A List
4/14/08

St. Lawrence Professor McCarthy Awarded Fellowship At Naropa University

CANTON - St. Lawrence University Associate Professor of Philosophy and Coordinator of the Asian Studies Program Erin McCarthy has been awarded a fellowship from the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation Residential Fellowship Program for Buddhist Studies and American Culture and Values, allowing her to spend the spring 2009 semester at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

McCarthy will work on a project titled "Ethics Embodied: Integrating Zen Buddhism, Contemporary Japanese Philosophy and Western Ethics Through a Feminist Lens." In addition, she plans to explore the university's curriculum to learn more about contemplative education, as well as meet with faculty and students and give lectures.

Recently elected chair of the Board of Directors of ASIANetwork, a consortium of over 170 North American colleges and universities, McCarthy earned her bachelor's degree in French and philosophy from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, and the Ph.D. from the University of Ottawa. Since joining the faculty in 2000, she has directed an international program that brings students to French-speaking communities in Canada, France and Senegal; taught in a three-week summer program in Japan; and organized a community-based learning course in Senegal, Africa.

McCarthy's work has been published in a number of journals and in the anthology Collateral Language: A User's Guide to America's New War. Her work has also appeared in The ASIANetwork Exchange: A Newsletter for Teaching about Asia and Philosophy, Culture and Traditions. She teaches courses on ethical theory, feminist philosophy, existential philosophy, Asian philosophy and introduction to philosophy.

The Frederick P. Lenz Residential Fellowship Program is designed to provide scholars, artists, activists and other leaders and practitioners from a variety of disciplines with an opportunity to affiliate with Naropa University during a sabbatical or other professional leave. It supports visiting fellows in the development of an artistic, social action, curriculum development or other research project on some aspect of Buddhism's contributions to American education and society. The residential experience affords fellows an opportunity to immerse themselves in the university's varied curricular and community offerings, as well as complete a program of study and a project that contributes to their own professional field or another area of American culture and society.

Naropa University is a private, nonprofit, nonsectarian liberal arts institution dedicated to advancing contemplative education. This approach to learning integrates the best of Eastern and Western educational traditions, helping students know themselves more deeply and engage constructively with others. Its president since 2003, Thomas Coburn, served from 1996 to 2002 as vice president of the University and dean of academic affairs at St. Lawrence, where he was also the Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies.

-30-

More: A Web profile of Erin McCarthy