Women and Dharma focus of synoptic lecture

Each year, Grand Valley State University's Department of Liberal Studies invites a distinguished person from outside the college to visit and present his or her special vision of life during the William James Synoptic Lecture. Previous synoptic lecturers have included cultural critic William Irwin Thompson, writer Tillie Olsen, and filmmakers Leo Hurwitz and Ken Burns.

This year's lecturer is Alf Hiltebeitel, Columbian professor of Religion and Human Sciences and chair of the Religion Department at George Washington University, where he was formerly director of the Human Sciences Program. His lecture, "Is the Goddess a Feminist?" will be on Thursday, March 29, from 10 a.m.-noon in room 204 Kirkhof Center, Allendale Campus.

Hiltebeitel will draw from a book he is currently writing for the University of Chicago Press, and is related in part to his previous book, "Is the Goddess a Feminist: The Politics of South Asian Goddesses."

For more information call the Liberal Studies Department (616) 331-8020 or visit www.gvsu.edu/liberalstudies .