Doctoral student spends year teaching at Thai university
July 17, 2001
KALAMAZOO -- D. Jason Slone, a WMU doctoral student in comparative
religion, left Kalamazoo this month to teach for nearly a year
at a university in Bangkok, Thailand.
Slone has accepted an invitation by Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University to serve as a lecturer, teaching courses in Theravada Buddhist philosophy. In addition, he will supervise master's theses for students in that university's international graduate program in Buddhist studies. Slone will use his time there to gather cross-cultural data for his dissertation on the effect culture has on how people think.
"Teaching in Thailand will allow me to experience firsthand how Buddhism is practiced in a Buddhist culture, which in turn will help me write my dissertation," Slone says. "In addition, it will enhance my teaching of world religions to undergraduate students in the West."
Slone will leave in July and be accompanied by his wife, Brooke, also a WMU student. Brooke Slone, who is working on a bachelor's degree in elementary education, will teach part time in an American school in Bangkok.
Media contact: Marie Lee, 616 387-8400, marie.lee@wmich.edu