Academic Culture & Values

Supporting an Academic Culture of Excellence and Success in the Curriculum

The field of religious studies as a whole values communication across difference and the cultivation of empathy as a critical thinking skill. This focus on inclusivity informs success for all, students and faculty alike, by inviting participation and encouraging comparative analyses. Our curriculum has both depth and breadth – our courses cover traditions that span the globe and that go back millennia.

As well, our courses are designed and taught such that students of all cultural backgrounds and commitments can rigorously engage with a wide a range of questions and topics relevant for deeper understanding and self-transformation. Faculty employ a healthy mix of Socratic dialogue, group projects, peer-learning, immersive/contemplative methods and lectures to ensure student excellence in intellectual inquiry, respectful critical engagement across differences and experiential knowledge.

Our curriculum includes a wide range of voices (especially those traditionally marginalized) on any given topic/religious tradition to foster respect, integrity and intellectual excellence/nuance. Faculty actively work to create classroom environments where different opinions and views are exchanged and analyzed. The field of religious studies is methodologically plural, and our department’s curriculum beautifully reflects this plurality – our course offerings run the gamut from philosophical and historical approaches to anthropological and scientific approaches to the study of religions, to introductory surveys and to specialized, topical courses.

Faculty develop and teach courses that interface not only with other fields of study but that speak to real-world issues, creating a rich, inter-disciplinary curriculum that prepares students for tackling complex, multi-faceted, real-world problems. Our curriculum includes advanced, high-level learning opportunities including, but not limited to, independent study courses, advanced topics courses, capstone projects, student research projects and study abroad programs.

Our courses help students hone their critical thinking skills, teaching them how to analyze complex arguments and texts, the power and functions of language, stories, symbols and metaphors, how communities flourish or break down, how human beings create meaning and how they fashion their lives, individually and communally, to achieve ends.

Supporting the Success of All Students

The success and wellbeing of students, be they majors, minors or those taking our classes out of curiosity, stand at the center of our department’s mission. Faculty are engaged in teaching and mentoring both inside and outside the classroom. All faculty hold regular, well-advertised office hours.

Our majors have gone on to succeed in a wide variety of careers, from attending top-rated graduate programs to law schools, from working in non-profits to leadership roles in business and public service. Our department enables students to better understand the various spheres of human life (psychology, politics, literature and so on) as they are affected by religions. This enhances cultural and professional competence in any field they choose, and anywhere they may travel, work and live during their lives.

Students are invited to share their research with their peers and faculty regularly, promoting community, belonging and academic excellence. One would be remiss to ignore the wealth of wisdom and insights carried by various religious traditions that students have a chance to carefully study and analyze. This open-minded, critical engagement lends itself to increased emotional and psychological strength, moral discernment and flourishing.

Through the study of religion, students develop curiosity and insight into abiding questions about how human beings have approached fear and anxiety, power and vulnerability, success and failure, wealth and poverty, health and illness, friends and enemies, self and community, mind/heart and body, sacredness and mundanity. These insights help students succeed in all aspects of their lives, personal and professional.

Supporting the Success of Faculty and Staff

All faculty and staff are truly and equally honored and respected in our department. Lines of communication are wide open between all members. There is a strong sense of joy and belonging in being part of a close-knit, collegial group of dedicated scholars and teachers, dedicated to excellence in research, teaching and service.

Faculty come together to share their latest research at regular departmental lunchtime events. There is an annual departmental merit review process that encourages research productivity, service and continuous reflection about, and improvements in, pedagogical effectiveness. Faculty and staff are encouraged and enabled to attend local and international scholarly conferences and workshops to support professional development and success.

Over the last decade or so, the department has hired and tenured several young faculty members who have gone on to publish highly regarded monographs with leading university presses (including Cambridge, Oxford, Columbia and NYU presses) and high-impact scholarly articles in leading academic journals (such as the Journal of the American Academy of Religion). Faculty in the department have also won several prestigious teaching awards at William & Mary and internal and external research grants, demonstrating the success of the department in offering an environment conducive to cultivating academic excellence and flourishing.

Leading scholars in religious studies and related fields are regularly invited to William & Mary for talks/lectures sponsored by the department. This allows our faculty to engage with, and contribute to, the latest scholarly developments and knowledge-creation in the field.

A robust culture of empathy and graciousness in the department ensures that all reasonable faculty and staff needs/requests are duly considered and accommodated, enhancing flourishing, belonging, respect and excellence.