After graduating from The University of Alabama with the wisdom imparted to me by the religious studies program, I decided that I would take my knowledge and share it with people all over the country. Right now I am living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming which is one of the most beautiful places in the country. I sell out-of-print or limited edition DVDs online through a company that I am about to make official and work at UPS as a loader […]
Category: Alumni Updates
Melanie Williams
Until Melanie writes us something witty, we can at least say that, in April 2008, she graduated from culinary school in Vancouver, Canada, and or the summer of 2008 will be a chef for passengers on a tourist train between Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska. Way to go, Melanie! Graduation: Spring 2006 Degree: English/Religious Studies Current Location: Alaska […]
Peter von Herrmann
When I chose the University of Alabama for my undergraduate education, I wanted a place where I could study my three main interests – computers, religion, and business. Beginning as a CS major, I quickly learned that computer programming was not the path to happiness for me. As I sought a new major, I looked back at the religious studies courses that I had already taken – REL 100 (World Religions) with Jon Berry, REL 112 (Intro to New Testament) […]
Michele Trawick
I am currently starting a business with my dad. We are building and selling houses. He is also getting into other businesses and I am keeping the books for him as well in that. So I am definitely staying busy. This isn’t what I had planned on doing, but it was an excellent opportunity that I could not pass up. I’m living in Chipley, FL and having a blast! I hope all is well up there in good ol’ Tuscaloosa. […]
Shane Sharp
I graduated with a Religious Studies and Psychology BA in the Spring of 2001. Since then, I have earned my MA degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. I got to learn from a lot of great scholars in the field of Religious Studies and completed a thesis entitled “Religious Scholars’ and Quantitative Researchers’ Approaches to the Effects of Religiosity on the Behavior of Intimate Partner Abuse Victims: Bridging the Gap.” (Long title, huh?). I have also had the opportunity […]
Christine Scott
One of the most useful pieces of advice that I have ever received came from a few of my professors in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. I was told that, while pursuing my Masters at Georgia State University, one of the most important things to do was to work on professionalizing myself. It is not enough, I was told, for a graduate student to attend classes, read texts, and write papers (the normal work of […]
Matthew Satcher
Matthew Satcher, a double major in religious studies and philosophy, had his philosophy honors thesis published in the April 2006 issue of Dialogue, a scholarly journal for undergraduate and graduate students in philosophy. His essay, entitled “Proper Function Theory, Religious Exclusivism and the Challenge of Religious Diversity,” is a rebuttal to Alvin Plantinga’s “A Defense of Religious Exclusivism,” a topic Matthew first tackled in his final project for Catherine Roach’s REL 344 “God and Moral Reasoning” class. An earlier draft […]
Nic Reagan
Since graduating from the University of Alabama in 2002, I have been at the University of West Florida in Pensacola studying anthropology. I am currently a graduate student here working on an M.A. in biosocial anthropology. How are current human social behaviors (including “religion”) affected by our evolutionary past? Are the behaviors of humans really all that different in kind from other primates? What role does group identity play in human “culture” and how is it related to our biological […]
John W. Parrish
I was sitting in at Tim Hortons this morning, having a cup of coffee and reading a book, when I began to think about how it’s funny where life takes you. I grew up in Ft. Payne, Alabama–a small town by its own admission, snuggled in the valleys of the Appalachian foothills. Now, I am close to finishing the first semester of a Master’s program in Religious Studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. How did someone from […]
Craig Nutt
I may not be the best example of what can be done with a degree in Religious Studies as I have made my living as an artist and craftsman. However, the courses I took in that department have turned out to be surprisingly influential in the way I view my work and my role as an artist. I stumbled upon the REL department having little knowledge of or interest in the topic of religion, but found the topics relevant, and […]