FLAS Language Program for Graduate Students

Critical Language Scholarship Program Newsletter

How to apply to the UW Graduate Program in Comparative Religion

About the Program (Program Handbook)

     The Comparative Religion Graduate Program is an interdisciplinary program in the Jackson School of International Studies that offers a Master of Arts degree. The focus is highly international and trans-cultural in nature. Faculty (http://jsis.washington.edu/religion/faculty/) specialize in a wide range of religious traditions and theoretical approaches in the study of religion and the University’s language and literature/civilization programs offer deep resources for students interested in the comparative study of religionhttp://www.washington.edu/students/crscat/religion.html

Not all of the courses that can be used to apply toward the Master's degree have a RELIG prefix. Other prefixes include: NEAR E, NELC, HIST, HSTAA, SOC and many others.

      The Master’s program provides a particularly strong foundation for students headed toward PhD programs in religion. Doctoral-level study at the University of Washington is available through interdisciplinary programs in Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Asian Languages and Literature, and in other related departments such as Anthropology, Ethnomusicology, History, and Sociology.

     To earn an MA a student must meet requirements of The Graduate School and
The Comparative Religion Program http://www.jsis.washington.edu/advise/graduate/app_procedures.shtml

     Finally, our program places a priority on language skills; the minimum requirement is (1) completion of the third year of a language appropriate for utilizing primary sources in the chosen concentration as well as (2) development of a first-year reading knowledge of a secondary foreign language necessary for reviewing published research in the chosen area (e.g. German, French). For some languages (e.g. biblical Hebrew), no formal third-year curriculum currently exists. In such cases, students should consult with graduate advisors about appropriate variations that would fulfill the requirement (achieving analogous expertise by combining advanced available level biblical Hebrew with study of a relevant language such as Ugaritic).

     Current and incoming Graduate Students are eligible (and strongly encourage to apply) for FLAS Awards either for Summer or during academic year. For the new FLAS application please visit.  Applications may be downloaded from http://jsis.washington.edu/advise/flas/application.shtml.  The deadline for filing applications is usually within the first couple of weeks in January. Please check with the FLAS coordinator at 206-543-6001.
 

--James K. Wellman, Jr., Chair

Our MA students and graduates...where are they now?

Ed Smith (MA program) has received a FLAS for a summer Mandarin course. Originally an alternate, Ed but received a notice last Saturday that he had been selected. His plan is to take the intensive course at UW this summer.

Doug Ober (MA, Comparative Religion/Tokuno) was accepted into University of British Columbia's Ph.D. program in Asian Studies with a full fellowship.

Brad King (MA, Comparative Religion/Walker/Williams) is in the Ph.D. program in Religion at the University of Texas specializing in the field of early Christianity.

Alex Kocar (MA, Comparative Religion) is in the Ph.D. program in Religion at Princeton, specializing in the field of early Christianity.

Kyle Bond (MA, Comparative Religion/Tokuno) has been accepted into the PhD program at Princeton University's Department of Religion and s the recipient of the Princeton University Fellowship 2012. Last year he was awarded The Japan Foundation Grant for Japanese language studies.

Things are going splendidly at Rice for Michael Heyes (MA, Comparative Religion/Tokuno/Williams). Mike's publications (some forthcoming) include: “Review of Victorian Occultism and the Making of Modern Magic: Invoking Tradition.” Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft; (2009) "Magic East and West: A Refutation of Pasi's Eighth Thesis." Societas Magica Newsletter (22). He will present "Sympathetic Suffering: Alleviating Suffering through the Life of St. Margaret," International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 2012. He was awarded a Mellon Foundation Summer Research Grant (2010). Additionally, he's taught Religion in Fiction and Film and Magic and Magicians in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Mike is President and Founding Member of the Rice Organization for the Study of Gnosticism, Mysticism, and Esotericism (2011).

Laura Bush (MA, Comparative Religion/Tokuno) is writing her Ph.D. dissertation in Communications at the UW while working in the UW's Human Subjects Department.

Katie Corcoran (MA, Comparative Religion/Wellman) loves the UW Sociology program where she is currently finishing her PhD dissertation. She's studying the sociology of religion and working with Steven Pfaff and James Kitts. Katie was awarded the Best Student Paper Award by the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion: “Religion and the Acceptability of White-Collar Crime: A Cross-National Analysis.” With David Pettinicchio and Blaine Robbins (2011), the Best Graduate Student Paper Award by the American Sociological Association, Rationality and Society section: "Religious Human Capital Revisited: Testing the Effect of Religious Human Capital on Religious Participation” (2011) and Otto Larsen Dissertation Award (Sociology Department, University of Washington, 2010-2011) and the Annual Excellence in Teaching Award (Sociology Department, University of Washington, 2010-2011). She and Steve have a forthcoming article in the Journal for the Scientific Study of religion and are working on another article together. She also has three other articles and some encyclopedia entries that are either published or forthcoming. Katie has taught Relig 254 American Religion, SOC 357 Sociology of Religion, SOC 494A Sociology of Education, and SOC 494D Sociology of Organizations. She is currently working with Jim Wellman on an article that draws on his American megachurch project.

Lance Jenott (MA Comparative Religion/Williams/Jaffee) graduated from Princeton University with a Ph.D. in the Religions of Late Antiquity in January 2011. Since 2010 he's been teaching part-time for Princeton’s department of Religion, including courses on biblical apocalyptic movements, Christian Ethics, history of ancient Christianity, and introduction to the New Testament. In 2010 he and his doctoral supervisor, Elaine Pagels, published an article “Antony’s Letters and Nag Hammadi Codex I: Sources of Conflict in Fourth-Century Egypt,” in the Journal of Early Christian Studies 18.4 (2010): 557–589. And in Fall 2011 his first book was published, The Gospel of Judas: Coptic Text, Translation, and Historical Interpretation of the ‘Betrayer’s Gospel’ (Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity 64; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011).