Faculty

Our faculty produce leading edge scholarship and are active in academic and Buddhist communities, locally and internationally.

Core Faculty serve as academic advisors and mentors and guide and develop the academic program. Research Fellows have an ongoing relationship with the Institute, provide additional scholarly expertise, and are able to serve on thesis committees.

Meet Our Faculty

Paula K. Arai

Core Faculty

Paula Arai joined the faculty in January 2023 from her position as the Gopal Singhal Professor at Louisiana State University.

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Rev. Harry Gyokyo Bridge

Harry Gyokyo Bridge

Shin Buddhist Ministerial Program Coordinator

Rev. Harry Gyokyo Bridge spent various parts of his youth in both Tokyo and the Boston area.

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Courtney Bruntz

Courtney Bruntz

Core Faculty

Courtney Bruntz specializes in contemporary rituals and practices of East Asian Buddhist traditions.

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Thomas Calobrisi

Thomas Calobrisi

Research Fellow

Thomas Calobrisi's research focuses on the recontextualization of Buddhist ideas and practices in the American religious and intellectual landscape from the mid-twentieth century to the present.

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Lilu Chen

Lilu Chen

Core Faculty

  Associate Professor of Spiritual Care and Interreligious Engagement, Director of Field Education email: lchen@shin-ibs.edu Dr. Lilu Chen began her academic journey as a scholar of Islamic Studies and Sufism focusing on China. Through unexpected turns in life, she found […]

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Nancy Lin

Nancy G. Lin

Core Faculty

Noboru and Yaeko Hanyu Professor of Buddhist Chaplaincy, Tibetan and South Asian Studies Program advisor, Certificate in Buddhist Chaplaincy Contact: nlin@shin-ibs.edu Nancy Lin joined the faculty in 2021 after previously teaching at Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, and the University of […]

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Scott A. Mitchell

Core Faculty, IBS President

President Scott Mitchell has been a faculty member of the Institute since 2008, and a member of the IBS and GTU community since he began his graduate work in 2000. His research interests include Buddhism in Western contexts, Buddhist modernity, […]

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Takashi Miyaji

Dean, Core Faculty

Dean and H.E. Kosho Ohtani Professor of Shin Buddhist Studies Contact: tmiyaji@shin-ibs.edu Rev. Dr. Takashi Miyaji has been a minister since 2014 and currently works as a part-time minister at the Southern Alameda County Buddhist Church in Union City, CA. […]

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Natalie Fisk Quli

Core Faculty

Natalie Fisk Quli specializes in the social scientific study of contemporary Buddhisms, with areas of expertise in Buddhist modernisms, postcolonial issues, transnationalism/translocalism, and Theravada communities in the United States and Sri Lanka.

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Mutsumi Wondra

Research Fellow

Rev. Dr. Mutsumi Wondra was born in Kyoto, Japan, and graduated from Kyoto Women’s University founded by Lady Takeko Kujo. She is currently the resident minister of the Orange County Buddhist Church (OCBC) in California. Contact: mwondra@shin-ibs.edu Degrees and Certificates: […]

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