Jan Willis

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 Woman’s Spiritual Journey. New York: Riverhead Books, 2001. [Responses to, excerpts and reviews of this book in Time magazine, Tricycle, Mandala, Kwartaalblad, (NL), Dutch Buddhist Broadcasting Corporation, dharma life (UK), and other journals.]

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.
• “Diversity and Race: New Koans for American Buddhism” in Women’s Buddhism, Buddhism’s Women, Ellison Banks Findly, ed., Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001.

Reviews:

• More than forty reviews, in Philosophy East and West, Religious Studies Review, History of Religions, Parabola, Choice, Vajradhatu Sun, Himalayan Research Bulletin, and Shambhala Sun.

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.