ANDREW O. FORT

VITA (5/08)

EDUCATION: B. A. (cum laude), Amherst College, 1974 majors: English and Religion

Ph. D. University of Pennsylvania, 1982 Religious Studies

TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

Professor, Texas Christian University, began at TCU 1982.

Courses taught: Understanding Religion: The World’s Religions, courses on Hindu,

Buddhist and East Asian religious perspectives, Indian texts and traditions, Mysticism, Islam, Sanskrit, Nature of Values (honors colloquium), Freshman, Sophomore, and Senior Seminars in Religion, Hunger: Problems and Prospects.

Teaching awards: Deans Award for Outstanding Teaching, 2003

Teaching Excellence Award, TCU Student Body, 1987, 1990, 1991

TCU Mortarboard "Top Prof", 1987-88, 11 times “preferred professor”

ACADEMIC GRANTS AND CONTINUING EDUCATION:

Council on International Educational Exchange Faculty Development Seminar to Turkey, June, 2001

Seminar on World Thanksgiving, Kyoto, Japan, March, 1995

Citizen Ambassador Program to China, Religion and Philosophy professor delegation,

June, 1994

American Institute of Indian Studies senior research fellowship, 1990

Fulbright Educational Exchange grant to Pakistan, summer, 1984

American Institute of Indian Studies dissertation research fellowship, 1979-80

NDFL language fellowship (Hindi), 1976-78

PUBLICATIONS:

BOOKS: J•vanmukti in Transformation: Embodied Liberation in Advaita and Neo-Vedanta, State University of New York Press, 1998.

Living Liberation in Hindu Thought, Co-editor (with Patricia Mumme), author of introduction and chapter "Liberation While Living in the J•vanmuktiviveka: Vidy¡ra∆ya's 'Yogic Advaita'." Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.

The Self and Its States: A States of Consciousness Doctrine in Advaita Ved¡nta. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1990.

ARTICLES:

“Bad (and Good) Tendencies: Vasanas in the Jivanmuktiviveka,” in Expanding and Merging Horizons: Contributions to South Asian and Cross-Cultural Studies in Commemoration of Wilhelm Halbfass. Edited by Karin Preisendanz. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2007, 455-67.

“Vijn÷¡nabhikßu on Two Types of Sam¡dhi.” International Journal of Hindu Studies 10: 3 (December, 2006), 271-94.

“Teaching Liberal Arts Undergraduates About Hinduism amid Theoretical and Political Contestation Today,” Teaching Theology and Religion 9:3 (July 2006), 156-64.

“Tamal Krishna Goswami: An Appreciation,” Journal of Vaisnava Studies 11: 2 (spring, 2003): 33-36.

“Reflections on Reflection: K¶†astha, Cid¡bh¡sa andVƒttis in the Pan÷cada≈•, Journal of Indian Philosophy 28 (2000): 497-510

“On Destroying the Mind: The Yogas¶tras in Vidy¡ra∆ya’s J•vanmuktiviveka, Journal of Indian Philosophy 27 (1999): 377-95

"J•vanmukti and Social Service in Advaita and Neo-Vedanta," in Beyond Orientalism: Essays on the Work of Wilhelm Halbfass. Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of Sciences and Humanities no. 59. Amsterdam/Atlanta: Editions Rodopi, 1997.

"Going or Knowing? The Development of the Idea of Living Liberation in the Upanißads," Journal of Indian Philosophy 22 (1994): 379-90.

"Neither East nor West: A Case of Neo-Vedanta in Modern Indian Thought," Religious Studies Review 18 (April, 1992): 95-100.

"Knowing Brahman while Embodied: ˛a©kara on J•vanmukti," Journal of Indian Philosophy 19 (December 1991): 369-89.

"Beyond Pleasure: ˛a©kara on Bliss," Journal of Indian Philosophy 16 (June 1988): 177-89.

"Dream and Sleep in Later Advaita Ved¡nta," Brahma Vidya (Adyar Library Bulletin) 51 (1987): 157-75.

"Dreaming in Advaita Ved¡nta," Philosophy East and West 35 (October, 1985): 377-86.

"The Concept of S¡kßin in Advaita Ved¡nta," Journal of Indian Philosophy 12 (September, 1984): 277-90.

"The Concept of Sußupta (Deep Sleep) in Advaita Ved¡nta," Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute 61 (1980): 221-28.

ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES: "Hindu Nondualism," "Shankara," "Saccidananda," and "Vedanta" in HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, 1995.

"˛a©kara" for Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1998.

RECENT PAPERS AND PANEL PARTICIPATION:

“The Patanjala Yoga tradition on Samadhi and Samapattis in the Yogasutras,

American Academy of Religion, Southwest region, Dallas, March, 2008.

Panel presentation for Yoga: India's Philosophy of Meditation, Edited by Gerald J. Larson and Ram Shankar Bhattacharya, American Academy of Religion, San Diego, November, 2007.

Panel presentation for “Teaching with, against, and to faith,” American Academy of Religion, San Diego, November, 2007.

“Contemplative exercises in an undergraduate Buddhism course.”

Washington, D. C., American Academy of Religion, Philadelphia, November, 2006.

“Vijn÷¡nabhikßu on Two Types of Sam¡dhi.” American Academy of Religion, Southwest region, Dallas, March, 2006.

“Teaching Hinduism in a Survey Course,”  American Academy of Religion, Philadelphia, November, 2005.

“Predisposing Consciousness: V¡san¡s in the J•vanmuktiviveka,” American Academy of Religion, San Antonio, November, 2004

“Teaching Texas Christians About Hinduism,” Dharma Association of North America, San Antonio, November, 2004

“Vijn÷¡nabhikßu on consciousness in the Yogav¡rttika,” American Academy of Religion, Southwest region, Dallas, March, 2004.

“Finding A Balance in an Unstable Time: Teaching About Hinduism in America Today,” National University of Singapore, February, 2004.

“Introducing Vijn÷¡nabhikßu: A Ved¡ntic S¡µkhya-Yogin, American Academy of Religion, Southwest region, Dallas, March, 2003.

“Embodied Liberation (j•vanmukti) in the Yogav¡si߆ha,” American Academy of Religion, Toronto, November, 2002

“Bad (and Good) Tendencies: V¡san¡s in the J•vanmuktiviveka,” American Oriental Society, Houston, March, 2002

“The Study and Practice of Religion Today,” Phi Beta Kappa lecture, TCU, May, 2001

”Reflections on Reflection: Cid¡bh¡sa in the Pan÷cada≈•.” American Academy of Religion, Southwest region, Dallas, March. 2001

Panel organizer and convener: “Coming Out (and Going In) as a Hindu or Buddhist in Academia,” American Academy of Religion, national meeting, Nashville, November, 2000

"American Buddhism: Detached and Engaged." Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, March, 2000

“J•vanmukti in the Yogav¡si߆ha,” seminar on the Yogav¡si߆ha, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, April, 1999

Panel convenor and participant, “Comparing Comparativists: Reflections on Ninian Smart’s and Wilfred Cantwell Smith’s Approaches to the Study of Religion.” American Academy of Religion, Southwest region, Dallas, March, 1999.

“Academics and Advocates: Reflections on a Conference in Calcutta.” American Academy of Religion, Southwest region, Dallas, March, 1998.

"˛a©kara, Vivekananda, and Living Liberation." Invited Paper for Conference on Vedanta: Theory and Practice, Ramakrishna Mission, Calcutta, India, December, 1997.

Presenter and Discussant, “Postmodernism and the Study of Religion in South Asia,” American Academy of Religion, San Francisco, November, 1997.

Invited participant, seminar on “What is Hinduism?,” University of Florida, Gainesville, March, 1997.

"J•vanmukti and Social Service in Advaita and neo-Vedanta," American Academy of Religion, Southwest region, Dallas, March, 1997.

Invited participant on panel about teaching the introductory course, same meeting.

"Ma∆∂ana Mi≈ra on J•vanmukti," Tenth World Sanskrit Conference, Bangalore, India, January, 1997.

PROFESSIONAL OFFICES AND SERVICE:

Executive Director, Council of Societies for the Study of Religion, 2007-08

Chair of editorial board, Religious Studies Review, 2007-08

Organizer and participant, Teaching Religion in Troubled Times: When Practitioners Meet

(and Challenge) Professors, AAR Southwest Region, March, 2005

Organizer and participant, Teaching Religion in the American University, American

Academy of Religion, Southwest Region, March, 2002

Vice president, American Academy of Religion, Southwest Region, 1999-2000

President-elect, 2000-01, President, 2001-02, Past President, 2002-03

South Asia area editor, Religious Studies Review, 1997-2001

Booknote editor on Hinduism, 1995-2002

Staff member, Lilly/NEH and American Academy of Religion Teaching Workshop,

Southwest region, 1995-96

Board of Directors, Association of Asian Studies, Southwest Region, 1989-91

Chair, Asian Religions section, AAR Southwest Region, 1985-86, 1991-92

UNIVERSITY SERVICE:

Faculty Senate, 1990-96, 1999-2007

Chair, 2005-06, Executive committee, 1993-95, 2002-03

Chair, Academic Excellence Committee, 1990-92

University Compensation Advisory Committee, co-chair, 2006-07

Chair, Steering Committee for Common Reading Program, 2005-07

Coordinator, Asian Studies minor, 1993-2006

Honors Council, 1990-95, 2003-08

Student Publications Committee, 2000-02, chair, 2001-02

Compliance and Affirmative Action Committee, 1995-2000; Chair, 1998-2000

Organizer and Member, Ad hoc Senate Committee on Teaching Excellence, 1993-94

University Advisory Committee, 1992-94, 2004-05

University Self-Study, 1991-92, subcommittee on Faculty

TCU Hunger Week, faculty chair, 1985-93, 1997-2000

Martin Luther King Scholarship Committee, 1985-2000, Chair, 1988

Student Organizations Committee, 1983-89; Chair, 1987-9

Dept. Curriculum Committee, chair, 1988-92, 1997-99

member, 1992-5, 1999-2002

Faculty Advisor, Alpha Phil Omega service fraternity, 1983-present

Awards: "Outstanding faculty member" for university service, TCU Student Foundation, 1987

"Outstanding faculty involvement in student development," TCU Student Affairs office,

1988-89

Honorary member, Golden Key Honor Society, 1990

Residential Services Faculty Contribution Award, 2000

OTHER COMMUNITY SERVICE:

Advisory Board Member, Summerbridge Fort Worth, 2000-05

Board member, AIDS Interfaith Network, 1992-95

Chair, Development Committee, 1993-95

member, care team, 1993-97

Board member, Casa Ricardo Chacon (Central American refugee shelter),

1990-92; Capital Campaign Chair, 1991

Chair, Fort Worth Committee for UNICEF, 1985-87

Chair, Education Committee, 1989-91

Amnesty International, Fort Worth, chapter and case coordinator, 1984-89

Lecturer/consultant on Asia and Asian Religions