We’ve started a new series, featuring grads that have ended up doing a pretty wide variety of things after leaving their REL classes (graduating either recently or a little while ago). So we posed a few questions to each and let’s see what we learn. 1. When were you enrolled at UA and what major(s) and minor(s) did you graduate with? I was enrolled from 2008-2013 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies and a Bachelor of […]
Tag: Careers
6 Questions with Shane Sharp
We’ve started a new series, featuring grads that have ended up doing a pretty wide variety of things after leaving their REL classes (graduating either recently or a little while ago). So we posed a few questions to each and let’s see what we learn. 1. When were you enrolled at UA and what major(s) and minor(s) did you graduate with? 1997-2001; Psychology and Religious Studies (double major) 2. When you first came here from high school, what did you […]
Tips for Career Readiness
This past week, recent REL grad, Khara Cole (who works for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Alabama), returned to Manly Hall to offer a workshop on careers, resumes, and interview tips. Khara, having graduated from UA in 2013 with a degree in Public Relations and Religious Studies, had a lot to say on the skills she acquired while getting those degrees, and how one can effectively discuss and employ those skills when preparing for a career outside the study of religion. […]
6 Questions with Maggie Paul
We’ve started a new series, featuring grads that have ended up doing a pretty wide variety of things after leaving their REL classes (graduating either recently or a little while ago). So we posed a few questions to each and let’s see what we learn. 1. When were you enrolled at UA and what major(s) and minor(s) did you graduate with? I was a Religious Studies major when I enrolled at UA, and I graduated with a double major in […]
6 Questions with Wade Bond
We’ve started a new series, featuring grads that have ended up doing a pretty wide variety of things after leaving their REL classes (graduating either recently or a little while ago). So we posed a few questions to each and let’s see what we learn. 1. When were you enrolled at UA and what major(s) and minor(s) did you graduate with? I enrolled way back in 1992, and I earned a BS in Business Management. 2. When you first came […]
Coming Attractions: 6 Questions with…
We’ve sent out 6 simple questions to a wide array of REL grads — some of them are recent and some have been away from Manly Hall for quite a few years. We’re asking them to reflect back on their time here and tell us a little about what they’ve ended up doing. We’ll post them as they come in… […]
“What Do I Talk About At the Job Interview?”
I’ve written a number of blog posts over the years about the skills that students in the academic study of religion acquire. It’s worth thinking about because too many people seem focused only on the content of an undergrad degree, assuming that the thing that you study is the thing that you’ll do. It’s an effect of the longstanding professionalization of the university, of course (whereby specialties once reserved for separate, two-year colleges or tech schools moved into the university […]
On Beginnings: Part 1
This essay (serialized here across 24 separate posts) uses words and numbers to discuss the uses of words and numbers — particularly examining evaluations of university degrees that employ statistical data to substantiate competing claims. Statistical analyses are crudely introduced as the mode du jour of popular logic, but any ratiocinative technique could likely be inserted in this re-fillable space and applied to create and defend categories of meaning with or without quantitative support. Questions posed across the series include: […]
A New Series Kicks Off: Grad Tales Extra
Zac Parker graduated with a B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Alabama in 2011. Here he helps us kick off our new, ongoing series, Grad Tales Extra, in which grads not able to join us on campus, to discuss the relevance of their degree, can drop us a line instead, to update us on what they’ve done since leaving Manly Hall. During the year following graduation, I spent many months traveling, camping, and backpacking around the country, taking […]
REL Faculty Stay Class in San Diego
Don’t be surprised if a few offices are empty next week. Many of our wonderful REL faculty will be spending November 22-25 in sunny San Diego for the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature or AAR/SBL for short or #SBLAAR14 for hashtag. What will our faculty be doing in San Diego? Glad you asked. Some will be giving papers or talks to other scholars and sharing the research they’ve been doing. Others […]