August 2006
Dear Friends,
The Religious Studies
Program at the University of Wyoming and members of the local Mormon community
have formed an exploratory committee in response to proposals for the creation
and endowing of a Chair in Mormon Studies (emphasizing history, culture, and
religion) as a centerpiece of a proposed Center for the Study of Religion in
the American West. After some discussion, the committee determined that it is
time to explore whether broader support exists for this direction in Wyoming
and beyond. This project is still in the formative stages, but we have
identified the following goals:
The overall aim of this
endeavor is to add to UW’s curriculum in the academic study of religion an
emphasis relevant to Wyoming and the West. Courses on Mormonism would focus
upon the religion and its role in shaping, and being shaped by, the evolving
American West. In this vein, classes would be offered on a variety of topics,
and would be open to LDS and non-LDS students. These courses would have a
twofold aim: to build bridges of understanding and to eliminate prejudice in
both camps, and to develop understanding of the LDS people and the LDS church
in their historical, social and geographical contexts.
These changes center on
bringing to UW a scholar of stature in Mormon Studies and Religion in the
American West. That person would direct a wide range of activities under the
umbrella of an academic Center. These activities
may include but will not be limited to: sponsoring conferences on religion and
religious studies in the American West, developing a newsletter or scholarly
journal, supporting student research internships, awarding travel grants and
encouraging research initiatives, as well as sponsoring annual lectureships,
visiting professorships, and research grants for drawing on the collections at
UW’s American Heritage Center. The AHC,
needless to say, constitutes a significant yet largely untapped resource for
the study of religious history in Wyoming and the West.
The committee envisions this
project in synergy with UW’s growing Religious Studies curriculum which
emphasizes increasing understanding of Religion in the American West. The
overall goal of the Religious Studies Program at UW is to improve understanding
of world religions and those religions’ members. Religious Studies courses are
not aimed at proselytization, conversion or apologetics, but to help outsiders
understand why particular religions are attractive and meaningful to their memberships. Concomitantly, such courses help insiders
learn more about the growth and spread of their own religion and religious
culture, and how and why various beliefs and practices came to be and continue
relevant. The chair in Mormon Studies would largely follow this characterization. Within this context,
the chair’s occupant would have complete academic freedom to design and offer
the courses he/she sees fit and to pursue his/her research according to his/her
own judgment.
Committee:
Director, Religious Studies Program Professor
of Spanish and Religious Studies
Associate Professor of Religious Studies Bishop,
Spring Creek Ward
Mr. Allen C. Turner Dr.
Gene Pratt
Laramie Stake President Retired
University of Wyoming professor
Former
Stake President and Mission President
Dr. Quincy Newell Dr.
Seth Ward
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Academic
Professional Lecturer in Religious Studies
For
further information, please contact one of the co-chairs of the committee:
Dr.
Paul Flesher, 307-766-2616, PFlesher@Uwyo.edu
Dr.
Kevin Larsen, 307-766-2294, KLarsen@uwyo.edu
August 2006
Fact Sheet
Religious Studies
Program
Since its founding in 1993, the Religious Studies Program has been an innovative and vibrant addition to the University of Wyoming’s curriculum. Located in the College of Arts and Sciences, it brings to all University students a broad range of opportunities for the study of religions in America and around the world. In recent years, the Program has increasingly emphasized the study of the religious development of the Rocky Mountain region, with its most recent faculty hire focusing specifically on Religions in the American West.
The Religious Studies Program is small yet growing, consisting presently of three full-time faculty members and over ten adjunct and part-time faculty members. Despite its small size, the Program includes several of UW’s most accomplished humanities and social science faculty: Dr. Kevin Larsen has an international reputation in the study of Spanish literature and Iberian Judaism: Dr. Caroline McCracken-Flesher is known on both sides of the Atlantic in Scottish studies and the Calvinist roots of Scottish culture; the Director, Dr. Paul Flesher, serves as president of a European-based scholarly society focusing on ancient Judaism; Dr. Richard Machalek works in the cutting-edge investigation of the biological foundations of social behavior (including religion); Dr. Seth Ward is an expert on Middle Eastern religions and has edited a book on Jewish-Mormon relations; Dr. Robert Torry is an nationally known expert in film studies and has just completed a book on film and religion, co-authored with Paul Flesher. In addition, the Program’s faculty includes Dr. Quincy Newell, a young scholar in Religion in the American West, who brings energy and enthusiasm to her work on Native Americans, the Spanish colonial impact on the West, and early Utah Mormonism.
The Program’s growth is reflected in the number of courses it offers. When it was created in 1993, it was able to mount only 4 courses a semester. In recent years, the Program’s faculty offer an average of 10 to 12 a semester. During the same time, the Program’s enrollment totals have risen from 200 students a semester to an average of over 400 students a semester. This latter number represents one of the highest student-to-faculty ratios at UW—an indication of student interest in the Program as well as the need for additional faculty to lower the ratio towards more typical UW average.
The University of Wyoming has become more attractive to students from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in recent years. Wyoming’s Mormon population is approximately one out of seven people. The Mormon student population at UW has now reached about ten percent, but the history, culture, and religion of Mormonism is only beginning to be addressed in the University’s curriculum.