The Department of Religious Studies and Classics is happy to announce the winners of the 2024 Spring Lionel Rombach and Ora Bretall Scholarship Awards.
Awardee for the Ora Bretall Scholarship is: Jennifer Torres.
Awardees for the Lionel Rombach Scholarship are: Alex Keen and Aurelia Schultz.
Congratulations to our outstanding majors in Religious Studies (BA) and Religious Studies for Health Professionals (BS)!
Read (in their words) how majoring in Religious Studies & RSHP has enriched their lives and studies:
Jennifer Torres:
I decided to major in Religious Studies because I love how the academic study of religion highlights different perspectives. The Religious Studies courses I’ve taken at University of Arizona have been deeply transformative experiences. The best parts about Religious Studies classes are the exploration into the meaning of human existence, as defined by different faiths, and the richness that comes from studying spirituality. The professors in this department are extremely dedicated teachers and mentors to their students. Since I am double majoring in Law, I hope to use my training in Religious Studies to advocate for social justice and engage with diverse perspectives.
Alex Keen:
I’m an aspiring clinical psychologist interested in developing and implementing integrative approaches to the treatment of both physical and mental health. I began my undergraduate career with my neuroscience major, which required the completion of a chosen emphasis. Although the prescribed choices were interesting, none of them quite fit my goals. So, I decided to develop my own. The purpose of neuro-spirituality is to learn how religiosity and spiritual concepts can be integrated with modern medicine in order to improve quality of life. My religious studies major has given me the opportunity to develop my “humanities brain”, which has provided me with a better understanding of people and the curiosity to explore holistic avenues. I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to harmonize religion with science, because both disciplines offer valuable perspectives to the well-being of the body, mind and soul.
Aurelia Schultz:
I grew up in a house without religion. We were not allowed to go to church or participate in any religious ceremonies. When I entered high school, I got to observe all of my friends fully invested in their religions and they often would invite me to participate in various religious ceremonies with them. I participated in numerous Catholic, Morman, and Hindu ceremonies, the Hindu ones being by far my absolute favorite and helping to spark my interest in the religious studies of Hinduism. Being able to major in Religious Studies for me means that I am able to study something that I actually enjoy learning about. So far I have studied the different deities and demons in Southern Asia and ignited my passion for studying religion, I have learned about the different ways that religion can influence violence and opened my eyes to the different biases in the media, I have learned about Indigenous American Religions and learned more about spirituality and healing than ever before, and finally I have taken a class about the afterlife, and
learned that there are hundreds of different ways that the afterlife can help ease the people’s anxiety about death.