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 Updates
Rachel Browne & Harrison Browne book A&S News-authored article
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
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. YouTube
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. News Article
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. >> News Article
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 just 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
Meaghan Weatherdon 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.
Andrea Wollein
In Memoriam
G. Peter Richardson
Roger O’Toole
Michael Ium