We've Got Some More Faculty News ...

The Department is very pleased to announce that it is hiring two new REL Instructors for the 2005-6 academic year.

Maha Marouan is currently completing her Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham, UK, on African American religion, history, and literature. Ms. Marouan, who is originally from Morocco, in northwest Africa, holds a Masters of Arts degree in Post-colonial Studies from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK, and a B.A. from Zohr University in Morocco. She is fluent in Arabic, as well as English, French, and Spanish. Her current research examines the role played by religion and alternative histories in recent literature, and the manner in which racial identity is constructed. When Maha arrives for the start of the Fall semester, she will be returning to campus--she had previously been to the University of Alabama as part of an April 2005 conference on the spread of African cultures.

In the Fall 2005 semester, Maha will be teaching two new courses: REL 226 Black Religious Experience--a course not offered by the Department for many years--and REL 370 Arabic Civilizations, Past and Present--a course never before offered in the Department.

Dr. Robert Stephens completed his Ph.D. at the University of Iowa's School of Religion in December 2004 and has taught full-time for the past three years as an Instructor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Northern Iowa. Dr. Stephens, who has reading knowledge of Hindi, Sanskrit, as well as German, has conducted fieldwork in India on two occasions, carrying out research on religious conversion in modern India, examining its social, political, and legal ramifications. He also holds an M.A. and BA in Religious Studies--the former from the University of Kansas, in Lawrence, and the latter from Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield. In early June 2005, Dr. Stephens visited campus to present a Religion in Culture lecture on conversion in modern India.

In the Fall 2005 semester, Rob will be teaching: REL 100 Introduction to Religious Studies, REL 105 Honors Introduction to Religious Studies, and REL 324 Tibetan Buddhism.

We're excited to have these two young scholars join us; both Maha and Rob will help the Department, which is in the midst of some personnel changes in the coming year. For more information on these changes, please visit the following page.