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Professor of Religious Studies Heidi M. Ravven published a book titled The Self Beyond Itself: An Alternative History of Ethics, the New Brain Sciences, and the Myth of Free Will (The New Press, 2013).

Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies Brent Plate recently made presentations at Ithaca College and at the University of Toronto during the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Eastern International Regional Meeting.

Hamilton College’s highest awards for teaching were presented to three faculty members during the annual Class & Charter Day ceremony on May 13. Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Abhishek Amar and Rob Knight, assistant professor of art, received awards. Assistant Professor of Government Ted Lehmann was named the recipient of Student Assembly’s Sidney Wertimer Award.

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio’s Academic Minute will feature Visiting Assistant Professor of History John Ragosta's essay on National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 2. Ragosta, author of the newly published Religious Freedom: Jefferson's Legacy, America's Creed, provides a brief summary of the role of prayer in U.S. history. The broadcast can be heard locally at 7:34 a.m. or 3:56 p.m. at 90.3 FM and at InsideHigherEd.com.

When one thinks of religion, it is easy to imagine and conceptualize rituals, texts and principles. However, one might argue that the experience of religion is just as much about tastes, sights, sounds and textures as it is about following guidelines and observing tradition. Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate subscribes to the philosophy that religion is best understood through direct interaction rather than distanced study. He is helping students gain firsthand interactions with religion in Oneida County through his course “Religion in the U.S.”

Heidi M. Ravven, professor of religious studies, was an invited discussant at a conference titled “Free Will and the Scientific World View: Optimistic and Pessimistic Perspectives” on April 20 at the University of Delaware.

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Abhishek Amar presented a paper at a workshop titled “Local Domains/Translocal Claims: New Histories of the ‘Local’ in South Asia” organized by the South Asia Studies department, University of Pennsylvania, on April 12.

Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate recently presented invited lectures based on his forthcoming book, A History of Religion in 5 1/2 Objects.

Wendy Doniger, the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, will present the Hansmann Lecture titled “The Political Framework of Gender in the Kamasutra,” on Monday, March 4, at 4:10 p.m., in the Taylor Science Center’s Kennedy Auditorium.

Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate says, “This year's Oscar line-up is once again rife with religious references, and the entertainment industry may be overtaking religious institutions as the prime mythmakers and ritual producers in a society where the 'nones' are on the rise.”