Dr. Rita Sherma

Dr. Rita D. Sherma, Ph.D., M.A. is founding Director and Associate Professor at the UC Berkeley Center for Dharma Studies; Department Chair of Theology & Ethics; and, Co-Chair of Sustainability 360 Initiative at GTU, Berkeley, CA. Formerly, she was the Swami Vivekananda Visiting Professor in Hindu Studies at USC, Los Angeles. She holds an M.A. in Women’s Studies in Religion, and a Ph.D. in Theology and Ethics from Claremont Graduate University, CA. Dr. Sherma is co-founder of the American Academy of Religion’s Hinduism Program Unit and the founding Vice President of DANAM (Dharma Academy of North America) – a scholarly society for research on Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain religious and interreligious studies – and serves as Vice President of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. She has authored/edited/co-edited numerous books and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Dharma Studies. Additionally, Dr. Sherma serves on the Editorial Board of Reading Religion Journal (an AAR publication) and serves as Advisor to the Parliament of the World’s Religions Climate Action-sponsored Faith for the Earth online and print project, as well as on the Advisory Board of the Yale Forum for Religion and Ecology. Her pedagogical approach goes beyond encounters in the classroom to create collaborations with her students in research, writing, publications, and sponsoring students’ leadership in their disciplines.