Janice Willis Jan Willis (BA and MA in Philosophy, Cornell University; PhD in Indic and Buddhist Studies, Columbia University) is Professor of Religion at Wesleyan. She has studied with Tibetan Buddhists in India, Nepal, Switzerland and the United States for more than three decades, and has taught courses in Buddhism for twenty-five years. She is the author of The Diamond Light: An Introduction to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation (1972), On Knowing Reality: The Tattvartha Chapter of Asanga's Bodhisattvabhumi (1979), and Enlightened Beings: Life Stories from the Ganden Oral Tradition (1995); and the editor of Feminine Ground: Essays on Women and Tibet (1989). One of the earliest American scholar-practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, Professor Willis has published numerous essays and articles on Buddhist meditation, hagiography, and women and Buddhism. Dreaming Me: An African American Baptist-Buddhist Journey. (2001). She enjoys NFL football. Contact Information Department of Religion Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 06459 Tel:   (860) 685-2298 or (860) 685-2288 Fax:  (860) 685-2821 jwillis@wesleyan.edu Links to Sites janwillis.net Courses Buddhism:  Introduction (RELI 242) Three Generals in Lord's Army (RELI 283) Buddhism in America (RELI 288) Tibetan Buddhism (RELI 343) Women and Buddhism (RELI 350) Engaged Buddhism (RELI 388) Curriculum Vitae I. Education: Cornell University, B.A. 1969, Philosophy, magna cum laude.      Thesis: History, Faith, and Kerygma; A Critique of Bultmann's Existentialist Theology. Cornell University, M.A., 1971, Philosophy. Columbia University, Ph.D., 1976, Indic & Buddhist Studies.      Dissertation: A Study of the Chapter on Reality Based Upon the Tattvartha-patalam of Asanga's      Bodhisattvabhumi. II. Employment Acting Asst. Prof. of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1/74-2/76. Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, UCSC, 3/76-6/77. Visiting Associate Professor of Religion, Wesleyan University, 1977-78. Associate Professor of Religion, Wesleyan University, 1978-1984. Acting Director, Center for African American Studies, 1985-86. Chair, Department of Religion, Wesleyan University, 1983-84, '88-'90 & '97-'98. Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 1984-85. Professor of Religion, Wesleyan University, 1984-present. Walter A. Crowell University Professor of the Social Sciences, Wesleyan University, 1992-2006. III. Publications: Books: The Diamond Light of the Eastern Dawn: An Introduction to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972 (hardbound) and 1973 (softbound). On Knowing Reality: The Tattvartha Chapter of Asanga's Bodhisattvabhumi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979. Rpt. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1982. Feminine Ground: Essays on Women and Tibet (Editor, and contributor of two of six, essays). Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1989. Rpt. Snow Lion, 1995. Enlightened Beings: Life Stories from the Ganden Oral Tradition. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. Dreaming Me: An African American Baptist-Buddhist Journey. New York: Riverhead Books., April 2001.  A Trade paperback edition of memoir, retitled, Dreaming Me:  From Baptist to Buddhist, One Woman's Spiritual Journal, appeared in February 2002. Selected Articles and Chapters: "The Life of Skyong-ru sprul-sku: An Example of Contemporary Tibetan Hagiography," The Tibet Journal, Dharamsala, India, December, 1983: 20-35. "Tibetan Ani-s: The Nun's Life in Tibet," The Tibet Journal, Dec., 1984: 14-32. "The Search for Padma-can: A Study in the Interpretation of Tibetan Buddhist Sacred Biography," Journal for Religious Studies, Patiala, India: Punjabi University, Vol. XIII, No. 1, 1985: 56-73. "On the Nature of rNam-thar: Early dGe-lugs-pa Siddha Biographies," Soundings in Tibetan Civilization, B. Aziz and M. Kapstein, eds., New Delhi: Manohar, 1985: 304-319. "Nuns and Benefactresses: The Role of Women in the Development of Buddhism," Women, Religion, and Social Change, Y. Haddad and E. Findly, eds., Albany: State University of New York Press, 1985: 59-85. "Foreword" to Glenn Mullin's Selected Works of the Dalai Lama I; Bridging the Sutras and Tantras, 2nd. ed. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Pub., 1985: 17-21. Three short articles on the intellectual and religious significance of Bu-ston, Kamalasila, and Santiraksita for the Buddhist tradition in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade, et. al., eds., New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1987, Vols. 2 and 13: 68-69 and 585-586. "Dakini: Some Comments on its Nature and Meaning," The Tibet Journal, Vol. XII, No. 4, Winter, 1987: 56-71. "Female Patronage in Indian Buddhism," The Powers of Art; Patronage in Indian Culture, Barbara S. Miller, ed., New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992: 46-53. Interviewed and featured first among "Women Teachers of Buddhism in America," in Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism, Sandy Boucher, ed., San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988: 30-38. "Buddhism and Race: An African American Baptist-Buddhist Perspective" in Buddhist Women on the Edge: Contemporary Perspectives from the Western Frontier, Marianne Dresser, ed., North Atlantic Books, 1996: 81-91. Reviews: More than twenty-five reviews, in Philosophy East and West, Religious Studies Review, History of Religions, Parabola, Choice, Vajradhatu Sun, and Himalayan Research Bulletin.   IV: Special University Award in Recognition of Excellence in Scholarship and Teaching: 1992-2006:  Held Wesleyan University's Walter A. Crowell University Professorship of the Social Sciences. 2003:  Recipient of Wesleyan University's Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching.