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News of DSR alumni and friends.
We would be delighted to hear from you wherever you are and whatever you're doing – please get in touch with your news.
We have a DSR LinkedIn page – please follow us! We are keen to foster networking connections with and among alumni, students and faculty – pay us a visit.
We convened a special panel of alumni for an undergraduate-focused event, “So you're getting a degree in religion – what's next?", with guests Rachel Browne, Shari Golberg, Natalie Michalagas, and Jonathan Trentadue. Presented as a University of Toronto Backpack to Briefcase event, the panel was a wonderful learning and networking opportunity for students, who heard real-life examples of the many paths opened by pursuing a degree in the study of religion. (Rachel's book, Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes was recently published - see below for more details.)
Alumni & Friends Updates
Rachel Browne (BA, 2012), an investigative journalist, documentary producer and podcaster, has written her debut book, Let Us Play: WInning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes, co-authored with her brother, Harrison Browne. It explores her brother’s path as the first openly transgender athlete in a professional team sport and combines Harrison's lived experience as a trans man with original research and testimonials from other trans athletes.
Rachel also participated in our special panel for undergraduates, " "So you're getting a degree in religion – what's next?", returning to the departmenbt with three other DSR alumni to share their experience of navigating their careers,
Jennifer Bright (PhD, 2017) becomes the inaugural Wutai Shan Venerable Dayi Professor in Buddhist Spiritual Care at Victoria University's Emmanuel College on July 1, 2025. She has been assistant professor of Buddhist spiritual care and counselling at Emmanuel since 2023. She will also mentor students in the Master of Psychospiritual Studies program. News Article
Judith Brunton (PhD, 2022, now assistant professor at Rice University) and DSR chair Pamela Klassen co-authored “Birthing”, a chapter in The Routledge Handbook of Religion and American Culture, ed. Chad E. Seales. London: Routledge, pp. 430-449.
Nick Field (PhD, 2024) was co-organizer of the Jackman Humanities Institute workshop in April 2025, “Cartographic Undergrounds, Cartographic Underworlds: How to Read a Map?,” which included papers from DSR chair Pamela Klassen, PhD student Shannon Drew, and undergraduate student Kaína Mendoza-Price.
Seyfeddin Kara, former DSR postdoctoral fellow and now Assistant Professor of Islamic Origins at the University of Groningen, was the guest of the Islamic Human Rights Commission bookshop in London UK for an author evening discussing his book, The Integrity of the Qur’an.
Mona Tokarek LaFosse (PhD, 2011) has been appointed by Victoria and Emmanuel Colleges to the new position of Assistant Professor of New Testament and Sacred Literature Studies.
Liwen Liu (PhD, 2024) has been awarded the Ludo and Rosane Rocher Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her project explores the transformation of the Kathmandu Valley into a Hindu-ideal society during Nepal’s Malla period, an era marked by the consolidation and interaction of Hindu and Buddhist traditions. She will be in residence at Harvard University during the postdoc. (This is the second year in a row that this scholarship has gone to a DSR alum – in 2024, it was awarded to Tamara Cohen.
Amber Moore (PhD, 2024) received two awards, the Britain-Nepal Academic Council's PhD Dissertation Prize 2025 and a Buddhist Education Foundation of Canada Annual Article Award. Amber is currently a postdoctoral fellow in U of T’s Department of Philosophy.
Rachelle Saruya (PhD, 2023) has been appointed to a tenure-track, full-time lecturer position at the College of Religious Studies, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. As a “foreign expert, level 3,” she conducts research and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses.
Congratulations to Edith Szanto (PhD, 2012), who has received tenure at the University of Alabama’s Department of Religious Studies.Edith was DSR faculty member Amira Mittermaier’s first ever PhD student – so congratulations to Amira, too!
Suzanne van Geuns (PhD, 2022) is leaving Princeton's Center for Culture, Society and Religion to become Assistant Professor of Religion and Technology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Before starting in this role, she will spend a year as an Anna Julia Cooper postdoctoral fellow at UW, Madison.
Meaghan Weatherdon (PhD, 2021) recently received the news of her successful tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at San Diego University.
An article by Andrea Wollein (PhD2 2024), “Thinking Through Lost Art: living Newar Buddhist Traditions Between Temple Theft, Repatriation, and Heritage in Nepal,” was published in Material Religion: Journal of Objects, Art and Belief.
In Memoriam
It is with sorrow that we share the loss of three members of the DSR community over the last few months: on January 6, Professor Emeritus in the DSR and past Principal of University College, G. Peter Richardson; on February 14, Roger O'Toole, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at UTSC, who held a graduate appointment at Centre/Department for the Study of Religion; and on April 8, Dr. Michael Ium, 2022-24 Postodctoral Fellow with the DSR and the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies
G. Peter Richardson
The author of more than a dozen books, Peter's achievements also included appointment as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His academic work brought together his interests in architecture and religion, and he engaged in archeological research in the Near and Middle East.
Roger O’Toole
The author of Religion: ClassicSociological Approaches and many other works, Roger was at U of T from 1969 to 2007 and served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Sociology of Religion journal and associate editor of Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses.
Michael Ium
A scholar of Tibetan Buddhism and an active and enthusiastic member of the DSR and the Centre for Buddhist Studies, he was often encountered engaging with students, faculty, and staff on and around campus.Michael was in his first year of a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) in Vienna, where he was part of an European Research Council-funded project called "TibSchol: The Dawn of Tibetan Buddhist Scholasticism."