New USU religious studies program awaits final approval
Approved by the Faculty Senate on Monday, Utah State University’s new religious studies program now waits to be approved by the Board of Trustees and Board of Regents.
The degree will fall under the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and will include courses from several departments, many already offered at USU, said Gary Kiger, the dean of HASS.
“This will be a classic liberal arts degree, like English or history or math,” said Norm Jones, head of USU’s history department and current director of the yet-to-be program. “This will be especially good for students who want to understand why people do what they do.”
The program will teach students how “religion shapes culture and culture shapes religion,” Jones said, but “will not take a stand on which is the right religion.”
“This will enhance the reputation of the college. There’s nothing like this in the state of Utah,” Kiger said. “We are very proud and we think it will draw lots of students coming precisely because of this program.”
Jones said he has seen a need for this type of program on campus for a long time.
“I have students in here all the time wanting to enroll,” he said.
USU’s unique religious demographic makes it a perfect place to study religion, Jones said.
“I think in general you can’t live in Utah without knowing a lot about religion and having strong opinions about it,” he said. “This will create a place to have discussions about religion on campus that isn’t [riddled] with other stuff.”
The base of knowledge Utah students bring with them into religion classes is great enough to make professors in similar programs at other schools jealous, he said.
The new USU program will be unique because it is not associated with one religion and is in no way tied to a divinity school, Jones said.
“This will provide people who are religious an opportunity to take an academic and scholarly look at religious beliefs,” Kiger said.
Students graduating with a degree in religious studies will be prepared for careers dealing with arbitration or diplomacy, Jones said, as well as working for social, government or religious relief organizations.
But the degree isn’t just about the job market, Kiger said.
“This will be a great liberal arts kind of degree because it looks at the connectedness of things – culture, politics and religions,” he said.
Kiger said the program will go before the Board of Trustees next month, and a letter of intent will be sent to the Board of Regents soon after. Jones said the program should be available to students by Fall 2006.
Once the program is approved, staffing the program will be the next move.
While the program can function on existing faculty resources, Jones said there “are obvious holes” that will be filled as the program develops.
“We have a real shortage on this campus for someone who can teach about Hinduism and Buddhism,” he said.
Jones also said he hopes to find experts in Judaism and Islam, though he said there are qualified teachers for those subjects currently.
Kiger said there will be a national search to fill the chair for the program, an endowed position provided by the Charles Redd Family Foundation.
“[The chair position] will attract some people because it’s a little different,” Jones said. The position will be especially appealing to those “who like building things from the ground floor and being involved with the creation of a program.”
Kiger said they hope to begin the search sometime this fall and have it filled by July 2006.
“We have to have the right cart/horse relationship in place,” Jones said. “It’s hard to fill a position for program that is not yet approved.”
While Jones is currently serving as the director of the program, as the current head of the history department, Jones said his plate is full and does not intend to continue serving as director.
Jones credits USU President Stan Albrecht for being essential to the development of the program. Albrecht was the dean of HASS when the idea was first developed and has been a “key player” ever since.
Eventually the program looks to expand the program to offer graduate degrees. The need for graduate degrees is especially large among those wishing to become military chaplains, Jones said.
“Military chaplains must have 72 hours of graduate work. That’s a pretty big demand and there’s no place for an LDS person to go to have that training,” he said. “You have to be familiar with all religions. In that position you are working with people experiencing trauma and grief and you have to be able to understand their value systems.”
Jones said the hardest part about of the getting the program started will be the buracracy and paperwork necessary.
“It’s all those nuts and bolts to keep the program running,” he said.
Financial backing for the program has largely come from private donors, Kiger said.
The program was recently awarded a $600,00 endowment from the O.C. Tanner Charitable Trust. The endowment will be used to purchase library resources for the program.
-bnelson@cc.usu.edu