraduate Religious Our undergraduates have been very busy Studies Association’s annual Welcome Back Party in September 2005. this academic year. In September, they met for the annual Undergraduate Religious Harrill talked about God and Politics what will hopefully be a series of student Studies Association Welcome Back Party, — The Battle for the Bible, and Lisa Sideris lectures with a talk on “Religious Themes where faculty and students mingled and discussed What the Bleep Do We Know); a in Comic Books.” played the game “Two Truths and a Lie.” lunch with Steve Weitzman to discuss his The department is proud to announce The party concluded with the first official new book; and a lunch with Lisa Sideris to the fall 2005 Phi Beta Kappa inductees: URSA meeting of the year. get to know her and her research interests. Kelsey Lenox, who is majoring in political Other events in the fall included several Aaron Stalnaker hosted a discussion about a science, religious studies, and philosophy; movie nights with faculty-led discussions New York Times article, and, in November, and Andrea Townley, who is a religious (David Brakke discussed Godspell, Bert senior Benjamin Huffman led the first in studies and psychology double major.

and will come out in late spring. Stalnaker has an essay titled Faculty news has been awarded a Poynter Center Faculty “Sensory Reform in (continued from page 4) Fellowship, and he is currently partici- the Book of Deuter- Ecology, edited by Roger Gottlieb. Another pating in the associated interdisciplinary onomy.” Weitzman is an essay for a collection of essays devoted seminar on “Nature in the Scientific and is spending the to the work of environmental philosopher Moral Imagination” that meets periodically spring semester in Holmes Rolston, edited by Christopher during the current academic year. He gave Jerusalem, where Preston. Another is for a volume called a talk on “Confucian Democracy and the he is a fellow of the Faith in America; she contributed the Virtue of Deference” in December 2005 W.F. Albright Insti- chapter on “Religion and Environmental- at the American Philosophical Association tute of Archaeologi- ism in America.” And finally, she will have annual meeting and will give an invited cal Research and a an essay on Darwinism and environmental- talk in April as part of a symposium at the visiting scholar at ism in a critical primer on environmental Center for the Study of World Religions the Hebrew University’s Orion Center, stewardship, edited by R.J. Berry. Sideris is at Harvard University on the making of which is devoted to the study of the Dead also editing an interdisciplinary collection religious worlds and their associated ethical Sea Scrolls. of essays on the life and work of Rachel subjectivities. Carson, titled On Nature’s Terms, which Steve Weitzman, Irving M. Glazer is forthcoming from University of Virginia Chair of Jewish Studies, continues as direc- Press. She gave a paper at the AAR on the tor of the Borns Jewish Studies Program. Read more about our similarities between some forms of ecothe- 2005 saw the publication of two books: ology and intelligent design creationism. Surviving Sacrilege: Cultural Persistence faculty online at Aaron Stalnaker has finished rewriting in Jewish Antiquity (Cambridge: Harvard www.indiana.edu/ his book manuscript, titled Overcoming University Press) and Religion and the Self Our Evil: Human Nature and Spiritual Ex- in Antiquity, co-edited with David Brakke ~relstud ercises in Xunzi and Augustine. It is now in and Michael Satlow (Bloomington: Indiana production at Georgetown University Press University Press), in the latter of which he

5 Alumni Notebook

1960s nated Teacher of the Year in her school Scholarship to continue studies in religion. district in Louisville, Ky. Diego Merino, I also am studying Arabic. As undergradu- Rev. Charles Robertson, BA’64, MA’81, BA/BM’02, has been appointed dean of ates contemplate the practical uses of the Cert’84, pastor of Wilshire Presbyterian school culture at the Village Academy in major, I can attest to its value in my life as Church in Los Angeles and president of the East Harlem, N.Y., a charter school. Matt a professional.” Look for a profile of Sheila Wilshire Center Interfaith Council, was one Scott, BA’02, is director of operations at Lalwani in the summer newsletter! of 45 “children of Abraham” — 15 Jews, the Village Academy in East Harlem, N.Y. David Snipes, BA’02, is teaching 15 Christians, and 15 Muslims — on an in- Sheila B. Lalwani, BAJ’02, was re- sociology and psychology at Korea Kent terfaith pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Feb. cently selected as a fellow through the Asia Foreign School in Seoul, South Korea. 10–21, 2005, sponsored by the council. Foundation. Through this fellowship, she KKFS is an international school (K–12) Robertson reports, “The most spiritually was able to travel to Thailand, Singapore, with around 300 students from more than significant aspect of the experience was and Indonesia to study Buddhism, Chris- 30 different nations. Snipes is teaching to worship together in the traditions and tianity, and Islam, respectively. Lalwani grades 11 and 12. He was also admit- places of worship of all three faiths, rather says, “Having a religious studies degree ted to the IU School of Education for a than in interfaith services where accommo- under my belt has been very fruitful for master’s degree in secondary education, dations are made to one another’s beliefs, me. I currently write a lot about religion but he is forgoing graduate school for the while maintaining the integrity of one’s for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as a near future to further his teaching career own faith. Pilgrims were bonded in their reporter, and I recently received the Lilly at KKFS. oneness as brothers and sisters in Abraham and affirmed their respective faiths.” 1970s ANNOUNCING Peter H. Glade, BA’73, of the law firm of Markowitz Herbold Glade & Mehlhaf, IUAlumniCareers.com Portland, Ore., has become a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Michael Antonio Canganelli, BA’74, writes that he retired from his position as public service administrator with the Illinois Department of Employment Security in order work full time on his business as a dis- trict leader with Primerica Financial Services. Deborah A. Kornblau, BA’74, MLS’80, recently completed an intensive three-year teacher-training program at the Urbana (Ill.) Center for the Alexan- The Indiana University Alumni Association’s new online career der Technique and currently has a private services center, IUAlumniCareeers.com, is officially open! This teaching practice in Urbana. Web site provides online career and mentoring services for IU alumni. Register at IUAlumniCareers.com to search for jobs posted by 1980s employers, post your résumé for review by employers, or search for an Daniel J. Boucher, BA’86, MA’89, was alumni mentor for career advice. recently tenured and promoted to associate professor in the Asian studies department IU alumni are invited to register as mentors to give career advice to at Cornell University. He is working on a their fellow alumni. As a mentor, you may choose how often and in book manuscript that he will soon submit what manner you wish to be contacted, and you may opt out of the to the University of Hawaii Press, titled mentor program at any time. Bodhisattvas of the Forest and the Formation of the Mahayana: A Study and Translation Employers are invited to register to post job openings, at no charge. of the Restrapala-paripriccha-sutra. Adam L. Brice, BA’88, of Conshohock- Only IUAA members may search for en, Pa., received a master of theology jobs and mentors, so activate your degree from Westminster Theological membership today! Seminary in May 2005. To join the IUAA or to renew your 2000s membership, contact the IUAA Three religious studies alumni who were membership department at chosen for Teach For America after gradu- [email protected] or ation continue their work in education: (800) 824-3044. Alison Brown, BA’02, was recently nomi-

6 Alumna profile Ethics class at IU changes scope of alumna’s career Elizabeth Agnew has had a diverse teach- ing student who, after his release, received ing career that began even before she came a Governor’s Fellowship to finish his BA to IU to pursue graduate studies in 1986. and is now applying for PhD programs in After earning a BA from Brown University, philosophy. One thing the students had she taught history at a private high school in common was a strong commitment to in Virginia for two years, and then came taking advantage of the educational pro- to Bloomington with plans to spend a year gram in the prisons. Research shows that here before going to UVA for graduate education for inmates lowers the rate of school. recidivism, and Agnew describes her time During that interim year, Agnew took an teaching prisoners as an “eye-opening” and ethics course with Richard Miller, rekin- “very humane” experience. She now pays dling her interest in questions of virtue, close attention to alternative approaches to selfhood, and “doing good” that she first rehabilitating prisoners. In particular, she explored in religious studies courses at has done research on religious and secular Brown. She elected to stay at IU instead not-for-profit initiatives billed as “free- of going to UVA. She received an MA in dom” programs, while also exploring how religious studies in 1988 and then went on religious norms of the West have shaped to the PhD program. our understanding of punishment and im- Elizabeth Agnew After having completed her coursework prisonment. In 2004, she went to India to and exams, Agnew changed course a bit at IU while working closely with faculty present the paper “Freedom in Imprison- and decided to get a teaching certificate in both the history and religious studies ment: A Comparative Perspective,” which in social studies. She taught public high departments. In particular, she is apprecia- drew on her prison teaching experience and school for a year and then returned to tive of her work with Richard Miller, David subsequent research. complete her PhD, which she did in 1999 Smith, and Stephen Stein, and of the guid- In 2003, Agnew was hired for a tenure- with the assistance of Greenburg Albee and ance and support she received from David track position in the Department of Phi- AAUW dissertation fellowships. Smith and Larry Friedman (in history), losophy and Religious Studies at Ball State Agnew appreciates the opportunity she who co-chaired her dissertation committee. University. As the religious studies program had to do highly interdisciplinary work Her revised dissertation, published by Uni- grows (they currently have 47 active majors versity of Illinois Press in 2004 under the and 62 minors), Agnew hopes to draw on title From Charity to Social Work: Mary E. IU’s program as a model for revising their Richmond and the Creation of an American undergraduate curriculum. She teaches Religious Studies Profession, was named an Outstanding Aca- courses such as Religions and American demic Title by Choice, a publication of the Culture; Theory and Method in the Study Association of College Research Libraries. of Religion; and Women, Gender, and Reli- This newsletter is published by the Indiana University Alumni Association, in coop- Of the timeliness of this topic Agnew says, gion. She is working on developing courses eration with the Department of Religious “This research examines the development on religion and ethics in an and the College of Arts & Sci- of ideas about and practices of philan- context and on religion, philanthropy, and ences Alumni Association, to encourage thropy in late-19th- and early-20th-century justice. Now that she is a full-time assistant alumni interest in and support for Indiana America, and through the work of charity professor, Agnew reflects on the value of University. For activities and membership organization leader Mary Richmond traces observing her professors teaching under- information, call (800) 824-3044 or send debates that have re-emerged in contem- graduates during the time that she served e-mail to [email protected]. porary welfare practices. Among these are as an assistant instructor for various IU Department of Religious Studies debates about religious norms and social faculty members. She also appreciates the Chair ...... David Haberman scientific methods, private charity and gov- range of people with whom she was able to Editor ...... April Lane ernment initiative, character development study during her years at IU. College of Arts & Sciences and systemic reform, and volunteerism and Currently, in addition to her teaching professionalism.” duties, Agnew is working on an article Dean ...... Kumble R. Subbaswamy After completing her graduate work, titled “Democracy, Charity, and Needs Dis- Executive Director of Development & Alumni Programs ...... David Ellies Agnew was hired at Ball State University to course in American Culture,” courtesy of teach for their extended education pro- a New Faculty Grant from Ball State. She IU Alumni Association gram, which led her to an assignment that says, “Writers ranging from Jane Addams President/CEO ...... Ken Beckley has strongly influenced her life and scholar- to Michael Ignatieff and Martha Nussbaum Director of Alumni ship since that time: she taught introduc- draw attention to a language of needs and Programs ...... Nicki Bland tory religious studies and ethics courses capabilities as distinct from a language of Editor for Constituent for almost two years in the medium- and rights. I am exploring how this attention Periodicals ...... Julie Dales maximum-security prisons in Pendleton, can foster virtues of compassion and respect Assistant Editor ...... Abby Tonsing Ind. There she taught a range of students, and provide an alternate approach to phi- from the most remedial to an outstand- lanthropy and development.” Stay connected — www.alumni.indiana.edu

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The IU Alumni Association is char ged with maintaining records for all IU alumni. Please print as much of the following information as you wish. Its What’s new purpose, in addition to providing us with your class note, is to keep IU’s alumni with you? records accurate and up to date. To verify and update your information online, visit our online alumni directory at www.alumni.indiana.edu/directory.

Publication carrying this form: Religious Studies Alumni Newsletter Date ______Name ______Preferred Name ______Last name while at IU ______IU Degree(s)/Yr(s) ______Univ. ID # (PeopleSoft) ______Home address ______Phone ______City ______State ______Zip ______Business title ______Company/Institution ______Company address ______Phone ______City ______State ______Zip ______*E-mail ______*Home page URL ______Mailing address preference: ❍ Home ❍ Business Spouse name ______Last name while at IU ______IU Degree(s)/Yr(s) ______Your news: ______

❍ Please send me information about IU Alumni Association membership. IUAA membership supports and includes membership in the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Association and your local alumni chapter. You may join online at www.alumni.indiana.edu or call (800) 824-3044. Please mail to the addr ess above, or fax to (812) 855-8266.

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