Director of Media Relations
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AMHERST, Mass.—Maria Heim, assistant professor of religion at Amherst College, will give the annual Max and Etta Lazerowitz Lecture, on Buddhist Ideals of Happiness on Thursday, April 14, at 4:30 p.m. in the Alumni House at Amherst College. The talk is free and open to the public, as is a reception immediately following.
Heim, who received a B.A. degree in philosophy and religion from Reed College and a Ph.D. in Sanskrit and Indian studies from Harvard University, is interested in South Asian religion and ethics, and Sanskrit and Pali language and literature. Her first book concerns specifically religious conceptions of the gift and generosity in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and she is now working on Buddhist theories of moral agency. She has been a member of the Amherst faculty since 2003.
The Lazerowitz Lectureship is awarded each year to support and encourage members of the Amherst College faculty in their scholarly work. The Dean of the Faculty, in conjunction with the Lecture Committee, selects the recipient, a member of the faculty below the rank of a full professor, who presents a lecture on his or her research. The Max and Etta Lazerowitz Lectureship was established in 1985 to honor the parents of the late Morris Lazerowitz, emeritus professor of philosophy at Smith College.
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