{"id":1326,"date":"2023-05-30T11:13:59","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T15:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/religion\/?page_id=1326"},"modified":"2025-06-05T10:39:38","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T14:39:38","slug":"student-engagement-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/religious-studies\/student-engagement-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Religious Studies major John Campana pushes a prayer wheel (mani khorlo<\/em>) in Leh, Ladakh, during the Buddhist Himalaya short term course.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Religious Studies major Chloe Dwinal ’25 interviewing a new friend in Ladakh while on the Short Term study abroad course The Buddhist Himalaya.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"It\u2019s<\/figure>
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(Photo courtesy of Phyllis Graber Jensen) Phoebe Stern \u201924 engages Bates President Garry Jenkins in a discussion of her thesis research at a 2024 Mt. David poster session.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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(Photo courtesy of Phyllis Graber Jensen) Six current Religious Studies majors gathered for a RS Majors Celebration in March – when new majors received both advice from graduating senior majors and their own RS ball caps! Back row l-r: Sophie Leight \u201826, Shay Campolongo \u201825, Stella Simmonds \u201927, Suhana Liedtke \u201925; front row: Prof. Alison Melnick Dyer, Phoebe Stern \u201924, Chloe Dwinal \u201925, Prof. Cynthia Baker. Several other majors and faculty were, sadly, unable to make it to the event.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Eroticism<\/figure>
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(Photo courtesy of Phyllis Graber Jensen) Khushi Choudhary (Bates \u201923, HDS \u201925) was invited to present a talk based on her thesis research at a Temple Shalom brunch in Auburn in spring 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Religious Studies major Abbie Danko \u201924 presents a poster, at the Mt. David Summit, that combines her RS thesis research with learning from her final Religious Studies course at Bates.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>
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A student-centered course-design team led by Professor Baker met during Short Term in May 2023 to create a new introductory Religious Studies course that centers race, power, privilege, and colonialism. Here they present their progress at a campus-wide showcase event. From left Rishi Madnani \u201923, Khushi Choudhary \u201923, Jack Cantor \u201923, Prof. Cynthia Baker, Martha Coleman \u201923, and Rashad King \u201925. Professor Marcus Bruce (not in the photo) also worked closely with the design team and will launch the new course in Winter 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Student<\/figure>
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Student members of a Religious Studies Short Term course-design team pose with outgoing Bates President Clayton Spencer at an event in Perry Atrium showcasing innovative Short Term courses. From left: President Spencer, Rashad King \u201925, Martha Coleman \u201923, Jack Cantor \u201923, Khushi Choudhary \u201923, Rishi Madnani \u201923.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Three<\/figure>
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Three Religious Studies double-majors presented their interdisciplinary research at the 2023 Mount David Summit on a panel entitled \u201cReligion in America: Ancient Traditions ~ Modern Iterations.\u201d From left: Professor Cynthia Baker (panel moderator), Max Devon \u201923 Religious Studies and History; Alice Cockerham \u201923 Religious Studies and Anthropology; Alex Platt \u201923 Religious Studies and Rhetoric, Film, & Screen Studies; Professor Charles Nero (thesis advisor for Alex\u2019s Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies thesis). Three other Religious Studies majors presented on a panel entitled \u201cCrafting Religious Identities through Comedy, Poetry, Midrash, and Memoir. A seventh Religious Studies major presented a photo essay of the Himalayas. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Khushi<\/figure>
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Khushi Choudhary \u201923 awarded the Graduate Religious Studies Award.

Khushi began her relationship with Harvard Divinity School soon after starting her undergraduate career at Bates. This fall she will begin a Master of Theological Studies degree there. Congratulations Khushi!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Jack<\/figure>
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Jack Cantor and Frances White each won an Outstanding Thesis Award in Religious Studies. Jack\u2019s Honors Thesis, advised by Dr. Melnick Dyer is titled: “Of Pawos and Bodhisattvas: The Poltico-Religious Language of Tibetan Self-Immolation”. Frances\u2019s Thesis, advised by Dr. Baker is titled: “Women with Chutzpah: Comedy as a Subversive Tool of Jewish Female Comedians: An Analysis of the Humor of Sophie Tucker, Totie Fields, Gilda Radner, Ilana Glazer and Tiffany Haddish.”<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Three<\/figure>
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Three Religious Studies majors in this year\u2019s graduating class won the Rev. West Gould Willis Award for work in biblical studies. From left are Khushi Choudhary, Alex Platt, and Alice Cockerham. Alex won the award in 2022 and Khushi and Alice won in 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Four<\/figure>
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Four Religious Studies Majors earned Honors for their thesis work this year. From left: Max Devon, “The Seekers: American Religion in the Context of Heaven’s Gate\u201d; Alice Cockerham, “The Mark of the Beast, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the End of the World\u201d; Jack Cantor, “Of Pawos and Bodhisattvas: The Poltico-Religious Language of Tibetan Self-Immolation\u201d; and Khushi Choudhary, “Gardens of Oppression: In Search of Her <\/em>Delight.” <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Maddie<\/figure>
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Maddie Korbey \u201922 presents her Religious Studies thesis research at the Mount David Summit.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Three<\/figure>
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Three Religious Studies majors presented their research at the Mount David Summit in April 2022 on a panel titled, \u201cReligious Studies at the Cutting Edge:  Life and Death, Love and War, Local and Global.\u201d  From left:  Alex Platt \u201923, Cynthia Baker (moderator), Maddie Korbey \u201922, and Insha Afsar \u201922.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"St.<\/figure>
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Khushi Choudhary \u201923 chanced upon what appears to be an imprisoned woman outside St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral in London. The figure is actually an allegory of Ireland and sits with her harp within the Statue of Queen Anne outside the cathedral. Choudhary, however, is interested in the photography of sculpture and architecture and looks for interesting compositional possibilities.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Senior majors Andrew Segal and Ahmed Sheikh join Professor Alison Melnick in meeting new Bates students interested in Religious Studies at the Academic Fair during fall orientation.  August 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Keila<\/figure>
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Keila Ching \u201918 of Honolulu, Hawaii, a student in \u201cEpics of Asia\u201d taught by Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Alison Melnick, performs her final project in the Black Box Theater. For their finals, the students were asked to reinterpret an epic myth in a format of their choice, and Ching opted to create a shadow puppet performance featuring a prologue to the Tibetan myth of Gesar of Ling. Spring 2016 (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Associate<\/figure>
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Professor of Religious Studies Cynthia Baker slices an apple for students in her first-year seminar, \u201cThe Nature of Spirituality.\u201d She asked them to dip the fruit into honey as an expression of hope for a sweet school year. The ritual is inspired by an age-old Jewish New Year tradition. Baker and her students had just climbed Mount David, a 389-foot granite outcropping near campus, where they followed the apples and honey with a discussion of \u201cNature,\u201d a Ralph Waldo Emerson essay published in 1836. Today, all members of the Class of 2019 met with their first-year seminar instructors for class discussion and academic advising. Fall 2016 (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Short Term course (ECREs23) Gimme Shelter:  Making Housing Affordable, Making Affordable Housing.  Spring 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Religious Studies seminar students present community-engaged projects at a poster session in conjunction with the \u201cChaos or Community:  Conversations on Criminal Justice Reform in Maine\u201d symposium at Bates.  April 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Senior Religious Studies majors Alex Tritell (right) and Ahmed Sheikh (left) present at the Mount David Summit with classmate Ezra Oliff-Lieberman.  April 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Religious studies majors Emilie Muller \u201916 of Concord, N.H., Esperanza Gilbert \u201916 of Brooklyn, Wendy Goldman \u201916 of Dresden, Maine, Melissa Carp \u201916 of Newton, Mass., and Alex Tritell \u201916 of Bethesda, Md., pose for a photograph before their presentations.  April 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Religious Studies majors present their research at the Mount David Summit, April 2015.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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