Rev. Dr. Monica Sanford is one of only two Buddhists in North America to lead a religious life department at a college or university. As the head of Spirituality & Religious Life at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rev. Dr. Sanford oversees a program with active on-campus Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Pagan, and Muslim communities and student clubs, while also coordinating interfaith programs and an innovative outreach program for secular/non-religious students called “Department 42.” RIT is a STEM-focused campus of 19,000+ students from all over the United States and the world. Trained as a Buddhist chaplain (MDiv, 2013) and ordained as a Buddhist lay minister in a Chan lineage (2015), Rev. Dr. Sanford also received her PhD in Practical Theology (spiritual care & counseling) from Claremont School of Theology (2018) with a first-of-its-kind qualitative study of Buddhist chaplains working in interfaith settings, such as hospitals, colleges, and the military. Her dissertation has been published as a book entitled Kalyāṇamitra: A Model for Buddhist Spiritual Care, Volume 1 (Sumeru Books 2021) and is the first comprehensive textbook for Buddhist spiritual care. (Adapted from Source Jan 13, 2021)
