Professor Jarow is appointed in the Department of Religion and the Program in Asian Studies. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University (1991) in Indian Religion and Literature. His dissertation, "Language, Love, and Silence: Readings of Separation in the Sanskrit Epic, Poetic, and Puranic Traditions," is a discussion of the theme of loss in Indian literary and religious traditions. A former Mellon Fellow in the Humanities at Columbia University, and chair of the Carolyn Grant ’36 Endowment Committee on embodied learning and the mythic imagination, Rick has a rich background in the world of academia, as well as years of personal, in-depth study in eastern and western spiritual traditions, mythology, astrology and shamanism. His research interests include: Religions of South Asia (Hindu Traditions and Buddhist Traditions), East/West Studies, The Eastern Romance of Jack Kerouac, Indian Languages and Literatures (Indian Epic and Puranic Traditions), The Poetics of Religious Experience, and Vocation. His book, Tales for the Dying: The Death Narrative of the Bhãgavata-Purãna was published by SUNY Press in 2003.