Department of Religious Studies
Department 3392
1000 E. University Ave
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: 307-766-3204
Email: relstudies@uwyo.edu
Congratulations for recent awards and recognition to our Religious Studies faculty:
Dr. Kristine T. Utterback was recognized in the April 2017 issue of UWYO magazine, page 57, as being an influential instructor.
Dr. Paul V.M. Flesher has a co-edited publication coming out, The Old Testament in Archaeology and History through Baylor University Press.
Professor Tyler has received two awards this spring. He has received the 2016-17 A&S Extraordinary Merit in Teaching Award and his 8th consecutive P.I.E. award through the LEARN program.
Congratulations to Professor Tyler Fall and Dr. Seth Ward who have each received the Arts & Sciences "Thumbs Up" award!
For two summers, Dr. Paul Flesher led students to Israel, where they were part of the mosaic discoveries at Huqoq. Here is an update to some of those discoveries: Explore This Mysterious Mosaic - It May Portray Alexander the Great.
Professor Tyler Fall has received his 7th consecutive P.I.E. award: Promoting Intellectual Engagement Award, which "honors instructors who inspire excitement, inquiry, and autonomy in first-year courses." The department appreciates his skill and influence through teaching. Now if we could get him to share some of the actual pie he receives along with his certificate! :-)
Dr. Mary Keller has received the "Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2016." She was recognized for her paper, "Teleinvestmentevangelists: celebrity, ritual, and religion and the quest to 'beat the market,'" published in Qualitative Research in Financial Markets 2015 Vol 7 3E.
"‘The Time has come to save our women’: A Female Religious Leader’s Feminist Politics as Experimental Hinduism in North India,” was published in the International Journal of Dharma and Hindu Studies vol. 2, no. 1 (January 2016): pp. 1-37.
Book review article of Fertile Disorder: Spirit Possession and Its Provocation of the Modern (by Kalpana Ram 2013), was published in WAGADU: A Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies
“God Depends on The Lowest Devotees: Gender, Performance, and Transformation in the Tale of a Female Sādhu in Rajasthan,” was accepted for publication in the History of Religions, and will appear in print in May 2016.
Dr. Ward has been traveling Wyoming, presenting at libraries and schools in Pinedale, Marbleton, Jackson, Casper, Lush and Torrington. Topics included, “Women in Judaism and Islam,” focusing on dramatic changes in women’s roles in the past decades—and some of the most contentious contemporary issues—and “Understanding the Middle East,” focusing on dramatic changes in this region and their ramifications for US policy.
Religious Studies major, Rhiannon Jakopak, has been recognized as one of the top 20 graduating students within the College of Arts and Sciences for 2016. Great job, Rhiannon!
Congratulations to Dr. Antoinette DeNapoli for her award, College of Arts & Sciences' Extraordinary Merit in Research for 2016. Well earned!
Tyler Fall was highlighted in the Fri., Oct 2, 2015 edition of the UW Branding Iron. Read the article "Popular religion teacher reflects on path to UW."
Please welcome new Department Head, Dr. Kristine T. Utterback. She brings with her several years of teaching experience, serving on various committee's while at UW, and once upon a time, Department Head in History. At this same moment, we need to mention that Dr. Quincy Newell, left UW for new horizons at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY. We wish both Dr. Utterback and Dr. Newell the best in their new endeavors.
Dr. Antoinette DeNapoli, who has been researching in India for the past eight months, was interviewed regarding her research on Hindu asceticism, female ascetics and her work in the United states in teaching about Hinduism. Click here to see the newspaper article, in Hindi.
Dr. Sally Palmer was recognized in the local Boomerang newspaper on 4/29/14. Click here to read more about it.
Professor Tyler Fall has won the P.I.E. Award again this year - 5th year in a row. Nominated by sophomore students, for instructors of first year courses, who have inspired excitement, inquiry and autonomy in the classroom. P.I.E. stands for The Promoting Intellectual Engagement Award. This year, Professor Fall received a ceramic pie plate along with a Chocolate Cream pie. Congratulations!
Dr. Paul Flesher has attributed to Mosaic discoveries in Galilee for the past two years as part of the Huqoq field excavation program with Dr. Jodi Magness at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Dr. David Amit with the Israel Antiquities Authority. Refer to the Religious Studies "Travel Abroad Opportunites-Huqoq Excavation Project" page for more information. As well, click to read an article from the "Biblical Archaeology Review" issue Sept/Oct 2013.
Religious Studies Faculty along with Philosophy Faculty and Graduate Assistants joined together in nominating, Clayleen Rivord, the sole office personnel in both departments, for the UW Bookstore 2012 Favorite Administrative Professional of the Year award. Their letters of support and gratitude were favorable in the selection process in which Clayleen received the 2012 award.
Dr. Antoinette DeNapoli's article, "Crossing Over the Ocean of Existence: Performing Mysticism and Exerting Power by Female Sadhus in Rajasthan" was published in the September 2010 issue of Oxford Journal of Hindu Studies.
Dr. Antoinette DeNapoli presented two papers at the American Academy of Religion in Atlanta, Georgia.
"Bhakti is Like a Tigress' Milk: Asceticism and Caste Hegemony in Rajasthani Sadhus' Popular Religious Practices"
"Real Sadhus Sing to God: The Capital of Devotion and Lineage in Female Renunciant Leadership in Rajasthan"
Department of Religious Studies
Department 3392
1000 E. University Ave
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: 307-766-3204
Email: relstudies@uwyo.edu