Assistant Professor of Religion Meredith Minister, Ph.D., has been awarded a $30,000 grant by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion for fostering religious understanding in the Going Global: First-Year Seminar (FYS) program. Shenandoah University is one of 15 institutions to receive this prestigious award.

The Wabash Center grant will enable Assistant Professor of Religion Meredith Minister, Ph.D., to foster religious understanding in the university’s First-Year Seminar program. Earlier this semester, students in Dr. Minister’s First-Year Seminar course, “Edible Gods,” attended a Holi festival at the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in New Vrindaban, West Virginia. Events like these give students a new perspective on religion that they may not have been exposed to previously.
“Religious literacy is essential to being a global citizen today,” said Dr. Minister. “I’m excited that this grant will give Shenandoah students the opportunity to explore how religion shapes the world.”
Activities funded by the grant include piloting a series of second-semester FYS classes offered in spring 2016, exploring religious undercurrents not addressed currently in FYS classes. Minister will also hold a series of workshops within the 18-month grant period for FYS faculty to explore how religious understanding is an integral part of global awareness.
The activities sponsored by the grant are timely, as Secretary of State John Kerry has continued to reiterate the importance of understanding religion for global awareness throughout his tenure at the State Department.
In September, Kerry wrote, “I often say that if I headed back to college today, I would major in comparative religions rather than political science. That is because religious actors and institutions are playing an influential role in every region of the world and on nearly every issue central to U.S. foreign policy.”
The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, located at Wabash College and funded by Lilly Endowment Inc., offers workshops, grants, and resources for faculty in order to develop resources for teaching and learning in religious studies and theology.