Fund: Religious Studies Program Department: Religious Studies Dept D01022 Purpose: Graduate Student Support History and Purpose: This scholarship is for those studying Religious Studies. Religious Studies is an excellent preparation simply for living life in a pluralistic and multicultural society. It provides excellent training for a variety of careers, such as teaching, counseling, business, law, writing, medicine, the arts, and professional religious leadership. The faculty seeks to develop in students a number of important, valuable, and transferable skills required by any profession or position. Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside encourages students to become well-informed and independent thinkers prepared to learn and engage in scholarly research techniques, including collection of information and distillation and analysis of data with the help of critical skills and methods. The major requires students to: pay close attention to the facts through careful and unprejudicial reading of texts, have an open attitude toward sources, and make close observation of individual and group behavior. Students also apply critical analysis and interpretation of the data, based on appropriate theoretical and methodological tools, and communicate findings and conclusions clearly and effectively through expository and analytical writing and oral presentation. Religious Studies majors have many opportunities for research and special and independent studies beyond coursework. The Department's teaching faculty regularly sponsors field trips to religious sites such as the Pavilion for Japanese Arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, the Hongwangji Temple in Los Angeles, and the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden at UCLA. The Department annually presents the Holstein Family Community Lecture in Religious Studies, a lecture by a distinguished visiting speaker on the interactions of religion and society as manifested in social, cultural, and ethical debates. Internships are available, as are Religious Studies merit scholarships annually. Selection and Guidelines: Scholarships to be awarded at the discretion of the Religious Studies department. Request for Information: Request Scholarship Information