Jan Willis

PersonType	Category:Authors of English Works Category:Professors
FirstName / namefirst	Janice
LastName / namelast	Willis
namemiddle	Dean
MainNamePhon	Jan Willis
bio	Janice Dean Willis, or Jan Willis (born 1948) is Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University, where she has taught since 1977; and the author of books on Tibetan Buddhism. She has been called influential by Time Magazine, Newsweek (cover story), and Ebony Magazine. Aetna Inc.'s 2011 African American History Calendar features professor Willis as one of thirteen distinguished leaders of faith-based health initiatives in the United States. Willis grew up in Docena, Alabama (near Birmingham), as the daughter of a Baptist deacon and steelworker. While traveling through Asia during the early 1970s, she became the student of Tibetan lama Thubten Yeshe, who encouraged her academic pursuits. She received BA and MA degrees in philosophy from Cornell University (thesis: History, Faith, and Kerygma; A Critique of Bultmann's Existentialist Theology.), and a Ph.D. in Indic and Buddhist Studies from Columbia University (dissertation: A Study of the Chapter on Reality Based Upon the Tattvartha-patalam of Asanga's Bodhisattvabhumi.). Since 2006, she has contributed to the group blog On Faith (sponsored by Newsweek and the Washington Post) alongside Elie Wiesel, Desmond Tutu, and Madeleine Albright, among others. In 2003, she was awarded Wesleyan University's Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching. (Source Accessed May 17, 2021)
YearBirth	1948
BornIn	Docena, Alabama, USA
associatedwebsite	http://jwillis.faculty.wesleyan.edu/
languageprimary	English
languagetranslation	Tibetan
languagetarget	English
affiliation	Wesleyan University;Cornel University;Columbia University;Washington Post, Group Blog, On Faith;Wesleyan University’s Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching
StudentOf	Lama Thubten Yeshe · Lama Zopa
phduniversity	Columbia University
education	Ph.D. in Indic and Buddhist Studies, Columbia University. Dissertation: "A Study of the Chapter on Reality based upon the Tattvartha-patalam of Asaṅga's Bodhisattvabhūmi." MA in Philosophy, Cornell University. Thesis: "History, Faith, and Kerygma: A Critique of Bultmann's Existentialist Theology." BA in Philosophy, Cornell University
IsInGyatsa	No
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Full Name

Janice D. Willis

Affiliation

Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University
BA Cornell University
MA Columbia University
PHD Columbia University

Other Information

Contact Information:
jwillis@wesleyan.edu
Wesleyan University
Religion Department
860.685.2298
Religious Studies Center 207
Professor, East Asian Studies
East Asian Studies Program
860.685.2298

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