Congratulations to PhD candidate Rushnae Kabir, who has received a Sobti Fieldwork Fellowship from the Center for the Advanced Study of India! The fellowship will support research for her dissertation project, "The Everyday Prophet: The Milād and Muslim Communities in South Asia (c. 1865–1965)."

Dr. Chijioke Azuawusiefe (G'20) is about to publish his first book, *Nollywood and Popular Religion: Productions of Prosperity, Gender, and the Supernatural in Nigerian Cinema.* The book investigates film's role in the construction of everyday life and everyday religion in contemporary Nigeria.

Congratulations to newly minted PhDs Hector Kilgoe and Kirby Sokolow, who received their degrees today!

Congratulations to Prof. Justin McDaniel, who has been named as one of Cultured Magazine’s @culturedmag.com.web.brid.gy Cult100 list of "100 luminaries and rising talents shaping the world around us"! Prof. McDaniel was recognized as part of a gala event at the Guggenheim Museum on April 30.

This past weekend, several undergraduate students in RELS classes took a tour of religious sites in Philadelphia's Old City led by Dr. Dave Krueger of the Dialogue Institute! Many thanks to RELS majors Sergio Carballido and Daniella Kohn for organizing the tour!

Happening tomorrow!

The Graduate Group in Religious Studies is pleased to announce that Dr. Kirby Sokolow has received a prestigious Engaged Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Syracuse University Humanities Center! rels.sas.upenn.edu/news/2026/04... Congratulations, Dr. Sokolow!

Our final RELS colloquium of the year is happening this Thursday! "Vodou, a Phylum: Transmission, Cosmic Ecologies, and Global Circulation in African Indigenous Spirituality" Angelantonio Grossi (Penn Center for Experimental Ethnography) Apr 16, 2026 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

Congratulations to Austin McCredie (RELS doctoral student) and Dr. Kirby Sokolow (recent RELS PhD), who have both won student paper prizes! rels.sas.upenn.edu/news/2026/04...

Looking forward!

Prof. Jamal Elias in conversation about his book *After Rumi: The Mevlevis and Their World*. Humanities Conference Room, Williams Hall 623, 255 S 36th St. April 29, 5:00—6:30 pm Free and open to the public. Registration required. A reception will follow. wolfhumanities.upenn.edu/events/after...

Happening this week with @bethhurd.bsky.social! ------------------------------------- Borders and Borderlessness: The Religious Politics of American Power RELS Colloquium/PSCI Forum Elizabeth Shakman Hurd (Northwestern) Apr 9, 2026 at 4:30pm - 6:00pm | The Forum, PCPSE 250, 133 S. 36th Street

Congratulations to Dr. Kirby Sokolow, who successfully defended her dissertation "Buddhism Behind Bars: Transforming Race, Religion, and Power" this afternoon! rels.sas.upenn.edu/news/2026/04... Prof. Jolyon Thomas (supervisor), Dr. Kirby Sokolow, Prof. Donovan Schaefer (Graduate Chair)

Check out this event cosponsored by the Department of Religious Studies happening this week!

Our RELS event this week will be the Stephen Northrop Dunning Memorial Colloquium with Prof. Daniel Vaca! ------------------- Believing in the Income Tax Stephen Northrop Dunning Memorial Colloquium Daniel Vaca (Brown) Apr 2, 2026 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

Happening tomorrow!

The Graduate Group in Religious Studies is delighted to announce that one of our PhD alumni, Dr. Aditya N. Bhattacharjee (G'23), has been offered a tenure-track position as assistant professor of Religious Studies at the University of the South (Sewanee)! Congratulations, Dr. Bhattacharjee!

Our RELS Boardman Symposium is happening this week! In Praise of the Impractical: Innovative Pedagogy and the Future of the Humanities Friday, March 27th: 12:45-5:00 McNeil Center for Early American Studies Free registration here: upenn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

RELS PhD candidate Kirby Sokolow is a finalist for the 2026 Penn @sas.upenn.edu Grad Talks! Kirby will be giving a talk on her dissertation research, Buddhism Behind Bars: Transforming Race, Religion, and Power, in the 1–2pm block on Friday March 27. www.sas.upenn.edu/penn-grad-ta...

Happening tomorrow!

Book Launch for Prof. Steve Weitzman's *Disasters of Biblical Proportions: The Ten Plagues Then, Now, and at the End of the World* RELS Colloquium/PSCO/Jewish Studies Cosponsored Event Steve Weitzman (RELS, Katz Center) Mar 19, 2026 at 5:00pm - 6:30pm | COLL 319 Reception to follow in COLL 209

Upcoming RELS events! 3/5: Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins 3/19: Book Launch for Prof. Steve Weitzman's "Disasters of Biblical Proportions" (RELS Colloquium/PSCO/Jewish Studies) 3/27: In Praise of the Impractical: Innovative Pedagogy and the Future of the Humanities (Boardman symposium)

Congratulations to RELS PhD candidate Claire Elliot, who has been named as one of this year's Dean's Scholars at Penn! This is one of the highest honors conferred on graduate students in the School of Arts and Sciences @sas.upenn.edu Congratulations, Claire! rels.sas.upenn.edu/news/2026/03...

Happening today!

RELS PhD candidate Hector Jaevonny Kilgoe successfully defended his dissertation "We Will Stay: Reflexivity and the Discourse on Black Emigration and African Missions at the Congresses on Africa" this week! Congratulations, Dr. Kilgoe! rels.sas.upenn.edu/news/2026/02...

Distinguished Alumna Colloquium Yogis and Magic: Swami Viśuddānanda’s “Science of the Sun” Loriliai Biernacki (University of Colorado Boulder) Feb 26, 2026 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

RELS alumnus Dr. Abdul Manan Bhat ('25) has received honorable mention for the 2025 S. S. Pirzada Dissertation Prize for his dissertation Postures of Tradition: Poems, Performance, and Islamic Adab in the Twentieth Century. Congratulations, Dr. Bhat! southasia.berkeley.edu/initiatives/...

This looks great but immediately what jumped into my head: Baby, don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more

Congratulations to RELS PhD student Sana Rizvi, who will be exhibiting her photography at an event in Karachi opening this weekend! More details here: rels.sas.upenn.edu/news/2026/02...

Happening today! Come join us and let's talk about love!

Please note that there is no RELS colloquium this week and next week's colloquium event (with Dr. Mendel Kranz) has been POSTPONED. All are welcome to join us for a Valentine's Day-themed event on Thursday, Feb. 12, 3:30-4:30, Cohen 402! Come hear four Religious Studies faculty talking about love!

POSTPONED: Unfortunately, we have had to postpone our colloquium event with Paulina Kolata this week. Please watch this space for a revised date for this event when we have it.

Welcome back to campus to all of our students and faculty. Hope everyone enjoyed a good first day of classes and start of the spring semester! @upenn.edu @sas.upenn.edu

Our RELS colloquium series for spring semester begins next week with Prof. Paulina Kolata (Harvard) @paulakolata.bsky.social, who will be giving the E. Dale Saunders Buddhist Studies Lecture on "The Trouble with Buddhist Gifts: The Ethics of Ritual Care in Contemporary Japan"!

Happening tomorrow!

Our final colloquium of the calendar year, happening this Thursday! ------------------------------ The Sound of Mormonism Jared Farmer (University of Pennsylvania History Department) Dec 4, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

RELS PhD candidate Kirby Sokolow has been profiled in the latest issue of Penn’s Omnia magazine! You can read the full interview with her about her research into Buddhism and prisons here: omnia.sas.upenn.edu/story/prison... Congratulations, Kirby!

Happening tomorrow!

Our next Religious Studies colloquium event! -------------------- Moving Up the Cosmic Pole: Strategies for Legitimating Religious Authority in Buddhist Texts RELS Colloquium Ralph Craig (Whitman) Nov 13, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Cohen 204

A reminder that there is no RELS colloquium this week! Our next colloquium event will be held on Thursday, Nov. 13. We’ll be hosting Prof. Ralph Craig (Whitman) who will be giving a talk titled Moving Up the Cosmic Pole: Strategies for Legitimating Religious Authority in Buddhist Texts.

Prof. Justin McDaniel led a group of graduate and undergraduate students on a trip to Bryn Athyn Cathedral and Glencairn Mansion in the Philadelphia suburbs this past weekend! Students took a tour of the mansion and the cathedral and listened to a lecture on the history of the Swedenborgians.

A reminder that we have no colloquium event this week! However, our affiliated program, the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins, is holding a book event on Zoom with Prof. Ellen Muehlberger (Michigan) from 6:30–8:00 pm on Thursday, Oct. 30. Details here: rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...

Did you miss our information session for prospective doctoral students with graduate chair Prof. Schaefer and graduate coordinator Katelyn Stoler on Oct. 13? Check out the recording here! www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4U6...

Happening today! Please consider attending if you're thinking about applying for our doctoral program.

We're holding an online information session for prospective doctoral applicants on Monday at 5:30 ET! Details at this link: rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...

In a joint Buddhist Studies/SNRL event today Prof Justin McDaniel @upennrels.bsky.social provided our audience with some fascinating (and very funny) insights into his classes that encourage switching off, reading deeply and even taking temporary monastic vows. #digitaldetox @uoedivinity.bsky.social

Exciting news from one of our alums! Dr. Abdul Manan Bhat, who completed his PhD earlier this year, has launched Preface, a new YouTube series dedicated to "thorny issues regarding literature, culture, and politics." The first episode has already racked up over 300,000 views! Check it out here!

PhD candidate Kirby Sokolow's latest article, "Buddhist Exceptionalism Behind Bars," has just been published in the journal Pacific World as part of a special section on American Buddhism, Race, and Power. Congratulations, Kirby! pwj.shin-ibs.edu/2025/7191

If you are thinking of applying to our program, DEFINITELY attend this session. It will help you determine if the PhD is right for you and will also include tips on how to craft a competitive application.

Religious Studies folks: If you know any students thinking about applying for the PhD program at Penn, please send them this invitation to our online information session on Oct. 13!