The Establishement of "The Shinso Ito Professorship Fund" in Buddhist Studies
We have a wonderful announcement to make as we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the endowment of "The Shinnyo-en Visiting Professor Fund." The Shinnyo-en Foundation has kindly amended their gift to establish "The Shinso Ito Professorship Fund" at Stanford University. As a result, in the 2018–19 academic year, we will be searching for an assistant professor in Buddhist Studies, with a preference for Vajrayana Buddhism. This will bring the number of Buddhist Studies faculty at Stanford to four. We are both delighted and excited by the addition of a new, permanent faculty position in the Department of Religious Studies, fulfilling a long-held wish to extend the coverage of the Buddhist tradition at our university.
Over the past ten years, distinguished Shinnyo-en Visiting Professors have contributed immensely to our program. We hope to be able to continue the tradition of inviting eminent Buddhist Studies scholars to spend time at Stanford, using other funding.
We are deeply grateful to the Shinnyo-en Foundation for this opportunity to increase the number of Buddhist Studies faculty in the Department of Religious Studies. It is our hope that we will also be able to increase the number of endowed graduate fellowships in our field in light of this new addition.