Alumni

Alphabetical by last name.

  • The results are being filtered by the character: B
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z
Michael Barber
  • BA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
  • JD, Santa Barbara College of Law, 1980.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2015.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: East Asian and South Asian Religious Traditions, Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism and Language.
Steven Barrie-Anthony
  • BA, Religious Studies, Occidental College, 2004.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2009.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2016.
  • PsyD, Psychoanalysis, Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 2021.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religion and Spirituality, Religious Experience, Religion and the Media, Religion and Technology, Sociology of Religion, Religion and Medicine/Healing, Religion and Pluralism, Secularism and the Sacred.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Treating Anomic Illness: Toward a Dialogue with Tibetan Buddhist Medicine, and a Mind-Body-World-Transcendent Approach.”
  • Title of Doctoral (PhD) Dissertation: “’A Chain of Internal Connections’: The Baba-Lovers and Individualism, Community, and Public Life.”
  • Title of Doctoral (PsyD) Dissertation: “The Sacralization of the Intimate Edge: Heeding Spirituality’s Call for Mutual Experience within Clinical Work.”
  • Current Employment and Affiliations: Psychoanalyst in private practice (http://www.drstevenba.com); Research Associate, UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion; Volunteer Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UCSF Medical School.
Molly H. Bassett
  • BA, Classical Studies & Spanish, Marshall University, 2001.
  • MDiv, Harvard University, 2004.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2009.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Mesoamerican Religions (Mexica-Aztec).
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Fate of Earthly Things: Mexica-Aztec Deities and their Representation.”
  • Current employment: Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Georgia State University
Elliott Bazzano
  • BA, Religious Studies, Humboldt State University, 2005.
  • MA, Religion/Islamic Studies, Duke University, 2006.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Islamic Studies, Sufism, Qur’anic Studies, Pluralism, Ethics, Mysticism, Identity, Pedagogy, Narratives, Arabic, Persian.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Qur’an According to Ibn Taymiyya: Redefining Exegetical Authority in the Islamic Tradition.”
  • Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, LeMoyne College.
Martin Becker
Martin Becker
Emily Bennett

MA: Religious Studies in Religions of the Americas, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2022

BA: Honors Major in Religious Studies and Minor in Asian Studies, Lewis and Clark College, 2019

Stephen C. Berkwitz
  • BA, University of Vermont, 1991.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1994.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1999.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: South Asian Buddhism, Religions of India, Pali, Sanskrit, Critical Theory.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Reforming Tradition and Forming Identity in Twentieth-Century Sri Lankan Buddhism.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Ethics of Buddhist History: A Study of the Pali and Sinhala Thupavamsa-s.”
  • Current Employment: Professor of Religious Studies, Missouri State University.
Evan Berry
  • BA, Religion, The Colorado College, 1999.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2003.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2008.
  • Areas of Study at USCB: Religion and Nature, Contemporary Forms of Spirituality, Implicit Religion, Religion in American Culture and in the Modern West, Philosophy of Religion, Sociology of Religion, Sacred Space.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Devoted to Nature: Environmental Spirituality and Religious Change in the Pacific Northwest.”
  • Current Employment: Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion, American University.
Anna Bigelow
  • BA, Religious Studies and English Literature, Smith College, 1991.
  • MA, Religious Studies, Columbia University, 1995.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2004.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Islam in South Asia.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Sharing Saints, Shrines, and Stories: Practicing Pluralism in Punjab.”
  • Current Employment: Associate Professor of Religion, North Carolina State University
Vincent F. Biondo, III
  • BA, Religious Studies, UC San Diego, 1995.
  • MA, Liberal Arts, San Diego State University, 1998.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2005.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: History of Religions, Islam.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: Islam and Public Space in the U.S. and Britain: Politics, Pluralism, Schools, and Mosques.”
  • Current Employment: Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies, Humboldt State University.
Alison Bjerke
  • BA, Stanford University, 2002.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2012.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: History of Christian Thought, Religion and Modern Thought, Social and Critical Theories of Religion, Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Theory.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Hegel and the Love of the Concept.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “William of Ockham and the Opening of Phenomenology.”
Zeff Bjerken
  • BA, Religion, Reed College, 1986.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1989.
  • MA, Buddhist Studies, University of Michigan, 1993.
  • PhD, Buddhist Studies, University of Michigan, 2001.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Comparative Philosophy of Religion, Cross-Cultural Hermeneutics, South Asian Religions.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis (UCSB): “Toward a Comparative Study of Time in the Philosophies of Hartshorne and Nagarjuna.”
  • Title of Master’s Thesis (University of Michigan): “The Ties That Bind: The Religio-Political Manipulation of a Tibetan Royal Genealogical Myth.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Mirror-work of Tibetan Religious Historians: A Comparison of Buddhist and Bon Historiography.”
  • Current Employment: Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies, College of Charleston.
Chase Bossart
  • BA, Philosophy and Religion, Colgate University, 1992.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2006.
  • Areas of Study at USCB: Indian Religions, Yoga, Chinese Buddhism.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “The Cessation of Cessation: Re-Envisioning Patañjali’s Definition of Yoga and Vyāsa’s Commentary on Sūtras I.2, I.3, and I.4.”
  • Current Employment: Director of Therapy & Education, Healing Yoga Foundation,
    San Francisco.
Drew Bourn
  • BA, Religion, Earlham College, 1991.
  • MTS, World Religions, Harvard, 2000.
  • MLIS, Archives Management, Simmons College, 2006.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2012.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Immigration and Transnationalism, Islam and Asian Religions in the United States, Theories of Consciousness, Subjectivity, Subject-Formation.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Secularizing San Francisco: Religion, Prostitution, and Public Policy, 1848-1917.”
  • Current Employment: Curator, Stanford Medical History Center.
Marcy Braverman-Goldstein
  • BA, University of Rochester, 1993.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1996.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2003.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Hinduism, Kashmir Shaivism, Mysticism, Hinduism in America, Psychology of Religion, Religion and Madness, Sanskrit, Yoga Traditions.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Two Reflections in the Mirror: Pratyabhijna and Lacanian Discourses on Specular Identity Construction.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Possession, Immersion, and the Intoxicated Madnesses of Devotion in Hindu Traditions.”
  • Current Employment: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Religion, Davidson College.
  • Founder and Instructor at Sanskrit Revolution: http://www.sanskritrevolution.com
Jeffrey Brodd
  • BA, Mathematics and Philosophy, St. Olaf College, 1982.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1988.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1992.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity, Comparative Philosophy of Religion.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Gnostic Morality: Asceticism, Libertinism, and the ‘Acosmic’ Theory of Hans Jonas.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Apostate, Philo-Semite, or Syncretic Neoplatonist?  Julian’s Intentions for Rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple.”
  • Current Employment: Chair of Humanities & Religious Studies, California State University, Sacramento.

 

James Brousseau
A. Najib Burhani
  • BA, Theology & Philosophy, UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta, Indonesia, 1999.
  • MA, Islamic Studies, Universiteit Leiden, the Netherlands, 2004.
  • MSc, Social Research Methods and Statistics, University of Manchester, UK, 2007.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
  • Area of Study at UCSB: Religious Minorities in Islam, Sufism, Interpretations of the Qur’an, Islam in Southeast Asia.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “When Muslims Are Not Muslims: The Ahmadiyya Community and the Discourse on Heresy in Indonesia.”
  • Current Employment: Researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jakarta.