FACULTY AND STAFF
Rita D. Sherma, PhD
Director of the Center for Dharma Studies
Associate Professor of Dharma Studies
GTU Core Doctoral Faculty
rsherma@gtu.edu
Wolf G. Clifton
Managing Editor, Journal of Dharma Studies
CDS Conference Manager
Coordinator, GTU Sustainability 360
wclifton@ses.gtu.edu
GTU VISITING SCHOLARS PROGRAM
Purushottama Bilimoria, PhD
Current
Purushottama Bilimoria works in Indian & Cross-Cultural Philosophy at the University of San Francisco. Formerly, he was a Chancellor’s Scholar and Visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He is honorary professor at Deakin University and Principal Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies (SHAPS), Melbourne University, Victoria, in Australia, and has been a Fulbright-Nehru Distinguished Fellow and Visiting Faculty at Ashoka University. He is the author of numerous academic articles and several volumes on Indian and Cross-Cultural Philosophy of Religion, the best known of which is: The History of Indian Philosophy (Routledge History of World Philosophies Series).
Graham M. Schweig, PhD
Current
Graham Schweig joined the faculty of Christopher Newport University in the fall of 2000. Prior to coming to CNU, he was a teaching fellow at Harvard University, lecturer at University of North Carolina and Duke University. He has been recognized several times for excellence in teaching, and has been a regularly invited lecturer at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Schweig has over 100 published journal and encyclopedia articles, chapters of books and reviews of books, and several books, the most well-know of which is Bhagavad Gītā: The Beloved Lord’s Secret Love Song.
ASSOCIATED SCHOLARS
Debashish Banerji, PhD
Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Dharma Studies, published by Springer International
Debashish Banerji is the Haridas Chaudhuri Professor of Indian Philosophy and Culture and the Doshi Professor of Asian Art at the, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco; Ph.D., Indian Art History, University of California, Los Angeles; MA Computer Science, University of Louisville, KY. Dr. Banerji’s numerous books are focused on Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo, Critical Posthumanism, Indian Modern Art, Philosophy, and Consciousness. He is a co-convener of the CDS Project on Critical Theory.
Pravina Rodrigues, PhD
Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Dharma Studies, published by Springer International
Dr. Pravina Rodrigues holds a PhD in Theology and Ethics from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, USA. She is Adjunct Faculty at Starr King School for the Ministry and the Graduate Theological Union's Center for Dharma Studies in California, USA. She is postdoctoral fellow at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, Berkeley, CA (2021, 2022). Her publication A Śākta Method for Comparative Theology: Upside Down, Inside Out (Lexington Press), offers a Hindu perspective on comparative theology, theology of religions, and interreligious dialogue.
PATRONS | MIRA & AJAY SHINGAL
Founders of Center for Dharma Studies
"We need places where religion is respected and taught openly, and for us there is no place that does this better than the GTU." - Ajay Shingal
ALUMNI
PhD Alumni
Cogen Bohanec
PhD Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion
A Constructive Eco-theology of Kṛṣṇa Bhakti by applying the Methodologies of Eco-feminist/Animal-Rights Theology.
Dissertation: Process and Dialectic in Hindu Thought: Gaudiya Vaishnava Systematic Theology and Ethics.
Laura Dunn
PhD Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion
Neocolonial Developments in Śākta Tantra.
Dissertation: Visualizing Power: The Image of Śakti in Modern Day Trika Tantra.
Aaron Grizzell
PhD in Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion
Dissertation: History of Religions and Reflections on a New Cognitive Humanism: Mythic Fissure and the Cognitive Imagination of Matter.
Sara Ivanhoe
PhD Religion and Practice - Yoga Studies PhD
Dissertation: In Search of Sleep: A Comprehensive Study of Yoga Philosophy, Therapeutic Practice, and Improving Sleep in Higher Education.
Kypros Koutsokoumnis
PhD Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion
Cross-Cultural Theories of Aesthetics That Deal With the Sacred.
Pravina Rodrigues
PhD Theology and Ethics
Method in Comparative & Interreligious Theology.
Dissertation: Upside Down, Inside Out: A Śakta Mnemopraxial Methodology for Comparative Theology.
Masters Alumni
Janani Carpenter
MA Yoga Studies
The Teaching Tradition of Advaita Vedanta.
Capstone: Ādi Śaṅkara's Advaita Vedānta and Environmentalism: A Transcendentalist Lens.
Somanjana Chatterjee
MA Hindu Studies
Capstone: Sustainability studies, Hindu-Jewish Comparative Ecotheology, Corporeality, Theopraxis of the Feminine.
Stephanie du Pont
MA Yoga Studies
Capstone: Hinduism, the Transcententalists, and the Environmental Movement: How Hinduism Influenced the Western World in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.
Noel Heyden
MA Hindu Studies
Capstone: Towards a Comprehensive Solution to the Problem of Desire in the Bhagavad-Gītā: A Study of the Philological Evidence From the Sannanta, Vidhi Liṅ, Loṭ, and Kṛtya Verbal Forms and Kṛṣṇa’s ‘Beloved’ Priya.
Nimisha Nair
MA Hindu Studies
Understanding Ecology through the Theology of Advaita Bhakti.
Capstone: Eco-theology and Ethics in Advaita Vedānta.
Victoria Price
MA Yoga Studies
Capstone: Theology vs. Praxis of Sevā in the Ramakrishna Movement and Mata Amritanandamayi Math.
Laura Prickett
MA Yoga Studies
Capstone: Outcomes of Spiritual Practices Documented in First-Person Accounts by Two Twentieth Century Author-Practitioners from Hindu and Christian Traditions.
Adriel Ramirez
MA Hindu Studies
Capstone: Defining Love Through the Bhagavad Gītā: A Caitanya Perspective.
CDS STUDENTS
Current PhD Candidates
Charissa Jaeger-Sanders
PhD Theology and Ethics
Dissertation Proposal: Down in the Dirt and Dwelling in Darkness: A Wesleyan Theology in Interreligious & Interdisciplinary Engagement.
Parameshwaran Ramakrishnan, M.D.
PhD Theology and Ethics
Dissertation Proposal: Contemplative-Neuroscientific Hermeneutic Methodology for Comparative-Theological Studies and its Application in Clinical Spiritual Care (Chaplaincy) Education and Medical Ethics: Towards a "Spiritual Psychiatry" Subspecialty.
Zipei Tang
PhD Religion and Practice - Yoga Studies PhD Concentration
Dissertation Proposal: Yoga Metaphysics of the Divine Feminine: Śaktism, Integral Yoga, and Science.
Current PhD Students
Bart 'Bharatdas' Abbott
PhD Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion
Amit Bose
PhD Theology and Ethics - Hindu Theology
Wolf Gordon Clifton
PhD Theology and Ethics
Dharmic ecotheology: Hindu and Buddhist perspectives on climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
Athena Lalitā
PhD Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion
Comparative study of Hindu and Buddhist philosophies from the perspective of a Hindu-Buddhist-Taoist scholar-practitioner.
Kali (Meera) Tanikella
PhD Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion
Juxtaposing Enlightenment and Dharma: Comparing the Concept of Disjunctive Individualism with Deep Interconnectedness as it Relates to Gender.
Current MA Students
Trykie J. Fernandes Caberto
MA Hindu Studies
Non-Puranic Śaivism: Purity, death, and entheogens in the Kāpālika lineages.
Maurena McKee
MA Hindu Studies
Art, literature, ritual, and ecology. Eco-ministry, chaplaincy, and youth-based spirituality. Ethnographic filmmaking. Guided on my path by Kashmir Shaivism and a resonance with the Veda.
Affiliated Students
Kristine Bell
Interreligious Chaplaincy
Yogic / Dharmic perspectives on interreligious chaplaincy.
Faculty and Staff
