Dr. Natalie Quli Joins Core Faculty
Gesshin Claire Greenwood | October 9, 2023
The Institute of Buddhist Studies is pleased to announce that Dr. Natalie Quli has been appointed to Core Faculty as an Associate Professor of Theravāda Studies. Before this, she served as a Research Fellow for many years.
Dr. Natalie Quli
Dr. Quli received her Ph.D from the Graduate Theological Union and focuses on Buddhism in the United States & Canada, Theravāda studies, contemporary Buddhism in Sri Lanka, and “tradition” and the construction of religious authority . “I’m interested in the construction of religious authority and authenticity in Buddhist communities in response to social change,” she explains. “How do these various Buddhist groups maintain, reconstruct, or even reinvent traditions? I’m also drawn to study the development of hierarchies and structures of power within these communities, as well as relationships between them.”
Some of her recent article publications include “When White Buddhists ‘Don’t See Race” in Buddhadharma magazine and “A Brief Critical Appraisal of the Buddhist Modernism Paradigm” in the Routledge Handbook of Buddhist-Christian Studies. She will be teaching “Women in Theravāda Traditions” next Spring.
Following the retirement of Dr. Richard Payne, Dr. Quli will be taking on a larger role in the publication of the Pacific World Journal, the Institute of Buddhist Studies’ academic journal. She currently serves as the Senior Editor.
“I started working at IBS as a proofreader for Pacific World in 2003 while I was a graduate student,” she says. “So I’ve been with Pacific World for 20 years now! I feel really fortunate having a job that I absolutely love–and I really do love the entire process of editing a journal, from author submissions to copyediting to production. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with so many talented scholars. It really is a dream job for me.”
Dean Scott Mitchell says the following on her appointment to Core Faculty: “I’ve had the pleasure of working and collaborating with Dr. Quli for well over fifteen years. Her work as an editor, scholar and teacher is brilliant, and I can think of no one better suited to continue IBS’s publication projects into the future. I am thrilled that she is able to join us on the Core Faculty.”