This spring, CSR awarded its first round of small grants in support of graduate student and faculty research activities, conference participation and other academically-oriented travel needs. Awards were granted to five currently enrolled graduate students or faculty. Proposals demonstrated a substantial connection to the purpose and mission of the CSR, with preference given to those who contribute consistently to the life of the Center via event attendance and participation and/or to students working directly with our faculty affiliates. 

Applications were reviewed by a selection committee and were decided on the basis of merit and the project’s significance to the student's or faculty member's academic and/or professional development and the potential for the student's or faculty member's work to contribute to greater understanding of the field in which they are working. The projects selected for funding demonstrate a connection to the field of religious studies, but also take a variety of theoretical or methodological approaches relevant to the applicant's particular discipline.

This autumn, recipients will share blog post on the state of their research or any other use of the funding, along with a short summary and a photo of either the recipient or some aspect of their project.

Congratulations to the 2023 Spring Grant Recipients: 

Spencer Dew, Associate Professor, Comparative Studies, for the purchase of self-published media about alternative history for African American religious communities to build a university library collection. 

Savannah Finver, graduate student, Comparative Studies, for travel to the combined American Academy of Religion and North American Association for the Study of Religion annual conferences in San Antonio, TX to deliver a paper entitled "Strategic Entanglements: On the Necessity of Secure Mentorship Bonds Between Graduate Students and Senior Scholars" as well as to moderate a panel. 

Bert Harrill, Professor, History, for travel to Austria to present a research paper at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the International Society for New Testament Studies (SNTS), jointly hosted by the theological faculties of the University of Vienna. His paper title is: “To Play the Soldier: Self-Apostrophe and Self-Command in Paul's Letter to the Ephesians.” 

Shurouq Ibrahim, graduate student, Comparative Studies, for travel to Cairo, Egypt, to collect oral stories to support research on critical reflection on the relative merits and limitations of the ways that the supernatural/spiritual nature of Islamic asceticism has been conceived and defined — particularly in relation to gender — by looking at how the stories of the first female Sufi saint, Rabi’a Al- Adawiyya are understood by various “religious” strata in contemporary Muslim (mainly Egyptian) society.

Zari Mahmoudi, graduate student, Near Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures, for travel to Kentucky to present her paper "“Futuwwah/javānmardī as Ideal Virtue and Its Influence on Women’s Role in Ṣūfism” at the 76th Annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference.

Katie Rask, Assistant Professor, Classics, to purchase two excavation volumes about San Casciano, a newly discovered Etruscan sanctuary that she plans to discuss in her next book, tentatively titled New Directions in Etruscan Religion.