The Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS) announced that they have become the latest member school of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in a statement released Thursday. IBS has been collaborating with GTU as an affiliate for 36 years.
“The contributions of IBS are crucial to the GTU’s goals in interreligious, interdisciplinary scholarship and activism,” said Dr. Elizabeth Peña, Interim Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the GTU in a statement.
IBS is the ninth institute, and first non-Christian, to become a member school with GTU. Since their establishment in 1969, IBS has grown to offer two graduate degree programs, and six certificate programs, including a certificate in Buddhist chaplaincy. IBS collaborates with GTU to offer their Master of Arts program for students who have an interreligious focus.
“Our students have benefited from the interreligious learning opportunities offered by the GTU and its member schools for the past three decades,” said Dr. Scott Mitchell, Dean of Students and Faculty Affairs at IBS in a statement. Mitchell says this step will make IBS an “even more vital part of this community, contributing to and shaping the future of interreligious education.”
The partnership will officially begin during the 2021 fall semester, which starts next month.
