Alumni

Alphabetical by last name.

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z
Mehnaz Sahibzada
  • BA, Religious Studies, University of Arizona, 1997.
  • MA, Middle East Studies, Univ. of Texas at Austin, 1999.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2004.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Islam in America, Literature by Muslims in America.
  • Current Employment: Poet; English Teacher, Moorpark High School.
Judy D. Saltzman
  • BA, Philosophy, San Jose State University, 1963.
  • MA, Philosophy, UC Berkeley, 1965.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1973.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1977.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion and Humanities, Comparative Religion.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “A Critique of Alfred Schutz on Verstehen.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Paul Natorp’s Philosophy of Religion within the Marburg Neo-Kantian Tradition.”
  • Current Employment: Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Director of Religious Studies, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Kendra Sarna
  • BA, Philosophy, Northeastern University, 2007.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2014.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Political Islamic Movements, Politicization of Gender and Sexuality, Religious Conceptions of the Body, Religion and Law, Religion and Violence, Contemporary Issues Facing Muslim Communities in the U.S. and Europe, Islam in the Media.
Nathan Schneider
  • BA, Religious Studies, Brown, 2006.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2008.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion and Science, Asian Religions.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “What Happens to Religion When It Is Biologized?”
  • Current Employment: Freelance Journalist.
Gregory Seton
  • BA, Film Studies, Wesleyan University, 1990.
  • MFA, Directing, American Film Institute, 1992.
  • MA, Buddhist Studies, Naropa University, 2005.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2009.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Buddhist Studies in Sanskrit and Tibetan.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “A Preliminary Study of the Meaning of Yoga in Saṅgharakṣa’s Yogācārabhūmi.”
  • Current Studies: Doctoral Candidate in Oriental Studies at Oxford University.
Ronald Sharrin
  • BA, Political Theory/Psychology, Reed College, 1967.
  • PhD, Clinical Psychology, CSPP, 1976.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2000.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Buddhism.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Some Steps Toward a Conceptual Framework for Psychotherapy Based on Buddhism.”
  • Current Employment: Self-employed Clinical Psychologist.
Ronald Sharrin
  • BA, Political Theory/Psychology, Reed College, 1967.
  • PhD, Clinical Psychology, CSPP, 1976.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2000.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Buddhism.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Some Steps Toward a Conceptual Framework for Psychotherapy Based on Buddhism.”
  • Current Employment: Self-employed Clinical Psychologist.
Sohaira Siddiqui
  • BA, Near Eastern Language and Civilizations, Political Science, English Literature, University of Washington, 2009.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2012.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2014.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Classical Islamic Law, Jurisprudence, Theology and Political Theory; Contemporary Islamic Intellectual History; Secularism; Modernity.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “The Evanescence of Perfection: Exploring the Lietmotif of Retroactive Minimalism in al-Juwaynī’s Political Thought.”
Elijah Siegler
  • BA, Comparative Religion, Harvard University, 1992.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1998.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2003.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religious History, Religion and Culture, Chinese Religion.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Marketing Lazaris: A Rational Choice Theory of Channeling.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Tao of America: The History and Practice of Daoism in North America.”
  • Current Employment: Associate Professor of American Religion, College of Charleston.
Megan Adamson Sijapati
  • BA, Religion, Colorado College, 1996.
  • MA, Religious Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2001.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
  • Areas of Study at USCB: Islam in South Asia, Women and Religion, South Asian Religious Reform Movements, Religious Conflict and Identity, Postcolonial Studies, Mysticism, Religions of the Himalayan Hills, Islam in Nepal.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Shaping Muslim Identities: Alterity, Conflict, and Islamic Revival in Nepal.”
  • Current Employment: Associate Professor, Religious Studies, Gettysburg College.
John K. Simmons
  • BA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1982.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1984.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1987.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion in America, Sociology of Religion, Religion and Culture.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Christian Science and American Culture.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Ascension of Annie Rix Militz and the Home(s) of Truth: Perfection Meets Paradise in Early 20th Century Los Angeles.”
  • Current Employment: Professor of Religious Studies and Chair, Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies, Western Illinois University.

 

Rohit Singh
Kristy Slominski
  • BA, Religious Studies, Michigan State University, 2007.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2009.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2015.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religious History, Sexuality & Religion, Women & Religion, Global Christianities.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “‘Do Everything’ but Prostitute: The History of Frances Willard and Fallen Women.”
Leslie Dorrough Smith
  • BA, Religious Studies, Southwest Missouri State University, 1997.
  • MA, Religious Studies, Southwest Missouri State University, 1999.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2010.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Gender, Protestant Fundamentalism, Critical/Social Theory, American Religions.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Crafting Chaos: Concerned Women for America and the Rhetorical Production of Nationalist Power.”
  • Current Employment: Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Avila University.
John Soboslai
  • BA, Philosophy, Central Connecticut State University, 2002.
  • MA, Religious Studies, Columbia University, 2004.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion and the State, Religion and Violence, Martyrdom, Early Christianity, Theories of Religion.
Mark Soileau
  • BA, Philosophy, University of Houston, 1988.
  • MA, Social Anthropology, University of Ankara, 2002.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2002.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2006.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: History of Religions, Islam, Sufism, Saints.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Taking the Loma, Seeing the Dem: Ingestion and Digestion in the Bektashi Ritual Meal.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Humanist Mystics: Nationalism and the Commemoration of Saints in Turkey.”
  • Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Mardin University (Turkey).
Aaron Sokoll
Varun Soni
  • BA, Religion, Tufts University, 1996.
  • MTS, Harvard Divinity School, 1999.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2001.
  • JD, UCLA School of Law, 2004.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, University of Cape Town, 2010.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Religions of South Asia, Religion and Law, Religion and Popular Culture.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Music, Media, and Mysticism: The Pop-Propheticism of Bob Marley and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.”
  • Current Employment: Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California.
Saba Tova Soomekh
  • BA, Religious Studies, UC Berkeley, 1998.
  • MTS, Harvard Divinity School, 2001.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2008.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: History of Religions and Jewish Studies, Women and Religion, Iranian Jewish History.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women Between Religion and Culture.”
  • Current Employment: Assistant Director, Jewish Studies Program, Loyola Marymount University.
SpearIt
  • BA, Philosophy, University of Houston, 1998.
  • MTS, Harvard Divinity School, 2000.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2006.
  • JD, UC Berkeley, 2009.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion and Law, Criminal Justice, Social Theory and Law.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation:  “God Behind Bars: Race, Religion, and Revenge.”
  • Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law.
Suzanne E. Stillman
  • BA, University of Arkansas, 1999.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2002.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Indian Hagiography, History of India, Religious Nationalism, Historiography, Languages (Hindi, Persian, Sanskrit).
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “The Saint as Model for Community: An Historical Analysis of the Hagiography of Mirabai.”
Stephanie Stillman-Spisak
  • BA, Religious Studies and Sociology, Colgate University, 1999.
  • MTS, Christianity and Culture, Harvard Divinity School, 2003.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2008.
  • Areas of Study at USCB: History of Religion in the U.S., Philosophy of Religion, Social and Cultural Theory, Formations of Subjectivity, Memory and Memorialization.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Remembering the Cruelest Month: The Network, Labor, and Haunting of Memories of Columbine.”
Taryn Sue

MA, UC Santa Barbara, 2022